Film Room: Vertical passing makes its return to Oakland Raiders

Fade Route

Finishing the season with a 4-12 win / loss record overshadowed a good season from Oakland’s young quarterback, Derek Carr. He passed for 4,049 with a 68.9% completion rate.

Even though the narrative surrounding him suggests all of his throws were “checkdowns”, his 7.3 yards per attempt were the highest of his NFL career.

Expect that number to rise yet again as he finally has receivers that can win on his favorite route to throw, the “fade”.

Take a look below.

Fans have been disgruntled by the lack of downfield passing and direct that frustration at the quarterback mostly because that is where broadcast TV is focused. This is a prime example of why that anger has been misplaced.

In the first clip, retired wide receiver Jordy Nelson runs a fade route from his “Z” position. He gets a clean outside release but then simply lacks the foot speed to “stack” the defensive back. This doesn’t give Carr much room to fit in a pass and the ball falls incomplete.

Contrast that with the second play. Antonio Brown takes an outside release, stacks the defensive back, and even has the speed to get over the single high safety. This give the quarterback plenty of room to drop in the ball.

The coverages for this two plays were also basically identical, the only difference was there was no “buzz” defender in the middle of the field on Brown’s play as the defense sent a 5 man pressure. Carr loves to check to fade routes against single high man coverage, he now has the ultimate weapon to strike down field against this coverage.