Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Dagger Deep Curl is a five-man route concept out of Empty Chips Nasty with no running back in the backfield, spreading the defense horizontally with three receivers to the closed side and two to the open side. The backside boundary receiver runs a deep vertical shooting straight up the seam while the outside receiver on that side clears out on a corner route breaking hard to the sideline, stretching the defense vertically and horizontally at once. On the strong side, the inside receivers run a curl and a deep in-cut over the middle while the outside receiver runs a shallow drag underneath, giving the quarterback layered options from deep to short. This is a zone beater built to attack Cover 2 and Cover 3 shells, with the primary read starting on the deep seam and corner combo before working down to the curl and drag underneath.
Defensive Reads
Read the safety depth before the snap, since deep two high alignments telegraph Cover 2 and invite a seam shot behind the corner. Watch the flat defender and corner leverage, because aggressive outside corners jumping the curl route open up the deep seam behind them. Key the middle linebacker or hook defender drop, since a slow drop or blitz look leaves the underneath drag and curl wide open for an easy completion. User the deep safety if you are on defense to close the seam window, since that route is the primary read and shutting it down forces a check down to underneath routes. Bring pressure off the edge or run a nano blitz to disrupt timing, since this concept relies on the quarterback holding the ball long enough to let the corner and seam routes develop.
Usage Tips
Presnap identify whether the safeties are showing a two high shell or rotating to single high, since this play is built to exploit the seams that Cover 2 and Cover 3 naturally leave open.
If you see Cover 2, hit the deep seam route behind the corner and in front of the safety before the underneath defenders can climb.
Against Cover 3, the corner route to the flat and the curl underneath become your quick answers since the deep third defender cannot cover both the seam and the sideline.
Use hot routes to convert the drag into a quick out if you are facing a heavy blitz look, giving your quarterback a faster release valve.
Pair this play with Dagger or Slot Sail from the same set to keep defenses guessing between deep shots and quick underneath completions, since both plays share similar route stems out of empty.
