Playbooks

Flood

Shotgun·Trio Offset Wk·11
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Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

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Spread Classic

Breakdown

Flood is a three level route concept out of Shotgun Trio Offset Wk designed to overload one side of the field with a deep, intermediate, and shallow route stacked on top of each other. It is a zone beater at its core, since the flood concept stresses a single defender in a zone drop by giving him three vertical options he cannot cover alone, but it also holds up against man coverage if the receivers win their releases. The primary read progression starts deep to short on the flooded side: check the deep corner route first to see if the safety bites, then work down to the intermediate out or flat route underneath if the top is capped.

Defensive Reads

Pre snap, check the safety alignment on the flood side; a rotated safety toward that side signals Cover 3 or Cover 4 help over the top, while a safety cheating away leaves the deep corner route in a favorable one on one look. Watch the corner's press or off alignment, since off coverage corners will sink with the deep route and open up the intermediate out for the user or AI to attack underneath. Post snap, key the flat defender or nickel linebacker in the flood zone; if he sprints to the shallow route immediately, the intermediate out behind him should be open for a chunk gain. Beware of Cover 2 shells with a hard flat defender and a deep half safety, since this combo can squeeze the intermediate route and force a contested throw on the corner route. If the defense brings a nano blitz or sim pressure from the flood side, the quarterback needs to get the ball out fast on the shallow route before the protection breaks down, so this play loses value against aggressive five and six man rushes.

Usage Tips

Run this out of 11 personnel on early downs or second and medium to keep the defense honest against both run and pass looks from this formation. Identify the coverage shell pre snap: if you see two deep safeties split evenly, the flood side likely has a defender in a soft zone drop who can be attacked with the deep to short progression. If the defense shows Cover 3 with a single high safety, flood the boundary side and read the corner route against the flat defender's leverage. Use hot routes to convert the backside receiver into a quick out or slant if you diagnose man coverage, since the flood concept alone will not consistently beat tight man unless the release is clean. Pair this call with Curl Flat or Middle Slant from the same set to keep the defense guessing between a flood concept and quicker underneath combos, and mix in PA Niners Flood later in a series once the defense starts sitting on the run action. Save this for third and medium to long situations where the deep corner route has time to develop against zone drops.

Other Plays in Trio Offset Wk