Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 11 playbooks
Breakdown
Double Slants lines up from Spread Y-Slot Wk in Shotgun with 11 personnel, releasing both the boundary outside receiver and the slot receiver on quick slants that cross underneath the second level. The backside outside receiver runs a deep drag across the field while the two receivers to the field run a comeback and an out to clear space and hold the corners. The lone running back stays in to check block and leak out on a shallow drag underneath, giving the quarterback a built in outlet if the slants get jumped. This is a man beater at its core, designed to attack inside leverage defenders with the two slants working to the same side of the field, with the primary read starting on the near slant and progressing to the shallow drag.
Defensive Reads
Presnap, identify if the slot corner is aligned with inside shade, which signals he is sitting on the slant and daring you to throw the drag or comeback instead. Key the middle linebacker depth: if he is shallow and reading the backfield, he can undercut the shallow drag, so widen your eyes to the comeback route as a late progression. Watch for a user controlled defender sitting in the shallow zone or lurking the drag, since that is the biggest threat to this concept and forces you to trust the slant window earlier. Cover 3 sink with a hard flat defender can take away both the slant and the drag, so look to the comeback or out breaking route on the backside as your escape valve. Blitz zero or man free looks with no deep safety help are where this play wins big, since the slants create instant separation before extra rushers close.
Usage Tips
Use this on third and short to third and medium when you expect man coverage or a Cover 3 sink because the double slant combo hits fast before pressure arrives.
Presnap, check corner depth and slot alignment: if the corner is playing outside shade with no safety help over the top, throw the slant immediately off the snap.
Hot route the running back to a flat release if you see a nano blitz or edge pressure look, since he becomes your checkdown against Cover 0 and blitz zero looks.
Pair this play with Quick Slants or RPO Peek Slant earlier in a drive to condition the defense to sit on the slant window, then hit Dagger or PA Dagger later in the set to punish overaggressive linebackers jumping the same route.
Against zone shells, work the deep drag as your primary read since it settles in the void behind underneath defenders and in front of deep zone droppers.
