Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
China Smash out of Shotgun Y Trips Wk is a classic smash concept married with a backside dig, built to attack Cover 2 shells. From the trips side, the outside receiver runs a deep corner route while the inside slot receiver sits down on a quick hitch, creating the traditional high low smash read on the flat defender and deep half safety. The backside X receiver breaks in on a dig against the sag, while the tight end runs an inside release drag underneath and the running back releases outside on a check release flat route for a checkdown. Primary progression starts with the corner to hitch smash combo, then works back to the backside dig if the safety jumps the corner route.
Defensive Reads
Watch the corner over the trips side at the snap, if he stays flat footed on the hitch he is inviting the corner throw behind him, so user him immediately to close that window. Two high safeties who rotate late or stay static in the middle of the field are the biggest indicator this play is live, since the corner route is designed to split them. If the defense shows a single high safety look with man coverage underneath, the smash side gets condensed and the backside dig becomes the primary threat, so spy or user the underneath defender working across the field. Look for a sky or cloud corner blitz off the trips side, since the quick hitch route is the built in answer, if the flat defender crashes hard the ball comes out immediately. Linebacker depth on the drag route matters, if the middle linebacker sits shallow he can undercut the tight end's drag and bait a turnover, so respect that throwing lane before committing to the checkdown.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify whether the safeties are showing a two high shell before the snap since this play is purpose built to punish Cover 2 and Cover 4 defenders who cannot cover both levels of the smash concept.
Key on the flat corner or safety over the trips side, if he sinks with the corner route the hitch will be wide open underneath, if he jumps the hitch throw the corner route on time before the deep safety can rotate over.
Use the backside dig as your answer versus man coverage or if the trips side is jumped, it clears out quickly against sag technique and gives you a big chunk gain over the middle.
This play works best on second and medium to third and medium distances where the corner route depth matches the sticks and the dig underneath still gets a first down.
Sequence this with Curls or Curls Combo out of the same set to keep the defense guessing between hitch smash reads and pure curl combinations, then mix in RPO Peek Slant or RPO Buck Alert Smoke to force linebackers to respect the run action before dropping into their smash zone landmarks.
