Playbooks

China Double In

Shotgun·Ace Slot Offset·12
InPass Play

Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

In 3 playbooks

Raiders OffenseOffenseMUT CPU Passes OffenseOffenseNFL Live Raiders OffenseOffense

Breakdown

China Double In is a dual in-breaking route concept out of Shotgun Ace Slot Offset with 12 personnel, designed to attack the middle of the field with two in routes stacking horizontally at different depths. The blocking scheme keeps the back in to protect or leaks him late as a checkdown, giving the quarterback a clean pocket to work through his reads against man or zone coverage. This is a man beater at its core thanks to the natural rub potential of the double in concept, but it also holds up against zone due to the way it settles receivers into the intermediate throwing lanes. The primary read progression starts with the deeper in route, works down to the shallow in route sitting underneath, and finishes with the checkdown to the back if both ins are covered.

Defensive Reads

Check for two high safeties pre-snap, since split safety shells like Cover 2 and Cover 4 tend to leave a soft window between the hash marks that the deeper in route can settle into. Watch linebacker depth at the snap, shallow dropping linebackers in Cover 3 or Tampa 2 will sit right on top of the underneath in route and bait a turnover if the quarterback rushes his read. Identify man coverage by seeing if defenders mirror receiver motion or shift with the slot, since the natural crossing traffic of the double in concept creates rub opportunities that beat man to man matchups, especially Cover 1 and Cover 0. Key the user controlled defender at the second level, a lurking linebacker or nickel defender sitting in the middle third can jump the deeper in route if the quarterback stares it down too long. Recognize blitz packages by counting rushers post-snap, if the defense sends five or six with man coverage behind it, the quarterback needs to get to his shallow in or checkdown quickly before the double in routes have time to develop.

Usage Tips

Look at the safety alignment before the snap, two high shells tell you the deep in should have room to work between the hashes while single high means you need to be ready to move to the shallow in faster.

Hot route the outside receiver into a corner or streak on 3rd and long to keep the safety honest and open up the in routes underneath, since a static outside route lets zone defenders sit and jump the inside crossers.

Use this play on 2nd and medium or 3rd and short to medium since the double in concept converts easily and the routes settle exactly on first down marker depth.

Pair China Double In with PA Verts and PA Y Corner from the same set so the defense has to respect the deep shots off similar formation and personnel tendencies before you come back with the shorter in routes.

If you see a nano blitz or heavy pressure alignment pre-snap, consider sliding protection or keeping the back in to chip before he releases, since the quarterback needs a full progression window to hit the second in route.

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