Playbooks
Rams Dig N Up out of Singleback Doubles South is a full-flood dig concept designed to attack the middle of the field with a deep crosser and a vertical clear-out working in tandem. The dig route sits down in the intermediate zone against off coverage or sits in the window behind linebackers in zone, while the up route stretches the safety over the top to open space underneath. This is primarily a zone beater against cover 2 and cover 3 shells, though it can work as a man beater if you win leverage on the dig against man coverage, and the primary read progression starts with the deep up route to hold the safety before working down to the dig as your bang read.
Read the middle of the field pre-snap to identify one high versus two high safeties, since one high safety usually signals cover 3 or cover 1 and forces you to hold the up route longer. Watch for a user-controlled linebacker sitting in the intermediate middle zone, as this is the classic lurk spot that jumps the dig route if you throw it too early. Identify blitz packages by checking linebacker depth at the snap, since a walked-up linebacker or slot defender crashing downhill signals pressure that should speed up your progression to the dig. Against cover 2 shells, the dig sits in the soft spot between the underneath zone and deep safety, making this play highly effective if the corner squats on any shorter routes. Man coverage with a deep half safety rolled over the dig side can shut this down quickly, so recognize press man alignment pre-snap and be ready to hot route into a quicker breaking route.
Check the safety alignment pre-snap because two deep safeties tells you the dig has a bigger throwing window while a single high safety means you need to hold him with the up route first.
Hot route the underneath options into shallow crossers or flats if you diagnose man coverage pre-snap so you have a quick answer against blitz looks.
Use this play on second and medium to second and long when defenses expect a mix of run and pass, since the dig concept punishes linebackers who bite on play action tendencies from earlier snaps.
Pair this play with HB Dive or Jet Sweep earlier in a drive to set up run fits, then come back to Rams Dig N Up once the defense starts creeping linebackers into the box.
If the user drops a defender into a lurk spot on the dig route, look off the middle read initially by staring down the up route to freeze that defender before snapping your eyes back.