Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 11 playbooks
Breakdown
Dagger is a classic vertical-clearing concept run out of Bunch Str Nasty in Shotgun 11 personnel. The outside receiver runs a vertical to stretch the deep coverage while the bunch releases a deep dig sitting behind the linebackers, with an underneath crosser clearing the shallow zone and the backside receiver running a short out to occupy the flat defender. This is a Cover 2 and Cover 3 beater built to attack the seam and hole shot created between the deep half or deep third defenders, and the primary read progression starts with the vertical to hold the safety before working down to the deep dig as the main throw, checking down to the flat route if the underneath window is taken away.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and spacing since two deep safeties evenly split signals Cover 2 while a single high safety with corners playing off suggests Cover 3, both of which Dagger is designed to attack. Watch the corner over the vertical route post-snap, if he stays deep and does not jump the underneath crosser it confirms zone coverage and the dig should come open behind him. Key the middle linebacker or nickel defender responsible for the dig lane, if he sinks fast enough to undercut the route this play is being defended well and you should check down to the flat. Man coverage with a safety showing double coverage over the vertical route is a red flag since Dagger loses value when the safety can sit on the dig without deep help concerns. Watch for a user-controlled defender spying the middle of the field or lurking in the dig window, this is the primary counter to Dagger and forces you to either eat the sack or dump it to the flat route.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify whether the safeties are showing two-high or rotating to a single-high shell since Dagger is designed to punish both Cover 2 and Cover 3 by stretching the deep defenders vertically before hitting the dig.
If the defense shows Cover 2, key the deep vertical to pull the safety and throw the dig into the void behind the corner and in front of the rotating safety.
Against Cover 3, use the vertical to hold the deep third defender and hit the dig as it crosses into the middle void created by the four underneath zone defenders.
Use hot routes to convert the flat route into a quick out or speed out against man coverage if you see press alignment on the outside receiver, giving you a fast throw versus blitz looks.
Pair this play with Y Trail or Mtn Curls in your play-calling sequence so the defense has to respect both the deep dig shot and quick underneath combinations, keeping linebackers honest and unable to sit on the intermediate window.
