Playbooks
Curls out of Singleback Y Off Trips is a zone beater built around three curl routes stacked at different depths, with the trips side creating natural spacing against off man and Cover 3 style shells. The backside typically runs a shorter breaking route to occupy underneath defenders while the trips receivers settle into their curls at staggered depths, giving you a high low read on any zone defender sitting in the hook or curl flat area. Primary read progression starts with the outside trips receiver's curl, works to the middle curl if the flat defender widens, then checks down to the backside if the underneath zone collapses on the initial read.
Identify the middle of field safety alignment pre snap, a single high safety usually means Cover 3 underneath which is exactly what the curl routes are designed to exploit. Watch the flat defender's initial step after the snap, if he widens to take away the curl breaking point that opens a throwing window underneath for the check down. Beware of Cover 2 Man or Cover 4 Man matchups where the trips receivers face tight press coverage, since curls sitting down against man coverage can get undercut by a user controlled defender jumping the route. Key the middle linebacker's drop depth, a shallow drop into the intermediate hook zone can jump the inside curl route and bait a costly interception. Recognize nano blitz packages that bring extra rushers off the edge, since the quarterback needs a clean pocket to let the curl routes develop at their full depth before the throw is live.
Look for Cover 3 or Cover 4 shells pre snap since the staggered curl depths are designed to sit down in the soft spots of zone drops.
If the defense shows man coverage, hot route the shallow trips receiver into a quick out or slant to beat off man leverage before the curl routes even develop.
Use this on second and medium to second and long where a sit down route with YAC potential is more valuable than a low percentage deep shot.
Pair Curls with PA Verticals or PA Boot Rt from the same formation to keep linebackers honest, since both plays start with similar initial release patterns before diverging.
Combine with Stick or Se In HB Out in your play calling sequence to attack the same underneath zones from different angles and keep the defense guessing on route depth.