Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Stutter Go's out of I Form Close (21 personnel) shows both outside receivers running stutter go routes up the sideline, stemming vertical then hitching to freeze the corner before exploding back deep. The TE (yellow route from the slot area) runs an out and up, breaking outside then climbing vertical to attack the same area as the outside go route, creating a natural high low stack on the boundary. The fullback releases on a shallow drag/flat route (blue) that crosses the field underneath everything, giving the quarterback a checkdown against a soft zone or a blitz. This is a play action style deep shot concept built to beat man coverage: read the stutter go route to the side of single high safety or a corner playing tight man first, work to the TE out and up on the same side as your second read, and dump off to the crossing flat route underneath if both verticals are covered.
Defensive Reads
Watch the corner's press technique pre snap, if he is playing off with outside shade he can sit on the stutter and stuff the go route, so this concept struggles against disciplined off man or Cover 4 quarters shells with safety help over the top. Key the single high safety, if he stays home in the middle of the field on Cover 3 the stutter go on the far side from the safety has the best window since he cannot get to both sidelines. User the flat or curl defender to jump the TE's out and up route, since the break at the top of that route is the primary throwing window the offense wants and jumping it early kills the concept. Bring an overload blitz off the edge to the fullback's release side, since he is the only underneath blocker and cannot account for extra rushers, forcing a quick inaccurate throw before the double moves develop. Play Cover 2 with corners sinking into the deep half to take away both stutter go routes and force the quarterback into the low value checkdown to the fullback.
Usage Tips
Call this on 2nd or 3rd and long when you need an explosive play and the defense is likely to sit in man coverage or press. Check the corner alignment pre snap: if you see press man or a corner cheating inside on the stutter route, throw hot to the opposite go route since the stutter move is designed to break ankles on aggressive man corners. Use the TE out and up as a hole shot answer against Cover 3 or Cover 4 shells where the flat defender bites on the out portion of the route. Motion the fullback into the flat route pre snap to scout blitz, if a linebacker follows him across the formation you know you have man coverage underneath and can trust the deep shots. Sequence this with HB Zone Toss or Power O earlier in a series so linebackers step up on run action, then hit Stutter Go's off a similar formation look to catch the safety cheating downhill.
