Playbooks
PA Scissors Flood
Quick Reference
Breakdown
PA Scissors Flood is a play-action pass out of Singleback Ace Slot 12 personnel that sells the run fake before flooding one side of the field with three vertical stems crossing at different depths. The two inside receivers run a scissors concept, one crossing under the other on a deep out breaking away while the other continues vertical, and the flanker runs a deep crossing route from the opposite side that sails through the same zone, while the back releases into a short flat route underneath. This is a zone beater built to attack Cover 2, Cover 3, and Cover 4 shells by stacking three levels in the same landmark and forcing a single defender to choose. The primary read progression starts with the deep crossing route working from backside to frontside, then works down to the scissors out route, and finishes with the flat route as the checkdown against zone drops or blitz pressure.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and alignment, two deep safeties invite the scissors out route into the seam while one deep safety signals Cover 3 and opens up the deep crosser. Watch the flat defender or cornerback assigned underneath, if he sinks with the scissors out route the deep crossing route will be wide open behind him. Post-snap, key the linebacker or safety dropping into the intermediate zone since a slow zone drop or wrong keys on the play fake creates a throwing window for the deep crosser. Beware user-controlled lurk defenders sitting in the middle of the field, since a smart human defender can jump the crossing route if the quarterback stares it down too long. Against man coverage, this concept struggles unless you hot route the flat route into a quick option since man defenders will run with the scissors and crosser stride for stride, so blitz recognition and a fast checkdown to the back becomes critical.
Usage Tips
Use pre-snap motion or a hard count to confirm whether the defense is playing zone or man before the snap since this concept loses value against tight man coverage without a hot route adjustment.
Identify two high safeties before the snap because this play is built to overload Cover 2 and Cover 4 shells where the flat defender and deep half safety cannot both cover the scissors out and the deep crosser.
If you see Cover 3 with a single high safety, key the flow of the underneath zone defenders and hit the deep crossing route in the void before the safety can rotate over.
Hot route the flat route to a shallow drag or slide the running back protection if you are facing an aggressive edge blitz, since the play action fake can be exploited by fast defensive ends.
Pair this play with Weak Flood or Flood from the same set on back to back downs to keep the defense guessing on which side the flood concept is coming from, then mix in HB Dive or HB Zone Alert Bubble to punish defenses selling out on the pass read.
