Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Stick out of Weak I Close (21 personnel) shows a classic Stick concept to the closed side with a flat route, a stick/curl route sitting down over the ball, and a corner route from the tight end stacked behind it, while the backside receiver runs a deep in/drift route across the field. This is a man beater built to attack Cover 2 and Cover 3 with the flat-to-corner leverage stretch, but it also holds up against zone thanks to the stick route settling in soft spots between levels. Primary read progression starts with the flat defender: if he widens with the flat route, throw the stick sitting behind him, and if the corner route clears the flat defender's zone, work it high before checking the backside drift as the last resort.
Defensive Reads
Watch the flat defender at the snap: if he sinks with the corner route instead of widening, jump the flat throw with a user defender for a big hit or pick opportunity. Identify Cover 3 sink and Tampa 2 shells pre-snap, since the underneath defenders will collapse on the stick route and force the quarterback to hold the ball. Key the linebacker depth over the middle, because a shallow linebacker sitting at five yards can jump the stick concept and blow up the primary read. Man coverage with no safety help over the top is vulnerable to the corner route beating a flat defender, so rotate a safety or use a lurk defender to take away that throw. Watch for the quarterback's eyes on the backside drift route late in the play, and have a robber or spy underneath to close that window if the frontside reads are covered.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, check for a flat defender showing outside the closed formation, since his positioning tells you whether the stick or the flat route will be open first.
Against man coverage, hot route the stick runner to a quick out or speed out if you see a corner pressed hard on him to create instant separation.
Use this in medium yardage passing downs like second or third and five to seven, where the stick sit route consistently wins against Tampa 2 and Cover 3 sink drops.
Pair this with PA Boot Lt or PA Boot Slide from the same Weak I Close set to sell run action first, then come back to Stick once the defense starts crashing down on HB Zone Wk and Counter F.
If the defense shows heavy blitz looks, get the ball out fast to the flat route since Stick's quick game timing beats most nano blitzes before the pressure arrives.
