Playbooks

Flanker Dig

Shotgun·Doubles·11

Dig Pass Play Flat Post In Speed Out

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This play belongs to no NFL team or scheme playbook, so it may not appear in the in-game builder.

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Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

SetDoubles

Personnel

111 RB · 1 TE · 3 WR

In 1 playbook

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Breakdown

Flanker Dig is a man beater built around the flanker running a hard dig route across the middle of the field, sitting down between the linebackers and safeties. The concept typically pairs the dig with an underneath crosser or drag and a vertical clear-out route from the backside receiver to occupy the deep safety and open the intermediate window. This is a straight dropback pass play with a standard pass protection scheme, and the primary read progression starts with the flanker dig, then works to the underneath crosser if the middle linebacker sits on the dig, before checking down to the backside route or the running back as a last resort.

Defensive Reads

Identify the middle linebacker depth at the snap, if he sits shallow in a Tampa 2 or Cover 2 shell the dig route will have a clean throwing window over his head and under the safeties. Watch for user linebackers spying the dig lane, if you see a defender sitting in the deep middle hole this is likely Cover 3 or a Tampa 2 look and you should progress to the underneath crosser instead. Cover 1 and Cover 0 with man coverage on the flanker gets beaten badly by the dig break, since the receiver's inside cut creates natural separation against trailing man defenders. Blitz packages that bring extra rushers off the edge can be problematic since the dig takes time to develop, so check your protection and be ready to hit the checkdown or backside route quickly. Cover 4 or quarters shells with disciplined safeties sinking into the throwing lane can shut this down, so if you see two deep safeties holding their depth post-snap look elsewhere in your progression.

Usage Tips

Look for single high safety shells like Cover 3 or Cover 1 pre-snap since the dig route sits perfectly in the soft spot behind underneath zone defenders and in front of the deep safety.

Use motion or a receiver shift to identify man versus zone before the snap, if the defender follows across the formation you are likely getting man coverage which opens up the dig against a trailing corner or nickel.

Hot route the backside receiver into a quick out or hitch if you are facing a blitz-heavy defense to give your quarterback a fast answer against pressure.

This play works best on second and medium to third and long situations where the defense expects a longer developing route and sits back in zone coverage.

Pair Flanker Dig with Texans Dig or Y Cross earlier in a series so the defense starts keying underneath crossers, then hit them with the deeper developing dig once linebackers start jumping short routes.