Playbooks
RNS 590 Nebraska
Quick Reference
In 1 playbook
Breakdown
RNS 590 Nebraska out of Shotgun Spread Slots Close is a play action flood concept designed to stress one side of the field with three levels of routes. The backside receiver runs a go route up the numbers to hold the deep safety while the play side stacks a wheel out of the backfield, a corner route, an out, and a drag underneath crossing back to the opposite flat. With go, corner, out, drag, and wheel tags all in play this is a true flood beater built to overload zone coverage, and the deep to intermediate combination on the strong side also gives the quarterback answers versus man leverage. The primary read starts with the corner route working outside to inside, then progresses to the out and drag underneath if the corner is capped, using the backside go and wheel as pressure release valves.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and leverage on the flood side, a rolled up safety usually signals man coverage which opens the wheel and corner routes. Post-snap, watch the flat defender's drop, if he sinks with the out route the drag underneath should be wide open behind him. Against zone coverage, key the deep half or deep third defender's reaction to the go route, if he bites on the vertical stem the corner route will sit down in the void behind him. Beware disguised zone blitzes where the underneath defender to the flood side crashes at the snap, this can jump the drag route and force the quarterback into the tighter windows on the corner and out. Man coverage with no safety help over the top on the play side gets exposed badly by the wheel route, so identify any user controlled defender lurking underneath before committing to that throw.
Usage Tips
Use pre-snap motion or a quick glance at the strong safety to confirm if the defense is rotating to the flood side before the snap.
If you see two deep safeties splitting the field, throw the drag or out quickly since the corner route into a two high shell will be capped by the deep half defender.
Against single high coverage, trust the corner route or wheel since the deep middle defender cannot cover every vertical threat created by the flood.
Pair this play with RNS 590 Z Replace or RNS 590 Texas in the same set so the defense sees similar backfield action and route stems but gets a different answer each time, keeping linebackers and safeties guessing.
This play works best on early downs or second and medium since the play action fake needs run respect, and the deep shots reward aggressive downfield coverage or overcommitted run blitzes.
