Playbooks

Franchise Playsheet

Trap House

PlaysheetDefense

2Formations

4Sets

23Plays

Overview

Trap House is a 23 play situational playsheet built around one idea: put six defensive backs on the field and make the offense prove it can run. Dime accounts for 16 of the 23 plays (70%) spread across three sets, while Nickel 4-2-5 carries the remaining 7 plays (30%) from a single set. That is an extremely top heavy distribution for a defensive playsheet, and it means almost every call you make is coming out of a sub package with either one or two true linebackers on the field. There is no base 4-3, no 3-4, no goal line, no Dollar or Quarter. What you get instead is depth inside a narrow window.

The concept list tells you how those personnel groups are meant to be used. Cover 1, Cover 1 Robber Press, Double Wr1 and Man Coverage give you the press man foundation. Cover 3, Cov 3 Buzz Match WK, Cover 9 and general Zone Coverage give you the match and pattern read answers. Then Blitz, Edge Blitz, LB Blitz, Zero Blitz, Cover 0 and Simulated Pressure let you bring heat from two very different fronts: Big Dime 4-1-6 with four down linemen and a single linebacker, and Big Dime 2-3-6 with two down and three off ball bodies. Those two Dime fronts look nothing alike pre-snap, which is the real value here. You can show the same six DB shell and rush from completely different angles.

Choosing Trap House over a fuller franchise defensive book means accepting that you will never call a heavy front and instead committing to winning on coverage volume and disguise. The payoff is that all 23 plays live in personnel groups you can flip between without a substitution tell, and the Simulated Pressure and Cover 9 additions mean you are not forced to choose between rushing five and playing a real coverage shell. This is a third down and two minute drill playsheet that happens to be your whole book.

Scheme Fit

Trap House needs six coverage capable defensive backs, not four starters and two backups, because the third safety and both slot corners are on the field for 70 percent of your calls. It also demands one elite range linebacker who can survive as the lone off ball defender in Big Dime 4-1-6, plus at least one edge defender who wins one on one so your Edge Blitz and Simulated Pressure calls create pressure without extra rushers. Pick this playsheet if you user a defensive back or a deep safety, like to disguise coverage from identical shells, and face pass heavy opponents. Avoid it if your roster is built on interior defensive linemen and thumper linebackers or if your league runs the ball.

Playsheet bonuses

IUnlocks the playsheet
II+3Man Coverage, Play Recall CB
III+3Zone Coverage, Play RecCB
IV+7Catch, Play RecDefensive Backs

Every play in this playsheet (23 plays)

Dime 2-3-66 plays

Dime 2-3-6 Will6 plays

Dime 3-2 Swap Dbl Mug4 plays

Nickel Over7 plays

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Strengths

Seventy percent Dime concentration across three sets means you can rotate Big Dime 4-1-6 and Big Dime 2-3-6 all game without a personnel change, so the offense never gets a substitution read on whether pressure or a match zone is coming.
Big Dime 4-1-6 and Big Dime 2-3-6 present four down and two down looks from the same six DB personnel, which lets you disguise Zero Blitz and Cover 0 behind the same alignment you show Cov 3 Buzz Match WK from.
Six defensive backs on nearly every call means your hot route and coverage adjustment menu is deep: you can lock a slot, drop a safety to robber depth off Cover 1 Robber Press, or bail an outside corner into a Cover 3 rotation without ever pulling a linebacker off the field.
The Simulated Pressure and Cover 9 inclusions let you fake pressure and still keep a four under three deep structure, an answer most heavy franchise books have to build with manual hot routes.
Nickel 4-2-5 as the only non Dime set makes it a clean audible anchor: one button gets you a second linebacker for run support without hunting through a formation list.

Weaknesses

Zero base defense personnel in the entire playsheet. With only Big Dime 4-1-6, Big Dime 2-3-6 and Nickel 4-2-5 available, an opponent who motions into heavy sets and runs inside zone has a light box on every snap.
Big Dime 4-1-6 leaves one true linebacker on the field, so checkdowns to a receiving back and inside crossers are chronically uncovered if your user defender is playing deep.
Twenty three plays is a small library, and 16 of them come from a single formation family. Opponents who play you repeatedly will start recognizing your Dime shells by alignment and attack the vacated area.
Nickel 4-2-5 carries only 7 plays from one set, which is thin for a run down package and forces you into the same handful of calls on second and short.
Heavy on man and blitz concepts (Cover 1, Man Coverage, Double Wr1, Cover 0, Zero Blitz, Edge Blitz, LB Blitz) means smart mesh and drag route combos plus quarterback scrambles hurt you badly when the rush does not arrive.

Usage Tips

Build your audible package with Big Dime 4-1-6 as the primary, Big Dime 2-3-6 as the pressure alternate and Nickel 4-2-5 as the run check. That covers all four sets in this playsheet in one menu.

Live in Big Dime 4-1-6 on third and seven plus. The four man front gets natural rush without committing bodies, and Cover 1 Robber Press or Cover 9 behind it handles both the sit route and the vertical.

Use Big Dime 2-3-6 when you want Zero Blitz, Cover 0 or Edge Blitz to look like something else. The two down front gives you three off ball defenders whose blitz angles are hard to identify pre-snap.

Check to Nickel 4-2-5 on any first and ten with two tight ends or a fullback on the field. It is the only set in this book with a second linebacker, and you need it before the snap, not after.

Call Cov 3 Buzz Match WK and the other Cover 3 and Zone Coverage plays on second and long and in two minute situations where your man heavy concepts will get beaten by tempo and stacked releases.