Playbooks

Y Cross Wheel

Shotgun·Trey Open·11
WheelCrosserDeep CrossFadePost SitSwingPass Play
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This play belongs to no NFL team or scheme playbook, so it may not appear in the in-game builder.

Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

In 1 playbook

Air Raid Classic OffenseOffense

Receiver routes

Depth-chart slots are shown as they line up in the base package for this set.

See this play with a team's players
PlayerSideRoute
HB1LeftSwing
WR3RightWheel
WR1LeftFade
WR2RightPost Sit
TE1RightDeep Cross

Read progression

  1. TE1 right, Deep Cross
  2. WR3 right, Wheel or WR2 right, Post Sit
  3. HB1 left, Swing or WR1 left, Fade

Breakdown

Y Cross Wheel out of Shotgun Trey Open is a man beater built around the Y receiver working a deep crossing route while the backfield player releases into a wheel route up the sideline. The wheel serves as the primary answer against man coverage because it forces a linebacker or safety to run vertically with the back in space, creating a natural leverage advantage. The Y cross is your zone beater and secondary read, sitting down or working through the middle of the field against off coverage or zone drops, while the trey bunch look at the line helps free releases against press man.

Defensive Reads

Check for man coverage indicators like cornerbacks lined up tight on the trey receivers with no safety help rotated over the top If the defense shows Cover 3 or Cover 4 with safeties deep, the wheel route will likely run into coverage so prioritize the Y cross underneath Watch linebacker depth at the snap, a linebacker sitting shallow signals he is spying the wheel route and can undercut it User controlled defenders lurking in the shallow middle can jump the Y cross route, so have your quarterback ready to reset to the wheel or checkdown Nano blitzes and hard corner blitzes off the edge will collapse the pocket quickly, so recognize six or seven man rush pre-snap and get the ball out on time to the wheel or hot route

Usage Tips

Motion or shift the trey bunch pre-snap to see if the defense follows, this confirms man coverage and tells you the wheel route is live

If you see two deep safeties and the linebackers sitting at depth, work the Y cross underneath instead of forcing the wheel into a deep zone defender

Hot route the backside receiver into a quick out or slant to give yourself a checkdown against a hard blitz look

Use this play on second and medium or third and long when you need a big chunk gain against man coverage teams that like to blitz off Trey Open

Pair this with Mesh Wheel or Y Cross Flood in the same set so opposing defenses cannot key on the wheel route tag out of this personnel

Other Plays in Trey Open