Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 1 playbook
Breakdown
Scat out of Shotgun Trio Offset is a five man route concept built around a deep vertical shot to the backside and a corner route to the boundary receiver on the play side. The two receivers stacked to the left run a quick out and a wheel underneath a streak that clears the top of the defense, while the inline tight end releases up the seam on a corner route and the bunched receiver at the bottom runs a deep in cut across the middle. This is a zone beater designed to stress the deep thirds and hole up linebackers with the crossing route, with the primary read starting on the corner route to the tight end before working back to the deep crosser.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and alignment since a two high shell tells you the corner route and streak are designed to split the numbers between the safeties. Watch the flat defender on the play side, if he sinks with the corner route the underneath out route becomes wide open for a quick check down. Post-snap, identify any user controlled defender dropping into a lurk technique in the middle of the field since the deep in route crosses right through that zone. Against man coverage, look at the linebacker or safety assigned to the wheel route out of the backfield, a slow reaction there creates a big explosive play opportunity. This play struggles against aggressive Cover 3 sky blitzes since the shallow flat routes lack extra protection help and can get run down before the quarterback resets his eyes.
Usage Tips
Use this play on second or third and long when you need to attack a defense sitting in two deep safety zone shells like Cover 2 or Cover 4.
Key the tight end's corner route first since it attacks the seam against Cover 3 and Cover 4 defenders who have to respect the streak clearing out the top.
If the defense shows man coverage pre-snap, hot route the deep in runner to a slant or option route to get an instant win against a trailing corner.
Pair this play with HB Slip Screen or RPO Zone Alert Bubble in the same set to punish defenses that start selling hard on the deep shots after seeing Scat on tape.
Use play action from this same formation like PA Post Shot afterward to freeze linebackers who bit down on the underneath crosser in Scat.
