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Breakdown
Stick out of Trips Left Open (Pistol, 10 personnel) shows a classic stick concept to the trips side paired with a backside dig-style breakoff. The outside receiver on the trips side runs a corner/flag route stemming to the sideline, the inside slot sticks his route at the sticks and turns outside (the stick route itself), and the backside single receiver runs an inside crossing route that flattens across the field. The lone X receiver aligned tight breaks vertically off the line before cutting hard toward the middle, giving you a true stick concept on one side and a shallow drag/crosser on the other, making this both a man beater (natural picks and leverage against man coverage) and zone beater (stick route sits in the flat/hook window against zone). Primary read progression starts with the stick route (inside conflict defender), then works to the corner route for a vertical shot, and comes back to the backside crosser as the outlet against zone or if the underneath defender jumps the stick.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and corner alignment on the trips side, if the corner is playing off with a deep safety over the top expect zone drops underneath that the stick route can exploit. Watch the flat or curl defender immediately after the snap, if he sinks with the stick route the window opens for the corner route behind him. Man coverage with no safety help over the trips side is a green light to trust the stick and crosser combo since the crosser will rub off trailing defenders. Beware disguised zone blitzes where the slot defender crashes downhill, since that removes the natural stick window and forces a quick decision to the backside crosser. A user controlled defender sitting in the shallow hook zone can jump the stick route, so look off that defender or use pump fakes before committing to the initial read.
Usage Tips
Use this on third and short to third and medium since the stick route settles right at the sticks for an easy conversion. Pre-snap, identify whether the defense is showing a single high shell or two high shell, if it is two high with soft corners the corner route on the trips side can be hot routed deeper or you can bait the flat defender with the stick before hitting the corner. Against man coverage, key on the backside crosser since it naturally picks off man defenders trailing the trips receivers. If you see a Mike or Sam linebacker walked up showing blitz, get the ball out quick to the stick route since it is the fastest breaking route in the concept. Pair this play with Y Stick or Flood from the same set to keep the defense guessing between quick stick throws and vertical shot plays, since both share similar initial receiver stems.
