Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Stick out of Shotgun Empty Trey is a five man route concept with no running back in the backfield, spreading the defense horizontally with three receivers to the trips side and two to the boundary. The trips side runs the classic stick combo: the outside receiver runs a corner-ish sideline route stacked over a flat route from the inside slot, while the inside most receiver sits on a stick route working the hook zone, creating a natural triangle read on any underside defender. The backside pairs a flat route with a vertical seam/post read, giving the quarterback a two man man beater away from the trips concept. Progression starts with the stick/flat triangle to the trips side and works back to the backside seam if the underneath defenders squeeze the concept.
Defensive Reads
Against Cover 3, the corner route and flat route stretch the deep and underneath zones vertically, so key the flat defender, if he sinks with the corner route the stick sits in the open window underneath. Against Cover 2, the stick route sits right in the hole between the corner and linebacker zones, so watch for a user controlled safety dropping down to jump that route. Man coverage with no underneath help gets exposed by the flat route settling outside, look for a linebacker in man trying to carry the stick route since he will lose leverage quickly. Blitz heavy looks with single high safety are dangerous for the defense in this empty set since there is no back to chip, but if the defense drops eight into coverage the shallow stick and flat routes get crowded, forcing the quarterback to the backside seam read. Watch for a nano blitz off the edge to the trips side, since empty sets remove the extra blocker and a well timed user blitz can collapse the pocket before the stick route develops.
Usage Tips
Use this on third and short to third and medium since the stick route sits down quickly and gives an easy completion window against zone.
Check the pre snap alignment of the linebackers and nickel defender to the trips side, if they are stacked tight the flat route will be open immediately.
Against man coverage, hot route the backside seam runner into a slant or dig to speed up the throw and beat off coverage before the safety can rotate over.
Pair this play with Four Verticals and Curls Y-Shake in the same set so the defense has to respect both the quick underneath stick concept and the vertical shots, forcing indecision in zone drops.
Use empty formation to identify blitz packages pre snap since there is no back to check release, if the defense shows a heavy blitz look, get the ball out fast to the flat or stick route as your answer.
