The Layers Behind Sean McVay's Boot Game

Sean McVay and the Rams are known as one of the most creative offenses in all of football. But creativity is only half the story. McVay’s offense is built on a foundation of outside zone, and few staffs have been better at marrying that run with a productive boot game off the same action. When you commit a defense to fitting outside zone, the bootleg becomes the punishment for over-pursuit. The Rams live in that conflict.

What makes their boot game so hard to defend is the volume of answers packaged off one look. We’re going to break down the 4-5 core concepts the Rams build off their outside zone boot action, how each one attacks a different leverage point, and why they all read the same to the defense until it’s too late.

Flooded Concepts

This is your basic boot route set: an under, an over, and a vertical to stretch the defense. It has been in everyone’s playbook since the wing-t days, but the Rams use it as a base play to protect their outside zone scheme. When they feel those linebackers triggering a little too fast and those safeties pressing downhill too hard, they come right back with the boot game. The flood gives the quarterback a clean high-low on the flat defender and a built-in answer to whatever spot the over-pursuit leaves open.

Here’s a variation of the above where the jet motion receiver works almost like a wheel path off the play action, releasing back toward the flood. It is an interesting wrinkle, and we saw it enough on film to know it is a real part of the package and not a one-off. The motion man running the wheel adds a third level to the flood, which forces the flat defender to choose between the under route working across his face and the wheel climbing up the sideline behind him.

High/Low Concepts

The next evolution is a simple high-low two-man concept off the boot action. On this rep, the high-low stresses the overhang and the corner in Cover 3. The corner’s responsibility tells him to carry the deeper route, but the overhang got drawn in on the play action and vacated the flat. That leaves the underneath man wide open. The ball goes to the open receiver and they turn it into six.

Keep in mind that while this looks easy, it is not. Stafford delivers a perfect ball that lets the tight end catch it clean and turn upfield in stride to score. The concept creates the window, but the throw is what finishes it.

Same game, same play, almost same result.

Slider Concepts

The slider concept is a simple way to get a high-percentage boot throw to one of your more athletic players. Here the Rams motion him behind the line of scrimmage, then bring him back across the formation into the opposite flat. Combine that with run action going the other way and a backside tight end releasing vertical, and the Rams have schemed the exact player they want into open grass in the flat. It is not a game-breaking concept on paper, but it is a good one. Anytime you can get your best player the ball in space, good things tend to follow.

Creative Changeups

The Rams run tight end leak here, and the Seahawks do a nice job covering up that leak route as the tight end works underneath and turns vertical. But the stress of carrying the tight end up the field pulls the defender out of the picture and leaves the running back wide open in the flat. This is a smooth read by Stafford. He turns to take the shot, it is not there, and he resets so quickly and fires it out to the flat that it almost looks like the flat was his first read all along.

This is a great changeup off the flood concepts from earlier. It looks and feels like the receiver is running that deep over route, the safety works to cut it off, and then bang, the receiver snaps it back the opposite way and there is no defender to be found. Stafford could make this throw when he is 60. The result is six more points for the Rams.

Final Thoughts

Much like the last example, the boot game is about protecting the other elements of your offense. The boot protects the run, and the changeup protects the boot. It is layers built on layers, and that is exactly what makes the Rams so hard to defend. Every concept off this action looks the same to the defense until the ball is already gone.

That is the real lesson here for us as coaches. McVay is not winning because any single one of these routes is unstoppable. He is winning because the outside zone forces the defense to commit, the boot punishes that commitment, and the changeups punish the defense for finally adjusting to the boot. Each answer feeds the next. The defense is always a step behind because they are defending what they just saw, not what is coming.

You do not need Matthew Stafford to steal from this. The principle scales to any level. Pick the run you hang your hat on, build a boot off the same action to hold your second and third level defenders, and then carry one or two changeups for when the defense starts cheating those keys. Keep the picture identical and let the conflict do the work. That is how you turn one run concept into a package that scores points long after the defense thinks they have it figured out.