Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Levels out of Shotgun Empty Trey Stack (11 personnel) is a classic zone beater built on stacked in routes to one side. The stack receiver runs a quick in at the sticks while the outside receiver clears out on a deep dig, creating two horizontal reads at different depths for the QB to work low to high. On the backside, one receiver runs a deep vertical while the other works an out to the flat, giving you a full-field high low read against zone coverage with no run blocking since this is an empty backfield.
Defensive Reads
Watch the flat defender or curl to flat zone player on the trey side, since he has to choose between the shallow in and the vertical clear out, and Levels punishes him no matter which he takes. Key the middle linebacker depth at the snap, if he sinks too deep on the dig route the shallow in behind him is wide open for an easy conversion. Cover 2 shells are especially vulnerable here because the underneath in sits in the soft spot before the safety can rotate over. Man coverage with no safety help over the top can still be attacked but requires a quicker trigger on the shallow in before the defender recovers. Watch for a lurking linebacker or safety sitting in the throwing lane of the deep in route, since a user controlled defender jumping this route is the primary way this concept gets shut down.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify if the defense is showing two deep safeties, since Levels is designed to flood the zone between the shallow in and the deep dig on the trey side. Hot route the backside vertical receiver into a slant if you see man coverage to speed up your first read against tight coverage. Use this play on second and medium to third and long where the underneath in route sits comfortably ahead of the sticks. Pair Levels with Y Stick or Curl Flat Salem from this same set so the defense has to respect both a short combo route and a deeper in breaking concept, keeping linebackers honest. Against Cover 3 or Cover 2, throw the low in first to the flood side since the corner is often occupied on the vertical clear out route.
