Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
689 Hook out of Shotgun Split Slot Open is a Cover 3 beating flood concept that stretches the field horizontally and vertically on the play side. The outside receiver runs a go route to clear the deep third, the slot receiver from that side works a corner strike toward the sideline, and the inside receiver settles into a curl at intermediate depth, creating a high low flood read on one side of the field. On the backside, the lone receiver runs a flat route out of the backfield alignment while the remaining slot runs a shallow drag underneath, giving the quarterback a checkdown away from the flood if the play side is taken away. The primary read progression starts with the curl to flat combo on the flood side (curl first, flat as the outlet), then works to the go route if a single high safety opens up a window deep, with the backside drag as the final checkdown against zone drops.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and leverage: a single high safety rotated to the play side flood can bracket the corner strike and force the ball underneath. Watch the flat defender at the snap, since if he widens quickly to the flat route the curl window behind him opens for an easy completion. Key the corner over the go route, if he opens his hips early with outside leverage the quarterback should climb the ladder to the deep shot instead of settling for the curl. Look for user controlled defenders sitting in the intermediate hook zone, a jumped throwing lane there kills the curl read and pushes the ball to the flat or backside drag. This concept struggles against a hard Cover 2 or Cover 4 shell with disciplined zone drops, since the flood is stacked in a way that lets sink and drive corners rob the intermediate throws while safeties stay deep on the go.
Usage Tips
Use this play on second and medium to third and medium when you expect zone coverage, since the flood concept is built to overload one side of a Cover 3 shell. Before the snap, identify whether the defense is showing single high safety or two deep shells: single high tells you the go route has a chance to win over the top, while two deep shells push your eyes to the curl and flat combo underneath. Hot route the backside drag into a deeper dig if you see man coverage with no safety help over the top, since drag routes get eaten up by man leverage. Pair this play with Flood or PA Flood from the same set to keep the defense guessing between quick game and shot plays off similar route stems. Use 689 Hook after running Dbl Slant or Mesh out of this formation so linebackers sit on shallow crossers and open up the intermediate curl window.
