Quick Look

Description

Quick Look is a fairly straightforward play designed primary to slow down blitzes and pick up easy yards against loose coverage. Quick slant, curl, and drag routes give quick options across the line, ideal if your opponent likes to bring blitzes from lots of different locations.

I love quick slants, especially in the Tsunami formation where the right SE typically will draw only single coverage. Quick Look features such a quick slant, though aimed slightly upfield. This gives the route the dual option of a quick throw right off the line or a deep throw over the middle. This works in part because the inside flanker drag route tends to keep linebackers down close while the left SE corner route occupies the left side safety. The outside flanker's hook and the RB's backdoor swing also help pull the defense over the left flats and open up the middle of the field.

The quick slant and short drag routes are the primary targets. The slant should pick up 8-10 yards and the drag about 4-8. The hook route is best used to suck in defenders, because the amount of traffic over on the left side can make it a difficult throw to get through, although the risk of an interception is low when thrown quickly. Likewise, the RB backdoor swing makes for a decent safety valve, although the Rb seems to have an unusually hard time catching the ball on the third (NW) segment. The best time to actually pick up yardage with this route is on the streak portion, where typically two defenders on the left side will have to manage the corner, hook and swing. A late throw should go to whoever's open between the flanker hook and the swing.

Player Assignments

See the Madden Playbook Guide for a description of these symbols.

Read Progression

1. Right SE quick slant
2. Left outside flanker curl
3. Left inside flanker drag
4. Left SE corner
5. RB backdoor swing
6. Right SE over middle

Analysis

Pros:

• Three quick routes makes play excellent against any blitz
• Corner and right SE deep over middle give two legitimate deep threats

Cons:

• Curl route can be difficult to hit due to LBs stepping in front of pass, and unlikely to get many yards if complete due to defenders usually overloading left side
• RB tends to drop a lot of passes before streak segment of route
• No extra blockers means bad shotgun snap + blitz = sack most of the time