Playbooks
Curls out of Shotgun Wide Y Trips WK is a zone beater built around three curl routes that settle into the soft spots of a zone shell, with the trips side creating natural picks against underneath defenders. The backside typically runs a shorter option or flat route to hold the corner and give you a checkdown against man coverage. Primary read progression starts with the trips side curl closest to the sideline, works inside to the middle curl, then comes back to the backside route if the zone defenders sink too deep or the underneath throwing lanes get muddy.
Pre-snap, identify whether the defense shows a two high safety look or rolls to single high, since two high shells with sinking linebackers are the most vulnerable to the curl windows. Watch linebacker depth at the snap, if the underneath zone defenders sit shallow and do not sink with the curl breaks, that is your green light to hit the middle curl immediately. Be alert for a user-controlled defender lurking in the shallow middle zone, since a smart user can jump the inside curl route and turn it into a pick six if you telegraph the throw. Cover 3 with a hard sinking flat defender and cover 2 with aggressive underneath zone drops are the coverages that shut this play down fastest, forcing you to check down to the backside option route. Man coverage with no help over the top, especially blitz packages that send extra rushers, gets exposed by this concept since the curl breaks create natural separation against trailing defenders in man technique.
Check the safety alignment pre-snap, if you see two high safeties sitting deep this play attacks the soft underneath zones before the flow closes the windows.
Use motion out of the trips bunch to identify man versus zone, if a defender follows your man in motion you know you are getting man coverage and can hot route the middle curl into a dig or slant for extra separation.
This play shines on second and medium to second and long, since the curls sit down at a depth that consistently gets the chains moving.
Pair Curls with Four Verticals in your play-calling sequence, since the vertical stems look identical at the snap and force zone defenders to bail deep, opening up the curl windows even more on the next call.
Against aggressive man blitz teams, hot route the backside route into a quick out or speed out to give your quarterback an instant release valve before the sack arrives.