Playbooks

Curl Combo

Shotgun·Trips TE Offset·11
CurlPass Play
Play diagram for Curl Combo from Shotgun Trips TE Offset in Madden 27

Quick Reference

FormationShotgun

In 4 playbooks

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Breakdown

Curl Combo out of Shotgun Trips TE Offset gives you a five man route concept built to attack zone drops with layered curls and a deep clear out. The backside X runs a deep vertical to stretch the corner and safety, the trips side stacks a curl underneath a corner route from the outside receiver while the TE runs a wheel route from the backfield to attack the flat and sideline. The HB releases into a delayed flat route out of the backfield, giving you a check down option underneath everything. This is a zone beater first, designed to sit routes in the holes of Cover 3 and Cover 4 zone drops, with the primary read starting at the inside curl route, then working out to the corner and wheel combo on the trips side.

Defensive Reads

Pre-snap, check safety depth and cornerback alignment on the trips side, since press man or a cornerback shaded outside signals the corner and wheel combo may struggle to separate Watch the flat defender or slot cornerback after the snap, if he sinks with the curl route you have a natural window for the TE wheel underneath Key the middle linebacker or Sam backer's zone drop depth, a shallow drop can jump the inside curl route before it settles This concept is vulnerable to Cover 2 with a hard sitting corner in the flat, since that defender can undercut the wheel route from the TE Blitz packages that bring extra rushers off the edge can disrupt the timing of the curl combo since the quarterback needs a full progression read, so identify overload blitz looks pre-snap and be ready to check down to the HB flat route

Usage Tips

Pre-snap, identify if the defense is showing two deep safeties or a single high shell, since this concept thrives against Cover 3 and Cover 4 where the curl sits down in the zone window

Use the inside curl as your first read against zone coverage, then progress to the TE wheel if the flat defender bites on the curl route

Against man coverage, hot route the curl into a dig or speed out to create separation, since the natural curl route can get squatted on by an underneath linebacker

This play works best on second and medium to long, where the defense may sit back in zone and give you the soft spots the curls are designed to exploit

Pair this play with RPO Alert Bubble or RPO Zone Alert Bubble from the same set to keep the defense guessing between quick RPO reads and this slower developing curl combo, forcing linebackers to hesitate on their zone drops

Other Plays in Trips TE Offset