Playbooks
At a Glance
Overview
Trey Y-Flex Str is a strong side trips look out of Shotgun 11 personnel that stacks three receivers to one side with the tight end flexed off the line rather than attached. That flex alignment is the key difference from standard Trey sets: instead of a compressed run surface, you get a true slot body in the trips cluster, which forces the defense to declare between bringing a safety down over the top or playing the trips side with a nickel and a rolled shell. The single receiver on the back side gets isolated against whatever corner the defense leaves alone, and because the formation is strength declared, most zone shells rotate away from the X, giving you a clean one on one read every snap.
The play list leans heavily RPO with RPO Peek Slant, RPO Zone Peek, RPO Zone Peek Pop, and RPO Read FL Screen all built off the same run action, so you can rep the identical pre snap picture and let the read key tell you whether to hand off or pull. Inside Zone, Outside Zone, 0 1 Trap, and HB Draw give the run game legitimacy from the same alignment, which is what makes the RPO peek reads honest against users who like to crash a defensive end or user the flat defender. Because the tight end is flexed, defenses cannot simply set the front to the trips side without vacating an interior run lane.
Through the air the set covers the full concept tree. Mtn Verticals and PA Verts stress a single high shell from the trips side, Mtn Stick and Flood Sit attack Cover 3 and Cover 4 with a horizontal spacing element, and Verticals Y Cross, Dagger Sit, PA Crossers, PA Cross Sit, and PA Slot Cross give you a full menu of high low crossers that shred man coverage and any user trying to sit in the middle of the field. Jet Chip Wasp and the Gadget tag mean you also have motion based misdirection to build in, and the 3DRB tag signals a receiving back who can be flexed or hot routed out of the formation for mismatch work against a linebacker.
Strengths
- Trips strong alignment forces a coverage declaration pre snap, so you can identify Cover 3 rotation, Cover 4 quarters, or man press before the ball moves and pick the correct concept.
- RPO Peek Slant and RPO Zone Peek let you run one look with two answers, punishing users who crash the edge with a defensive line control or user the hook defender.
- Verticals Y Cross, Dagger Sit, PA Crossers, and PA Slot Cross give you layered crossers that beat man coverage clean and pull user defenders out of the middle windows.
- Mtn Stick and Flood Sit flood the strong side with three level spacing, which is a direct answer to Cover 3 flat and Cover 6 looks that only have two defenders to the trips side.
- Isolated backside X plus a flexed tight end means you can hot route the single receiver to a slant or fade and win a one on one whenever the defense rotates strength.
Weaknesses
- Five wide spacing with the tight end flexed leaves only five blockers, so overload nano blitzes and pinched interior pressure get home fast on the deeper drop plays.
- Heavy RPO play art means the read defender is often a user controlled defender, and a good opponent will bait the pull then jump the peek route.
- The strong side declaration is obvious, letting opponents set their front and rotate a safety to the trips cluster without disguise if you never flip or motion.
- Backside run lanes are thin when defenses shade the front to the strong side, which limits Inside Zone and 0 1 Trap efficiency on short yardage.
- Play action concepts like PA Verts and PA Cross Sit have long developing stems, and any free rusher off the edge kills the play before the crossers clear.
Usage Tips
Read the nickel and safety alignment first: if the defense keeps two high over trips, hit the isolated backside receiver with a hot route slant or fade instead of throwing into the cluster.
Use Inside Zone and Outside Zone early to establish the run so RPO Peek Slant and RPO Zone Peek Pop become real conflicts for the read defender.
Against single high, go to Mtn Verticals or PA Verts and target the seam runner from the trips side, since one safety cannot cover the middle and the boundary vertical.
Against man coverage or a user in the middle, run Verticals Y Cross, PA Crossers, or Dagger Sit and let the crossers work away from the user defender.
Flip the strength or motion with Jet Chip Wasp to break tendency, and hot route the receiving back (3DRB tag) into the flat as a pressure valve when you expect a nano blitz.
