Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 14 playbooks
Breakdown
Deep In out of Shotgun Trips TE (11 personnel) is a deep, timing based zone beater built around dig routes that settle in the intermediate to deep middle of the field, with a trips side clearing out corners and safeties while the backside receiver works an in cut against off coverage. The lone back stays in to protect or checks down on the release, giving the quarterback a two level read from the trips dig down to the backside in route. Primary progression starts with the deepest trips dig, works to the intermediate dig from the same side, then comes back to the backside in route as the checkdown or hot read against pressure.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and spacing, two deep safeties usually means Cover 4 or Cover 2 shell where the digs need to sit in the honey hole between the flat and deep defenders Watch linebacker depth at the snap, if they sink hard into the middle zone runners it signals a Tampa 2 or Cover 3 drop that can undercut the intermediate dig if you are late with the throw User controlled defenders sitting in the deep middle or lurking underneath are the biggest threat to this concept, so know if your opponent likes to spy the dig with a user linebacker Man coverage with no safety help over the top is a green light for the deep dig against a slower linebacker or safety in coverage, but tight man from a fast corner on the backside in route can jump the route if the quarterback tips it early Cover 3 with a fast flowing middle linebacker or a disguised zone blitz can close the window on the intermediate dig fast, so have your checkdown to the backside in route ready as the emergency valve
Usage Tips
Use pre-snap motion or a hot route check to identify if the defense is playing zone before the snap, since Deep In thrives against Cover 3 and Cover 4 shells where the dig routes can settle in the seams between zone drops
Call this on second and long or third and medium situations where you need a chunk play but still want a built in checkdown if the coverage rotates late
Combine Deep In with RPO Zone Alert Bubble or Read Option Bubble from the same set to keep the defense honest on quick game before hitting them with the deep dig shot
Motion the trips receiver to check leverage on the corner and safety, if they widen out expect zone drops that Deep In is designed to exploit
Pair Deep In with Verticals or China Y Post as a follow up call so defenders who jump the dig routes get burned deep on the next snap
