Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
PA Slide is a play-action shot play out of Shotgun Wing Flex Offset with 12 personnel. The diagram shows two vertical routes stacked on the play side, a deep route breaking outside at the top and a corner-breaking route underneath it that angles out around the second level, while the boundary receiver runs a shallow slide route drifting across the formation and eventually turning upfield. The play-action fake occupies the linebackers and the primary read progression starts with the corner route working outside-in before checking down to the slide route working the underneath void as a zone beater against soft coverage.
Defensive Reads
Watch linebacker depth at the snap since PA Slide is designed to punish defenders who bite hard on the run fake and vacate underneath zones. Identify single high safety shells (Cover 1 or Cover 3) since the vertical routes on the play side stress the deep third defenders and can isolate the corner route against a late-rotating safety. Key on any user-controlled defender flowing toward the fake, that flow creates the window for the slide route to work underneath. Against Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells with safeties staying deep and disciplined, the vertical routes get capped and the offense should rely on the slide route as the primary outlet. Look for disguised blitzes off the edge since play-action rollouts and slide protection can be vulnerable to fast outside pressure if the offensive line loses contain.
Usage Tips
Sell the run fake with a hard stick on the play-action animation to freeze linebackers before scanning the corner route. Use this on early downs like 1st or 2nd and medium when defenses expect run looks from the Wing Flex Offset personnel. Check safety depth pre-snap: if both safeties are deep at 10-12 yards, the underneath slide route will have room against man coverage since linebackers get sucked up by the fake. Pair this with Inside Zone or Power O out of the same set to keep the defense honest on run fits before dialing up PA Slide later in a series. Motion into the boundary if the defense is showing man coverage indicators to get a pre-snap read on whether the slide route defender follows across the formation.
