Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
PA End Around out of I Form Pro (21 personnel) shows a play-action fake to the HB before working three vertical/deep concepts. Off the fake, the X receiver runs a deep post-corner style route up the numbers (the gold vertical route breaking away from the formation), the TE releases vertically then breaks outside on a deep out/flag (the red route stemming up and out), and the Y or slot runs a shallow drag/flat route underneath into the boundary (the cyan route working across the formation). This is a shot play designed to beat man coverage on play-action, with the primary read starting at the TE's deep out breaking to the outside vertical, and the underneath drag as the checkdown if the deep routes are covered.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, identify single high versus two high safety alignment since this concept is built to punish single high man coverage. Watch linebacker depth at the snap, if they bite hard on the HB fake it opens up throwing lanes for both the TE breaking route and the drag underneath. Post-snap, key the deep safety's rotation, if he stays flat footed on the run fake the outside vertical and TE out route will be open behind him. Against Cover 3, user the flat or curl defender to jump the drag route since that is the first route the quarterback will look to on any coverage recognition delay. Beat this concept with a hard closing corner blitz or a Cover 2 shell that keeps two defenders deep, forcing the quarterback into the contested drag route as his only outlet.
Usage Tips
Use this on early downs like 1st and 10 or 2nd and short when the defense is keying run action from I Form personnel.
Check for single high safety pre-snap since the deep out and vertical combo stresses one deep defender across the width of the field.
If linebackers crash hard on the HB fake, immediately climb the pocket and look to the TE's breaking route since the play action will have frozen underneath defenders.
Pair this with 26 Duo, HB Blast, and HB Iso earlier in a drive to sell the run action and make the play-action fake more believable to defensive keys.
Use the cyan drag route as a built in checkdown against zone drops when the deep shots are not there, especially versus Cover 3 or Cover 4 shells.
