Double Nod Verticals

Identify two deep safeties pre-snap since this play is designed to exploit Cover 2 by stacking receivers on top of the flat defenders and squeezing the safeties with four verticals stretching the field horizontally and vertically. Watch the middle linebacker depth at the snap, a shallow drop or a linebacker sitting in the intermediate zone signals Cover 3 and tells you the nod move should freeze him long enough to hit the seam behind him. Read the deep safety's leverage after the snap, if he bites on the nod route hard you have a one on one vertical shot to the boundary receiver on the numbers. This play struggles against Cover 4 or quarters shells with disciplined safeties who can sink under the seam routes and match verticals, and it is vulnerable to any five or six man pressure since there is no built in hot route or check valve underneath. Watch for user controlled safeties or linebackers sitting in a robber technique in the middle of the field, since that lurk defender can jump the seam nod if the quarterback stares it down too long.