2025 Packers: Pylon - Sail

Pylon – Sail is a member of the Flood family. It attacks the same landmarks, but with a slightly different purpose. The inclusion of the Pylon allows the offense to take the top off of the defense.

The Pylon route is a nice tweak to the more traditional flood concept from big splits. It brings the outside vertical in tight to start the play, also bringing in the break point for the route. Against single high cornerbacks that like to cheat & drive on Sail routes, the Pylon has the ability to make the defense pay.

The Sail route is the intermediate route. The receiver will take the path of the cleanest release, work up to 10 yards and break out. The final route depth is kept under 15 yards.

Whether to the boundary or the field, the Sail and Pylon should break inside the numbers. With both routes breaking on the same vertical plane, the cornerback/deep defender will have a much harder time falling off into the Sail window to help out.

The concept most often read as a hi-low on the flat player, with the Pylon as an alert.

The example below is taken from Game Planning with the 2024 Green Bay Packers.

The cutup below includes a creative variation from 21 personnel. With the fullback in shuffle motion, the play initially looks like a full flow Outside Zone call. The free release to the flat and play fake are good ways to pry open the Sail route.

The rest of the article contains the following:

• A creative Quads - Lead Swing variation

• 6-clip cutup from 2025.

  • An outstanding clip from week 8 showcasing the offense blocking up a creative pick stunt from the defense.

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