Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
PA Power O out of Strong I Z Close (21 personnel) sells the Power O run action to the strong side before the QB pulls and rolls to a play-action pass concept. Off the fake, the deep routes show a deep crosser and a corner route breaking from the middle of the field to the far hash, a wheel/flat route climbing up the numbers on the boundary, and a shallow drag from the flanker sitting under everything as the checkdown. This is a shot play built on run fake credibility, primary read progression starts with the deep crosser to corner route combo, works down to the wheel or flat breaking route on the boundary, and comes back to the underneath drag as the last resort.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, identify if the defense is in a run-heavy front with linebackers stacked tight to the line, since that confirms they respect the Power O fake and opens up the play-action window. Watch the strong safety and Mike linebacker for early run flow triggers, if they crash hard toward the play side on the fake, the crosser and corner combo will have space behind them. Post-snap, key any user-controlled defender dropping into a shallow zone lurk near the drag route, that player can jump the underneath route and bait a checkdown throw. Cover 3 with a sinking corner can squeeze the corner route, so be ready to climb the ladder to the wheel route on the boundary if the deep third defender sits on the corner route. Man coverage with no safety help over the top is where this play hits hardest, since the wheel route can turn a linebacker or nickel matchup into an explosive gain.
Usage Tips
Run this on early downs, first or second and short to medium, when defense is stacking the box to respect Power O tendencies from Strong I.
Check safety depth before the snap: if you see one high safety cheating down to fill run gaps, that is your green light to throw the deep crosser or corner route.
If the defense shows two deep safeties post-snap, work the wheel route on the boundary since it can beat a cornerback playing outside leverage in Cover 2.
Pair this play in sequence with HB Dive and Counter Weak from the same set so the defense keys run action and bites on the play fake, then hit them with PA Power O once linebackers start creeping up.
Hot route the drag underneath into a deeper in-breaking route against zone shells if you need a true zone beater versus Cover 3 sink corners.
