Playbooks

All Curl

Shotgun·Empty Base Trio·11

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Breakdown

All Curl deploys five eligible receivers out of the Empty Base Trio look, sending all available pass catchers into curl routes that settle at the same intermediate depth across the field. This is a zone beater at its core, designed to stress linebackers and safeties who have to cover horizontal windows against receivers sitting down in the soft spots of a Cover 3 or Cover 4 shell. Since it is out of empty, there is no run action or play fake, so the primary read progression starts with the trips side curl-to-curl combo, working from outside in before checking the backside single curl if the strong side is capped.

Defensive Reads

Pre-snap, identify if the defense shows two safeties deep or a single high safety, since Cover 2 and Cover 4 shells with hard curl-flat defenders can jump these routes if you telegraph the throw. Watch linebacker depth at the snap, if they sink hard into the same throwing lanes as your curls, that signals a zone drop designed specifically to take away this concept. Key the flat defenders and curl-flat players on the trips side, if they widen with the receivers instead of sitting inside, that leaves a throwing lane to work the middle curl against Cover 3. Beware user-controlled linebackers or safeties sitting in the shallow middle zone, known lurk spots, since they can jump the inside curl if the quarterback stares it down too long. This concept struggles against man coverage with press corners and deep safety help, so if you see man alignment with no natural pick help built in, be ready to check to a different play or hot route a receiver into a breaking route to counter it.

Usage Tips

Check pre-snap for two-high versus one-high safety alignment because All Curl is most effective when defenders are dropping into zone rather than pressing man across the board.

If you see man coverage with no safety help over the top, hot route the boundary curl into a dig or slant to create instant separation instead of forcing the sit route into contested space.

Use this on second and long or third and medium situations where the defense is more likely to sit in zone shells like Cover 3 or Cover 4 to prevent explosive plays.

Pair All Curl with Bubble Screen or Slants earlier in a series so the defense starts sitting on shorter zone drops, then hit them with the curl routes settling right behind those drops for easy completions.

Sequence this play after Deep Attack or Verticals H Option to condition safeties to play deep, which opens up bigger throwing lanes underneath for the curl combo.

Other Plays in Empty Base Trio