Playbooks

Curls

Shotgun·Spread Y-Slot·11

Curl Pass Play

Play diagram for Curls from Shotgun Spread Y-Slot in Madden 27

Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

SetSpread Y-Slot

Personnel

111 RB · 1 TE · 3 WR

In 9 playbooks

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Breakdown

Curls out of Shotgun Spread Y-Slot lines up four receivers with a single running back staying in to help protect. The backside X runs a vertical stem into a flag/corner route to clear the deep third, while three receivers to the play side push upfield and settle into curls at staggered depths, creating a natural high low ladder on that side of the field. The running back releases into a checkdown flat route underneath, giving the quarterback a built in outlet if the curls are covered. This is a zone beater at its core, using the curl sit routes to find soft spots between the underneath zone defenders and the deep coverage, with the primary read progression working from the outside curl to the inside curl and then down to the running back in the flat.

Defensive Reads

Identify two high safety shells before the snap, since this concept is designed to attack the soft spots underneath split safeties in zone coverage. Watch linebacker depth at the snap, if the defense drops linebackers into deep curl zones immediately, the window for the inside curls shrinks and you need to speed up your progression to the flat. Beware of user controlled defenders sitting in a shallow zone lurk near the numbers, they can jump the outside curl route if the quarterback stares it down too long. Man coverage with no help over the top is a green light to convert the curls into deeper comebacks or verticals via hot routes, since the sit routes lose value against tight man leverage. Cover 3 with a hard flat defender can take away the running back checkdown, so key the flat defender's leverage before committing to that route as your final progression option.

Usage Tips

Look for the free safety depth pre-snap, if he is sitting at 10 to 12 yards in a two high shell the curls will have room to sit down in front of him before he can close.

Use the flag route from the X receiver to hold the corner and safety on that side, then work your eyes to the two inside curls that settle at different depths for a natural window read.

Hot route the backside curl into a deeper dig or comeback against teams that sit hard in shallow zone, since the base depth can get jumped by aggressive linebackers.

This play shines on second and medium to long, where defenses often play off zone coverage and give up the middle of the field for easy completions in front of linebackers.

Pair Curls with a hard play action shot play like Post Flood Salem or PA Post Curls once the defense starts sitting in zone to bait the safety and hit over the top for a big gain.