Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Flood Y-Delay from Shotgun Trips TE stacks three routes into the same vertical stretch, sending the outside trips receiver on a deep corner, the middle trips receiver on a deep out, and the inside slot on a shallow flat route to flood one side of the field at three levels. On the backside, the single TE runs a delayed release up the seam after chip blocking, creating a late-arriving crosser that clears out underneath as the flood develops. This is a classic Cover 3 beater built to overload one flat defender with three vertical thread points, with the primary read progressing from the corner route deep, down to the out, then the delayed flat as your checkdown/scramble outlet.
Defensive Reads
Key the flat and corner defender to the trips side immediately after the snap, if he sinks with the deep out he leaves the corner route open, if he jumps the flat route he opens the intermediate out. Watch for a single deep safety rotating hard to the trips side, this signals Cover 3 and tells you the flood concept has a strong chance to isolate the corner defender against two stacked routes. If the defense shows Cover 4 or Cover 2 with two safeties deep pre-snap, this play is heavily discouraged since the deep corner route will be capped by a safety over the top. Track any user-controlled defender flowing hard to the trips side pre-snap, that lurking defender can jump the flat or out route and bait a turnover if the QB does not respect the leverage. Watch the edge rusher assigned to contain, if he crashes hard inside the delayed TE release becomes a wide open answer versus overaggressive four man rushes or contain-and-spy calls.
Usage Tips
Use this on 2nd or 3rd and medium to long when you expect single-high shells since the flood concept overloads one cornerback and one flat defender on the trips side.
Pre-snap, check for a Cover 3 or Cover 1 shell by reading the safety alignment, if you see two deep safeties rotate to a beater like Curl Flat or Slants instead since flood concepts lose value against two-high zones.
Hot route the delayed TE into a quicker flat release if you are facing a fast defensive end that can disrupt the timing of his delayed climb.
Pair this play with Verts Y Delay or Deep In from the same set to keep the defense guessing between vertical shots and horizontal floods out of an identical Trips TE look.
On the money down, trust the deep corner route first against Cover 3 rotation, then work down to the out route if the corner is boxed by underneath help.
