It can be a cruel old business the NFL. Sometimes players are cut loose from teams with a pretty clear indication that they simply don't value them any longer, and that's what happened to Stanford Routt when Oakland's new regime of Reggie McKenzie came to town. Routt was seen as symptomatic of an Al Davis era that had inflated contracts for players that had no chance of playing to them. While Routt was never a bad player, the new management knew he was never an elite one either, so tossed him and his contract to the curb.
He went on to sign a pretty healthy 3-year, $18m contract with the Chiefs, but when the Raiders came to town this week they decided to hammer home exactly how they felt about their former employee. If Routt was in any doubt about how the new regime felt when they unceremoniously dumped him in the off-season, he got some pretty sharp clarification in this game.
Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer attempted just 28 passes in the game, and ten of those were into Routt's coverage. An eleventh, a batted pass at the line, was also heading for Routt's coverage on a slant pattern before it was taken down at the line. Routt played the majority of his snaps at right corner, the side least often targeted by quarterbacks because it is on their blind side, so there is no doubt that this was a premeditated game plan by Oakland. It adds up to a massive 39.3% of all balls the Raiders put in the air heading in the direction of Routt, a player they obviously felt wasn't just overpaid, but had enough flaws that they could ruthlessly exploit in this game.
But how did that work out? Over those ten targets (discounting the pass batted at the line), Routt allowed six receptions for 130 yards and two touchdowns, but the longest play in the bunch was a wide receiver screen that went for 58 yards where he was accounted for in the blocking, and so could only have a limited effect on. He also intercepted a pass and broke another up.
Setting the Tone – Oakland @ Kansas City | 1st Q, 15:00
Outcome:
Oakland set their stall out from the first play of the game, aiming deep into Routt's coverage, getting picked off by their former corner.
Analysis:
The Raiders clearly came into this game with the intention of going after Routt, with Carson Palmer telling Kevin Harlan before the game that they felt he had some weaknesses and tendencies they could exploit, but this play demonstrates that there was something more to it than that.
Oakland lined up in an offset I-formation, with a receiver to either side of the formation out wide. The Chiefs were in their base defense, but SS Eric Berry was lined up eight yards deep on the strong side of the formation, away from Routt's side. Both corners were in press-man coverage and essentially on an island, but the alignment of Berry shows that the intent to go after Routt was not an honest read on this play. Berry's positioning means that his side of the field was wide open, leaving the corner to that side, Brandon Flowers, on a legitimate island against his receiver. To Routt's side free safety Kendrick Lewis was still in position over the top in his coverage shell, and makes that throw a much smaller window to fit in.
Still, Palmer and the Raiders want to make a point, and they go right after Routt anyway, passing up the more beneficial matchup on the open side to do so. Routt plays press-bail technique, backing off in parallel with Darius Heyward-Bey as he runs straight off the line and Palmer puts the ball up. He gets pressure coming from the left side of the line which hampers him in stepping through the throw and might make it hang up a little more than he wanted, but in truth Routt is in good position all the way through this play and makes a great play on the ball, going up over DHB while the Raiders receiver waits for the ball to drop over his shoulder for the catch.
The Raiders wanted to make a statement on the first snap of the game, but it was Routt that drew first blood in the encounter.
Routt Gets Away With It – Oakland @ Kansas City | 2nd Q, 9:04
Outcome:
On 3rd and 3 the Raiders take another deep shot at Routt, this time he breaks the pass up, forcing a punt.
Analysis:
Oakland clearly felt they could exploit some of Routt's tendencies, and this play is a great one to highlight because even though Routt breaks it up, you can see what Oakland liked about the matchup. This time the Raiders have forced the Chiefs into nickel defense, more because of the situation than the personnel sent out. Again Routt finds himself on an island at right corner, this time against Denarius Moore.
Once more Routt plays this initially extremely well. He opens quickly to the sideline and maintains position on the Raiders speedster, squeezing him towards the sideline and giving Palmer no window to throw the ball into. From the coverage alone there was nothing to say this ball should have been thrown, but between wanting to go after Routt and giving his receiver a chance to make a play, Palmer put the ball up anyway.
As the ball comes down Moore tries to fight across Routt's body to make the catch and at the last second the corner is able to swing his arm up and deflect it away. Though this was excellent coverage initially from Routt and he ends up deflecting the ball away, what would scare coaches, and why the Raiders might have liked the matchup, is that at no point does he turn and locate the football. When you watch great man-cover corners they do exactly what Routt did in the initial part of this play, but once they have contact on the receiver and are riding him up the sideline, they turn to find the football and become the receiver themselves. If you don't find the football you run the risk of being flagged as the receiver looks to adjust and often tries to come through the defensive back, resulting in contact deemed pass interference.
Routt got lucky with the timing of this play that there wasn't more contact before the ball arrived, but even so he was relying on his reactions to swat it away once it arrived and judging Moore's reactions to the ball rather than playing it himself. Routt has the speed and man skills to match up with any receiver, but he doesn't always locate the football and that still makes him vulnerable deep, something the Raiders obviously knew.
The Payoff – Oakland @ Kansas City | 3rd Q, 5:49
Outcome:
On 2nd and 8 the Raiders take advantage of all the set-up work the deep shots had done, hitting Heyward-Bey for a quick hitch that turns into a 32-yard touchdown.
Analysis:
By this point in the game the Raiders had been scaring Routt deep. He may be among the faster corners in the NFL, but Oakland still has speed at receiver that even he needs to respect, and they had shown an aggressive relentlessness in going after him deep, so you can't blame Routt for being scared into backing off more than he should have. This play was the payoff for the Raiders as they took advantage of that.
Again Routt is in press-bail technique, which doesn't help his cause on this play. It is an awkward technique to get right, because the corner turns immediately and tries to run with the receiver with a kind of a crossover step , rather than turning and running with him with the benefit of inside leverage as in press-man coverage. On this occasion instead of running deep, Hayward-Bay just runs to the first down markers and breaks off his route into a hitch, stopping and looking for the ball that is already in the air.
Routt is late reacting to the stop and is a good four yards away from the receiver when he makes the catch, enough space to make closing for the tackle a dangerous prospect. He has already given up the first down, but he fails to recognize the inside move from the receiver after the catch and winds up diving for, and missing, one leg in an attempted tackle. That blown tackle turns a first down play into a touchdown, putting the game firmly in Oakland's pocket, and the yards after the catch went a long way towards vindicating the approach that the Raiders had taken all game long. Routt hadn't been beaten badly before this point in the game, but the cumulative effect of the relentless assault on his coverage had clearly left him playing conservatively, and the extra cushion he afforded the receiver on this play was his downfall.
Though Oakland didn't get any joy out of the deep shots they rained down on Routt, they did use them to set up a short route which was opened up by the loose coverage created by the threat of the deep pass.
In the end the Raiders got the better of the exchange with their old corner, but Routt played well enough, and made enough plays to suggest that the approach taken by his former team was a little over the top. Maybe they would gain the edge by mercilessly going after him all game, but probably no more than if they had just spread the ball around with honest reads and sound offense.
Follow Sam on Twitter: @PFF_Sam, and follow our graphics wizard @PFF_Rick
© 2025 PFF - all rights reserved.