Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
PA Y Over is a play-action shot play out of Shotgun Wing HB Wk Close with 12 personnel that sells run action before attacking the middle and deep areas of the field. Off the fake, the Y tight end runs the deep over route across the field, crossing underneath the two outside verticals to create a natural pick and clear for the linebackers, while the backside receiver clears out on a vertical and the frontside receiver on the wing runs an out breaking route to hold the flat defender. The primary read progression starts with the deep over route working from far to near, then progresses to the vertical shots on either sideline if the safety bites down on the play fake.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and alignment, a single high safety indicates man or Cover 3 concepts that are vulnerable to the deep over route sitting behind the linebackers. Watch the linebacker depth at the snap, if they crash hard on the run fake the middle of the field opens up for the over route immediately. Cover 2 shells with two deep safeties can undercut the vertical routes on the numbers, so be ready to check down to the over route instead of forcing it deep. Man coverage with no safety help over the top gets exposed by the crossing action of the over route creating natural rub traffic against man defenders. User controlled lurk defenders sitting in the intermediate middle zone are the biggest threat to this play, so scan for a spy or rat in the hole before committing to the over route read.
Usage Tips
Use this on early downs like first or second and short to mid distance when the defense is keying run based on personnel and formation tendencies.
Look for single high safety shells pre-snap since the play action freezes linebackers and the safety longer, opening the deep over route working across the field.
Hot route the wing receiver into a deeper option or a flat if the corner is playing off man to give yourself an easy checkdown against blitz looks.
Pair this with HB Base or Outside Zone earlier in a drive to sell the run fake, then dial up PA Y Over once the defense starts flowing hard to stop the ground game.
Combine with PA Cross or Dash Flood in your play sequencing so defenders cannot key on the same backfield action snap after snap.
