Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Flanker Dig from Pistol Doubles lines up two receivers to the closed side and one receiver plus the inline TE to the open side, with the HB offset in the backfield. At the snap the flanker runs a deep dig across the middle at roughly 15 yards, the outside receiver on that side clears vertically as a deep cross/streak read, and the backside X runs a corner route that stretches the sideline off the numbers. The inline receiver on the strong side runs a shallow drag underneath while the HB releases into a curl in the flat, giving this concept both underneath and intermediate answers. This is a man beater built on the dig sitting down in the throwing window against man leverage, and it also works as a zone beater since the dig settles between the underneath linebackers and the deep half safety. Primary progression starts with the dig, then works to the corner route on the backside if the safety jumps the dig, and checks down to the shallow drag or HB flat as the outlet.
Defensive Reads
Bail on the dig against Cover 3 or Cover 4 shells since the deep half or deep third defenders can sink and undercut the throwing lane if the quarterback holds too long. Key the flat defender and the curl to hook linebacker relationship, if the flat defender widens with the HB the underneath drag and dig windows open up. Watch for a user controlled safety sitting in the middle of the field, this is the biggest threat to the dig route and forces the quarterback to progress to the backside corner. Blitz packages that bring pressure off the backside edge can beat this play if the offensive line is in a standard protection, since the dig takes time to cross the field. Man coverage with no safety help over the top gets exposed by the corner route to the backside, so check cornerback leverage before the snap to see if he is playing outside shade or inside shade.
Usage Tips
Look for single high safety alignment pre-snap since that tells you the dig has room to sit in the void before the safety can rotate over.
Motion or shift the HB pre-snap to identify if the defense is in man or zone based on whether a defender follows across the formation.
Hot route the shallow drag into a spot route against zone heavy defenses so it settles just past the first level of linebackers instead of drifting into a defender.
Use this on second and medium to third and long since the dig needs time to develop and the corner route provides a built in answer against man coverage rotation.
Pair this with Curl Flats or Slants earlier in a series to condition the defense to sit on shorter routes, then hit the dig for an explosive gain once linebackers start jumping underneath throws.
