Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Stick out of Shotgun Y Trio Offset Wk gives you a classic Stick concept to the closed side (three-man side) with a flood concept away from it. To the left, the TE runs a quick out breaking away from the formation, the inside slot runs a stick/curl settling underneath, and the outside receiver runs an underneath drag/flat crossing route, creating a natural triangle stretch on flat defenders and underneath zone droppers. To the right, the two-man side runs a vertical seam with a flat route underneath it, giving you a high-low read if the defense rotates coverage away from the trips side. This is primarily a zone beater built to attack Cover 2 and Cover 3 flat defenders, with the stick concept as the first read and the backside flat/seam combo as a change-up progression.
Defensive Reads
If the offense shows Stick, sit your flat defenders and force the quarterback to throw over the top by holding your underneath zone assignment instead of jumping the shallow out route. Watch for a user-controlled linebacker sinking into the stick/curl window, since that is the primary throwing lane the quarterback wants against soft zone shells. Against man coverage, this play struggles if the defense brings a nano blitz off the edge, since the quick timing routes leave little time to climb the pocket if the protection breaks down. Pre-snap, check safety depth and rotation. A single-high safety rotating to the trips side takes away the seam shot on the backside and forces the quarterback back into the stick concept. Post-snap, key the underneath linebacker flow. If he widens to the flat immediately, the stick route sitting behind him becomes wide open, so a smart defender should sit in the throwing lane rather than overcommitting to the flat.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify whether the defense is showing a two-high or one-high safety shell, since Stick is most effective against split-safety zone looks where flat defenders have to choose between the curl and the flat.
Key the flat defender to the trips side first. If he sinks with the curl route, throw the quick out underneath him. If he jumps the out, hit the stick/curl sitting behind him.
Use the backside seam and flat combo as a hot read versus man coverage or if the defense rolls a safety over the trips side, since the two-man side becomes a simpler high-low against man leverage.
This play works best on second and medium or third and short to medium since the routes settle quickly and give the quarterback a fast rhythm throw against zone drops.
Pair Stick with Four Verticals or Smash Out Y-Cross from this set to punish defenses that sit hard on the underlying routes, forcing safeties to respect the deep shots after they bite on the flood look.
