Playbooks
Playbook
Air Raid Classic Offense
OtherOffenseOverview
Air Raid Classic Offense is a 381 play specialty book that does one thing with total conviction: it lives in Shotgun. 348 of its plays (91 percent) come out of Shotgun across 18 separate sets, which is a concentration you simply do not get from a balanced team book. That volume is not padding either. At 381 plays it is larger than 96 percent of the game's 26 offensive specialty playbooks, so the depth inside those 18 Shotgun sets is real: Pass Play and Play Action concepts stacked on top of Spot, Flat, and Cover 3 Beater route combos, with Power Run, Counter, Dive, and Toss carries mixed in so the gun run game keeps second and long honest.
The remaining 9 percent is where the playbook gets interesting. Split Backs gives you 21 plays across 2 sets and only appears in 8 of the game's 236 playbooks, which means most online opponents have never had to defend it and cannot pattern match the backfield look on sight. Goal Line Offense adds 9 plays in a single set for short yardage and goal to go, including FB Dive, and Hail Mary contributes 3 plays across 2 sets for end of half and end of game situations. Personnel runs from 23 (2 RB, 3 TE, 0 WR) all the way to 10 (1 RB, 0 TE, 4 WR), with 11, 20, and 21 filling the middle, so you can swing from heavy to empty-adjacent looks without leaving the book.
What you get by choosing Air Raid Classic Offense over a team book is repetition and disguise inside one alignment family. Because nearly everything starts in Shotgun, your pre snap picture stays constant: same depth, same quarterback landmark, same protection reads, while the 18 sets rotate receiver splits and back alignment underneath. You are trading formation variety for route concept variety, and for a player who wants to master a handful of Spot and Flat reads and beat both man and zone off the same shell, that trade is heavily in your favor.
Scheme Fit
This playbook wants a quarterback with high throw power, accuracy under pressure, and quick release, because 91 percent of your snaps start in Shotgun and the ball has to come out against blitz looks that know you are passing. You need at least two receivers with strong route running and release ratings to win the Spot and Flat combos, a running back with solid catching and pass block so the Split Backs sets and 20 personnel looks stay honest, and a fullback or heavy tight end for the Goal Line Offense package and 23 personnel. Pick Air Raid Classic Offense if you are a pass first user who reads coverage well and would rather master 18 Shotgun sets in depth than juggle four formation families, and avoid it if your roster is built around a power back and under center play action.
Example Plays from this Playbook
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Strengths
- Eighteen Shotgun sets in one book means you can build an entire audible package where every play launches from the same pre snap look, so your protection ID, hot routes, and receiver adjustments carry over set to set without relearning a new backfield every call.
- Split Backs shows up in only 8 of the game's 236 playbooks, so the 21 plays across its 2 sets arrive as genuinely unfamiliar tape for most opponents, and the balanced two back alignment lets you motion either back to a wing or flat without tipping run or pass.
- Personnel range from 23 (2 RB, 3 TE, 0 WR) down to 10 (1 RB, 0 TE, 4 WR) lets you formation sub your best blocking tight end or a receiving back into heavy and empty looks while staying inside the same playbook, so no play call ever forces a substitution scramble.
- Spot, Flat, and Cover 3 Beater concepts sitting alongside Play Action inside the Shotgun family gives you a clean man beater and zone beater off matching stems, so a single motion read tells you which side of the combo to work.
- Goal Line Offense provides a dedicated 9 play set including FB Dive, which means the 91 percent Shotgun book still has a true under center short yardage answer instead of settling for a gun dive at the one.
Weaknesses
- At 91 percent Shotgun, a user defender who commits to gun looks all game is right almost every snap, so pre snap safety rotation and linebacker depth get set against you before the ball moves.
- There is no traditional Singleback or I Form presence in the book at all, which strips out the play action rollout menu and the downhill under center run game that punishes defenses playing two high against a gun heavy offense.
- Only 9 plays sit in Goal Line Offense across a single set, so once an opponent sees FB Dive and the handful of accompanying calls, your goal to go package becomes very predictable inside the five.
- Split Backs is only 21 plays across 2 sets, so its surprise value burns off fast if you lean on it every drive rather than saving it for third and medium or as a changeup.
- Power, Power Run, Counter, Toss, and Dive all have to be run largely out of Shotgun, which means slower handoff timing and more chances for a nano blitz or interior A gap pressure to meet the back at the mesh point.
Usage Tips
Build your primary audible package entirely from three or four Shotgun sets so you can flip between a Spot concept, a Flat concept, a Cover 3 Beater, and a Power Run without ever leaving the huddle look, and reserve one audible slot for a quick game answer on third and short.
Save Split Backs for third and three to third and seven, when the two back alignment forces the defense to honor both a check release and an inside run, and motion one back across before the snap to read man coverage.
Call Play Action out of Shotgun only after you have shown Power Run or Counter from the same set on the previous series, since the 91 percent Shotgun rate means your play action sells off run tendency, not off formation change.
Go to Goal Line Offense inside the three yard line and use FB Dive as your base call, then use the remaining plays in that single set as your counter punch rather than trying to run gun concepts in the tightest red zone spacing.
Keep Hail Mary strictly for the final snap of a half or game with 3 plays across 2 sets available, and practice the Goal Post look so you know your jump ball landmark before the clock forces the call.
Formations in this playbook
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