Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Scat out of Pistol Strong Slot Open is a five man route concept built to attack the perimeter and stretch the field vertically on both sides. The X receiver runs an angled dig/drag toward the middle as a hot man beater, the two receivers to the strong side run a wheel and go route combo up the sideline while the slot underneath runs a quick out and up, and the backside receiver runs a corner route flaring to the boundary. There is no protection detail shown beyond the five blockers at the line, meaning this is a straight drop back pass concept designed to isolate coverage with the two vertical routes on the strong side while giving the quarterback an underneath check down against the red angle route if the top of the defense collapses.
Defensive Reads
Watch the strong side safety pre-snap: if he is shaded over the two vertical routes, expect a two high shell rotating to cover the wheel and go, so look to the angle route or backside corner route instead. Post-snap, key the flow of the linebackers: if they widen with the wheel route it opens up the underneath angle route for an easy completion against man coverage. Man coverage with no safety help over the top gets exposed by the double vertical release since one defender cannot leverage both routes on the strong side. Cover 3 zone defenders sinking hard to the deep third can be beaten by the corner route sitting in the void behind the underneath zone but in front of the deep defender. If the defense shows a heavy blitz look pre-snap with linebackers crashing downhill, expect the quarterback to go to the quick angle route as the built in answer against pressure.
Usage Tips
Use this against single high shells since the two vertical routes on the strong side put maximum stress on one deep defender to cover the numbers and the seam simultaneously.
Read the corner and safety leverage before the snap: if the corner sits inside expecting help, throw the wheel to the boundary early before the safety can rotate over.
Hot route the angle route into a quicker option against zone heavy defenses so you have an outlet if the vertical routes are blanketed by a two high shell.
Pair this with HB Dive or Inside Zone Split on early downs to keep the defense honest against the run, then call Scat on second and long once you have shown run tendencies from the same personnel.
Best called on second and medium to long or third and long where you need a explosive vertical shot but still want a checkdown to avoid a sack.
