Playbooks
Mtn Spot out of Shotgun Heavy Panther is a Spot concept built with pre-snap motion to help identify man versus zone coverage before the ball is even snapped. The route combo layers a flat route, a spot route (hitch or curl at 5-6 yards), and a corner route to stress the underneath zone defenders in Cover 3 while giving a built-in man beater against Cover 1 and Cover 0 thanks to the motion man's leverage. Primary read progression starts with the flat defender to determine if the corner route is open behind him, then works down to the spot sitting underneath, and finally checks the flat as the safety valve against a hard blitz.
Key the flat defender first since his depth and width tell you whether the corner route behind him is a live throwing window against Cover 3. Watch the motion man's defender pre-snap, if a linebacker or safety follows him across the formation that is a strong indicator of man coverage and the corner route becomes the primary answer. Identify the middle linebacker's depth at the snap, a shallow drop signals Cover 3 or Cover 4 and opens the spot route sitting underneath. Look for a user controlled defender sitting in the lurk area of the spot route, that is the biggest threat to this concept and forces you to check down to the flat. Recognize six or seven man pressure looks that leave only shallow zone coverage, in that case throw the spot route immediately before the blitz has time to close the throwing lane.
Use the pre-snap motion to bait a linebacker or safety into revealing man coverage through a chase or a cornerback following across the formation.
This play shines on third and short to third and medium since the spot route sits at a natural sticks depth for underneath zone defenders in Cover 3.
If the defense shows a two high shell, hot route the spot runner into a deeper dig to attack the seam vacated by the safeties.
Pair Mtn Spot with Mtn HB Dive or Mtn Inside Zone from the same personnel and formation so the defense cannot sit on pass concepts based on personnel grouping alone.
Against aggressive blitz looks, check the flat route immediately since Heavy Panther's extra blocker in 23 personnel gives you a hot conversion outlet before the corner or spot routes fully develop.