Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 1 playbook
Breakdown
Y Cross Flood out of Shotgun Y Trips Wk sends the backside X on a deep vertical while the flood side stacks three levels: the outside receiver clears out deep, the Y runs the namesake deep cross all the way across the field, and the flanker underneath runs a shallow drag to the flat. The TE releases into a short check release route out of the backfield working the middle void. This is a classic Cover 3 beater built to flood one side of the field with three route depths, forcing the flat defender and deep third defender to choose, with the Y crosser as the primary read against zone and the shallow drag as the answer versus man pressure.
Defensive Reads
Check the safety alignment pre-snap, two deep safeties tip Cover 2 or Cover 4 which lets you sit the crosser in the intermediate window against a single deflated defender. Watch the flat defender post-snap, if he sinks under the crosser expect him to widen for the drag, throw off his leverage. Identify Cover 3 by a single high safety, this play is designed to flood the strong side and put the corner and flat defender in an impossible bracket. Beware of Cover 1 or Cover 0 man pressure with a lurking linebacker, the deep cross can get picked off by a sitting mike linebacker if the quarterback does not clear the middle first. Blitz heavy fronts with man coverage behind them shut this down fast, get the ball out on the shallow drag quickly or check down to the check release route out of the backfield.
Usage Tips
Attack Cover 3 and Cover 4 shells since the flood concept overloads one side and puts the deep third or deep quarter defender in conflict between the go route and the crosser.
Read the flat defender first: if he widens with the shallow drag, hit the Y crosser sitting down behind him for the easy completion.
Against man coverage, hot route the shallow drag into a quick out or speed out to create instant separation since crossers can get grabbed or rerouted by physical corners.
Use this on second and medium or third and short to medium since the shallow drag and crosser both offer quick underneath access if the defense drops into a soft zone.
Pair this with Fl Dig or Curls X Go from the same set to keep the defense guessing between high low flood reads and dig zone beaters, this disguises your intentions before the snap.
