Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 1 playbook
Breakdown
Slants out of Full House Normal Wide is a quick-hitting man beating pass concept built around two outside receivers running slants from the numbers and a slot receiver crossing the field on a deep dig that settles behind the linebackers. The HB releases up the middle on a vertical seam read against the box, giving the quarterback a built-in check down if both slants and the dig get taken away. The primary read progression starts with the boundary slant to the side of your protection call, moves to the crossing dig as the second read, and finishes with the HB seam as the checkdown against a blitz look.
Defensive Reads
Read the flat defenders first: if they sink hard into the slant lanes at the snap, that is a strong indicator of zone coverage and you should look to the dig or HB seam instead. Watch linebacker depth before the snap, shallow linebackers signal man coverage or blitz, which favors the quick slant throws. Identify any nano blitz look on the interior; if the middle linebacker or slot defender shows blitz, the HB seam becomes a hot checkdown against pressure. This play struggles against a hard Cover 2 shell with corners playing press outside technique, since the slants get squeezed into the underneath zone defenders. User controlled lurk defenders sitting in the shallow middle zone can jump the crossing dig route, so track the user defender's positioning before committing to that throw.
Usage Tips
Use this play on 3rd and short to medium since the slants sit down quickly and give the quarterback a rhythm throw versus man coverage.
Check the pre snap alignment of the corners: if they are playing outside shade with no safety help over the top, hot route the far side slant into a quicker breaking route to beat the jam.
Against man coverage look immediately to the crossing dig route since it creates natural separation off the slant traffic near the line of scrimmage.
Pair this play with HB Sweep or HB Draw earlier in a series to get linebackers flowing downhill, then come back to Slants to hit the dig behind a hesitant second level.
If the defense shows Cover 3 or a zone shell, throw off your play action rollout tag if available or take the checkdown to the HB seam rather than forcing the slant into a hard flat defender.
