Playbooks
Redzone Up
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Redzone Up is a play-action flood concept out of Shotgun Empty Base Flex with 11 personnel. The backside runs a two-man vertical combo (a hitch-and-go from the slot and a deep corner from the outside), while the frontside floods the boundary with a shallow out, a corner route, and a deep go route to create a high-low, three-level stretch on one side of the field. The play-action fake with the red mesh point pulls linebackers up before the receivers break, making this a strong Cover 2 and Cover 3 beater. Primary read progresses from the flood side out route underneath, up to the corner route in the intermediate window, and finally to the go route if the corner overplays the shorter stuff.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and alignment. Two deep safeties with soft corners signal Cover 2, which this flood concept is designed to attack in the flat-to-corner window. Watch the flat defender post-snap. If he sinks with the out route immediately without respecting run action, the defense is not biting on play action and the underneath option will be covered. Key the corner's leverage on the outside receiver. If he plays outside shade and sits on the go route, the corner route sitting down behind him is the answer. Man coverage with no safety help over the top gets exposed by the double vertical combo on the backside since the defenders have to run the route stem with no zone help. A hard blitz with man coverage behind it dares the quarterback to hold the ball through the play-action fake, so a quick trigger to the flat or out route is the answer against pressure looks.
Usage Tips
Call this near the goal line or in tight redzone situations where the compressed field limits deep safety help and makes the flood concept even more dangerous.
Pre-snap, identify if the defense is showing two-high or single-high. Against two-high shells the corner route sits in the honey hole between the flat and deep defenders.
If you see Cover 3 with a hard flat defender, hot route the shallow out to a quick hitch or speed it up to beat the underneath zone drop before it can settle.
Pair this with Y Corner or Divide Slot Fade from the same set to keep the defense guessing between similar route distributions off the same personnel and formation look.
Use on 2nd or 3rd and medium to long in the redzone since the vertical stems need room to develop and the play-action fake needs linebackers to bite.
