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Breakdown
Curl Y Corner out of the Full House Tight formation shows a five man pass concept built to attack zone coverage on the perimeter. Both outside receivers run curls that settle in the intermediate zones while the Y tight end works a corner route to the boundary, and the fullback runs a short check release flat route while the blocking back releases into a flat route on the opposite side to stretch the underneath defenders horizontally. The primary read progression starts with the Y corner route attacking the void behind the flat defender and in front of the deep half safety, then works down to the curls sitting in the soft spots of a zone shell, with the checkdown flat routes as the final outlet against a hard closing blitz.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, identify whether the safeties are showing two high or one high, since a two high shell tells you the corner route has more room to work against a shallow half safety. Check the flat defender alignment on the tight end side. If he widens with the fullback release, the Y corner route has a bigger throwing window behind him. Post-snap, watch for a user controlled defender sitting in the flat or curl zone trying to jump the route, since this play is vulnerable if the defense sinks a linebacker deep into the curl window. This concept struggles against aggressive man coverage with a deep safety help over the top of the Y corner route, since the tight end lacks a natural way to separate against tight press coverage. Watch linebacker depth at the snap. If they are creeping up expecting run action from the Full House look, the curls and corner route will have soft grass to sit in against a blitz oriented front.
Usage Tips
Use this play on second or third and medium when you expect a zone shell like Cover 3 or Cover 2 since the curls and corner route are designed to find soft spots rather than beat tight man leverage.
Read the flat defender before the snap. If a linebacker or corner is sitting shallow, the Y corner route will have a clean throwing lane behind him.
Hot route one of the curls into a flat or drag if you see a Cover 2 shell with two deep safeties, since this gives you an extra underneath conversion option against a cornerback squatting on the curl.
Pair this play with PA Ctr Waggle from the same set to keep linebackers honest on run action before coming back to this dropback concept later in a drive.
Use HB Slam or Power O early in a series to get defenders creeping toward the line of scrimmage, then call Curl Y Corner to expose linebackers who are too aggressive in run support and vacate the curl windows.
