Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Spacing out of Shotgun Bunch Offset spreads five receivers into a horizontal stretch designed to attack zone coverage underneath. The bunch side runs a stick concept with an out to the flat, a hitch settling at the sticks, and a corner route climbing vertically up the seam, while the backside single receiver runs an out breaking away from the formation. There is no run blocking shown, this is a pure quick-game passing concept with the QB reading from the flat defender out to the sticks and then to the backside out as the checkdown.
Defensive Reads
Watch for a defender sinking into the shallow flat area, if he stays wide the underneath hitch route will have a soft spot to sit in against zone. Against man coverage, look for the corner route to win vertically if the defender is playing tight bump technique with no safety help over the top. If the linebackers are shown crashing downhill pre snap this can signal a blitz, get the ball out quickly to the flat or backside out to beat pressure. Cover 3 defenses that roll a single high safety leave the seam corner route vulnerable if the flat defender bites on the shorter routes. Cover 4 shells with matched deep zones can clog the corner route, so shift your primary read to the sticks hitch or backside out against that shell.
Usage Tips
Presnap identify whether the defense is playing zone or man, this concept is built to punish zone defenders who cannot cover every horizontal level at once.
Key the flat defender first, if he sinks under the out route the hitch sitting at the sticks will be wide open in the void.
Use the backside out route as your quick answer against Cover 3 or Cover 4 when the underneath defenders squeeze the bunch side.
Combine this play with Spacing Switch and Bench Pivot to keep defenders guessing on route combinations from the same bunch look.
Ideal on third and short to third and medium since the sticks route and flat route give you multiple layers to move the chains without needing a big play.
