Lessons from the Playbook: Mills and Wheels

[Katfid54 9005]

Given a confluence of things about the Baylor game (our offense became a dumpster fire after Sam got injured; Machinator had a solid post highlighting some of our nice B.J. Foster-centric blitz schemes, and I was out of town all last week for work), I didn’t end up posting anything last week.  In the last Xs & Os thread I posted, the posts turned to a really nice discussion of the mesh concept, the different ways its implemented, and how Urban Meyer/Herman have developed that concept separately from the air raid folks.  With that discussion, I thought it might make sense to use this bye week to highlight another passing concept (and some of its variations) that I’m a big fan of:  Mills.

 

What the Fuck is “Mills”?

Some of you are asking this exact question.  “Mills” is a pass concept originally developed as part of the West Coast Offense scheme (originally called Fox 2 X/Y Hook), a play action pass designed to find an open tight end over the middle for a medium-sized (10-12 yard) gain.  Here’s the play:

The progression for the play is designed to hit the TE on a 10-12 yard hook route, filling in the space between the Mike and Sam (who must honor the run threat on play action) and the strong safety, who has to stay deep to honor the threat of the post.

So why is it now called Mills?  Because Steve Spurrier took this play and shot it up with crack.  Instead of focusing on an intermediate route to a tight end, he fixated on the post.  And the player who gained notoriety for streaking downfield and catching bombs on the play?  Ernie Mills.

 

How Does Mills Work?

The question Spurrier had to answer was: How do you get the post open?  How do you convince a safety with deep coverage responsibility to take an intermediate route, letting the post route fly past him?

Spurrier’s answer:  Find the person responsible for deep coverage, and run someone right at ‘em.  Then, have that person break (either on an in-route or a hook) right in front of the defender, pulling them up in defense and letting the post sneak behind.  Here’s what it looked like:

 

The Evolution of Mills

Some of you are watching that video and noting that those plays are run out of 21 personnel—a tight end, running back, and fullback—and only two wide receivers.  You might be thinking to yourself:  Why the fuck am I still reading this?  There’s no way this concept still works.

Except it does.

It is true that defenses have been cognizant enough of this concept that it’s not generally workable as the only route concept being run on a given play.  And linebackers are much more athletic than they were 20 years ago, so they’re able to get drops that disrupt the deep in.  But coaches have found ways to mix Mills with the quick passing game, to attack every level of the defense at once.  Here are some examples:

First, over the last thirty years, Mills (and a similar play called “DDP” (Dig, Drive, Post)) became so prevalent in college football that pro teams using the concepts lumped them together in a concept called “NCAA”—named that because “everyone in the NCAA runs it.”  Here’s what Mills/NCAA looks like, with a drive route and hitch on the backside:

Oklahoma State

Remember all those times the past few years Oklahoma State would fake inside zone with Justice Hill, then Mason Rudolph would step back, coolly wait a few seconds, and then throw a bomb to James Washington, streaking wide open down the middle of the field?  You guessed it:  Mills.

Here’s oSu running Mills against OU:

OU presents a pretty clear Cover 2/Cover 4 look.  oSu runs one slot on a dig route (this is the Mills/NCAA concept I mention above).  Their other slot runs the deep hook, right at the deep safety.  Washington runs the deep post and by the time the ball gets to him, he’s three yards in front of the defender.

Here’s another example against Tulsa:

Now the outside receiver to the boundary runs the shallow cross (completing the Mills/NCAA route combo).  The boundary slot receiver runs what appears to be a corner route, although it’s not very easy to be 100% sure, with the camera angle we get here.  To the field side, the slot receiver runs the deep in (right to the sticks, giving the safety even more pressure to come up in support), and Rudolph puts the ball right in Washington’s breadbasket.

This shit is almost not fair.

West Virginia

So Oklahoma State has continued to use Mills to great effect.  It makes sense that WVU has, too, right?  Here’s their look:

 

It’s impossible to tell what the boundary receiver does on this play, other than to know that he doesn’t run an in-breaking route.  That means WVU is not running Mills here with the NCAA (dig route) variation.  Instead, they rely on their bubble screen look to freeze the defense.  The strong safety actually WAY overplays the bubble screen, meaning he’s not even getting caught up in defending the deep in (although that’s the only route he can get back to cover).  By the time Sills makes his break, he’s four yards in front of the defender and Grier has put the ball right on his hands.

 

Would Mills Work at Texas?

So now you’re saying:  Great.  Here’s a bunch of air raid teams running Mills.  How the fuck is that useful to me, a Texas fan? 

Well, it’s useful to you because the one time I’ve seen Texas run Mills this year, it should have been a touchdown.  What play, you’re wondering? 

I bet you remember it after I show you:

That’s right.  Sam’s overthrow on the first drive against KSU was running Mills.  Here’s how we ran it:

And here’s a better shot of the routes as they were run on the play:

If Sam doesn’t miss on that ball, it’s a 55 yard walk-in TD by Duvernay, perfectly utilizing his skillset.

 

Lethalize Mills

So the shit I wrote above is basically the post.  But I’d be remiss if I posted this without touching on one more concept that’s near and dear to my heart:  Fully weaponizing Mills to its most lethal potential.

Ignoring the fact that he’s one of the great chodes in the coaching industry, Bobby Petrino’s version of Mills is the best, most “weaponized” version I’ve seen.  And it perfectly fits the personnel we have (big wide receivers and speedy, pass-catching running backs). 

Ostensibly, Petrino’s version is actually his preferred method of running the shallow cross.  But Petrino bolts the shallow cross onto Mills with a Wheel.  It’s totally fucking captivating.  Check it out:

The reads on this play are relatively simple:  Is Post covered by the safety?  If yes, is the Wheel covered?  If yes, look shallow cross then to the deep in.

Another variation that I’d love to see us run is a trips receiver set running Mills with a wheel route underneath.  Something like this:

Put Duvernay at X for this play, LJH at A, and Collin Johnson at Z, and you’ve got fireworks.  Or flip those—put CJ at X and Duvernay at Z, and now Sam has a throw down the sideline to Duvernay that he’s much more comfortable with.

Let’s hope we see some fireworks this weekend.

[ClubWhatever 12283]

Enjoyed this.  Seeing concepts like this develop in real time is one reason to go to the game instead of watching on tv.  

[Slacks 7047]

Trips Left Y Flex Texas Flood Option Right on 1 on 1. Ready.

[Slacks 7047]

By the way, the curl only 'fools' the safety in a zone look... Our miss against KSU was in man and the dude was just slow to recover against the route break (the route was run perfectly, too). I hope we come back to this if Shane is playing. He'll drop that in.

[Katfid54 9005]

7 minutes ago, Snacks said:

By the way, the curl only 'fools' the safety in a zone look... Our miss against KSU was in man and the dude was just slow to recover against the route break (the route was run perfectly, too). I hope we come back to this if Shane is playing. He'll drop that in.

Your first sentence is true.  Your second sentence is not.  This is not man coverage:

The safety is playing super shallow, but KSU is in a zone look here.  It just looks like man because of how tight up they're playing.  KSU is clearly keying run here--look at how hard the defenders bite on the run fake--but they then all drop to a zone look.  Duvernay is just gone by then.

Edited October 23, 2018 by Katfid54

[taybo20 3021]

As always, thanks @Katfid54

[Slacks 7047]

Your first sentence is true.  Your second sentence is not.  This is not man coverage:

The safety is playing super shallow, but KSU is in a zone look here.  It just looks like man because of how tight up they're playing.  KSU is clearly keying run here--look at how hard the defenders bite on the run fake--but they then all drop to a zone look.  Duvernay is just gone by then.

It looks like some kind of goofy mixed coverage... Everybody backside and under was in zone, but the trips side covered like man. Those guys were locked on from the snap... Even if it is all zone, on that particular play, the short route isnt what opened the deep route. The route was pressed well and the safety play was not good.

I completely agree with the concept, though. I love shallow cross/drag with a curl and a post (or post corner that causes a CB/S stresspoint)

I hope we have this as an audible that we can go to whenever we see a cover 2/3/4 zone.

Thanks for starting these football threads on the football board. Whenever we meet I have a couple beverages for you.

[JBJ 3817]

It's a Read Cover 4.  My guess is the safeties are Reading 3 and the corner is isolated.  The corner seems to give no fucks about anything but CJ and is shading inside.

Edited October 24, 2018 by JBJ

[jinx 2636]

These kick ass!  Thanks Katfid.  The OBC is one of my favorite coaches ever so the history lesson was cool

[Jkwellborn 7030]

Duvernay got open on that route because the safety turned and ran the wrong way. Guy was most likely gonna get beat and knew it though.

[Katfid54 9005]

Digging through some of our previous games this morning while drinking a cup of joe and realized that Duvernay's superman TD grab against Maryland was Mills, too.  Check it out:

There's an interesting formation wrinkle, here.  We've got Beck lined up to the same side as our wide receivers, meaning he's covered up and ineligible to receive a pass.  That obviously doesn't matter, as he just stays in to block.  That makes it interesting to me that Duvernay gets so wide open, given that we don't even have a playaction fake on this play.

[jofus 2269]

he fast

[Slacks 7047]

Game planning... "He's not fast enough to cover Dev 1-1.  If we see EIGHT IN THE BOX (well, 6+2, but close enough) on an overloaded trips set, we're letting it fly."

Seriously, we have some guys that should be busting ass in this sort of set if the OL can hold up for two and a half beats.

[ChickenSandwich 9950]

4 hours ago, Katfid54 said:

Digging through some of our previous games this morning while drinking a cup of joe and realized that Duvernay's superman TD grab against Maryland was Mills, too.  Check it out:

There's an interesting formation wrinkle, here.  We've got Beck lined up to the same side as our wide receivers, meaning he's covered up and ineligible to receive a pass.  That obviously doesn't matter, as he just stays in to block.  That makes it interesting to me that Duvernay gets so wide open, given that we don't even have a playaction fake on this play.

Sam needs some Applewhite to Wayne McGarity film to watch. Applewhite didn’t have a big arm but knew how to throw to a WR one on one (which was often with a Ricky). His recognition early and getting the ball out with plenty of air were executed perfectly. 

[Slacks 7047]

18 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Sam needs some Applewhite to Wayne McGarity film to watch. Applewhite didn’t have a big arm but knew how to throw to a WR one on one (which was often with a Ricky). His recognition early and getting the ball out with plenty of air were executed perfectly. 

He just needs reps throwing to a spot... drop it in the bucket and let the WR do the rest.

[Katfid54 9005]

Sam is also pretty obviously worried (for some reason) about underthrowing Duvernay.  He doesn't put this kind of English on passes he throws to anyone else, but he's routinely leading Duvernay too far.  At some point, Sam was underthrowing Duvernay and he got coached to lead him more because of his speed.  For whatever reason, he and Duv can't get their timing right.

It's too bad, because Duvernay has the potential to hit home runs on the post route at a James Washington-esque pace in this concept.

[sushihorn 3249]

The setup is also nice to fool zone defenders watching the QBs eyes.  If you run the dig or in route straight at the safety, that is the defender the QB reads to make sure the route is holding him.  The defense will be looking for an intermediate route at the hash marks, not deep over the middle until he makes his secondary read to ensure the post is open.

[JBJ 3817]

Took me a while to find, but their coverage is this in all the ways that are important:

[William_Cannon 86]

Thanks, this was an excellent read. Best thing I’ve learned all day...

[cam4mav 772]

if only i realized this years back playing ncaa wtf i kept getting cooked on a post route. nice read

[54_Strat 34]

Another great thread OP. I enjoy learning about the game within the game. 

[Jkwellborn 7030]

if only i realized this years back playing ncaa wtf i kept getting cooked on a post route. nice read

Lol the petrino version was beastly. I like to change the single receiver to a go route too.