Air Raid Offense In American Football

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The air raid offense, arguably one of the greatest offenses ever invented because in just 24 years since its existence, it has already been responsible for 8 NCAA national championships and over 100,000 passing yards at the division one level (Johnson). The air raid offense is referring to an offensive scheme used in American football. This scheme in particular is extremely pass heavy when compared to most other schemes used in the sport of American football. It’s pass heavy in terms of the ratio between how often the offense throws the ball to how often the offense runs the ball. In an air raid offense it is not uncommon for a team to throw the ball as much as much as 75% of the time in a single football game (Johnson). This percentage is …show more content…
This is unlike typical passing routes that usually have set routes for the receivers learn to follow like a map Benson). In the air raid offense the receivers have a general route that they may choose to alter depending on what the defense is doing. This allows for more completions by the quarterback because it allows the receivers to get more open (Benson). An example of this could be a receiver deciding to run a five yard quick hitch instead of a ten yard slant if the defender is playing ten or more yards off of him (Benson). The passing ideology of the air raid offense mostly consists of short yard passes with several crossing routes and a few long routes. The air raid offense is designed for short high percentage passes to increase their odds of getting a first down (Benson). Receivers also know how to run each play on both sides of the field meaning that they know two routes in case the play is flipped. This helps the offense because it allows the offense to stay where they are on an audibled flip play without changing sides because they know each play both ways (Benson). This also helps them keep their fast paced no huddle