Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Return Whip Trail comes out of Shotgun Bunch X Nasty with a pre-snap jet motion man crossing behind the backfield before releasing on a deep return route up the opposite sideline. From the bunch, one receiver runs a whip route that breaks back inside underneath while the other bunch receiver trails behind him on a delayed crossing route, and the backside receiver runs a vertical seam up the numbers. This is a man beater built on the whip and trail combo creating natural rub traffic to shake off tight man coverage, with the primary read progression starting on the whip route in the shallow middle, working to the trail route, and moving to the return route on the outside if the defense bites on the underneath action.
Defensive Reads
Check the safety alignment before the snap, a two high shell means the deep return route on the sideline has room to work against soft corners playing off coverage. Watch the motion defender closely, if a linebacker or safety mirrors the jet motion across the field it confirms man coverage and tells you the whip trail rub will create separation. Key the flow of the middle linebacker after the snap, aggressive blitz-happy linebackers will vacate the shallow whip route area and hand you an easy completion underneath. Man coverage with no safety help over the top is where this concept struggles most since the trail route has no natural picks against pattern-matching or man match zone schemes. Look for user-controlled defenders sitting in a lurk position over the middle, if the human defender jumps the whip route early, reset your progression to the trail route breaking behind him.
Usage Tips
Use the pre-snap motion to identify man versus zone before the snap, if the motion defender follows across the formation you know you are getting man coverage and the whip trail combo will be wide open underneath.
Attack this play on third and short to third and medium since the whip route sits down quickly and gives the quarterback a safety valve against blitz pressure.
Hot route the backside vertical receiver into a deep post if you see single high safety look, this stretches the field and punishes teams playing Cover 3 or Cover 1 robber.
Pair this call with Return Whip Switch and Return Whip Trail Corner in the same set so the defense cannot key on the whip trail action, forcing user defenders to guess between the traditional trail and the corner breaking variant.
Watch the middle linebacker depth before the snap, if he is sitting shallow in a hook zone consider audibling to Dig Return from this same set to attack the vacated void behind him.
