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Quick Reference
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Breakdown
Empty Mtn Flood H-Trail is an empty formation flood concept designed to overload one side of the field vertically and horizontally against zone coverage. Off the diagram, the outside receiver runs a deep corner route to clear the top of the zone, the middle slot receiver runs a deep crossing route underneath that, and the inside receiver runs a trail route that sits in the flat before working back underneath as a shallow drag toward the opposite side. On the backside, a single receiver runs an out breaking route that stretches the boundary defender horizontally. Since this is an empty look with no running back in the backfield, this is a pure drop back pass with no run or screen elements, and the primary progression starts with the deep corner as a shot if the cornerback bites on the trail, then works down to the crossing route and finally the trail route in the flat as the checkdown against Cover 3 rotation.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, identify if the defense is showing two high safeties or a single high safety. A single high shell signals Cover 3 or Cover 1, both of which are vulnerable to the flood concept stretching the zone horizontally. Key the cornerback aligned over the flood side. If he sinks deep at the snap without reading the flat, the trail route underneath will be wide open for an easy completion. Watch for user controlled defenders dropping into a deep third lurk. A smart user player will sit on the crossing route since it sits in the natural passing lane, so be ready to reset to the corner route or the backside out route. This play struggles against a hard robber or Cover 2 look where a safety sits in the middle of the field to take away the crossing route. If you see two safeties rolling toward the flood side pre-snap, expect the intermediate crosser to be taken away. Blitz packages that bring extra rushers off the edge on the flood side can disrupt the timing of the deep corner route. If you see a pre-snap overload blitz, be ready to check down immediately to the trail route in the flat.
Usage Tips
Use this play on second and long or third and medium when you expect a zone shell like Cover 3 or Cover 4 since the flood concept is built to overload one side of the field vertically and horizontally.
Check the pre-snap safety alignment. If you see two deep safeties split evenly, expect the cornerback to sink into a deep third or deep quarter, which opens up the trail route sitting underneath in the flat.
Motion the H back before the snap to identify man versus zone. If the defender follows across the formation, you are looking at man coverage and should progress quickly to the corner route as a man beater shot play.
Pair this play with Mtn Mesh Rail or Mtn Mesh Z Rail from the same set to keep the defense guessing between flood concepts and mesh concepts out of the same empty personnel look.
Against a hard closing cornerback who jumps the flat route, come off the play with Mtn Y-Corner Z-Choice or Mtn Slot Choice on the next snap to punish that aggressive read with a double move.
