Playbooks
Breakdown
Z Under lines up in Shotgun Trey Open with 11 personnel, stacking three receivers to the strong side and isolating the Y off the backside. The backside X runs an out breaking away from the formation, while the three receiver side shows a go route up the boundary, a deep seam from the inside slot, and a slant breaking underneath from the middle receiver. The TE releases into a flat route to the boundary side, giving the QB a five man route concept built to attack man coverage with natural picks and separation on the slant flat combo. Primary progression starts with the slant to flat read on the three receiver side, then works to the go and seam vertical shots if a defender bites underneath, with the backside out as a late checkdown against zone drops.
Defensive Reads
Pre snap, identify if the safety over the three receiver side is playing deep middle or cheating toward the seam, since that tells you whether the go and seam combo is live. Watch linebacker depth before the snap, if they are sitting shallow expecting the slant flat, that opens the vertical shots underneath a soft zone. Post snap, key the underneath defender assigned to the flat, a user controlled linebacker sinking into that lane will jump the flat route and take away the easy completion. This concept struggles against Cover 3 with a sky safety rotated to the strong side, since the seam and go routes run into a deep third defender with help underneath. Man coverage with no safety help over the top is the ideal shell to attack, since the slant and flat combo creates natural rubs that shake man defenders loose.
Usage Tips
Use this on early downs or third and short since the slant flat combo gets the ball out fast and beats aggressive man coverage. Check pre snap for man alignment on the three receiver side, if you see press man or a corner shaded outside, the slant should win quickly off the line. If the defense shows zone with linebackers sitting in underneath windows, hot route the slant into a quick out or speed up the flat route to beat the zone beater with the same timing. Pair this call with Curls or Double Ins from the same set so the defense has to respect both quick game and intermediate zone beaters, keeping user linebackers honest. Against blitz heavy defenses, keep the TE in as a check release option since the flat route doubles as a blitz beater outlet.
