Playbooks
Breakdown
Shakes is a quick-hitting man beater out of Shotgun Trey Open with 11 personnel. To the closed (Trey) side, the outside receiver runs a slant while the inside slot receiver on that stack works a slant flat combo, giving the quarterback a fast underneath answer against blitzes. Backside, the isolated X receiver runs a hitch while the running back releases out of the backfield on a wheel route up the sideline, and on the far trips side one receiver clears vertically while the other two cross into an out and a corner breaking route. The primary read starts with the backside wheel versus man coverage, then works to the slant flat combo underneath if the linebacker or safety follows the running back.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, identify whether the linebacker assigned to the running back is a true man defender or a zone spy, since the wheel route only opens up against man coverage or blown assignments. Watch the flat defender on the Trey side, if he sinks with the slant flat combo the underneath slant window tightens and you need to reset to the wheel or the trips side out route. Post-snap, key the corner over the backside hitch, if he presses and jumps the route immediately you must hot route to the out or move on to the trips concept. Against zone shells like Cover 3 or Cover 4, the wheel route can get picked off by a flat or curl defender sinking outside, so use the slant flat combo as the primary answer instead. Blitz-heavy defenses that bring pressure off the edge will struggle to account for the running back on the wheel, so watch for overloaded fronts and exploit the numbers advantage before the pocket collapses.
Usage Tips
Call Shakes on third and short to medium when you expect man coverage since the wheel and slant flat combo both exploit man to man leverage. Check the pre-snap alignment of the defender over your running back, if he is a linebacker walked up in the box, the wheel route has a strong chance to win vertically. Hot route the backside hitch into a quick out if you see a corner sitting on top expecting the hitch, this keeps the sideline route alive as a rhythm throw. Pair Shakes with Curls or Double Ins from this same set so the defense sees similar formation shells but has to respect both quick game and intermediate zone beaters. Use this play in obvious passing situations after establishing HB Draw or Inside Zone from the same personnel to freeze linebackers on the run fake look.
