Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Four Verticals out of Shotgun Y Off Trips sends all four eligible receivers vertical to stretch the field horizontally and vertically at once. From the trips side, the inside slot bends his vertical into a deep post read while the two outside receivers on that side and the backside X all climb straight up the numbers, and the HB stays in to chip the edge before releasing on a check release. This is a classic Cover 2 and Cover 3 beater built to overload the deep safeties, and the primary read progression starts with the backside single receiver on a bang eight route before working to the post breaking inside the trips numbers.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, identify two deep safeties versus one, this tells you whether to prioritize the backside go route or the inside post from trips. Post-snap, watch for a user controlled safety sinking into the deep middle, this defender will jump the post read and should push you back to an outside vertical. Check linebacker depth at the snap, shallow linebackers who bail late into zone drops signal Cover 3 and open up the seam between the hash and the numbers. Cover 2 with aggressive corners jumping the outside verticals early is vulnerable to the post from the slot receiver splitting the safeties. Man coverage with a deep half safety robbing routes will erase the post read, so shift your eyes to the single receiver go route on the backside for a one on one shot.
Usage Tips
Check the safety alignment before the snap, if you see two high safeties cheating to the trips side, the backside go route on the single receiver is your bang read against Cover 2.
Against single high looks, work the deep post from the inside slot receiver since it splits the difference between the deep half defenders and the middle of the field defender.
Use hot routes to convert the HB check release into a flat route on obvious blitz downs to give yourself a quick outlet against pressure.
This play thrives on 2nd and long or 3rd and long when defenses sit back in zone shells, pair it with Deep Stick Out or Curls earlier in a series to bait linebackers into shallow drops before hitting them deep.
Avoid calling this against heavy man blitz packages unless you have hot routed a quick option, since four verticals needs time to develop and can get exposed by a nano blitz.
