Playbooks
At a Glance
In 2 playbooks
Overview
Trips Open is the four wide, empty-adjacent look inside Singleback that puts three receivers to one side and isolates your best matchup on the backside. The 10 personnel grouping means no tight end on the field, so every defender covering your formation is either a corner, a safety, or a linebacker who is now badly outleveraged in space. Unlike Singleback Wing or Y-Trips variants that keep a tight end attached for run support and quick play action, Trips Open spreads the box thin and forces the defense to declare its coverage rotation before the snap. The trips side stacks the flat, curl, and seam zones with three bodies, while the single receiver on the open side gets a clean one on one read with no help unless the defense rolls a safety over.
The value of the set comes from the pre-snap information it hands you. Against man coverage you will see the third trips defender walk down into the box or match up on the number three receiver, and that tells you immediately whether you have a linebacker on a slot. Against zone you get to attack coverage seams with Levels, Spacing, and Curl Flat Corner, all of which flood one side with three route levels. The isolated X receiver on the open side is the money read: hot route him to a fade, slant, or streak and let him win versus a corner with no bracket help.
The run game is not an afterthought here. Wide Zone, Wide Zone Wk, HB Trap, 0 1 Trap, HB Dive, and HB Draw all exist because the defense is forced to remove a body from the box to handle trips. When you get a six man front against 10 personnel, the interior run becomes efficient, and that is what makes the play action calls (PA Streak, PA FL Stretch) so effective in the second half of a game. The screen package (Bubble Screen, HB Slip Screen) punishes any team that responds by bringing extra pressure.
Strengths
- Levels and Spacing flood the trips side with three route depths at once, giving you a high low read that beats Cover 3 and Cover 2 zone match without needing a perfect user read.
- The isolated single receiver on the open side is a clean one on one every snap unless the defense rotates, so a hot routed slant, fade, or streak becomes your automatic man beater.
- Four Verticals stresses the middle of the field hard from 10 personnel, and against single high the number three seam is the read that breaks the defense open.
- Stick, Curl Flat Corner, and Curl Flat Wheel give you three different answers off similar route stems, so you can run the same look repeatedly and change the outcome with hot routes and route stems.
- Wide Zone, Wide Zone Wk, HB Trap, and HB Draw stay live because 10 personnel pulls a defender out of the box, and Bubble Screen punishes any defense that overcommits to the box.
Weaknesses
- No tight end means no attached extra blocker, so five man protection struggles against overload blitzes and nano pressure aimed at the open side A gap.
- The HB is your only checkdown and only pass protection help, so if you release him on Bubble Screen or Slot Middle you are running true five man protection with a full user blitz coming.
- Zone drop users who sit on the trips side can cut off the flat and curl combos, since three routes to one side condense into a small area for a single user defender to read.
- Interior runs like HB Dive and 0 1 Trap have no lead blocker and get stuffed cold against pinched fronts or run commit calls in short yardage.
- Heavy trips usage tips your intent, and experienced opponents will roll a safety over the top of the isolated receiver and take away your best matchup read.
Usage Tips
Read the number three trips defender before the snap: if he walks into the box you have man coverage and should work the isolated receiver on the open side, if he stays wide and deep you are seeing zone and should run Levels or Spacing.
On third and medium, Stick and Slot Middle are your highest percentage calls, and hot routing the outside trips receiver to a curl gives you a safe outlet against zone drops.
Call Wide Zone or Wide Zone Wk early to force the defense to keep a linebacker honest, which sets up PA Streak and PA FL Stretch later in the game.
Motion the number three trips receiver across the formation to identify man versus zone, then snap it immediately if a defender follows him for a free tell and a leverage advantage.
When you feel a nano blitz coming, block the HB and hot route the isolated receiver to a slant, or call HB Slip Screen to make the pressure pay for vacating the middle.
