Playbooks
Curls out of the Strong I H Wing set is a zone beater built around curl routes stacked to the passing strength, designed to attack the soft spots underneath and in front of Cover 3 and Cover 2 shells. With 22 personnel on the field, the H Wing tips run at a glance, which makes the play action from this same look valuable, but Curls itself is a straight dropback pass. The primary read starts with the outside curl to the strong side, works to the inside curl or breaking route in the flat area, and finishes with the backside checkdown to the fullback or halfback out of the backfield.
Identify the safety alignment before the snap, because two high safeties signal Cover 2 or Cover 4 zone drops that leave natural windows in front of the curl routes for an easy completion. Watch the cornerback depth at the snap, since press or tight man alignment means the quarterback should immediately look to hot route the strong side curl into a corner or out route to beat the man coverage. Key the strong side linebacker's drop, because if he sinks hard into the curl window instead of staying flat footed, that is a sign of a Cover 3 zone drop and the quarterback should hitch and throw before the window closes. Watch for a user controlled defender flashing into a lurk position near the strong side curl route, which signals a defender is jumping the route on purpose, and the quarterback should peek the backside curl or checkdown instead. Recognize overload blitz packages sending extra rushers to the strong side, since that pressure package usually leaves the backside curl and checkdown route uncovered against man free or zone blitz coverage.
Use pre-snap motion or a quick alert to see if the defense shifts a linebacker or safety toward the strong side, since that tells you whether you are getting zone or man coverage.
This play thrives on third and medium to third and long because the curl routes sit down at a depth that consistently converts, so save it for down and distance situations where the sticks are inside twelve yards.
Hot route the backside curl into a deep dig or corner route against man coverage to punish cornerbacks who bite on the sit down route, since man beaters need that extra vertical stem to separate.
Pair Curls with Power O and HB Cntr Wk from the same H Wing set so the defense has to respect the run fake before you come back to this same personnel and formation for the pass, keeping linebackers honest and slowing their curl drops.
Against heavy blitz looks, drag your check down back across the middle of the field as an emergency valve, and get rid of the ball quickly since the curl routes need a beat to develop and the offensive line in this set is not built for max protection.