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Quick Reference
In 1 playbook
Breakdown
Strong Flood is a three level flood concept run to the strong side out of Shotgun Trey 4WR, tagged as a Cover 3 beater. The outside receiver runs a deep out breaking route to the sideline, the slot receiver clears vertically up the seam, and the inline receiver hits a quick flat route to occupy the underneath defender, stacking all three levels of the same zone. On the backside, the single receiver runs a crossing route underneath while another receiver works a shallow drag, giving the quarterback a checkdown away from the flood if the strong side is clogged. The primary read progression starts with the deep out on the flood side, works down to the seam route as the second read, and settles on the flat route or backside crosser as the final checkdown.
Defensive Reads
Key the flat defender or curl to flat player in Cover 3, since he has to choose between sinking to the deep out or staying home on the flat route, and that conflict is exactly what this concept exploits. Watch the strong side safety pre-snap, if he rotates down into the box or cheats to the flood side before the snap, expect man coverage or a Cover 1 look that can jump the deep out route. Post-snap, track any user controlled defender flying to the sideline early, since a smart user will bait the quarterback into throwing the deep out and then undercut it for a pick six. Cover 4 or quarters shells with disciplined corners who stay on top of the deep out route will shut this play down, since the seam route also gets picked up by the safety rotating over. If the backside crosser gets picked up by a linebacker sitting in a shallow zone or spying, the checkdown disappears and forces the quarterback into a tighter throwing window on the flood side.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify whether the defense is showing single high or two high safety looks, since this play is built to attack single high Cover 3 shells where the flat defender has to choose between the flat route and the deep out.
If you see Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells with two deep safeties, hot route the seam runner into a deep corner or bench route to stress the sideline defender vertically before he can sink under the out.
Use this play on second and medium to second and long situations where you have time to work through the full progression from the deep out down to the checkdown.
Pair Strong Flood with Four Verticals or Switch Verts in your play calling sequence, since both plays use similar Trey 4WR alignments and force the defense to respect the vertical stretch before you come back to the flood concept.
Against aggressive man coverage, hot route the flat route runner into a quick out or speed out to win separation immediately off the snap, since the flood concept loses some effectiveness if defenders are locked in man across the board.
