Playbooks
Hoss Juke
Quick Reference
In 2 playbooks
Breakdown
Hoss Juke lines up out of Shotgun Empty Strong Slots with five receivers spread across the formation and no running back in the backfield. The two outside receivers run vertical go routes up the sideline while the strong side slot receiver runs a seam and the weak side slot runs a quick out breaking underneath the coverage, with the inline receiver on the strong side working a corner route toward the boundary. This is a man beater built for isolation matchups on the vertical stems, with the primary read progressing from the seam route to the corner route and then to the go routes if the safety bites on the underneath crosser.
Defensive Reads
Watch the free safety pre-snap since a shaded alignment toward the strong side tips off help over the seam and corner routes. If the defense shows two deep safeties post-snap, the seam route becomes tighter to throw so lean on the underneath out route for a safer completion. Man coverage with a linebacker on the seam receiver is a green light to attack that mismatch immediately off the snap. Look for a lurking linebacker or nickel defender sitting in the passing lane between the seam and corner routes, which signals a zone drop disguised as man. Blitz-heavy fronts that leave only four defenders in coverage struggle to cover all five verticals, so identify empty box looks and let the go routes work down the sideline.
Usage Tips
Check for single high safety pre-snap since the seam and corner combo attacks Cover 3 hard when the middle safety cheats to one side.
Use the quick out as a built-in hot route answer against man coverage when you need a rhythm throw versus disguised blitzes.
Attack Cover 1 by isolating your best route runner on the seam since Empty Strong Slots removes the extra alley defender and forces a true one-on-one.
Pair this call with Verticals Under earlier in a drive to condition the defense to sit on shorter zone drops, then hit the go routes deep once safeties start creeping up.
Use in third and medium to third and long situations where the underneath out route can move the chains quickly if the deep shots are covered.
