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Breakdown
Levels out of Singleback Trips Open (10 personnel) stacks two in-cutting routes on the trips side: the slot receiver runs a deep in from about 15 yards while the inside receiver settles on a shallow in around 5 yards, creating a natural high-low read against zone defenders. The outside trips receiver clears vertically up the sideline to occupy the deep third, and the backside single receiver runs a shallow crossing route underneath. This is a zone beater built to attack Cover 2 and Cover 3 by stretching the flat-to-deep defender horizontally, with the primary read progression starting at the deep in route, working down to the shallow in, and checking the backside crosser if both levels routes are covered.
Defensive Reads
Presnap check safety depth: a two high shell with soft corners is the ideal trigger to call this play since Levels is a Cover 2 beater designed to sit defenders down in the flat and deep zones. Watch the flat defender at the snap, if he widens with the shallow in route he opens a throwing lane behind him for the deep in route to settle into. User the deep middle linebacker or nickel defender and stay disciplined on the deep in route crossing the middle of the field, jumping this route early is the fastest way to shut down the entire concept. Against zone blitz shows where the defense drops a lineman into a shallow zone, expect the shallow in route to get clogged, so the quarterback should be reading the deep in route as the primary answer. If the corner is playing man coverage with inside leverage on the slot receiver, the deep in route becomes tough to complete, so bait the quarterback into the backside crosser or force a checkdown by disguising the blitz.
Usage Tips
Presnap identify whether the defense is showing two deep safeties or a single high safety, since Levels is purpose built to punish Cover 2 and Cover 3 zone drops.
If the cornerback on the trips side is playing a hard outside shade, hot route the shallow in receiver to a quick out to beat the flat defender before he can sink under the deep in route.
Use this on second and medium to third and medium situations where linebackers are more willing to sit in intermediate zones, giving you the horizontal stretch you need on the levels concept.
Pair this play with Four Verticals from the same Trips Open set so the defense cannot key on the intermediate in routes without opening up a vertical shot.
Against man coverage look immediately to the backside shallow crosser since Levels loses some effectiveness versus tight man leverage but the crosser can still pick up yardage against a trailing defender.
