Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Mtn Snag Curls lines up in Shotgun Normal Y Off Close with 11 personnel and shows a two receiver Snag concept to the closed side plus a curl route from the third receiver at the top of the formation. The two outside receivers on the boundary run vertical stems that break into a corner and a hitch style curl underneath while the inside slot receiver runs a shallow drag to the opposite flat, and the running back releases into a swing route away from the concept for a checkdown outlet. This is a classic Cover 3 beater built off the Snag triangle stretch: read the corner route first to see if the deflector defender bites, then work down to the curl sitting in the hole and finally the drag or swing as the underneath outlet against man coverage.
Defensive Reads
Presnap check safety depth and alignment, if you see two deep safeties rotating to one high post snap that usually signals Cover 3 which this concept is designed to shred. Watch the flat defender or cornerback assigned to the curl and corner combo, if he sinks with the corner route the curl will be wide open in the void behind him. Key the middle linebacker or nickel defender on the drag route, if he widens to cover the shallow crosser it opens up the curl sitting down behind him in the same area. This play struggles against a hard Cover 2 or Cover 4 shell with two deep safeties who can double team the corner route, so expect the quarterback to check down to the drag or swing quickly. Man coverage with underneath lurk defenders sitting on the curl route can jump the route if the quarterback is late, so a delayed blitz or spy that also drops into the curl window is the most dangerous defensive answer.
Usage Tips
Presnap identify if the defense is showing a three deep shell since this play is built specifically to attack Cover 3 with the high low stretch from the corner and curl combo.
Use motion or a hard count to see if the deep third defender to the closed side widens, which opens the corner route for a big gain over the top.
Against man coverage hot route the drag into a slant or speed it up since the shallow crosser becomes your best answer versus press man from a nickel or linebacker.
Pair this play with RPO Zone Snag or RPO Peek Spot on early downs to keep the defense guessing between run and this dropback concept, then dial up Mtn Snag Curls on second or third and medium once you have their linebackers biting on the RPO run action.
Check the running back swing route as a checkdown versus a hard blitz look, it gives you a built in answer if the protection breaks down before the deeper routes develop.
