Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Double Slants aligns from Shotgun Doubles Y-Flex with 11 personnel, showing a two receiver stack to the left where the outside receiver runs a deep in cut behind two slant routes crossing underneath from the right side. The Y-Flex tight end runs a quick pivot out over the middle while the boundary receiver on the far right releases vertically before working back to the flat side, and the backfield shows no visible blocking assignments drawn beyond the route concept itself. This is a man beater built on natural rub picks from the crossing slants, with the primary read starting on the inside slant working to the shallow crosser and finishing on the deep dig if the underneath windows are jumped.
Defensive Reads
Watch for two deep safeties pre-snap, which signals Cover 2 or Cover 4 and tells you the slants will have room underneath before the safety can close. If cornerbacks are pressed at the line in man coverage, expect natural rub action to spring the shallow crosser open almost immediately off the snap. Post-snap, key the underneath linebackers, if they sink hard into the shallow crossing lanes it signals zone drops and you should look to the deep dig route instead of forcing the slant. Beware a Tampa 2 shell with a rangy middle linebacker, as this concept struggles when a user-controlled backer sits in the throwing lane between the slants. Blitz-heavy fronts with man coverage behind them get exposed by this play since the quick timing of the slants beats pressure before it arrives.
Usage Tips
Fire the ball on the inside slant quickly against man coverage since the crossing routes create natural rubs that shake off underneath defenders in press or man alignment.
Use this on third and short or in the red zone where the quick-hitting slants beat blitzes before extra rushers arrive.
Check the flat defender and slot corner before the snap, if they sit low expect the underneath window to be tight so progress to the deep dig route instead.
Pair this with Curl Flats or Stick from the same set to keep defenders honest on shallow zone drops, then hit them with Double Slants once they start jumping underneath routes.
Hot route the backside receiver into a quick out if you see Cover 2 shells to give yourself an easy sideline throw against soft corners.
