What 49ers face against Cardinals ‘air raid’ offense
By Alex Byrne
Philosophy and concepts of the air raid
Every play and concept within the air raid is based on the simple idea that, if you stretch the defense on all levels of the field, it will be impossible for a zone defense to cover every area, giving the quarterback easy throws.
Keep in mind, the 49ers have used plenty of zone defenses the past two-plus years, which helps explain why the Cardinals had success in Week 9.
This idea is why receivers in the system have the autonomy to adjust their routes on the fly, based on the coverage and the leverage of the defenders. Even though the New England Patriots don’t use the air raid, they are still a good example of the benefits wide receivers’ autonomy to adjust their routes post-snap.
This play from Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman is a great example.
This is just one of many examples of Edelman’s effectiveness at finding the soft spot in a zone. As such, he best way to beat zone coverage consistently is to give players the autonomy and flexibility to adjust their routes on the fly, as they will be able to find inevitable holes in the coverage.
Given the air raid’s effectiveness at beating zone coverage, the key is beating man coverage. This is why crossing routes, stick routes, sail routes, wheel routes and post routes are so prevalent in the air raid system, as its coaches know defenses will have to use man coverage relatively frequently, as they will struggle when using zone.
The air raid adheres to its principle of flexible play design by incorporating zone coverage-beating concepts into every play design, such as the use of the smash concept in the mesh, and crossing routes to beat man coverage in the aforementioned mesh. This is why the mesh play is so integral to the air raid and is a great illustration of the principles air raid plays are based on.
On the mesh play, the Z receiver runs a traditional corner route, but has the possibility of adjusting it to a deep out route if viable. The strong-side running back, F, runs a route out to the flat. This route combination between the F and Z is a smash concept.
The X receiver runs a shallow crossing route from the weak side of the field, while the Y receiver runs a shallow crossing route from the strong side of the field and usually is just a yard or so deeper than the X. This creates commotion in the middle of the field. And if it’s man coverage, the defense’s cornerbacks usually get slowed up in the traffic, likely giving quarterbacks an easy throw if it’s simple one-on-one coverage.
A general misconception about the air raid is that it’s simplistic and not suitable to the NFL style of football. This misconception is why quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes were underrated by NFL Draft analysts before proving those analysts wrong once getting into the league.
However, the performances and understanding of quarterbacks like Mahomes should help dispel the misconception air raid QBs are “unintelligent” and rely on the system for their production.