Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Deep Attack out of Shotgun Spread Y-Flex is a vertical flood concept designed to stretch the field on one side while keeping a shallow crosser as a checkdown against zone drops. The two outside receivers on the right run a corner and a go route stacked vertically to occupy the deep third and hi-lo the cornerback and safety, while the slot runs an out that settles underneath as a zone beater against Cover 3 rotation. On the backside, the receiver runs a deep post that crosses the entire field as an alert against single-high shells, with the outlet running a short crossing route underneath. The primary read progression starts with the corner-go combo to the flooded side, moves to the post if the safety bites on the flood, and checks down to the crossing route or out if the coverage stays deep.
Defensive Reads
Watch the deep safeties before the snap: a single-high look means the post is live and the corner route to the flood side has one-on-one leverage. Against Cover 3, the flooded corner and go combo overloads the deep third defender, so track whether the cornerback or the rotating safety commits to the corner route, opening the post behind him. User-controlled safeties who cheat toward the flood side create a natural throwing lane for the backside post, so bait that defender with your eyes before committing. Two-high shells with press corners can shut this down since both deep routes on the flood side get taken away, forcing a quick checkdown to the crossing route or out. Watch linebacker depth and blitz timing since this route combo takes time to develop, and any inside pressure that beats your protection will force an early, low-value checkdown.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify whether the defense is showing two-high or single-high safety alignment since this play is built to punish single-high shells with the backside post.
If the corner over the flood side is playing tight man with no help over the top, take the shot on the corner route immediately off the snap.
Use the shallow crossing route and the out as built-in answers against zone coverage or when the pass rush forces a quick decision, especially on third and medium.
Pair Deep Attack with Y Stick or Curl Flats earlier in a drive to bait linebackers and safeties into sitting shallow, then hit this shot play once they start jumping underneath routes.
Save this call for down and distance situations where you can afford a possible sack or incompletion, ideally first down or second and long, since the deep routes take time to develop.
Motion the flood side receiver pre-snap if available to get a clean read on man versus zone before the snap.
