Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 2 playbooks
Breakdown
Flood X-Swirl aligns out of Empty Sketch Stack with 11 personnel, putting three receivers to the left and two to the right with no running back in the backfield. To the left, the diagram shows a deep vertical clear-out, a corner route breaking outside, and an underneath swirl route (the red route) that sits in the flat before working back across the field horizontally. On the right side the two receivers run a deep out and a wheel-style route up the sideline, creating a natural flood with three levels stacked on the strong side. This is a Cover 3 beater built to overload one half of the field, with the primary read starting on the underneath swirl and working up to the corner and vertical if the flat defender bites.
Defensive Reads
Identify single-high safety alignment before the snap, since Cover 3 zone defenders will have to choose between the swirl route in the flat and the corner route stacking behind it. Watch the flat defender's first two steps after the snap, if he sinks to cover the corner route the swirl route will be wide open underneath for an easy completion. Beware of Cover 4 or Cover 2 shells with two deep safeties, since the extra deep defender can help bracket the corner route and take away the top of the flood. Look for user-controlled defenders lurking underneath on the strong side, as a smart user can jump the swirl route and force you to climb the progression to the corner or vertical. Man coverage with press corners can shut this down quickly since the vertical clear-out and corner route both rely on separation, so check the backside single receiver as a quick outlet if you see man alignment pre-snap.
Usage Tips
Check pre-snap for single-high shells like Cover 3 since the three-level flood to the strong side is designed to stress one flat defender and one deep third defender simultaneously.
Start your primary read on the swirl route working underneath, then climb to the corner route if the flat defender jumps the swirl, and finally check the deep vertical clear-out on busted coverage.
Use this on 2nd and medium to 3rd and short situations where defenses are more likely to play zone shells rather than man, since the flood concept loses value against tight man coverage on the outside receivers.
Hot route the backside two-man side into a quick out or slant if you see the defense rotating extra help to the flood side, giving you a simple checkdown away from the numbers advantage.
Pair this play with Y Slot Choice or Post Cross Unders from the same set to keep defenses guessing between flood concepts and crossing patterns, forcing linebackers to hesitate on their zone drops.
