Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 16 playbooks
Breakdown
Drag Under from Shotgun Bunch Quads sends the bunch trio into a deep vertical, a deep out to the boundary, and a shallow drag that crosses the formation underneath, while the lone outside receiver runs a deep vertical up the numbers. This is a man beater at its core, using the drag route to create natural rub traffic through the bunch and pick off trailing man defenders, though the vertical routes stress zone shells by clearing out underneath space for the drag. Primary read progression starts with the shallow drag crossing the field, then works to the deep out breaking toward the sideline, and finally climbs to the vertical shots if the underneath defenders sink or the drag gets picked up.
Defensive Reads
Watch for a single high safety presnap, which signals man coverage underneath and tells you the drag route will have a natural rub advantage through the bunch traffic. If the defense shows two deep safeties with linebackers sitting at five to seven yards, that is a zone shell and the drag needs to find the soft spot rather than trying to outrun a defender across the field. Key the flow of the middle linebacker after the snap, since a fast drop to the drag's landing zone signals a spy or a zone defender sitting on the crosser, which should push your eyes to the deep out instead. Look for a user controlled defender lurking in the shallow zone behind the bunch, as a good user player will jump the drag route and bait the quarterback into a turnover. Cover 3 sink zones and hard man press with underneath help both shut this play down, since the drag can get squeezed by trailing zone defenders or physically rerouted before it clears the bunch.
Usage Tips
Presnap identify if the defense is showing man coverage by checking for tight, non-shaded corners on the bunch, since the drag route thrives against man due to natural pick action from the stacked receivers.
Use the drag as your first read on quick game downs like second and short, letting it develop underneath while your eyes scan for a wide open crosser against blitzing linebackers.
If you see a two high shell or soft zone, hot route the drag runner to sit down in the void behind the linebackers instead of drifting all the way across, turning this into a zone beater on the fly.
Pair this call with Bunch Trail or Spacing on the following snap to keep the defense guessing between horizontal stretch concepts and the vertical shot plays like Mtn Verticals.
Against aggressive user blitzes, get the ball out fast on the drag since the deep routes take time to develop and the protection is not built to hold up long against overload pressure.
