Spread Defense Sim Pressure Package

This is a guest post from Nick Davis the Defensive Coordinator/LB Coach at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. If you don't know Nick, you should look him up. He is one of the brightest young defensive coaches in the country. Follow him on twitter @Spread_Defense. Nick regularly posts video and drill work on social media as well as having several great articles on X&O Labs. His defensive units are annually tops in the Heartland Conference and highly ranked in all of D3 football. Nick has been able to fill up the stat columns in Sacks and TFL's every season with a dynamic multiple defense based out of 3-3-5 personnel. Nick's defense was 9th in the nation this season with 38 sacks. 

Simulated Pressure 

A simulated pressure in our terminology is a pressure that brings linebackers or defensive backs while replacing the rusher or rushers with defensive lineman.  At Rose-Hulman this has become really easy to get to in our system because of our personnel.  We are a 3-3 personnel team that will play both odd and even fronts.  Our fronts allow us to put our linebackers or best cover defensive lineman where we need them.  Our base defense allows us to rush 4 from multiple fronts and play 1 & 3 match coverages.  

The most important part about a Simulated Pressure is trying to figure out the pass protection.  We look for over a 60% tendency when we game plan.  When you have figured out what the protection is going to be then it is time to figure out what type of fronts you want to attack them with.            

3 Down Odd Front

We want to put the most athletic defensive end to the running back side.  If we have over a 60% tendency we will bring both the middle and outside stack backer to the man side of the protection with any blitz pattern.  If you are not sure what the man side of the protection is you can send both stack backers with any blitz pattern.  We like this best with our 1 low hole coverage.  We train the defensive end that if the tailback runs a swing to his side he will peel off on it and owns that in man. If the tailback swings opposite he becomes the low hole player and drops to 5 yards and works off the quarterback.  The linebacker not rushing is the low hole player unless the tailback swings opposite the defensive end.  If the tailback blocks you get a five man rush with a low hole player.

2 & 4 Down Even Fronts  

We want to put the most athletic linebacker or defensive end to the running back side.  If we have over a 60% tendency we will bring the linebacker to the man side of the protection with any blitz pattern.  If you are not sure what the man side of the protection is you can send both backers and let your c gap players play the tailback and the low hole.  The coverage concept is the same as if we were in the odd front but now we have a better match up on the tailback if he free releases.  We prefer to bring the linebacker down the A gap but you can use any of your blitz patterns.

Why do we love sim pressures?

We can get hits on the quarterback only bringing 3 or 4 rushers.  We can bring 5 or 6 man pressure patterns and still have 7 or 8 in coverage.  We prefer to use this with our man coverage but we can play our whole coverage package behind these pressures.  These concepts teach our defensive line coaches coverage and thus they become more involved in our overall defensive system.  The defensive lineman think it is fun to play in coverage and get excited about the concepts.  

Mesh Charge vs. Zone Read

Kansas State is in a 4-2-5 personnel spaced in a even front with 2 technique DT's playing a weak side rotation Cover 3 match.

To the side of the RB the DE executes a mesh charge. 

The technique doesn't stay on the LOS it attacks deep into the backfield angling at the point of the hand off. In this version the DE turns his shoulders to present a keep read for the QB. The DE's angle looks like he is going to tackle the dive. The DE attacks to the near hip of the RB then climbs to the inside hip of the QB. The angle of the DE should force the QB to keep the ball.

This version of the mesh charge is effective because it assigns two defenders to the QB keep. The LB plays over the top for the outside of the QB on the keep. The DE mesh charges then climbs to the QB's inside. Assigning and inside and outside defender creates a vise on the QB who should be forced to keep the ball. 

The aggressive match technique by the coverage to the side of the RB deters the RPO element of the play.

Good execution from the Wildcats and good scheme plan vs. zone read by Scottie Hazelton.

Handling Four Strong Route Concepts in Fire Zone Coverage

Here is a fire zone pressure clip from Alabama. The Tide are in a Dime personnel with OLB bodies as the DE's.

The Rush:

The Mike covers the center creating a bear spaced front with all 5 OL covered. The Rush backers on the edges are contain. The strong DT is moving inside to the midline. The Dime  takes a path through the DE's heels creating a full speed straight line run to the QB.

The Coverage:

3 under 3 deep fire zone 

The initial path of the Dime fools the RB into taking a wide path. When the Dime goes through the heels of the up field DE, the RB struggles to redirect and make the pick up.

The coverage does a great job handling the 4 verticals from a 4 strong formation.

The formation presents 4 receiving threats to the strong side of the formation. The Mike is the seam dropper relating to the #2 receiver. In this formation the #4 strong is also #2 receiver weak. Weak side the corner is playing an aggressive man style technique with limited coverage help. To the strong side there is a choice to make about the strong corner's technique. The corner could play a divider zone technique deep 1/3. Instead the corner bails to man style technique leaning on the #1 receiver. The Nickle in the seam is playing match-carry-deliver seam technique. With the #2 receiver vertical the Nickel carries the route. With the RB #4/#2 blocking strong the drop down safety has inside help from the weak seam dropping Mike LB. The safety and LB do an excellent job of passing the route. The Mike gets is eyes outside to see the threat and makes a man turn and rolls back with the vertical from the #3 (once the route distributes it is the new/final #2). The drop down safety is able to pass the inside vertical and zone off over the top of the RB who becomes the new/final #3.

This is a good understanding of a four strong formation and how to pass and match the route distribution from Alabama. Good stuff from Pete Golding and Nick Saban.

3 Match Coverage Variation

Why do you need all those coverage calls? This is an example of why we need them.

Here is a stick route variation from 2x2.

The read progression:

Pre-snap the peak outside. The Peak is there for cover zero looks to take a shot against a press corner and also a hole shot vs. a cover 2 look. 

Hot - against any max pressure look the ball can go to the peak or the RB in the flat

Post-snap:

#1 read is the RB is the flat. If the overhang gets depth, turns his shoulders inside, or doesn't expand the RB in the flat is getting the ball immediately. 

#2 is the slot working away from the ILB. This route is designed to isolate the LB with a speed WR. If the LB gets depth or isn't attacking the route the ball is going to the WR running away from the LB.

#3 is the dig. If the LB is tight on the in/out route the ball is going to the dig route behind the LB. 

#4 The money ($$$) is for quarters coverage concepts. If the defense is 2 high with a safety who is aggressive on the dig the QB can take a shot to the post one on one vs. the corner.

Against a base odd front 3 match concept the defense can rush an OLB and roll the coverage to replace the pressure.

In this example the field OLB is in the charge with the coverage rolling that direction. The coverage can handle all the routes. The issue is the isolation of the ILB vs. a slot WR. This plays into what the offense is trying to accomplish. They want WR vs. LB which they hope is a mismatch.This is why we carry coverage change ups.

The charge is the same basic concept only now the end is working outside and the ILB is pressuring the B gap. The Safety is now the hook player. The coverage plays out the same only now the speed WR is 1 on 1 with a DB not a LB. 

This is just one example of a coverage change up that is not about changing the coverage concept just about job swaps. 

Having coverage change-ups is necessary to avoid an offense being able to repeatedly isolate a poor match up in coverage.