Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Flanker Dig lines up in Shotgun Spread Dbl Flex with 11 personnel, showing five eligible receivers with no in-line blocking help drawn on this route concept. The backside two receivers run a crossing man beater combo, one sitting into a shallow drag while the other clears vertically up the seam after a stem to the outside, creating natural traffic against man coverage. On the play side, the outside receiver runs the namesake dig, breaking hard across the middle at intermediate depth, while the inside receiver runs a flat/out route underneath to hold linebackers and clear space for the dig sitting behind them. This is a man beater first, with the crossing action and the dig breaking away from coverage, but it also holds up against zone thanks to the flat route occupying underneath defenders. The primary read progression starts with the dig route as the first read against man coverage, then works to the shallow drag/cross if the dig is blanketed, with the flat route as the checkdown outlet versus zone drops.
Defensive Reads
Watch the middle linebacker depth at the snap, if he sits shallow or blitzes the dig route window opens up immediately behind him. Identify Cover 3 or Cover 4 shells pre-snap, both of these can be exposed by the dig sitting down in the intermediate hole between the flat defender and deep zone defenders. Post-snap, key any user-controlled defender who lurks in the middle of the field, this play is vulnerable to a spy or rat defender sitting on the dig route crossing pattern. Man coverage with no safety help over the top gets beat by the crossing combo on the backside, so check if the defense shows two-high before the snap to gauge risk. Cover 2 with aggressive underneath linebackers can undercut both the flat route and the dig if the linebackers read the quarterback's eyes quickly, so look for disciplined zone drops that stay square before committing to the throw.
Usage Tips
Look for single high safety shells pre-snap since the dig route thrives when there is no second defender sitting in the middle of the field to jump the crossing route.
Motion is not built into this play, so identify man versus zone before the snap by watching if defenders shift with your receivers or stay put in their zone landmarks.
Hot route the shallow drag into a deeper cross if you are facing heavy zone coverage, this stretches the underneath defenders horizontally and opens throwing lanes for the dig.
Use this play on second and medium to second and long, the dig route needs time to develop and the crossing combo works best when the defense has to respect the pass on early downs.
Pair Flanker Dig with Quick Slants or RPO Peek Slant from this set to keep defenses honest, once they start jumping underneath routes the dig route behind them becomes a big play waiting to happen.
