Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Curl Flats out of Shotgun Empty Bunch spreads five eligible receivers with no backfield help, isolating the bunch alignment to create natural picks against man coverage. The backside receiver runs a deep vertical clearing route while the outside receiver in the bunch releases on a corner route up the sideline, and the two remaining bunch receivers work a curl into the flat combo against the boundary corner and nickel defender. The primary read starts with the curl at the top of the route stem, working down to the flat if the underneath defender sits on the curl, with the backside vertical as a shot play answer against blown coverage or busted man matchups.
Defensive Reads
Watch for the nickel defender cheating inside pre snap, which signals a blitz or man match and makes the flat route the fastest outlet against pressure. Identify if the corner over the bunch is playing outside shade with no safety help over the top, since that leaves the corner route on an island for a big play if the quarterback has time. Read the linebacker or safety flowing to the curl route depth, because a defender sitting at ten to twelve yards signals zone coverage and forces the quarterback to hold the ball longer for a window. Cover 3 defenses with a hard flat drop from the corner shut down the flat option but leave the curl soft against the seam. Man coverage with no deep help is vulnerable to the backside vertical, so track single high safety rotation before the snap to decide if the shot play is live.
Usage Tips
Check the pre snap alignment of the nickel and corner over the bunch, since tight leverage tips man coverage and soft leverage tips zone. Use the curl as your first read against zone shells like Cover 3 or Cover 4 because the flat defender has to widen and opens the window underneath. Hot route the backside vertical receiver into a quick out if you see two high safeties rotating late, since that removes the deep shot but keeps a boundary answer versus press. Pair this play with Verticals in the same set to punish defenses that key on the curl flat combo after seeing it once, since the route stems look identical before the break. Use this on second and medium or third and short since the flat route gives an easy underneath completion when the defense sits on the curl.
