Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 2 playbooks
Breakdown
Z Spot is a five man protection pass play out of Pro Split Backs that runs the classic Spot concept to the closed side. The outside receiver runs a corner route to clear the flat and occupy the deep defender, the slot man works a quick spot route settling underneath at roughly five yards, and the flanker or back releases into the flat to complete the triangle stretch on any zone defender to that side. Backside, the far receiver runs a vertical stem into a corner/go breaking route to hold the opposite half of the field and prevent help from rotating over. This is a zone beater built to attack Cover 3 by stretching the curl to flat defender vertically and horizontally, with the primary read progressing from the flat route to the spot route to the corner as the levels open up underneath.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth and leverage, a single high safety rotated to the middle of the field is the biggest tell that Cover 3 is coming and that the spot triangle will be open underneath. Watch the flat defender's initial drop, if he sinks too deep reading the corner route, the spot sit route in the middle will come open immediately for an easy completion. Beware user controlled linebackers sitting in a lurk technique in the shallow flat area, since a smart user defender can jump the spot route or the flat route and turn it into a pick six if the quarterback stares it down too long. Against man coverage looks with press corners, this concept loses value quickly because there is no natural man beater rub built into the routes, so be ready to bail into a different play if the corners are showing inside or outside shade with no safety help over the top. If the defense shows Cover 4 or two deep safeties, the backside corner route becomes a low value target and the offense should focus purely on the underlying spot and flat combination for the easy check down.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify whether the defense is showing a single high safety look, since this concept is built specifically to punish Cover 3 curl to flat defenders who cannot cover all three levels of the spot triangle. If you see two deep safeties or man coverage indicators like tight press alignment on the outside receivers, be ready to check into a quicker hitting play from this set like Slants or Quick Outs instead. Hot route the backside corner route into a shorter option like a curl if you need a faster developing outlet against pressure looks, since the deep backside route takes time to develop and does not help against a blitz. Use this play on second and medium to second and long when defenses are more likely to sit in zone shells expecting a conventional dropback pass. Pair Z Spot with Curl Flat or Backs Cross earlier in a series so the defense grows comfortable jumping underneath zone routes, then hit the deep corner routes on this call once safeties start creeping down.
