Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Curls out of Strong I Pro (21 personnel) sends the X receiver on an outside curl route, the F back on an underneath drag/flat out of the backfield, the TE up the seam and breaking back to a curl at the top of the route, and the Y (weakside) on a wheel route up the sideline. It is a zone beater, designed to sit receivers down in soft spots against off-coverage and zone drops while the wheel route stresses linebackers and safeties who bite on the flat routes underneath. Primary read progression starts with the TE curl in the intermediate window, works down to the X curl if the underneath is jumped, and checks the F flat and Y wheel as outlet and explosive options against blown coverage.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, identify whether the defense is showing zone or man by checking corner depth, off corners with cushion suggest zone drops that this play is built to exploit. Post-snap, watch the underneath linebackers, if they sink into the curl zones immediately this concept struggles and you should be ready to check down to the F flat. If a user-controlled defender flashes down to jump the TE curl or X curl, that opens the Y wheel or F flat as the natural counter since the defense has committed a body underneath. Cover 3 with a hard-flowing Sam or Will linebacker to the strength can take away both the F flat and TE curl, forcing the QB to hold the ball and look for the Y wheel deep. Man coverage combined with a blitz is the biggest threat, since the curl routes need time to settle, watch for extra rushers off the edge and get the ball out early to the flat or hot route to the shortest curl.
Usage Tips
Use this on second and medium to third and long when you expect zone drops, since the curl routes are designed to settle into soft spots between levels.
Read the flow of the linebackers after the snap, if they sink hard into the curl windows, check down to the F flat route running underneath for an easy completion.
Watch the Y wheel route closely against man coverage or if you see a corner blitz, it is your explosive shot play if a linebacker or safety gets picked off in traffic.
Pair Curls with Slants or Mesh from this same Strong I Pro set to attack the same underneath zones with quicker timing, keeping the defense honest against your curl concept.
If the defense shows two deep safeties pre-snap, prioritize the TE curl and X curl since those routes settle in front of soft zone shells rather than trying to push the ball vertically.
