Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Levels out of Shotgun Stack Y-Flex is a classic vertical stretch concept built to attack Cover 2 and other zone shells. The stacked receivers to the left run a two-level combo, with the inside man sitting on a deep dig across the field while the outside man clears underneath on a shallow crosser, stacking two horizontal routes at different depths on the same side. On the right, the slot runs a vertical seam to occupy the safety while the outside TE/WR runs a corner route to clear the flat, and the HB releases out of the backfield on a wheel route to attack the void vacated by a blitzing linebacker or a flat defender who bites on the crosser. The primary read progression starts with the deep dig, works down to the shallow crosser underneath, and checks the HB wheel as the outlet if the levels combo is covered.
Defensive Reads
Levels is a nightmare for Cover 2 because the underneath zone defenders cannot cover both the shallow crosser and the deep dig at the same depth, so look for that stacked zone shell pre-snap as your green light. Man coverage with no help over the top can still get beat by the dig if the defender trailing underneath gets picked off by the shallow crosser's traffic, so watch for natural rub action created by the stack alignment. Post-snap, key the flat defender and hook defender on the levels side, if they widen with the shallow crosser the dig window opens immediately behind them. Watch for a user controlled defender sitting in a deep hook or lurking in the middle of the field, since that lurk threat is the biggest counter to the dig route and can jump the throwing lane. A blitz that removes a linebacker from the HB's release lane leaves the wheel route wide open, so if you see pressure showing pre-snap, expect the HB wheel to be your best answer versus man beaters designed to attack the backfield.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify whether the defense is showing two safeties deep before the snap because Levels is purpose built to punish Cover 2 zone drops with its horizontal stretch on the underneath defenders.
Progress your read from the deep dig to the shallow crosser and be ready to fire the dig into the window between the corner and the hook defender the instant the underneath zone flows away from it.
If the defense shows man coverage or brings a blitz off the edge, hot route the HB wheel earlier or check it down quickly since the route naturally exploits vacated flat zones and blitzing linebackers.
Use this play on second or third and medium situations where the defense is more likely to sit in zone shells, then pair it with Curl Combo or Y-Sail from the same set to keep the defense guessing between high low zone stretches on either side of the field.
Sequence Levels after running HB Draw or Inside Zone a few times to get linebackers creeping up in run support, which opens the deep dig and HB wheel lanes even wider.
