Playbooks
At a Glance
In 1 playbook
Overview
Shotgun Tackle Over is the unbalanced line look in the Shotgun family. Instead of the standard five up front with a TE attached, the offense shifts a tackle to the strong side, creating a six man surface on one side and leaving the backside tackle spot vacant. That single alignment change forces the defense to declare its strength pre-snap, and any defense that does not slide its front is immediately outnumbered at the point of attack. The personnel is 11 (1 RB, 1 TE), so you keep a third receiver on the field while running a heavy line body, which is why the set carries a 3DRB tag: you can present a run-first look with pass personnel and still get the coverage the defense wants to play against three wide.
Strengths
- 0 1 Trap and Inside Zone attack the extra gap created by the tackle over shift, so light boxes and single high shells get gashed before the defense can flow.
- Read Option gives you a free hat on the backside edge, and with the extra tackle strong the read defender is usually unblocked by design, meaning you keep the ball when he crashes.
- RPO Alert Bubble and RPO Alert X Z Smoke turn any pre-snap leverage read into free yards: check the numbers to the field, throw the alert when the flat defender is inside the slot or the corner is bailing.
- Fake Screen Wheel and HB Slip Screen punish users who spam a blitz or fly downhill on run keys, since the unbalanced surface sells run and drags linebackers out of the throwing window.
- Sprintout Smash gives you a legitimate zone beater off the run look, with the corner sitting on the flat route and the hitch or fade working the cover 2 and cover 3 boundary.
Weaknesses
- The vacated backside tackle spot is a free lane for edge pressure, and any nano blitz off the weak side gets home before the run develops or the RPO read finishes.
- Route trees are thin. Most plays are run first with alert throws attached, so you have very few true four verticals or deep man beaters without heavy hot routing.
- Man coverage with a user-controlled defender on the alert receiver kills the RPO tags, since bubble and smoke throws need a coverage bust or soft leverage to work.
- Repeat use tips your tendency: opponents will start sliding their line to the heavy surface and pinching gaps, which turns Inside Zone and 0 1 Trap into two yard runs.
- The gadget concepts (Fake Screen Wheel, HB Slip Screen) are slow developing and get blown up by interior pressure or a user jumping the screen release.
Usage Tips
Read the box before you snap. If the defense does not shift its front to the heavy side, run 0 1 Trap or Inside Zone into the extra gap. If it slides over, run Read Option and keep it backside.
Use this set on second and medium or third and short, where the run look holds linebackers and the RPO alerts still get you the sticks against soft zone.
Hot route the backside receiver to a slant or drag to give yourself an outlet against the weak side pressure the vacant tackle spot invites.
Alternate the alert throw and the handoff on the RPO plays so the user cannot commit. Watch the slot defender's leverage: inside alignment means throw the bubble, outside means give the ball.
Mix in Fake Screen Wheel or HB Slip Screen only after you have run the ball a few times from this set, so the linebackers are flowing hard and the screen lanes are actually open.
