Playbooks
Breakdown
Cheat Bunch Drive Corner is a Cover 4 beater out of a bunch alignment that stacks a corner route on top of a drive concept to attack the seams and flat vacated by quarters coverage. The bunch releases create natural rub picks against man defenders while the drive route works underneath to hold linebackers and the corner route stretches the deep quarter defender vertically. The primary read progression starts with the corner route breaking to the sideline against a Cover 4 or Cover 2 shell, then works down to the drive route crossing underneath if the deep defender jumps the corner, and finishes with the check down or shallow drag against a hard blitz.
Defensive Reads
Read the safeties pre-snap, if both are deep at 10 to 12 yards with corners playing outside leverage this is a strong indicator of Cover 4 which this play is designed to exploit. Watch the flat defender at the snap, in Cover 2 or Cover 3 he has to choose between the drive route and the corner route and cannot cover both. Key the linebacker depth off the bunch, if he sinks quickly into the throwing lane of the drive route the quarterback needs to climb the ladder to the corner instead. Man coverage with press corners on the bunch is where this play is most vulnerable since the rub picks lose value if defenders play off and the corner route can get undercut by a trailing defender with depth. Look for a user controlled safety sitting on the corner route quarter, if he shows late rotation or freezes on the snap the drive route underneath opens for an easy completion.
Usage Tips
Motion the bunch receiver before the snap to force the defense to declare man or zone coverage and identify if a defender travels with the motion man.
Use this play on second and medium to long third down situations where defenses are more likely to sit in Cover 4 or Cover 2 shells to prevent big plays.
Hot route the drive route runner into a quicker crossing pattern if you see a nano blitz look with linebackers crowding the line of scrimmage.
Pair this play with Mtn Bunch Switch Flood or Mtn Bunch Cross Dig in the same set so defenses cannot sit on the corner route tendency out of the bunch look.
Take the corner route early against Cover 2 since the flat defender cannot cover the corner and the deep half safety is stuck adjusting to two verticals.
