Best 3rd Down Route in Football: Shadow, Shallow, y cross and Dagger all tied into 1

One of my favorite concepts is shadow. It ties shallow, dover/y cross and dagger all into 1 concept. Thus I gave it the name shadow. This is probably the best play and one of the most often ones you will see on 3rd and 7-10.

It is another universal route concept that has answers vs every coverage. It is very popular in the NFL with the universal pass concept guys and very effective on 3rd down situations. It is run from 3x1 sets and a highly effective play. It has answers vs zone, man and 2 man coverage.

Let’s look at some of the coverage concepts.

Read:
Cover 1: y cross(dover) to shallow off leverage.
Zone: Eliminate the dover, look dig/shallow reset to swing
Vs zone cover 2 ,3 and 4

cover 2 man: Shallow/RB to run it (toughest D vs the route concept)

You eliminate the y cross and throw the in or shallow off the alley defender.