Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 3 playbooks
Breakdown
Spot Wheel out of Shotgun Trey Offset gives you a five man spot concept married to a wheel route out of the backfield. To the trips side, the inside receiver runs a quick hitch, the middle man runs a corner route on a red spot pattern that sits underneath, and the outside receiver clears vertically up the sideline. On the backside, the tight end runs a wheel route from the flat up the boundary while the running back checks release and swings out to the opposite flat as a safety valve. This is a Cover 3 beater built around the flood concept, with the wheel and corner attacking the deep thirds while the spot and hitch hold underneath defenders, and your primary read progression starts with the corner route on the spot side before working to the wheel if the defense rotates hard to trips.
Defensive Reads
Read the deep third defenders at the snap, if the corner responsible for the trips side widens to cover the vertical clearer, the underneath corner route will be open in the void behind him. Key the flow of the linebackers, if they flow hard to the spot concept side, the wheel route out of the backfield or tight end alignment will have a soft matchup versus a late reacting linebacker. Watch for user controlled defenders sitting in the passing lane of the corner route, since that is the most valuable route on the concept and defenders will often try to jump it. This play struggles against Cover 4 or Cover 6 shells with two deep safeties who can double the corner route and wall off the wheel, so expect tighter throwing windows against those coverages. Man coverage with a linebacker matched on the wheel route is the biggest liability for the defense, so if you see man alignment pre-snap with a linebacker over the back or tight end running the wheel, expect that route to be the primary answer.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify if the defense is showing single high or two high safeties because this concept thrives against single high Cover 3 looks where the corner and wheel can stress both deep thirds at once.
If the defense shifts a safety over the top of trips to take away the corner route, immediately climb your progression to the wheel route since the backside corner will often be isolated on the tight end.
Use motion or a hot route on the running back to release him wide if you see man coverage, since the wheel becomes a mismatch against a linebacker or slower defender in man.
This play pairs well with Stick and China Y Cop from the same set since both look similar out of Trey Offset presnap but attack shallow zones differently, keeping defenders honest on their run fits and coverage drops.
Best called on second and medium to third and long situations where you need a chunk play, since the deep corner and wheel routes both threaten explosive gains if the defense sits back in zone.
