Go Route: Release, Stack the Defender, Track the Deep Ball
Updated · Fact checked
The go route is the 9 in the common route tree and the easiest one to draw: run straight down the field at full speed. It carries a lot of names. The Scouting Academy lists fly, vertical, 9-route and streak. Matt Bowen's route tree files the 9 under fade, with go, fly and clear-out as other terms, and his National Football Post playbooks draw it as a clear-out 9 (fade).
Easy to draw is not easy to win. A go route is a release, then a race, then a catch, and you have to win all three.
- Route tree number
- 9
- Breaks
- Straight upfield
- Play Designer drawn extent
- 22 yards (drawn default; your playbook may differ)
- In one line
- Vertical down the sideline
- Also called
- fly, streak, vertical, 9 route, fade, clear-out
How to run the go route
Close the cushion
Before you work any release, eat up the grass between you and the defender, press or off.
Win the release
Against press, attack one half of the defender and get vertical on a tight path. Against an off corner, attack the defender's midline to preserve a two-way release.
Stack the defender
Work to put the defender directly behind you as you climb.
Drive and separate
Keep your eyes and shoulders downfield until your yard mark, building to top speed, then look up for the ball.
Track and finish
Stay tight, feel the defender with your off shoulder, adjust to where the ball is thrown and attack it at the catch point.
It has to look like every other route
With no break, the threat is the whole point. Kelsey Pope, writing for the AFCA, gives developing receivers one piece of advice above the rest: make everything look the same off the ball, regardless of your assignment. He turns it into a weapon too. An inside stem usually tells a defensive back a break is coming, like a curl or a dig, so running a vertical off that same stem can catch the defender guessing.
The go route also earns its keep when the ball goes elsewhere. The Scouting Academy notes it is often used as a decoy to draw deep defenders and clear space for another receiver; in its Cover 2 example, a straight vertical route occupied both the cornerback and the safety on that side. The Play Designer's concepts use it the same way, with the outside receiver running vertical in Y-Cross to clear the deep defender. Its diagram draws the go to 22 yards, which is just where the drawing stops, not a depth to settle at.
Win the line of scrimmage
Pope's rule number one for winning vertically is that you must win at the line of scrimmage. Close the distance to the defender before you start any release, press or off. Against press, attack one half of the defender instead of their midline. Rep it against a coach with a hand shield in the press release drill.
Don't swing wide to dodge contact. Pope warns that receivers who run a hump to avoid the defender usually get squeezed to the sideline, or let the defender work back to good leverage. Stay tight and get vertical.
Stack, then drive
After the release, press or off, Pope wants you working to stack the defender, which he defines as putting them directly behind you. Once you have it, drive and separate like a sprinter in the drive phase, eyes and shoulders downfield. Pope gives receivers a yard mark to reach before looking up for the ball, because it is hard to hit top speed while looking back with your shoulders open. In 440's receiver plan, top-end speed is the job of the flying 10.
If you can't win the stack, hold your line. Pope writes that defensive backs are coached to squeeze receivers to the sideline, and an active off arm, fighting pressure with pressure, helps you save enough grass for a throw you can adjust to and still stay in bounds.
Tracking and finishing the deep ball
At the catch point, track the throw and attack the ball. Adjust to outside-shoulder, back-shoulder and underthrown passes while maintaining legal body position. Do not push off, hold or drive through an established defender to create separation. Practice contact techniques with a qualified coach under your league's rules. The contested catch drill builds the same habit: go up for the ball at its highest point instead of waiting for it.
Expect most of these throws to fall incomplete. PFF's charting of the 2021 to 2025 NFL seasons found go balls completed only 29.4% of the time, but the completions averaged 33.9 yards. Wide receivers secured 36.4% of contested targets on go routes, which PFF says is the third-highest rate of any route, and its read is that go routes heavily reward receivers who can win contested catches.
What the coverage is doing
In Cover 3, the Scouting Academy notes, the outside cornerbacks effectively play man-to-man against vertical routes, so the corner is running with you. In Cover 1 there is one free safety in the middle, and offenses often attack it with fade routes because that safety has a long way to go to reach the sideline. PFF adds that cornerbacks generally dislike defending passes while sprinting at full speed with their backs to the quarterback. The other side of this race is on the defensive back hub, and the receiver plan is on the wide receiver hub.
Pass concepts that use the go
Plays in the Play Designer's concept library with a go in them. Open one to see the whole play and edit your own copy.
- Flood (Sail)Three levels to one side: go, corner, flat.Open
- MeshTwo shallow crossers create a natural rub versus man.Open
- Four VerticalsFour receivers stretch the deep zones.Open
- Y-CrossTE crosses deep behind linebackers with a vertical clearing.Open
- StickTE option stem with a flat: read the first defender inside.Open
- LevelsTwo digs at different depths off one side.Open
- DriveShallow cross underneath a dig from the same side.Open
- DaggerSeam clears the safety; a dig works behind the linebackers.Open
- Shallow CrossA shallow one way, a dig the other: rub plus a level.Open
FAQ
Is a go route the same as a fly or streak route?
Yes. The Scouting Academy lists fly, vertical, 9-route and streak as other names for the go route. It separates the go, which runs along one side of the field, from the seam route, which runs up the middle.
When should I look back for the ball on a go route?
After you have driven and separated. Pope's coaching is to reach a set yard mark with your eyes and shoulders downfield before looking up, because turning to look early opens your shoulders and makes top speed hard to reach.
How do you beat press coverage on a go route?
Close the distance first, attack one half of the defender instead of their midline, and get vertical without a wide path. The AFCA's Pope puts winning at the line of scrimmage first.
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- ITP Glossary: Go Route (Mark Schofield, Oct 17, 2015), The Scouting Academy / Inside The Pylon
- NFL 101: Breaking Down the Basics of the Route Tree (Matt Bowen, Apr 4, 2014), Bleacher Report
- What is a 'Dino' route? (Matt Bowen, Jul 3, 2012), National Football Post
- Playbook: Breaking down the 'Levels' concept (Matt Bowen, Jul 14, 2012), National Football Post
- Winning Vertically at the WR Position (Kelsey Pope, Aug 22, 2023), American Football Coaches Association (AFCA)
- ITP Glossary: Cover 2 (Nov 16, 2015), The Scouting Academy / Inside The Pylon
- General Principles of Pass Interference (PI), Rule 7-5-10 (NFHS rules guidance), Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA)
- NFL route analysis: The most and least effective routes over the last five years (Daire Carragher, Jul 23, 2026), PFF
- ITP Glossary: Cover 3 (Mark Schofield and Dave Archibald, Dec 9, 2015), The Scouting Academy / Inside The Pylon
- ITP Glossary: Cover 1 (Sep 30, 2015), The Scouting Academy / Inside The Pylon
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