Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
WR Cross out of Shotgun Box (10 personnel) sends the inside receiver on a deep dig style crosser that cuts across the middle of the field, while the two outside receivers push vertical up the seams to clear space underneath the crosser. The backside receiver runs a deep comeback breaking toward the sideline, giving the quarterback a full field stretch with routes at three levels. This is a man beater built around the crosser working across defenders' faces, with the vertical seam routes acting as clear-outs that also punish zone defenses if linebackers sit too shallow. Primary read progression starts with the crosser in the middle, then works to the deep seam if the crosser is picked up by underneath zone defenders, and finally to the backside comeback as a late outlet against soft coverage.
Defensive Reads
Watch the middle linebacker's depth at the snap, if he sits shallow and doesn't widen with the seam routes the crosser will split the zone wide open. Key the flat defender on the backside, if he jumps the crosser's path early that opens the comeback route for an easy pitch and catch. Against Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells, the two seam routes are designed to occupy the deep safeties, so a lurking linebacker sitting in the crosser's lane is the biggest threat to this concept. In man coverage looks, identify if the defense is running a banjo or switch call on the two seam receivers, since a busted man match can leave the crosser wide open against a slower defender. Nano blitzes or A gap pressure packages can disrupt this play quickly since the crosser takes time to develop, so if you see a heavy blitz alignment presnap be ready to check down or throw earlier than the design intends.
Usage Tips
Look at safety depth before the snap, if you see two deep safeties sitting at 10-12 yards the crosser has room to work before it hits the deep half so throw it with anticipation. Against man coverage, delay your throw slightly to let the crosser create separation as it crosses the linebacker level, this route wins on timing not just leverage. If the defense shows Cover 3 with a single high safety, hot route the backside comeback into a deeper out or corner to attack the flat zone defender who has to respect the vertical seam first. Use WR Cross early in a series to test if the defense is playing man or zone, then follow it with Slot Trail or Switch Post to attack whatever coverage tendency you identified. On third and medium, trust the crosser against man coverage since it naturally rubs off underneath defenders and creates a clean pocket for the catch.
