Taking A Shot with Play Action Climb

Here is a play action shot play concept.

The progression is:

1 Post

2 Climb

3 Pearl (Stem Post Curl)

The QB will peek the post if it is there he can take a shot. The likely outcome is the deep coverage is running with the post. The post takes the top off for the climb route. The climb is a under Sam over Mike type of route, starting as an under route and gaining depth once the route is in the core. If the Climb route is covered the QB can work back to the Pearl route.

Against 3 weak coverage: 

The post holds the Corner and Safety while the Climb is able to get too much depth for the C-F dropper to recover off the play action fake.

A 2nd example against 3 Strong coverage:

Again the post holds the Corner and Safety. The weak C-F and Hook player are reacting to the play fake and have difficulty gaining depth to the Climb route.

Against a Quarter Quarter Half Coverage:

The Strong side Quarter Safety is convinced by the initial under route release of the Climb the route is an under. If the Safety had stayed on the Climb the QB would work to the 3rd read and take the Pearl route. On the back side the Safety is on the Post while the Hook dropping LB is reacting to the play fake again allowing the Climb into open space. 

Against an aggressive Quarters Safety.

The weak side safety is very aggressive. The Climb sells the strong side Safety on running the under route climbing late to gain depth over the aggressive weak side safety. If the strong side Safety matched the Climb the QB could work to the 3rd read on the Pearl route.

Good stuff from former Florida Tech Offensive Coordinator Jayson Martin.