The NFL is complicated. Playbooks are Encyclopedia thick, most verbiage sounds like a foreign language, and sleeping in your office seemingly a requirement for any coordinator. But it doesn’t always have to be. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ solution to getting the ball into Antonio Brown’s hands is a simple one. They’re using the easiest concept in football to understand.
It’s a slant/flat combination route, sometimes referred to as a “Dragon” route because of the drag (slant) and out (flat) combination. A design meant to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hand quick, a three step drop, with a simple half-field read.