Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 13 playbooks
Breakdown
Strong Flood attacks the trips side with a true three level flood concept, and the diagram shows the outside trips receiver running a deep vertical seam, the middle trips receiver breaking flat to the sideline off a corner route stem, and the inside trips receiver working an out breaking route underneath at the sticks. Backside, the isolated receiver runs a dig style break underneath while the running back releases into the flat as a checkdown, giving the quarterback a full field horizontal and vertical stretch to the trips side. This is a classic Cover 3 beater built to overload one flat defender and one deep third defender with three routes stacked at different depths, so the progression reads vertical to intermediate to flat on the trips side before working back to the backside dig or checkdown.
Defensive Reads
Watch the corner or safety aligned over the trips side pre-snap, if he is playing off coverage with outside leverage he is likely bailing into a deep third, opening up the underneath out route. Post-snap, key the flat or curl to flat defender on the trips side, his drop angle tells you whether the corner route or the underneath out is the throwing lane. This play struggles against Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells with two deep safeties, since the vertical seam route to trips will run into a deep half or deep quarter defender instead of getting behind a single high safety. Man coverage with inside leverage on the trips receivers can also disrupt the flood concept, especially if a user controlled defender jumps the underneath out or corner route route before it develops. Look for a sim pressure or zone blitz that drops a defensive lineman into the flat, this can confuse the quarterback's flat read and bait a checkdown throw into a lurking defender.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify whether the defense is showing single high or two high safeties, since Strong Flood is designed to punish single high Cover 3 shells where one flat defender cannot cover both the corner route and the underneath out.
Key the flat defender to the trips side immediately after the snap, if he sinks with the corner route the underneath out will be wide open, if he sits on the underneath out then throw the corner route behind him.
Use this on third and medium or third and long situations where the sticks route to trips gives the quarterback a high percentage completion versus zone drops.
Hot route the backside receiver into a deeper comeback or hitch if you are facing heavy zone blitz looks, since the dig can get clogged by underneath linebacker drops.
Pair this play with Bounce Slot Cross or Mtn Y Cross from the same set to keep defenses honest, since both plays start with similar trips alignment but attack different levels, forcing zone defenders to hesitate on their drops.
