PA Power O

Key the linebackers immediately after the snap, if they step up hard to fill run gaps on the power fake, the crosser and corner route both should have room to work. Watch the play side safety pre-snap, if he is sitting at depth over the slot or TE alignment he is likely reading the corner route and can jump it in man coverage. Identify Cover 3 versus Cover 4 shells before the snap, Cover 3 leaves the deep corner route vulnerable to a single deep defender while Cover 4 shells will have two defenders capable of squeezing that route. Beware of a user controlled safety sitting in the deep third or playing lurk over the crosser, since a heads up defender can jump the shallow crossing route if the quarterback stares it down too long. This play struggles against aggressive man blitzes where the linebacker assigned to spy or blitz off the edge disrupts the play action fake before the routes develop, so avoid calling it against known blitz-heavy tendencies without a hot route adjustment on the backside protection.