Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Stick out of Shotgun Tight Open runs a classic Stick concept to both sides of the formation, giving you mirrored route combos wherever the defense sets its strength. Each side shows an outside receiver running a deep out breaking to the sideline, a slot man sitting down on a stick route at roughly five yards, and the backside also carrying a vertical release that curls back into the flat off the numbered stick tag. There is no run action tied into this look, it is a straight dropback pass concept designed to attack both man and zone coverage by giving you a horizontal stretch on either side of the ball. Primary read progression starts with the stick route (the shallow sit route), then works to the corner/out breaking route, and finally to the mirrored concept on the opposite side if the defense rotates away from your first read.
Defensive Reads
Key the flow of the linebackers at the snap, if they sink hard into the stick route zone the underneath window closes fast and you need to reset to the out breaking route immediately. Watch for Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells with corners playing off, this gives soft leverage on the outside routes but tightens the window on the stick route since safeties can help underneath. Identify man coverage by cornerback press alignment pre-snap, since the deep out route wins big against man due to the natural leverage advantage created by the breaking angle. Look for a user-controlled defender sitting in the shallow zone or spying the stick route, this is the biggest threat to the concept and usually signals you should attack the opposite side of the mirrored design. Blitz-heavy defenses that bring extra rushers off the edge open up the stick route as an instant answer, since the quick sit route gets the ball out before pressure arrives.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify which side of the formation has a leverage advantage against the corner and linebacker depth, since the mirrored design lets you flip your first read to either side without changing the play call.
Use the stick route as your rhythm throw against zone coverage, it sits in the void underneath deep zone drops and gives you a quick, high percentage completion on third and short.
Against man coverage, work the deep out route first since it forces defenders to break outside off their hip, creating separation if the corner is playing inside leverage.
Hot route the backside stick to a flat or spot route if you diagnose a Cover 3 sky or Cover 4 shell pre-snap, this keeps a defender from sitting in the passing lane on both stick routes at once.
Pair this play with Bench or Bench Z Spot from the same set to keep the defense guessing between stick concepts and deeper spot concepts, forcing linebackers to respect both the shallow sit and the deeper breaking routes.
