Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Close Zona Cross lines up out of Shotgun Trips HB Wk with a bunched trips side and a single receiver isolated to the closed side. The trips receivers run a deep crosser breaking away from the formation, a corner route stemming to the opposite sideline, and a vertical seam route from the outside trips man, while the backside single receiver runs a shallow crosser underneath that sits down in the middle of the field. The HB releases out of the backfield on a wheel route to the flat as a check valve and outlet against blitzes. This is a zone beater at its core, using the deep crosser and corner combo to stretch zone defenders horizontally and vertically, with the primary read progressing from the deep crosser working across the field to the corner route, then down to the shallow crosser if the middle of the field opens up.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, identify if the defense is showing two deep safeties or a single high safety, since Cover 2 and Cover 4 shells create natural windows for the deep crosser to settle into before the corner route clears out the sideline defender. Watch the flow of the linebackers at the snap, if they widen out to cover the shallow crosser aggressively it opens up the middle of the field for a delayed read to the crosser sitting down in the zone. Man coverage without a deep safety over the top is vulnerable to the corner route beating outside leverage, but Cover 3 with a hard flat defender squatting on the shallow crosser can jump that route and bait a throw. User-controlled defenders sitting in a lurk position near the deep crosser's crossing lane are the biggest threat, since they can jump the route if the quarterback stares it down too long. Blitz-heavy man packages with no underneath help are exploitable through the HB wheel route, but disciplined zone blitzes that drop a linebacker into the shallow crosser's lane can take away the easy completion and force a low percentage throw downfield.
Usage Tips
Look for two high safety shells pre-snap since the deep crosser and corner combo will stress the seams between zone defenders in split safety looks.
If you see man coverage with no safety help over the top, hot route the trips vertical seam runner to a slant or dig to speed up the timing against tight man technique.
Use this on second and long or third and medium since the deep crosser needs a few extra beats to develop and cross the field.
Pair this with Zona Fade or Close Zona Fade from the same set to keep the defense guessing between the crosser concept and the fade shot play off similar formation and route stems.
Check the HB wheel route against blitz-heavy fronts, since it becomes your immediate answer if the interior protection breaks down and gives you a built-in checkdown to the flat.
