Playbooks
Breakdown
518 Hook out of Shotgun Bunch (11 personnel) is a quick game passer designed to attack zone coverage with high low stress on the flat defender. The isolated X receiver runs a deep comeback breaking back to the sideline while the bunch releases a curl to the boundary, a deep out from the middle bunch receiver, and a slot flat route that bends underneath into the red-marked short crossing route. The primary read starts with the flat and curl combo on the bunch side (curl flat), working to the deep out, then coming back to the isolated comeback route if the flat defender widens and takes away the underneath stuff.
Defensive Reads
Key the flat defender first since the curl flat combo on the bunch side is designed to put him in a bind between the underneath flat route and the sitting curl route behind him. Watch linebacker depth at the snap because shallow zone drops from the mike or will linebacker signal cover 2 or cover 3 and open the deep out throwing lane. Check safety alignment pre-snap since a two high shell with soft corners tells you this concept has room to work underneath and into the deep out, while a single high safety rotating down tips off man coverage or cover 3 that shrinks the passing windows. Look for user controlled defenders sitting in the shallow hook zone or lurking near the crossing route, since a smart user can jump the underneath crosser and bait a turnover. This play struggles against aggressive man blitzes since the protection has to hold up long enough for the deep out and comeback to develop, so if you see edge pressure showing pre-snap consider hot routing the flat route into a quick option or checking down immediately.
Usage Tips
Use pre-snap motion or a hard count to force the defense to declare zone or man before the snap since this concept is built to punish zone drops. Identify a two high shell first because the curl flat combo on the bunch side creates natural spacing conflicts for a single flat defender in cover 2 and cover 4. On third and medium to long, prioritize the deep out read since it sits down in the void behind underneath zones and in front of deep coverage. Hot route the backside comeback into a hitch if you diagnose man coverage since comebacks are tougher to time against tight man leverage. Pair this call with Bunch Sail or Bunch Verts in your play calling sequence to keep defenses honest, since Sail stretches the same bunch look vertically and forces safeties to respect the deep shot before you come back to this quick hook concept.
