Commanders Y-Cross Concepts

A deeper look at how Kliff Kingsbury still uses variations of Air Raid classics.

The Washington Commanders have been one of the surprise stories this season, with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels at the helm and Kliff Kingsbury calling plays. One of the key concepts to their offensive success has been variations of the Y-Cross concept. While Y-Cross has been a mainstay in many Air Raid systems, the way Kingsbury has paired it with other concepts and Daniels’ efficient execution has made it a go-to play that consistently generates completions for the Commanders.

What is the Y-Cross Concept?

The concept is known as Y-Cross in the Air Raid system because the Y is who primarily runs the Deep crossing drag. As you will see in this article, any receiver can run the crossing route.

The primary design of this play is to attack the weak safety, or safety away from the crossing route. If the safety helps with the front-side combination, the cross will have space to work open. If he plays the cross, then the quarterback will have the frontside combination or the backside dig (or curl/flat in most cases) to work.

Paid Subscribers get 4 variations of Y-Cross plus All-22 and EZ film of each concept.