Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Spacing out of Shotgun Bunch Wide spreads five underneath routes across the field at staggered depths, with the bunch side stacking a corner route, a quick out, and a shallow drag while the backside receiver runs an out breaking route and the RB releases on a wheel out of the backfield. The blocking is a standard 5-man protection with the RB replacing his block release into the route, making this a pure horizontal stretch designed to punish zone drops (Cover 3 and Cover 4) by putting more receivers in a passing lane than defenders can cover. Primary read progression starts with the bunch side flat and out combo, works to the backside out route, then checks down to the RB wheel if the underneath zones flood.
Defensive Reads
Read the deep safeties before the snap, two high alignment often signals Cover 4 which this concept is designed to exploit with its underneath sit routes. Watch the linebacker depth at the snap, shallow zone drops from the Mike and Will linebackers indicate Cover 3 sink and the flat defender will be stressed by the bunch stack. Key the slot defender over the bunch, if he sinks into a hard zone drop the QB will attack the void behind him with the out route. User the underneath zone defender closest to the trips side to jump the flat route and force the QB to hold the ball longer. Watch for a lurking safety or nickel defender cheating toward the shallow drag, a well timed user blitz off the edge can capitalize on the extra time this concept takes to develop.
Usage Tips
Use this on third and short to medium since the sit routes give the QB a high percentage completion window against zone drops.
Identify Cover 3 or Cover 4 shells pre-snap by reading deep safety alignment, this concept is built to exploit the seams those shells create underneath.
Hot route the backside out to a quick slant if you see man coverage with no safety help, since the natural spacing routes stall against tight man leverage.
Pair this with Post Spacing or Slant Spacing Dig in the same set to keep the defense guessing between horizontal stretch and vertical shot plays off similar bunch alignment.
Look to the RB wheel late in the down as a scramble drill outlet if the defense drops eight into coverage and the pocket holds.
