Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Verts WR Seam out of Shotgun Split WR Backfield sends four vertical routes at once to stress the defense from sideline to sideline. The backside outside receiver runs a deep post while the backside slot breaks off a corner route from the seam, and on the frontside the inside receiver climbs the seam while the outside receiver stacks vertically on a go route. This is a classic zone beater built to attack Cover 2 and Cover 3 by overloading the deep thirds and the middle of the field, with the primary read starting on the seam route working to the post if the safety bites on the seam runner.
Defensive Reads
Watch for two deep safeties splitting the field evenly before the snap, that is your indicator of Cover 2 or Cover 4 and tells you the post and corner routes have room to work behind the corners. If you see a single high safety sitting in the deep middle at snap, that is Cover 3 or Cover 1, and the seam route becomes the primary target since it splits the difference between the flat defender and the deep safety. Track the middle linebacker's drop depth, if he sits shallow in a hook zone the seam route will be open behind him for an easy completion. Be wary of a disguised blitz where the slot corner or nickel defender crashes down before the snap, this can jump the seam route for a big play against you if the quarterback does not get the ball out quickly. Man coverage with no safety help over the top shuts this play down fast, so check for press alignment and switch to a quick hitter if you see man across the board with no deep safety rotation.
Usage Tips
Take a pre-snap look at safety depth, if both safeties are shaded deep and tight to the hash marks you are looking at a two-high shell that opens up the seam route immediately.
Key on the middle linebacker's drop, if he sinks hard to cover the seam you should peek the post route working behind him for the explosive shot play.
Use this play on second and long or third and long situations where you need to stretch the field vertically and force the defense to declare their coverage shell.
Pair this with Snag Z Spot or Option Y Out from the same set to keep the defense guessing between a shot play and quick underneath answers.
Hot route the backside go route into a comeback if you see press man with no deep help, that adjustment turns a jump ball into a high percentage completion.
