Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 2 playbooks
Breakdown
Salem Y Corner comes out of Shotgun Doubles HB Wk with 11 personnel and shows a five man route concept designed to attack zone shells while still holding up against man coverage. The TE runs a corner route from the inline spot, the outside receiver to that side clears vertically before breaking outside on a deep out, and the slot runs an out and up while the backside X runs a deep in and the HB releases on a red checkdown/flat route drawn across the formation. The primary read starts with the Y corner route as the initial deep shot, then works down to the out route breaking underneath, and finally to the HB check release if the underneath zones are clogged.
Defensive Reads
Watch the flat defender to the TE side presnap, if he sits too deep the corner route will sit down in the void for an easy pitch and catch. Key the deep safety rotation after the snap, a two high shell that stays split screams Cover 2 or Cover 4 and you should sink the corner route defender before he can undercut the throw. User the underneath zone defender near the slot receiver's out and up route to bait the quarterback into the corner throw, then close hard once the ball is in the air. Blitz the weak side away from the TE to speed up the quarterback's clock, since the corner route takes time to develop and a fast pressure package can force an early checkdown. Play press man on the outside X receiver's deep in route to disrupt the timing, since that route becomes the safety valve read if the primary corner route is jumped.
Usage Tips
Presnap identify if the safety over the TE side is shaded inside or outside, since the Y corner route needs a two way go to work against single high coverage.
Against Cover 3 or Cover 4 shells, target the TE corner route first because it splits the flat defender and deep third defender in the seam.
If the defense shows Cover 2 with two deep safeties, hot route the slot receiver into a deeper crossing route or bench the corner route and work the underneath out route instead.
Use this play on second and medium or third and short since the quick developing out routes underneath give a reliable checkdown if the corner route is covered.
Pair this with Y Cross or Portland Mesh from the same set to keep the defense guessing between high low stretches and quick crossing concepts, forcing linebackers to widen their drops.
