Playbooks

Wheel Mills

Shotgun·Bunch Open Offset·11

Wheel Mills Pass Play Cover 4 Beater

Play diagram for Wheel Mills from Shotgun Bunch Open Offset in Madden 27

Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

SetBunch Open Offset

Personnel

111 RB · 1 TE · 3 WR

In 2 playbooks

Patriots OffenseOffense NFL Live Patriots OffenseOffense

Breakdown

Wheel Mills is a Cover 4 beater out of Shotgun Bunch Open Offset that stacks a wheel route from the bunch flanker against two vertical stems from the bunch tight end and outside receiver, creating a natural mills concept on the backside. The lone receiver at the bottom runs an out to hold the flat defender or corner while the bunch releases vertically to attack the seams and stress the deep quarters defenders. The blocking assignment isolates the running back and offensive line in pass protection, giving the quarterback a clean pocket to read the wheel first, then work to the post/dig combo breaking inside behind the safeties. Primary progression starts with the wheel route working outside leverage, then bends into the mills combo if the flat defender sinks with the wheel.

Defensive Reads

Watch the deep safeties pre-snap, if they are aligned in a two high shell with equal depth this is a strong sign of Cover 4 or Cover 2 which the mills combo is built to attack. Key the flat defender or nickel corner responsible for the bunch, his depth and leverage tell you whether he can carry the wheel route or if he will get picked off by traffic in the bunch release. Post snap, track the inside linebacker or safety dropping into the seam, a hard sink to the mills combo signals zone coverage and opens the wheel on the sideline. If you see press man across from the bunch with no safety help over the top, expect the wheel to be jumped by a user controlled defender looking to undercut the route. Blitz packages that bring extra rushers off the edge can disrupt the quarterback's timing on the wheel read, so watch for overload pressure from the offense's blind side pre-snap.

Usage Tips

Check for Cover 4 or quarters shells pre-snap since the two vertical stems from the bunch are designed to split the safeties and open the wheel on the boundary corner.

Use motion or a hard count to identify if the flat defender is keying the bunch, if he crashes down on the shorter out route the wheel will be wide open behind him.

Hot route the backside out receiver into a quick hitch or slant on third and short to give the quarterback a faster underneath answer if the wheel is capped.

Pair this play with Y Trail or Mesh Corner earlier in a series so the defense sees similar bunch releases and starts biting on the shallow crosses, setting up the wheel to hit explosively later.

Best called on second and medium to third and long where defenses are more likely to sit in zone shells like Cover 4 or Cover 3 that this route concept is designed to gash.