Playbooks
Redzone Up
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Redzone Up is a four verts style play action pass out of Empty Trips Speed with a play fake at the snap to hold linebackers before the QB works the progression. The trips side gives you a corner route from the outside receiver, a seam climbing vertical from the inside slot, and a short out from the innermost slot receiver, while the backside single receiver runs a deep go up the sideline. This is a flood concept to the trips side paired with a one on one shot backside, built to beat both Cover 2 (attacking the seam and corner off the safety) and Cover 3 (overloading the deep third with vertical stems), and the primary read starts with the backside go for the big play before working back to the seam and corner combo on the trips side.
Defensive Reads
Watch the free safety at the snap, if he bites on the play action fake the backside go route is live for a big gain. Identify Cover 2 shells by checking corner depth, if the corners are sitting shallow expecting the flood you can trust the seam route to split the safety and the corner combo route. Man coverage with no safety help over the top gets exposed by the backside go, so look for a cornerback in press or tight trail technique presnap as a green light. Zone defenses with linebackers dropping deep into the seam or a rover sitting in the middle of the field can take away the seam read, so be ready to reset to the flood side out route. Watch for a robber or lurk defender sitting under the trips concept, since that defender can jump the short out route and bait a turnover if the QB stares it down too long.
Usage Tips
Check the safety alignment before the snap, if you see two high safeties cheat your eyes to the seam and corner combo on the trips side since that stresses Cover 2 hard.
If the defense shows single high or Cover 3, take a hard look at the backside go route first since it is designed to win over the top against a corner playing outside leverage.
Use the play action fake to freeze linebackers on early down and medium distance situations, this is not a third and long staple because the fake eats up clock and the routes take time to develop.
Pair this with Deep Cross or Levels from the same set so the defense has to respect both vertical stress and horizontal stress, keeping them guessing on your dropback tendencies.
If you get user pressure off the edge, hot route the inside slot out route to a quick option or check the running back into the flow since the flood side out can be your emergency valve.
