Playbooks

Flood

Shotgun·Bunch·11

Flood Pass Play Cover 3 Beater

Play diagram for Flood from Shotgun Bunch in Madden 27

Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

SetBunch

Personnel

111 RB · 1 TE · 3 WR

In 6 playbooks

Franchise College Pro OffenseOffense Balanced Pass OffenseOffense Browns OffenseOffense Elites OffenseOffense Shotgun OffenseOffense NFL Live Browns OffenseOffense

Breakdown

Flood out of Shotgun Bunch stacks three levels of routes to the field side to overload one half of the defense, a classic Cover 3 beater. The bunch releases into a corner route from the outside receiver, a deep out breaking underneath it, and a flat/wheel route from the innermost bunch man climbing to the sideline, while the backside iso receiver runs a deep dig across the middle. The RB stays in to help protect or check down underneath, and with three defenders forced to cover three stacked levels to one side, the QB reads high to low starting with the deep corner, working down to the out, then the flat route if the underneath defender bites on anything deeper.

Defensive Reads

Presnap, identify the deep safety count. A single high safety with two deep thirds tips Cover 3, which is exactly what this flood concept is designed to exploit. Key the flat defender to the bunch side immediately after the snap. If he sinks under the out route instead of widening to the flat man, the flat route is open for an easy pitch and catch. Watch for a nickel or linebacker blitzing off the edge to the bunch side, since flood concepts lack a true screen or check valve wide to that side, leaving the QB exposed if protection breaks down. If the cornerback on the corner route sits on top instead of turning and running vertically, that signals soft Cover 3 or Cover 4, giving the deep corner route no room, so bail down to the out or flat. Man coverage with no safety help over the bunch, such as Cover 0 or Cover 1 with the free defender rotated away, is the biggest bust for this concept since natural rub picks from the bunch alignment create instant separation on the corner and flat routes.

Usage Tips

Use this on third and medium to third and long when you expect zone coverage, especially Cover 3 or Cover 4 with a single high safety.

Presnap, check the flat and corner defenders on the bunch side. If a linebacker or nickel is shaded outside the bunch, that flat route will be sitting in a soft window.

Hot route the backside dig into a deeper crosser or hold him as a checkdown valve if you see man coverage rolling to that side, since flood concepts are more zone specific than man beaters.

Sequence this with Bunch Verts or Bunch Sail earlier in a series so the defense respects the vertical stretch, then come back to Flood to attack the flat and out when the safety starts cheating deep.

Against Cover 3, work your eyes from the corner route to the out route quickly since the flat defender only has one man to cover and will jump the shallow route if you stare it down.