Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Drive H Out lines up from Shotgun Tight with 11 personnel and shows a five man route concept designed to attack Cover 4 shells. The inside slot receiver runs the drive route (the red option route shown breaking outside into a hard out), while the outside receiver on that side clears vertically up the numbers to hold the corner and safety deep. On the opposite side, the backside receivers run a shallow drag underneath and a comeback breaking back toward the sideline, giving the quarterback a full-field high-low read against zone drops. This is a zone beater by design, using the vertical clear-out to open the flat for the drive out route as the primary progression, with the backside shallow serving as the checkdown versus pressure.
Defensive Reads
Watch the flat or curl to flat defender at the snap: if he sinks with the vertical route instead of staying flat footed, the drive out route will be wide open on the sideline. Key the safeties before the snap since true Cover 4 shells with deep quarter defenders are the primary target for this concept because the vertical route occupies the deep quarter and clears room underneath. If the defense shows Cover 3 with a hard flat corner, expect the drive out to be contested and lean on the backside shallow drag instead. Look for a user controlled linebacker sitting in the shallow drag lane since a smart defender will jump this route and rob the easy checkdown, forcing you to work the out route or vertical clear-out. Man coverage with press corners is the biggest threat to this play since there is no true man beater breaking away from leverage on the play side, so be ready to hot route or check to a different play if you see press man pre-snap.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify whether the safeties are showing a two high or single high shell since this play is built specifically to exploit Cover 4 and other quarters-heavy zone schemes.
Your first read should be the drive route breaking out of the slot: if the flat defender widens with the vertical clear-out, the out route will sit down in a soft spot for an easy completion.
Use the backside shallow drag as your answer versus a blitz since it gets the ball out fast and beats man coverage leverage underneath.
Hot route the vertical route into a skinny post on obvious passing downs if you see a single high safety cheating over the top, since the original vertical is meant to occupy zone defenders rather than beat man coverage deep.
Pair this play with Drive Corner or PA Deep Post from the same set so the defense has to respect the vertical shot every time they see this personnel and formation, keeping linebackers honest on the drive concept.
