Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Corner Strike is a five-man route concept out of Gun Stack Y-Flex 11 personnel built to attack the boundary and beat man coverage on the backside. From the stack side, two receivers run a deep dig into a corner combo that clears out the intermediate zone while an inline receiver on the strong side runs a corner route with a short flat route underneath to hold defenders. The blue route in the backfield checks for blitz protection before working a short crossing route as a checkdown. The primary read progression starts with the strongside corner route against the outside corner, works down to the flat route sitting underneath for a quick zone beater option, then comes back to the deep dig or checkdown route if the corner route is not open.
Defensive Reads
Read the strong side cornerback at the snap, if he opens his hips to run with the corner route you are in man coverage and can attack the sideline throw. Watch the flat defender's depth, a shallow zone drop signals underneath coverage rotation and tells you to look immediately to the corner route or dig. Identify single high safety alignment pre-snap, this shell leaves the deep corner route in a soft spot between the corner and the rotating safety. Key the backside linebacker for lurk technique, if he sinks into the throwing lane on the dig route be ready to hit the checkdown instead of forcing it. Against Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells with two deep safeties, the corner route becomes tougher to complete, so shift your progression to the flat route and checkdown earlier in the play.
Usage Tips
Attack this play against single high safety looks since the corner route from the strong side will win one on one against man coverage or sit in the void of a Cover 3 rotation.
Check the flat defender pre-snap because if that linebacker or corner sits shallow, hot route the flat route into a quick out to beat aggressive underneath zone drops.
Use this play on second and medium or third and short since the flat route and checkdown give you a safe outlet if the corner route is covered.
Pair Corner Strike with HB Draw and Inside Zone from the same set to keep linebackers honest, then dial this up once you see linebackers creeping into run fits.
Sequence this behind Y-Sail or Double Corner in the same set so defenders start jumping outside routes, opening up the backside dig for an explosive gain.
Motion or shift the backside stack receivers pre-snap to diagnose if the defense is playing man or zone before the snap.
