Playbooks
Drive Whip Smash is a route combination play out of 12 personnel designed to attack both man and zone coverage with a layered concept. The whip route creates immediate horizontal separation against man defenders by breaking back inside after selling a vertical release, while the smash concept on the outside stacks a corner route over a flat route to put hard flat defenders and deep half safeties in a bind. Your primary read starts with the whip route against man coverage or press look linebackers, and if that window is not there you work to the smash side, reading the corner defender to decide between the flat and corner throw.
Watch linebacker depth pre-snap, if the second level defenders are sitting shallow they can jump the whip route, so be ready to climb the progression to the smash side. Identify the corner defender assignment on the smash concept, if a cornerback is sinking to take away the corner route the flat throw underneath will be uncontested. Look for a user controlled lurk defender crashing down on the whip route window, this is the biggest threat to this play in competitive lobbies and forces a quicker trigger to your outlet. Cover 2 shells with press corners struggle to defend the whip route since the corner is occupied with the release and the safety has to cover too much ground. Man coverage with an inside linebacker blitzing off the edge will collapse the pocket fast, so know your protection call and get the ball out on time to the whip route or flat.
Check the corner and safety alignment before the snap, if you see press man on the outside receivers the whip route is your go to answer because of the built in separation from the break.
Against zone shells like Cover 3 or Cover 4, hot route the whip runner to sit down in the intermediate window instead of continuing his break, this turns him into an easy zone beater versus curl to flat defenders.
Use this play on early downs after running Bounce Inside Zone Lt or Outside Zone to keep linebackers honest, the run action tendencies will slow down flow to the whip route.
On third and medium, prioritize the smash concept read since the corner route can win one on one against a cornerback playing off coverage while the flat route is your safety valve.
Pair this play with PA Dagger or Mtn PA Cross in your call sheet sequence, running Drive Whip Smash first sets up defenders to bite on the shallow whip action, opening up the deeper shots later in the series.