Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 2 playbooks
Breakdown
Bench out of the Pistol East Tight set is a three level route concept built off a two receiver look to the left and a single receiver bench route to the right. The left side runs a deep corner route from the outside receiver stacked over an out breaking route from the slot, creating a natural high low stretch on that side, while the boundary receiver to the right runs a quick out and the inside receiver climbs vertically before breaking outside on a deep comeback style bench route. This is a man beater concept, since the outside stacked routes on the left create natural rub and separation leverage while the bench route on the right settles into space against trailing corners. The primary read progression starts with the deep out on the right (the bench route) against soft corners or blitz looks, then works to the left side flat route underneath, and finally to the deep corner route as a shot play if the safety bites on shorter routes.
Defensive Reads
Read the corner over the bench route first, if he sits low and jumps the out route, look to the deep corner route on the opposite side for the explosive play. Check linebacker depth at the snap, shallow linebackers who crash toward the flat route on the left open up the deep corner route behind them. Watch for user controlled lurk defenders sitting in the throwing lane of the flat route, since that route is the most vulnerable to a jumped throw in zone coverage. Man coverage with no safety help over the top on the left stack gets beat consistently by the corner route due to the natural rub. Cover 3 with a hard sink from the flat defender can take away the underneath flat route, forcing the quarterback to hold the ball longer and climb the pocket to find the bench route or corner route.
Usage Tips
Use this play on second and long or third and medium when you need a designed man beater with a built in deep shot option. Pre-snap, check for man coverage indicators like corners playing tight with no safety help over the top on the left side stack, since that side is where the rub concept does the most damage. If you see two high safeties sitting deep, hot route the flat route on the left into a shallow drag to speed up your first read against zone drops. Combine this play with HB Stretch or HB Zone Wk from the same East Tight set to keep run and pass action looking identical pre-snap, forcing linebackers to hesitate on run fits. Against blitz heavy defenses, get the ball out fast on the bench route to the right since it is the quickest developing route in the concept and beats aggressive underneath pressure.
