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Breakdown
Whip Unders out of Shotgun Doubles shows a five-man route concept built to attack underneath zones and man leverage on the same snap. The backside runs a whip route out of the slot that breaks flat to the sideline while the outside receiver runs a deep comeback style out, and the frontside has a receiver whipping inside then working back out to the flat off the TE/slot alignment with the outside receiver clearing vertically before working back across the field on an over route (shown in red). The primary read starts with the frontside whip/flat combo to identify if the underneath defender bites on the initial inside break, then progresses to the backside out route if the flat is capped, making this an effective zone beater against Cover 3 and Cover 2 sink zones.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check the depth of the underneath linebackers and nickel defender since Whip Unders is designed to attack soft zone drops in Cover 3 and Cover 4. If the flat defender squats on the whip route immediately after the snap, that is a sign of zone coverage and you should progress to the backside out or the deep over route. Watch for a user-controlled defender lurking in the shallow middle since the whip breaks can be jumped by a rat linebacker sitting in the throwing lane. Against man coverage, look for the corner playing outside leverage on the whip receiver since the inside breaking whip route is a strong man beater when the defender cannot mirror the initial move. Be wary of disguised blitzes since the quick-developing whip routes can get the ball out before a delayed pressure package arrives, but a well-timed A-gap blitz can collapse the pocket before the second read comes open.
Usage Tips
Use this on early downs or third and short since the whip routes create instant separation against zone defenders sitting on their landmarks.
Check the flat defender pre-snap: if he is sitting wide, the whip route underneath him is your first read and it comes open fast.
Motion is not built into this play, so use your pre-snap hot routes to convert the backside whip into a slant if you see man coverage with an aggressive corner.
Pair Whip Unders with Curl Flats or Curls Slot Shake in your play-calling sequence so the defense has to respect both underneath whip breaks and curl sits, opening throwing lanes over the middle.
Against zone-heavy opponents, hit the frontside whip/flat combo quickly since the red over route is a change-up read that develops later and works best when the underneath defenders are drawn to the whip action.
