The 2×2 Shallow concept (or drive route) complements the 3 x 1 route I discussed on the last posting. In fact, from an installation perspective, the only difference between the two is that the split end (X) and our flanker (Z) switch assignments. Our intent on the route, however, is completely different as is the QB’s thought read progression.
From any Doubles formation (Diagram 1), we use this route to: a) hit an athletic receiver coming across the ball with speed (X); b) get the ball down the middle of the field to our tight end (Y) mismatched against a linebacker; or c) take advantage of defenses overplaying the shallow by hitting the flag route to the boundary (W).
Figure 1
The routes: Our flanker (Z) runs what we call a Search route which is a 7-step (inside foot up) skinny Slant or Post route. It is important that the receiver align no tighter than the top of the numbers which will keep his breaking angle well outside the hash (away from the Safety). Y runs a Hunt route which is basically a middle Seam (we tell him to run so he hits his head on the goalpost). However, if his path is blocked by the middle safety, he should turn inside and “hunt-up” a window – he is the high route in the middle high-low. The low route will come from our split end (X). We will constantly place him into the boundary to give him maximum amount of space after the catch. We want him to stay under five yards through the box in order to stretch the Mike Linebacker. The running back (R) will check his protection responsibility before releasing, but we do not want him releasing through the line; instead, he should exit straight out to the flat (we don’t want him tripping up the Shallow). Finally, our slot receiver (W) runs a Flag route at 10 yards. His main job is to occupy the field safety but we do look at him occasionally against man coverage.
The read: against a two-safety defense, the read is simple: High-Low the Mike. Our intention is to hit the Shallow route to produce a big play. But in order to do that, we must look for the Hunt route first (Y). If the TE has an opportunity to run down the pipe and the Mike stays down, we should have a massive window to get the TE in the ball (Diagram 2). Since we believe that anyone being stared at by the QB will ultimately be covered, we expect the Mike to jump the TE, leaving a clean box for the Shallow to run through (Diagram 3).
Figure 2
Figure 3
The only way we would look to the Search route (Z) is if the defense was in some form of one-safety shell. One-safety probably means 4-underneath players, which is cause for concern, especially if you’re the WR running full speed through the box with an unaccounted LB waiting on you (let me tell you from experience that is not fun). We want to keep the read rules the same, so we will try to take care of the extra LB by peeking at the search. If the extra LB doesn’t pass drop, we expect the QB to throw the Search route (Diagram 4). We feel we only have to throw it once to get the man to get into coverage, which will bring us back to our middle high-low read.
Figure 4
As I mentioned earlier, against man coverage or against an aggressive strong-roll, we will look to hit the Flag route. Over the past few years, we are right at 50%, although our completion percentage is about 60% when targeting the middle high-low (sometimes you get a QB that falls in love with the Search route).