Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Bench Dig Curl out of Shotgun Deuce Close (12 personnel) shows a five man route concept with no protection help beyond the line. The backside X runs a deep bench route breaking flat toward the sideline off a vertical stem, the outside TE/WR runs a deep dig crossing the middle of the field, the slot to that side runs a curl sitting down in the intermediate zone, and the frontside outside receiver stems vertical before breaking outside on a bench route of his own while the RB releases on a wheel route out of the backfield. This is a full field flood concept designed to stress zone defenses by attacking three levels (deep bench, intermediate dig, curl) on one side while the RB wheel adds a fourth option away from the initial rotation. Primary read progression starts with the deep dig working across the field, then works down to the curl sitting underneath, and finally checks the RB wheel as a late-developing answer against zone rotation or man coverage that gets picked off by traffic.
Defensive Reads
Pre snap, check safety depth and corner alignment on the backside since a single high safety with corners playing off leaves the bench routes wide open against zone drops. Watch for a user controlled defender sitting in the middle of the field, since he can undercut the dig route if the quarterback stares it down too long. Cover 3 defenses struggle with this concept because the flat defenders cannot carry the bench routes deep while also passing off the curl and dig, so attack the seams created by their zone drops. Against cover 2, the corners will squeeze the bench routes hard which opens a throwing lane to the dig runner working behind the underneath zone defenders. If the defense shows blitz with only five in coverage, expect man principles underneath, so key the RB wheel route as your first answer against a blitzing linebacker vacating his zone.
Usage Tips
Use this concept on second or third and medium to long when you need to stress a zone defense across the full width of the field.
Pre snap, identify single high versus two high shells since the deep bench routes on both sides are designed to expose corners playing hard flat responsibility in cover 3.
If you diagnose man coverage, prioritize the RB wheel route out of the backfield since it creates a natural pick off traffic in the underneath zone and gives you a favorable matchup against a linebacker.
Hot route the curl runner into a deeper dig or spot route if you see the defense rolling into cover 2 to occupy the flat defender and open up the dig runner crossing behind him.
Pair this play with Bench Swap or Bench X Dig in the same set so the defense cannot key on the bench route breaking to the sideline versus the dig working underneath, forcing linebackers to hesitate on their drops.
