Playbooks

Flood

Shotgun·Bunch Open TE·11

Flood Pass Play Cover 3 Beater Corner Flat In Streak

Play diagram for Flood from Shotgun Bunch Open TE in Madden 27

Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

SetBunch Open TE

Personnel

111 RB · 1 TE · 3 WR

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Breakdown

Flood is a classic three level stretch concept run from the Bunch Open TE alignment out of Shotgun. The backside X runs a corner route from an isolated split while the bunch side stacks a vertical seam, a corner breaking route, and a flat route to create three distinct depths on one side of the field. This is a Cover 3 beater by design since it overloads the deep and intermediate zones on one sideline, forcing the deep third defender and the flat defender to choose which level to defend. Primary read progression goes deep corner to the seam to the flat, working high to low based on how the cornerback and flat defender react to the flood.

Defensive Reads

Watch the deep third cornerback on the flood side, if he sinks with the corner route the seam route will be wide open underneath him. Key the flat defender, if he widens with the flat route the seam sits right behind him in the soft spot of a Cover 3 zone. Check linebacker depth before the snap, shallow linebackers signal man coverage or blitz which allows you to work the backside X on the isolated corner route against a lone defender. If you see a user controlled defender sitting in the middle of the field reading the quarterback, that lurk threat can jump the seam route so be ready to reset to the flat or backside corner. This concept struggles against a true two high shell that rolls into a Cover 4 or Cover 2 look since the extra deep defender can help over the top of the flood, so have a backside adjustment ready.

Usage Tips

Use pre-snap motion or a quick glance at the safety alignment to confirm you are seeing a single high shell before snapping since this play is built to punish Cover 3 and Cover 1 zone drops.

If the defense shows two high safeties, consider hot routing the backside X into a slant or checking down quickly since the flood side becomes tougher to fit into a two high shell.

Attack the flat defender first with your eyes to bait him upfield, then come back to the seam sitting behind the underneath zone for the chunk gain.

Pair this call with Y Trail or Mtn RPO Read Snag in the same set so defenses cannot sit on the flood concept once they start keying the bunch look on early downs.

Best used on second and long or third and medium when defenses are more likely to sit in zone shells rather than bring pressure, since the three level stretch needs time to develop.