Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 2 playbooks
Breakdown
Dash Flood is a Pistol pass concept out of 12 personnel that stacks three routes to one side to overload the deep, intermediate and shallow zones of a cornerback and any underneath defender in that flood zone. The backside receiver runs a deep post-breaking route across the field, while the frontside stack releases a deep out that breaks toward the sideline, a corner-breaking route sitting underneath it, and a shallow drag or flat route from the inline TE that stretches the field horizontally. This is a classic Cover 3 beater because it stacks routes vertically at three levels, but the true progression starts with the deepest out breaking route, works down to the intermediate corner route, and finishes with the flat/drag as the checkdown.
Defensive Reads
Key the flat defender and curl to flat zone defender first, since they determine whether the deep out or the corner route will be open. Watch the cornerback's initial jump; if he sinks with the deep out, the underneath corner route sits in the honey hole against Cover 3. Man coverage with press alignment on the outside receiver is vulnerable here because the deep out stresses the sideline before the defender can recover, so look for cushion at the snap. Blitz packages that bring five or six rushers can shut this down quickly if the quarterback does not get through his first read fast, so watch for overload pressure from the flood side pre-snap. Two deep safety shells with a robber or lurk defender sitting in the shallow drag/flat area can jump the checkdown route, so avoid relying on that route as a bailout versus Cover 2 or Cover 4 looks.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify whether the corner to the flood side is playing off or press, since a deep out route needs cushion to work versus press man. Look for single high safety alignment before the snap, as that confirms Cover 3 or Cover 1 and tells you the flood concept will have a natural void in the deep third. If the defense shows two deep safeties, be ready to hot route the corner route into a deeper break or check into DBL Post from this same set for a better shot play. Use Dash Flood on 2nd and medium to 2nd and long, since the multiple levels give the quarterback time to work through reads without needing to force a throw into a tight window. Pair this play with PA Flood Out or PA Boot later in a series so the defense has to respect both the drop back flood look and the play action flood look from the same personnel and formation.
