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Quick Reference
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Breakdown
Curls out of Shotgun Y Off Trips Wk sends the backside X on a deep clear-out route while the trips side runs a curl from the outside receiver, a short drag/curl combo from the slot, and the Y (TE) breaking off a curl near the sticks off the line. The lone red route to the boundary is the vertical clear-out that stretches the defense and opens the underneath curls. This is a zone beater built to attack the soft spots created by three-level curl depth on the trips side, with the primary read starting on the outside curl at the top of the route stem and working down to the shorter curl and drag underneath if the window is closed.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and alignment since a two-high shell tells you the curls will have to split zones underneath rather than face a true single-high rotation. Watch the flat defender or cornerback at the snap, if he sinks too deep to cover the corner route threat the outside curl will have a clean throwing lane underneath him. Key the middle linebacker's drop, if he sits shallow to jump the drag route it opens the deep curl for a bigger gain. This play struggles against aggressive man coverage with no help over the top, since the curls will get squeezed with no separation against a press corner. Watch for a user-controlled defender lurking near the sticks, since that is exactly where the curl routes settle and a good user will jump the route before the ball arrives.
Usage Tips
Use this on third and medium to long since the sticks-based curl depth is built for staying in front of zone defenders and picking up conversions.
Pre-snap, identify if the defense is showing two-high or single-high safety look, because curls settle into soft spots against zone but you should hot route the outside curl into a corner route if you diagnose man coverage.
Against Cover 3, target the deep curl sitting just past the flat defender since that is the natural void between the underneath zone and the deep third.
Pair this play with Bounce PA Post Curls or Curls Combo in your play-calling sequence so the defense has to respect both the play-action shot and the quick underneath curl reads out of the same trips look.
If the middle linebacker widens to cover the drag, check down to the slot curl since it will be sitting in the vacated hole.
