Playbooks
Portland Y Wheel is a man beater built out of the Doubles Stack Clamp set in Shotgun, designed to isolate the TE on a wheel route out of the backfield or slot alignment against a linebacker or safety in man coverage. The stack releases create natural rub picks that free up the wheel route as the primary read, with underneath crossers and a flood concept to the other side serving as the secondary progression if the wheel is jumped. Protection is a standard five man slide scheme, giving the QB a full seven step clock to let the wheel develop downfield.
Identify single high safety shells like Cover 1 or Cover 3 pre-snap, since the wheel route thrives when there is no safety rotating over the top to help on the vertical break. Watch the linebacker or nickel defender assigned to the TE out of the stack, if he sinks with the crosser or gets picked by the rub he will be late reacting to the wheel. Key the flat defender post-snap, if he widens too far chasing the underneath route he leaves the sideline open for the wheel to climb uncontested. Against Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells with two deep safeties, the wheel route gets capped, so expect the QB to check down to the flood concept instead. Beware of a disguised blitz off the edge, since the five man slide protection can be exposed if a linebacker times a blitz through the seam before the wheel route fully develops.
Look for man coverage indicators pre-snap such as a linebacker walked up over the TE or a corner shaded outside the stack, since the wheel route only wins consistently when the defender lacks safety help over the top.
Use the stack alignment to your advantage by motioning the TE briefly before the snap to confirm if the defense is playing man or zone, then get back to formation before the snap to bait the coverage.
Hot route the underneath crosser into a shallow drag if you diagnose zone coverage, since the wheel route loses value against zone shells with a deep half safety sitting over the top.
Pair this play with Texas Y-Stutter Wheel and Mtn Choice Go's Y-Shake in the same set to keep the defense guessing on which route is the actual wheel concept, forcing linebackers to hesitate on their man assignment.
Call this on second and medium to second and long situations where defenses are more likely to play man coverage with a single high safety, giving the wheel route room to work up the sideline.