Playbooks
Smash Y Sit is a classic Cover 2 beater built off the Smash concept, pairing a corner route on the outside with a hard sit route from the Y receiver underneath. Out of Empty Trey Flex the formation spreads the defense and removes the running back from the backfield, forcing the defense to declare coverage with no threat of play action. The primary read is high to low: work the corner route first to see if it clears the deep half, then work down to the Y sit sitting in the void between the flat defender and the underneath zone defender.
Read the safety depth pre-snap. Two safeties split deep signals Cover 2 or Cover 4, which is exactly what this concept is designed to attack. Watch the cornerback at the snap. If he sinks with the corner route instead of jumping the sit, the window underneath opens immediately. Key the flat defender or nickel. If he widens too fast to take away the corner route, the sit route sits wide open in the vacated zone. Beware Cover 3 with an aggressive underneath zone defender who can sit and read the quarterback's eyes, since he can jump the sit route if the throw is late. Look for a user lurk defender dropping into the middle void. A smart user player will sit exactly where the Y receiver settles, so double check the sit route's landing spot before pulling the trigger.
Use this play on 3rd and medium when you expect Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells since the corner route attacks the seam between the cornerback and safety.
Check the safety alignment pre-snap. If both safeties are deep and the corner sits on the flat, hot route the underneath receivers into a quick out to beat any Cover 2 sink.
Against Cover 3, work the sit route immediately since the flat defender will widen and open a throwing lane before the linebacker can wall off the middle.
Pair this play with Four Verticals in your play-calling sequence. If the defense starts jumping the sit route after seeing it once, verticals punishes them for sitting on the shallow completion.
Use the Y Corner play from the same set as a changeup once the defense adjusts to squatting on the sit route, since it attacks the same coverage shell with a different vertical stem.