Playbooks

PA Dig

Shotgun·Spread Flex·11

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This play belongs to no NFL team or scheme playbook, so it may not appear in the in-game builder.

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Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

SetSpread Flex

Personnel

111 RB · 1 TE · 3 WR

In 1 playbook

Spread Classic

Breakdown

PA Dig from Shotgun Spread Flex 11 personnel sells the play fake to the HB before working a dig route across the middle of the field as the primary target, paired with a deep shot and a shallow crosser to hold underneath defenders. This is a play-action pass designed to freeze the linebackers and attack the space that opens up behind them, making it an effective zone beater against Cover 3 and Cover 4 shells where the flat defenders bite on the run fake. The primary read progression starts with the dig route breaking across the field, then works to the deep route if a safety jumps the dig, and finally checks down to the shallow crosser if the pocket collapses or the middle is clogged.

Defensive Reads

Read the linebacker depth immediately after the snap since PA Dig punishes defenders who step up hard on the run fake and vacate the middle of the field. Identify Cover 3 by a single high safety and rotating corners, this is the shell most vulnerable to the dig sitting down in the vacated seam. Watch for a robber or lurk defender sitting in the shallow middle zone, a user controlled linebacker can jump the dig route if he reads your quarterback eyes early. Cover 4 with disciplined safeties who do not bite on the play fake will squeeze the throwing window, so be ready to check to the shallow crosser. Man coverage combined with a delayed blitz is the toughest look against this concept since the dig has to fight through traffic and the quarterback may not have time to let the route develop.

Usage Tips

Run this out of a run-heavy personnel package early in the game so the play fake actually holds linebackers on tape and in the moment. Check the safety depth pre-snap: if both safeties are sitting at 8 to 10 yards in a two high shell, the dig has a clean throwing lane once it clears the hash. Use the play action rollout element to buy extra time against edge pressure, and consider hot routing the shallow crosser into a drag if you expect man coverage so it becomes an immediate answer to a blitz. Pair this call with Inside Zone or HB Draw earlier in a series so the defense respects the run fake, then dial up PA Dig once you see linebackers stepping up aggressively on early down runs. Save this for second and medium or first down situations where defenses are more willing to sell out against the run, since the play action fake loses value on obvious passing downs.