Playbooks
Breakdown
Deep Curl out of Shotgun Spread Dbl Flex 11 personnel gives you a five man route concept built around a deep vertical from the number 1 receiver marked in red, who pushes upfield and breaks outside toward the sideline. On the opposite side the outside receiver runs a flat route while the slot receiver sits underneath with a corner style option route breaking to the sideline, and the inline receiver near the formation runs an out to the boundary. The inside slot runs a short drag/out toward the flat off a quick break, giving the quarterback a full field, high low read from deep to short. This is a zone beater first, designed to sit routes down in the soft spots between levels of a zone shell while the deep breaking route stretches the cornerback vertically, though it can also work versus man coverage if the receiver marked 1 wins his release.
Defensive Reads
Watch the flat defender and curl to flat defender at the snap, since if they widen too fast the underneath option route sits in a soft window for an easy completion. If the defense shows cover 3 with a deep middle defender, the receiver marked 1 becomes a low value read because the corner has help over the top, so shift focus to the shorter breaking routes. Key the strong safety depth presnap, since a shallow safety alignment signals possible cover 2 or man under two deep, both of which are vulnerable to the deep breaking route once the corner commits to the flat. Post snap look for a user controlled defender sitting in the middle of the field lurking underneath the deep breaking route, which signals cover 4 or a match zone shell designed to take away the primary read. Beware disguised blitzes where the linebackers show blitz depth presnap then bail into zone drops, since this can bait a quick throw into a route that has not developed yet.
Usage Tips
Presnap identify whether the safeties are showing two high or rotating to single high, since this route distribution is designed to exploit the seams in a two high shell.
Use the receiver marked 1 as your first read against soft cover 2 or cover 4, since his breaking route settles into the void between the corner and safety.
If you diagnose man coverage presnap, hot route the flat runner into a quick option or speed him up with a streak audible to create more separation versus man beaters elsewhere in this set like Mtn Fades H-Choice.
This play works best on second and long or third and medium situations where the defense is more likely to sit in zone drops rather than blitz.
Pair Deep Curl with Four Verticals or PA Read in your play calling sequence, since both threaten the same deep zones and force the defense to declare their shell before the snap.
