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Quick Reference
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Breakdown
Flood out of Trips Left Open (Pistol, 10 personnel) sends three receivers to the closed side to stack the field vertically at three levels. The backside X from the open side runs a deep comeback/dig away from the flood concept, giving you a two way go pass play. On the trips side the outside receiver runs a deep out or corner, the slot runs an intermediate out, and the innermost receiver runs a shallow flat route, creating a true high low low flood that stretches the cornerback, flat defender and deep third defender on one half of the field. This is a classic Cover 3 beater built to overload one zone with three routes stacked at different depths, and the primary read progression starts with the deepest route on the flood side before working down to the flat, using the backside comeback as your answer versus zone drops that flow hard toward the trips side.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and alignment: a single high safety shaded toward the trips side signals Cover 3 and tells you the flood concept has a numbers advantage on that side. Watch the cornerback over the outside trips receiver; if he sinks deep at the snap without help underneath, the flat and out routes will be wide open. Key the flat defender (usually a linebacker or slot corner) after the snap, since if he widens too far to take away the flat, the intermediate out route behind him becomes the window. If the defense rolls to two high safeties or shows Cover 4 quarters, expect the deep comeback on the backside X to be the more efficient throw since the flood side will have extra deep help. Watch for a user controlled lurk defender sitting in the intermediate zone on the trips side, since a smart Madden opponent will spy that area to jump the out route and bait the quarterback into a pick six read.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify if the defense is showing a single high safety or two high shell, since Flood is designed to punish single high Cover 3 zone drops where only one defender has to cover three levels. If you see man coverage with no deep help, be ready to hot route the flat route into a quick option or slide protection since the flood concept loses some value against tight man coverage. Use this play on early downs or third and short to medium when you expect zone drops, since the quick flat and out routes give you a high floor even if the defense rallies. Combine this call with Four Verticals or PA Verticals from the same set so the defense cannot sit on the flood concept, forcing them to respect vertical shots before you come back to this horizontal stretch. Against aggressive user blitzers, throw the flat route quickly to punish the blitz and set up Y Stick or Mesh Dig later in the drive once they start jumping the flood side routes.
