Playbooks
00
2 Sets1 Formation
Overview
00 personnel empties the backfield completely, putting zero running backs, zero tight ends, and five wide receivers on the field, typically out of Shotgun 5WR Tight or Shotgun 5WR Trips. This creates a pure spread passing identity that stretches the defense horizontally from sideline to sideline and puts five eligible receivers into routes on every snap. Opponents are forced to pull linebackers and sub in dime or quarter packages to match the speed, which lightens the box, exposes their coverage shell pre-snap, and hands the offense a menu of isolated one-on-one matchups.
Strengths
- Forces defenses into dime or quarter personnel, and any opponent who stays in base or nickel leaves a linebacker or strong safety isolated on a slot receiver for an easy speed mismatch
- Five-wide spacing makes man and zone reads obvious pre-snap, and a single motion from the Trips side quickly confirms man coverage so you can hot route a slant or drag as a man beater
- Shotgun 5WR Trips overloads one side with three receivers, letting you flood zones with smash, corner, and flat combos that stress Cover 3 and Cover 4 rotations at every level of the route tree
- Light boxes with only five or six defenders near the line open up QB draws and designed scrambles for mobile quarterbacks, since the defense cannot match both the run and the spread
- Shotgun 5WR Tight condenses the splits to create natural rub and pick concepts near the line, which crushes press man and Cover 1 especially in the red zone and on third and short
Weaknesses
- Only five offensive linemen are available to block, so any six-man pressure, sim pressure, or nano blitz creates a free rusher and forces the ball out before deep routes can develop
- With no running back or tight end on the field, the defense can completely ignore the run threat, pin its ears back, and play pass rush and coverage without respecting play action or RPOs
- There is no running back to slide protect or chip, so your only protection options are hot routing a receiver to block, which removes a route and still leaves weak blocking against edge rushers
- Heavy 00 usage is easy to key on, and savvy opponents will sit in dime Cover 0 or Cover 2 Man with a user-controlled defender robbing the middle hook, taking away your quick game crossers
- Smaller receivers make poor perimeter blockers on screens and bubble concepts, and the lack of a heavy personnel option makes short yardage and goal line situations difficult to convert on the ground
