So far we have situations where the primary target is the left or right curl, and we have situations where the TE arrow is the primary target. Now we want to check when to throw to the slot receiver running a post route down the strongside seam. Though it mostly serves to draw attention away from the strongside curl and occupy the shallow coverage and rub any LB coming across to cover the TE, we can hit the defense with a big gain if they ignore it.
Usually the first thing the defense gives away when it gets set for the next play is the positioning of the safeties and whether the cornerbacks are backed off or rolled up into press coverage. The next thing to look at will be the coverage of the slot receiver: is there a man aligned directly over him? A big benefit of the slot receiver's vertical stem before taking a break to the inside is that the defender over him must stay in coverage on him and "carry" him to the safeties.
But what if there is nobody there or it's a hopelessly outmatched linebacker in shallow zone coverage playing the run?
The Houston Bender
The slot receiver's post route functions very similarly to the "bender" in Coach Hoover's Houston play writeup:
The number two receiver to the field runs what we call a “Bender.” He bursts up the hash (slight outside release) and reads the area in front of him. If there is no safety or he feels that he can run by the safety, he will do so. If the safety plays deep over the top of our guy, he will “bend” inside at 12 yards at a controlled speed.The logic is the same as what is described in the Quarters section of that page:
The Bender will either run by the Safety (if Safety stays low) or bend inside if the Safety bails. Either way, the Bender is our first look. I tell the QBs that we only want this if it is obviously there because we have other routes that could be available.Against a two high look from the safeties, if there is nobody aligned right over the slot receiver, we expect some kind of zone coverage scheme underneath. I like the term "bender" because that's what we're waiting for here - we want to watch for the point where the slot receiver runs past the underneath zone man and bends his route behind to the inside deep middle Cover 2 hole in the center. Since he is bending it behind the underneath linebacker, there is no way for him to anticipate where the throw is going.
Take the first example from the video above. The defense rotates the strong safety down behind the cornerback and slides the free safety over. The nickel back backs up into the free safety's original position to maintain the two high shell. This is a corner blitz with the SS taking the place of the LCB in underneath coverage. With only four defenders to cover the six underneath zones, there will be very wide gaps between them. The natural deep middle hole in particular will be very large.
Covering down on the slot receivers seems like it should be a basic thing (it is), and that college/pro defenses should never have lapses like this. It does in fact happen, though. Here is the BCS Megacast crew - in particular Chris Spielman - losing it over Florida State's defensive breakdowns in the first half against Auburn:
If there is nobody in the area at all, this is a very easy throw because the slot man is wide open and hardly needs to bend his route behind anyone.
This will not happen often during a game, but it is something to always check for. Like Coach Chryst said during the kickoff in the clip above, the offense has to cash in when the defense sets itself up to get hit in the middle of the field.
Winning the Coryell Matchup
In the classic Air Coryell offense, 525 F Post Swing was the staple play. From the Daily Norseman:
The most famous (and most-often called) play in the Coryell playbook is the 525 Post Swing. In the 525 F Post Swing, both outside receivers run "5" routes (15-yard comebacks) while the tight end runs the "20" route—a shallow cross. Reading the routes" 5-20-5, or 525. The "F" runs a post to the middle and reads the deep safety. The final eligible receiver (usually a fullback) would run a swing route.
Here, the "F" is the slot receiver, but the idea remains the same.The play is all over the place, used by basically everyone in the Coryell coaching tree: Norv Turner, Joe Gibbs and Ernie Zampese, Mike Martz, and so on. Here's Tim Layden on the play:
A single play dominated the offense: F Post. There were dozens of variations, called endlessly by Gibbs and then by Zampese, who dialed up the F Post so often that it became known simply as an Ernie route. The most common call was 525 F Post Swing. Both outside receivers would run 15-yard comeback routes, carrying the corners to the outside. The Y receiver would run a 20, or a shallow cross, occupying the vision of the linebackers and safeties. The F receiver—a running back or a second tight end, depending on the formation—would then run an option post route, finding his own open path. A running back would run a short swing pattern. "It got to be the best play in the whole system," says Zampese, "and they still run it."From later in the Layden article, there is this bit from the Greatest Show on Turf:
In St. Louis, Martz was committed to staying a step ahead of the defensive wizards. "With all the zone blitzes, offenses wanted to know where every defender was coming from," says Martz. "So offenses got real conservative again. Keeping another receiver in to block, that sort of thing. We decided to do just the opposite, and that was all about the Coryell system. We spread 'em out and said, 'Good luck finding the guy we're throwing it to.' We took the F Post and ran it with five different positions from every formation in the playbook. We ran it with Az Hakim, with Isaac Bruce—and Marshall Faulk was an unbelievable post runner. At one point I counted 137 ways we could run the F Post."If we change the TE route in the 525 Post in either the above picture or any other version like the one analyzed by Dan Gonzalez or X's O's Football, we have the trips combo of the Curls play from Ace Y-Trips in NCAA and Madden. The way we are treating the trips side of the Curls play is just one of many variations on the vertical stems concept; consider the second post on this forum thread about Mike Martz:
If you change the outside post to a curl, that's exactly the trips side of the curls play. Against a two high shell, the focus of the play changes from the outside to the inside. Dan Gonzalez says the play is looking for the uncovered slot receiver we talked about at the top of this post:.
While his predecessors switched personnel groupings to get the desired player in the F position, Martz added the ability to simply call 525 Z Post/ H Post/ X Post to give the play even more formation flexibility. Whether it was Faulk, Bruce, Holt, Az-Hakeem, or Proehl, Martz's Rams could dial up anyone to run the quick post. The play is designed to isolate the Post runner (hopefully vs. no short hole player) for a quick rhythm throw and catch.The goal is to get an isolated matchup on whoever is running the post route into the deep middle hole against a slower safety or linebacker in front of a two shell. That's why this is supposed to be a great play against Cover 2 if you have a matchup advantage from your slot receiver. The slot receiver must be fast enough to outrun the cover man and get separation by simply outrunning him across the field.
I first noticed this wrinkle in the play when I started playing Madden 25 and had access to better talent. When you are playing NCAA as a team with very low talent, you will not often have a matchup advantage even if it's a receiver against a safety or linebacker; Hawaii's third receiver is typically not better than a starting safety at a Big Ten or SEC powerhouse.
But look at what the Detroit Lions do by default from this formation. Look who is normally aligned in the slot position for Ace Y-Trips: #81 Calvin Johnson. When you have Megatron in the slot getting coverage by any safety in the league, you win the matchup. Period. Against a linebacker? Even better. If we have a Megatron to move to the slot, that's outstanding and we can use this play even against Cover 2 Man or regular Cover 2. If not, we must check out of the play to something else because the one on one matchup we're suppposed to use to defeat Cover 2 in the deep middle is unwinnable.
Most of the analysis available for the 525 Post call applies to our Curls play from Ace Y-Trips. This post of suggested plays from NFL Tackle Football Operations in May 2013 has the 525 Post concept from a 3x1 formation nearly identical to what we have in Ace Y-Trips Curls. Here are the instructions for what to do against Cover 2:
Assuming we have a matchup winner to take advantage of, this is what we want to do, too. Adjusting personnel to mimic what the Lions do with Megatron is pretty easy to do in NCAA. Go to formation substitutions and change the receivers so that in Ace Y-Trips you have the best (or fastest) guy in the slot. We definitely want at least the second best receiver on the left side of the formation since he's the isolated curl against man coverage. The kicker is that the guy you put in the strongside curl WR position - supposedly the primary route according to the play art in NCAA and Madden - can be anyone competent and still be successful. We're talking Shanahan System halfback level of it not mattering who is in that spot. Ideally, a sure handed possession receiver who can take a hit, but definitely does not need to be a world beater.
MOF Open (Cover 2)
Read: F-Y-H or F-H
- The F is the primary target. The F is trying to sell width early as if he is running a vertical route. If the SLB does not expand the F can snap the route off vertically up the field. If the SLB expands then the F can snap the post route off in front of him.
- The Y must grab the attention of the MLB on his Drag route so that the F is isolated one on one vs the SLB.
- Vs zone the Y should sit down but the read may go past him to the H unless he is wide open because the QB won’t have a lot of time after allowing the F to work.
The Bottom Line
- Change your personnel in Ace Y-Trips to put your best receiver in the slot.
- If that receiver is still not that good, do not attempt to throw the post against a two shell - if you see two high safeties and the corners rolled up to indicate either Cover 2 or Cover 2 Man, audible to something else that kills Cover 2: run the ball at the six man box or audible to Stick.
- The only time you ignore point 2 and basically all other rules for running Curls is if your slot receiver is uncovered. Then you go Bobby Petrino on the defense and look to the alert post: "The post and the wheel are “alert” routes, in that they aren’t part of the basic reads but the quarterback can look at them first if the defense gives it."
- If you are going to play the matchup against a two shell, be prepared to look somewhere else, pull it down and run, or eat the sack if it's Cover 2 Man and your guy doesn't win the matchup. Don't throw a bad interception if the slot receiver doesn't get a step.
