Playbooks
Breakdown
H Trail Smash out of Shotgun Empty Bunch is a designed Cover 2 beater built around a corner route and trail concept from the bunch side. The outside receiver runs a deep corner route to stretch the safety, the slot receiver runs a trail route underneath heading to the flat, and the inner bunch receiver runs a quick flag/pivot to hold the underneath defender. The backside X runs a deep post to occupy the far safety while the line and back stay in to protect. Primary read progression starts with the corner route against the deep half defender, then works down to the trail route settling in the flat, and finishes with the backside post as a hot alert if the safety cheats to the bunch side.
Defensive Reads
Watch the flat or curl-to-flat defender after the snap, since he has to widen for the trail route which opens the corner throw behind him. If the safety to the bunch side rotates down pre-snap, that is a Cover 3 or Cover 1 look, meaning the corner route may be capped and you should progress faster to the trail or backside post. User-controlled safeties who sit deep and read the quarterback's eyes can jump the corner route, so pump or look off before committing to that throw. A hard blitz off the edge with only man coverage behind it can be beaten quickly by the trail route settling underneath, so check protection and get the ball out fast. Against a two-high shell that stays balanced, the smash concept naturally wins if the flat defender does not sink deep enough to affect the corner throw.
Usage Tips
Use this against Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells where the flat defender has to choose between the trail and the corner route.
Pre-snap, check the safety alignment: if both safeties are deep and the corner is playing outside leverage, the smash concept to the corner is wide open.
Hot route the backside X to a slant or dig if you see man coverage across the board, since the post alone will not beat tight man unless the corner is playing off.
Pair this with Curl Flats or Y Curl in your play-calling sequence to keep the defense guessing between high-low flat reads and this vertical smash shot.
Best called on second or third and medium when defenses are more likely to sit in zone shells rather than blitz.
Against Cover 3, look immediately to the trail route sitting underneath the deep third defender for a quick completion.
