Playbooks
Levels Sail out of Shotgun Trey is a pure zone beating concept built on stacked in-cuts to one side and a sail route flooding the other, creating a two-level and three-level attack on the same half of the field. The Trey bunch look stresses Cover 2 corners and Cover 3 zone defenders by putting a shallow curl, a deep in, and a corner or flag route into the same window, forcing a defender to choose which level to cover. Your primary read progresses low to high on the levels side: check the underneath in route first, then work up to the deeper in-cut, and if the safety jumps the levels combo, come back to the sail route on the backside for the intermediate out or corner shot.
Read the safety depth and rotation before the snap, if both safeties stay deep and the corners sit low expect Cover 2 and attack the levels side immediately. If one safety rotates down into the box or shows a single high alignment, expect Cover 3 and lean toward the sail concept on the opposite side. Watch the flat defender or cornerback in off coverage, if he sinks with the deeper in route the shallow in route will sit open in the vacated flat area. Key the underneath linebackers for a lurk threat sitting in the shallow zone, since a user controlled linebacker jumping the in route can bait a turnover if the quarterback does not climb the ladder to the second level route in time. This concept struggles against man coverage with a deep safety over the top or against a well timed nano blitz, since the levels routes take time to develop and the sail concept needs the quarterback to hold the ball through his first read.
Pre-snap, identify whether the defense shows a two-high or one-high safety shell because that determines which side of the concept wins. Against Cover 2, attack the levels side since the flat defender and corner get horizontally stretched by the stacked in-routes with no deep help underneath them. Against Cover 3, work the sail concept since the corner route stresses the deep third defender while the underneath out sits in the void vacated by the flat defender. Use motion or a hot route to check the running back into a flare or swing route if you see a blitz look, giving yourself an outlet against man pressure. Pair this call with Stick or RPO Alert WR Screen earlier in a series so the defense respects the quick game, then hit them with Levels Sail on second or third and medium to exploit zone drop hesitation. On third and long, prioritize the deep in-cut on the levels side since it settles behind linebackers and in front of safeties, giving you a high percentage completion with YAC potential.