Playbooks
Switch Flood is a three level flood concept built out of the Shotgun Bunch HB Str formation, designed to overload one side of the field against zone coverage. The switch release from the bunch creates natural traffic that confuses man defenders while stacking a deep, intermediate, and shallow route to one side to stress a single flat or curl zone defender. This is a pure Cover 3 beater and works best when your primary read progresses from the deep corner route to the intermediate flood route, settling on the flat route as your checkdown if the zone defender widens too far.
Pre-snap, identify single high safety alignment since two high shells with soft corners can bracket the flood side and take away the deep throw. Watch cornerback depth on the flood side, if they are playing off coverage the underneath flat route will be open immediately against zone. Post-snap, track the flat or curl defender's drop, if he widens to the flood route the intermediate crosser sits in a soft spot for an easy completion. User controlled lurk defenders sitting in the intermediate zone can jump the flood route, so be ready to reset to the deep corner or backside checkdown. Man coverage with no help over the top gets exposed by the switch release, since the natural rub creates separation against tight press defenders.
Look for single high safety shells pre-snap since Cover 3 and Cover 1 leave the flood side vulnerable to the deep corner and intermediate combo.
Use motion out of the bunch to force the defense to declare man or zone coverage before the snap, giving you a cleaner read.
If the flat defender jumps the shallow route immediately, hot route your intermediate receiver into a sit read against zone drops.
This play pairs well with Spacing and Z Spot in the same set since both attack underneath zones, letting you set up defenders to bite on shallow routes before hitting the deep flood shot.
Best called on second and long or third and medium when defenses are more likely to sit in zone shells expecting a checkdown.