Play Pass: Dagger

Dagger is a popular 1/2 field play-action concept, great for attacking all coverages.

The Dagger concept is another popular concept in both college and NFL. This concept is used similarly to drift, the last play pass we discussed.

Play Pass Concept: Drift

Drift is more of a single route read with a check down. Dagger is a 1/2 field progression read.

The Quarterback will look for the inside post first. The receiver will attack the nearest safety, looking to break across his face at 14 yards.

The second route in the progression is what is commonly referred to as a “Dover” route. The outside receiver will drive to 15 yards, then will make a speed cut in. This is a deeper route than the deep-in on drift. The drift breaks at 8 yards because it is the first route for the quarterback. Because the quarterback is looking at the post first if Dagger, the Dover route must go deeper to time up with the quarterback’s eyes and footwork.

There will always be a flat route underneath as well. Typically it is a back check releasing, but sometimes it is a shallow cross from a tight end.

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21 and 12 Personnel is a popular way to run Dagger. In these two examples, you get an 8-man protection, with the full-back and running back check releasing. It also gives the quarterback 2 check downs, 1 in the flat, and 1 in the middle of the field.

Both of the previous examples use an inside zone fake. 18/19 Wonka would be another good play-action protection if you wanted to tie it to a Wide Zone Action. That would allow the back to free release after his run fake.

Wide Zone Play-Action Protections

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