Playbooks
At a Glance
In 1 playbook
Overview
Doubles Y Open takes the balanced two-by-two look of standard Singleback Doubles and detaches the tight end from the formation, flexing him into the slot as a true receiving threat instead of an inline blocker. You get 11 personnel with a single back next to the quarterback, twin receivers to one side, and the Y split wide enough that the defense has to declare how it wants to handle him. That single alignment change is the whole point of the set: an inline tight end invites a linebacker or strong safety in the box, but a flexed Y forces the defense to either walk a linebacker out into space or burn a nickel defender on him, and both answers create a problem somewhere else on the field.
The isolation value is where Doubles Y Open separates itself from Doubles, Wing, or Tight Doubles. If your tight end has speed and route running in the mid to high 80s, a flexed alignment against a 4-3 look gets you a linebacker in coverage with no help underneath, and that is a free win on stick, slant, and crossing concepts. If the defense answers with nickel or dime, you have effectively pulled a run defender out of the box, which is exactly why HB Dive, HB Draw, and QB Draw live in this set. The Gadget and SLWR tags mean you can also line a slot receiver up in unconventional spots and get mismatch bodies into the route tree rather than settling for a blocking tight end.
Concept-wise this is a complete package. Four Verticals and Y Cross Flood attack deep and intermediate zones, Slants and Inside Cross give you quick man beaters, Mtn Y Stick and Mtn Stick N Nod give you the high low answer against zone with a built in double move variant off the same read, and Bubble Screen plus HB Slip Screen punish aggressive blitz users who overcommit. PA Slot Crosses ties the run game to the pass game with play action off the same look you show on HB Dive.
Strengths
- Flexing the Y out of the formation creates immediate personnel mismatches, forcing linebackers into space on stick and slant concepts or pulling a defender out of the box if the opponent counters with nickel.
- Mtn Y Stick and Mtn Stick N Nod attack the same zone window off identical route stems, so you can run the stick, get the flat defender to jump it, then hit the nod up the seam on the next possession from the exact same look.
- Four Verticals from a two by two spread stretches Cover 2 and Cover 3 vertically across four lanes, and hot routing the inside receiver to a seam sit or drag turns it into a functional man beater as well.
- Bubble Screen and HB Slip Screen give you free yards against heavy blitz pressure and are strong answers when a user defender consistently vacates the middle of the field to chase your crossers.
- Balanced two by two alignment means no strength declaration for the defense pre-snap, so run and pass both work without tipping direction, and HB Dive plus QB Draw punish light boxes without any formation change.
Weaknesses
- No inline tight end means five man protection on most dropback concepts, so overload blitzes and A gap nano pressure get home fast unless you block the back or slide the line.
- Four Verticals and Inside Cross both hold the ball long, and against a user controlled free safety in the deep middle those routes get read and jumped before your progression develops.
- The run game is limited to interior looks like HB Dive, HB Draw, and QB Draw, so opponents who plug the middle with a run commit or pinched line front make this a passing only set.
- Once opponents recognize the flexed Y they will match him with nickel or a fast safety, which erases the linebacker mismatch that makes the stick concepts work.
- Bubble Screen is dead against defenders playing outside leverage or a user jumping the flat, and it becomes a negative play rather than a checkdown.
Usage Tips
Read the defender covering your flexed Y before the snap. If it is a linebacker, go straight to Mtn Y Stick or Slants and let the mismatch do the work. If it is a nickel or safety, check to HB Dive or QB Draw because the box just got lighter.
On third and medium, run Mtn Y Stick and hot route the outside receiver to a curl or in route to build a high low on the flat defender, then use the stick as your primary and the curl as the man beater.
Use PA Slot Crosses after you have established HB Dive and HB Draw from this set. The play action hold pulls the linebackers up and opens the crossing lanes behind them.
Against heavy blitz tendencies, block your back and keep HB Slip Screen in the call rotation. Alternating between the screen and Four Verticals makes aggressive users guess wrong on both.
Motion a receiver before the snap to confirm man or zone. Defenders trailing the motion means man, so lean on Inside Cross and Slants. Defenders passing him off means zone, so go to Y Cross Flood and the stick concepts.
