Playbooks

Curls

Shotgun·Trips HB Wk·10
CurlPass PlayOutPostSwing
Play diagram for Curls from Shotgun Trips HB Wk in Madden 27

Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

In 10 playbooks

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Receiver routes

Depth-chart slots are shown as they line up in the base package for this set.

See this play with a team's players
PlayerSideRoute
HB1LeftSwing
SLWRRightPost
WR1LeftCurl
WR2RightCurl
SLWR2RightOut

Read progression

  1. WR2 right, Curl
  2. WR1 left, Curl
  3. SLWR2 right, Out
  4. SLWR right, Post
  5. HB1 left, SwingCheck-down

Breakdown

Curls lines up out of Shotgun Trips HB Wk with three receivers to the trips side and a lone receiver split away who runs a curl at the numbers. From the trips look, the outside receiver bends an out and up into a corner route, the middle receiver sits down on a curl near the sticks, and the inside slot receiver runs a wheel out of the backfield area to the boundary sideline. The HB stays in to help protect while the QB reads the flat to intermediate levels, working the boundary curl or wheel first before coming back to the trips side curl. This is primarily a zone beater, designed to settle receivers into soft spots against zone drops and give the QB layered high low reads against Cover 3 or Cover 2 shells.

Defensive Reads

Pre-snap, check safety depth and corner alignment since two deep safeties with off corners signals Cover 2 or Cover 4, both of which are vulnerable to the sitting curl routes in the intermediate zone. Watch for a single high safety rotating late, which usually means Cover 3, and in that shell the curl route sitting at ten to twelve yards exploits the seam between the underneath zone defender and deep third corner. Key the flat defender post snap since if he widens with the wheel route, the curl behind him opens up in the vacated zone. This play struggles against aggressive man coverage or Cover 1 robber looks, since the curl routes have no natural separation against a trailing man defender with no zone void to sit in. Beware disguised blitzes from the trips side, since a nano blitz or sim pressure can collapse the pocket before the QB completes his high low progression from the boundary curl to the trips concept.

Usage Tips

Use this on second and medium to second and long when defenses sit back in zone coverage and give underneath cushion.

Pre-snap, identify if the corner over the single receiver is playing off man or zone since that curl route is the easy completion against soft coverage.

If you see man coverage across the board, hot route the backside curl into a slant or dig to create separation since curls sit and wait against zone defenders, not man defenders.

Pair this play with Four Verticals or Zona Fade from the same Trips HB Wk set to keep defenders honest, since Curls punishes zone drops while verticals punish aggressive zone flattening.

Use the trips side curl to the flat combo as a built in answer versus Cover 2 since the corner route stretches the deep half safety while the curl sits underneath in the void.

Other Plays in Trips HB Wk