Playbooks
PA Power O out of the Maryland I in the Heavy set sells the Power O run action with pulling linemen before releasing into a play-action pass. This is a play-action shot play designed to punish downhill run fits and aggressive linebackers, using the heavy 32 personnel to disguise run versus pass at the snap. The primary read starts with the deep shot off the play fake, then works down to the intermediate crosser or flat option if the safety stays home, so your progression is deep to intermediate to check down against zone drops.
Man coverage with linebackers stepping up hard on run action is the biggest green light, this play eats zero blitz and man free looks. Watch for a single high safety rotating late, that is your key that the deep shot is live and the defense is respecting run first. If you see two high safeties holding depth pre-snap, this is a Cover 2 or Cover 4 shell and you should progress quickly to the intermediate or check down instead of forcing the deep ball. Post-snap, identify any user controlled defender sitting in a lurk spot over the middle, since that lurk can jump the crosser or the deep shot if the AI safety rotates away. Disciplined defenses that do not bite on the run fake and keep linebackers in zone drops with proper eye discipline can shut this down, so avoid calling this on early downs against teams that consistently show base zone looks with no run blitz tendency.
Run this off the same look as Power O and HB Lead Dive so linebackers respect the run fake and bite on the play action.
Use it on early downs like first and ten or second and short where run tendencies are highest and defenses key on stopping the run.
Check safety depth pre-snap: if you see a single high safety or safeties creeping into the box, this play has a high hit rate on the deep shot.
Hot route the underneath outlet to a quick out or flat route against teams that show Cover 3 or Cover 4 shells to give yourself a rhythm throw if the shot is not there.
Sequence this after two or three runs of Power O or HB Blast in the same drive so the linebackers start flowing hard on the snap, then hit them with this shot play to make them pay for over pursuing.