Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
617 out of Shotgun Spread Flex 11 personnel is a quick pass flood concept built to attack one side of the field with three levels of routes. The left side runs a slant flat combo with the outside receiver working an inside slant and the inline receiver flattening out toward the sideline, while the right side stacks a go route, a deep out and an underneath flat route from the backfield to create a three level flood. The QB progression starts with the flat flood on the right (flat to out to go) as the deep shot valve, then works back to the quick slant flat concept on the left if the flood side is capped, making this a strong zone beater against Cover 3 and Cover 2 flat defenders who cannot cover every level.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and count defenders in the box, a two high shell with soft corners suggests the flood side out and go will have room to work. Watch the flat defender on the flood side after the snap, if he sinks too deep to take away the out route, the underneath flat route from the backfield will be wide open. Key the corner on the go route route, if he presses at the line without safety help behind him, this play is vulnerable to a big play down the sideline. Man coverage with underneath linebackers matching routes tightly will struggle against the slant flat combo since the slant creates natural rub leverage. Watch for a user controlled defender sitting in the middle of the field as a lurk threat, this can jump the shallow crossing paths of the slant and flat routes and bait a turnover throw.
Usage Tips
Use this play on early downs or third and short to medium since the slant flat side gets the ball out fast against blitz looks.
Pre-snap, identify if the defense has two deep safeties or one high safety, a single high shell tells you the go route on the flood side has a better shot at getting behind the corner.
If you see Cover 3, target the flood side flat route since the corner has to choose between the flat defender and the deep out, creating a natural conflict.
Hot route the backside slant into a quick out if you are facing man coverage with no safety help underneath, this gives you a rhythm throw against man beaters like Cover 1 or Cover 0.
Pair this play with Mesh or Y Stick from the same set to keep the defense guessing between quick game and flood concepts, then mix in PA Deep Outs later in the series once the defense starts jumping the flat routes.
