Cover Zero Man Blitz

The Patriots are in Nickel personnel dialing up cover zero man coverage blitz concept on 2nd & 6. The Nickel personnel uses OLB bodies as DE. The front spaces as an odd instead of the expected even front spacing.

The expected spacing of this type of Nickel front is an even front, something like this over front spacting diagram. The Patriots instead space as an odd front with the ILBs bumped strong. The spacing is similar to a 3-3 defense with both stack LB's walked up on edges.

The Rush:

Both edges have the 5 technique aligned rushers working outside to contain with the edge aligned rusher going Up & Under. The DT aligned at Nose is working weak with the blitzing ILB working strong to attack both A gaps. 

The Coverage:

Cover Zero with Corners over. The DB's lock & level the bunch. The coverage is disguised as Cover 1. The down Safety appears to be the man coverage player on the TE with the deep Safety in the post. The coverage assignment puts the down Safety on the RB with the deep Safety handling the TE.

The offense is in a 5 man chip protection. The RB is virtually free releasing only giving a quick chip on 53 off the edge before entering his route. The defense is rushing 6 vs. a 5 man protection creating the run through for the +1 rusher. The coverage disguise shows Cover 1 which indicates likely a max 5 man rush. The QB is responsible for the unblocked rusher with a hot throw. The Patriots may have planned this type of pressure knowing the QB is a backup in week 3 of the season and making his first career NFL start. This pressure forces an inexperienced QB to handle the free rusher and throw hot under immediate interior free rush pressure.

The pressure design helps make the run through happen efficiently.

The 4 most likely rushers in the defensive personnel grouping are the 2 Rush LBs & 2 DTs. The OL turned the protection to the most likely threats. The strong side B gap blitzing LB was the responsibility of the QB.

If the offense chose to treat the front like odd and instead used a Fan/Fan protection pushing the Guards & Tackles out to the outside rush threats the unblocked rusher would have been in the A gap.

The pressure is a nice design vs. either of the most likely 5 man protection schemes.

Good pressure design from Bill Belichick.

3 High Safety Split Field Quarters Coverage Sim Pressure

San Diego St is in 3-3-5 personnel spaced like a double 3 technique even front and initially presenting a 3 high safety shell.

The Rush:

Both Ends contain. The End aligned as a 3 technique works through the B gap to contain. The Mike is pressuring A gap working a twist with the field side 3 technique.

The Coverage:

Split field quarters with a Safety rolled into the box as the 3 dropper.

Once the Mike walks up into the pressure look the OL is 5-0, because they are all covered they are all 1 on 1. Twists are highly effective vs. 5-0 man protection schemes because adjacent OL aren't uncovered and available to help. The Mike does a good job of penetrating to get quickly up field which forces the Center to commit and helps put the Center and Guard on two different levels. The 3 technique's timing plays off the Mike. He stays square while keeping his path tight off the inside hip of the Mike at full speed allowing for quick efficient pressure.

The usage quarters on 3rd & 4 allows for a good denial coverage of all 4 quick receiving threats. 

Always good scheme and execution from a Zach Arnett and Rocky Long coached defense.

2 Under 3 Deep Overload Pressure

Pitt is in a 3-3-5 sub personnel package. 

The Rush:

Overload America's blitz concept. The DL is slanting away from the pressure with the pressure side DE on a long stick. The Mike is going slow under off the edge while the Sam is the outside blitzer. The SS shows a bail only to add in between the Sam and Mike creating the overload.

The Coverage:

2 under 3 Deep

The offense is running a split zone run scheme. The pressure does a good job of crossing the zone blocks. The Nose crosses the OG, the long stick DE crosses the C, and the Mike crosses the OG. By crossing the blocks the defense is able to cancel the interior gaps when the initial look shows defensive strength on the edges and potential creases inside. By crossing the blocks the RB looks to jump the ball outside into the overload. The zone blocking scheme can't account for the SS. The Hot dropping Will LB serves as a clean up player against any runs that might squeeze through on the inside.

Nice overload blitz from Pitt and Randy Bates.

Split Field Coverage Sim Pressure

Sim pressure on 3rd & 6 from a 3-3-5 defense spaced like an under front 4-2-5.

The initial presentation is a 1 high post defense rotated strong.

The presence of the Sam walked up on the LOS with the FS showing down gets the OL pointing out the pressure threat from the field. The protection is half slide to the RB's alignment with the RB cross protecting to the field. 

When the QB gets into his cadence the defense comes out of the disguise.

The Sam walks off the LOS to the apex alignment while the Mike walks up to pressure the open B gap. The FS replaces the Mike while the SS pops the top and WS adjusts weak to create a 2 high coverage alignment.

The Rush:

Mike blitzes as contain through the widest part of B gap working a YOU game with the End. The End is up an under off the penetrating Mike. The Nose and Tackle are looping weak to balance the rush.

The Coverage:

Quarter Quarter Half. The most interesting part of the concept is the usage of the FS as the 3 dropper. By using a DB in this role the defense can expect the 3 player to carry the #3 receiver with no help. The #3 being accounted for vertical by the FS allows the field side to play a 3 over 2 quarters concept against #1 and #2 receivers and the weak side to play a cloud half concept. 

Nice split field coverage sim concept and execution from San Diego St. This is a creative way to get a traditional 4 down pass rush stunt from a sim pressure.  Always good stuff from Zach Arnett and Rocky Long.

Overload Sim Pressure vs. Empty

Florida is in a 3-3 personnel against empty on 3rd & 8.

The Rush:

Sam is blitzing off the field side edge. The Nose stems pre-snap to the field A gap. The stem of the Nose along with the mugged up LB creates an aligned overload at the LOS pre-snap. Post snap the rush is a twist game by the End and Nose with the weak side end as contain. 

The Coverage:

Split field coverage using quarters coverage concepts. The strong side is a quarters concept with the corner man on #1. The Will bluffs edge pressure but drops out to play a quarters concept to the weak side.

Nice sim from Florida. The final look is a four man pass rush with an interior twist game back stopped with split field quarters coverage. Good stuff from Todd Grantham and the Gators. 

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.  

Winning the 1 on 1 Pass Rush

San Diego State is in a 3-3-5 personnel spacing as a bear front running a Tampa 2 Sim Pressure.

The Rush:

Both DE's work out to contain while the Nose works strong to balance the pass rush. The Mike is in the pass rush as the weak side interior pass rush.

The Coverage:

Tampa 2 with a safety in the high hole

By covering up all the OL the defense forces the OL into 1 on 1 blocking. The slide of the OL sends the OT to a LB who is dropping to the strong hook. The Center in the slide works to the Nose. The DE weak occupies the OT leaving the the sliding OG 1 on 1 against the Mike on the sim pressure. Sim pressure is a 4 man pass rush concept, often the pressure doesn't create unblocked players on clean run throughs. What sims do really well is isolate 1 on 1 pass rush matchups that favor the defense. 

The Mike uses a very nice pass rush move here to win the 1 on 1. The OG is setting aggressively, the Mike attacks the momentum of the OG then crosses face. You can't fight physics, an object in motion stays in motion. On OL aggressively setting has trouble redirecting. This type of move is the same concept of a crossover dribble in basketball.

Would you run into a defender when you want to score in basketball? If the defender is in great position where you are moving are you going to run into a wall or change direction? QB is the basket, find a way to score.

This same body movement is a cut used by ball carriers.

This is where cross training can be applied in and out of season. In a circuit for RB cuts a defender can be developing pass rush skills. In a pass rush circuit for blitzers a ball carrier can develop open field evasion skills. Playing pickup or varsity basketball can make you better as a pass rusher. The key is players understand how and when to apply these movements in pass rush situations.

Hit 'em with the Crossover!

Great execution by the Aztecs and really good coaching of pass rush technique by Zach Arnett and Rocky Long.

Split Field Coverage Pressure to Attack Zone Run

Southern Miss is in 3-3-5 personnel with a 2 high split field safety coverage concept. Weak side the defense has a LB walked up as a DE creating a 4-2-5 type spacing. 

The Rush:

The DL is slanting away from the pressure with the blitz side DE working to the A gap while the away DE is working outside. The Nose is working 2 gaps from a zero technique alignment to the B gap. The Golden Eagles sent two LB's off the edge into the zone blocking.

The Coverage:

2 Read coverage to the field with man coverage to the boundary 

The pre-snap presentation does several things:

1. To the boundary side the defense presents 2 low players at the LOS in the face of the receivers and a deep safety over top. This alignment deters access RPO throws to the boundary.

2. To the field the defense presents an inside leverage overhang defender creating 3 over 2 coverage. The field is not a great look for pre or post snap RPO concepts based on defensive numbers and alignments.

3. With the perimeter defense aligned to deter RPO, the box is where the defense looks light. The box presents like a 4-1 core which leads the offense to a zone blocking run scheme. Based on pre-snap look the offense should have favorable numbers in the run game.

Post snap the pressure ends up creating confusion and a run through TFL. The OT zones out to the widest rusher expecting the OG to zone to the walked up LB. The OG instead hangs on the DL slanting inside to the A gap. Even if the OG had worked out to the inside most edger rush the offense is outnumbered in the box 6 to 5. The DE looping outside to the read side is a give read forcing the ball into the defense's advantage. If the QB had attempted to pull and "out-athlete" the DE, the overhang player does a good job of being patient while staying in body position to both deny the RPO and fold in the run game. The overhang's presence helps take the pressure off the DE to make a tackle on the QB 1 on 1.

Nice execution from Southern Miss and good design by Tim Billings to align the defense to deny RPO's, dictate a run, then pressure to change the math on the offense in the run game. 

Cover 2 Zone Pressure to Attack Duo

Here is a 5 man zone pressure using twists and back stopped by a cover 2 concept. San Diego State is in a 3-3-5 personnel. The spacing builds a bear front. 

The Rush:

Nose is in a knock back two gap technique vs. the Center. Both DE's are penetrating with both mugged up LB's looping outside.

The Coverage:

4 under 2 deep zone coverage

The usage of mugged up LB's on the guards creates problems for Duo. The goal of duo is double teams and creating LOS movement. Here the unbalanced side double on the DE can't stay on vs. the mugged up LB. The double team elects to stay on the DE which leaves the looper free. The result is the TE is forced to block the looping Sam LB. With the TE occupied the offense has no blocker for the Mike who is bumped out to the unbalanced formation. 

If the OL had abandoned the double team and blocked the twist, the TE would have been free for the Mike. This is where the usage of cover 2 and corner support vs. the run comes into play. The WR cracks the safety, which is a great scheme against quarters coverage where the safety will be triggering down hill against the run. Here however the crack block is wasted on a deep 1/2 safety allowing the cloud corner to trigger the run. If the OL and TE had blocked the box the ball would have bounced out to the unblocked corner. 

Nice usage of mugged up LB's, twist games, and cloud run support to attack the run. Good stuff from Zach Arnett, Rocky Long, and the Aztec defense.

Packaging Complimentary Pressure Concepts

Here are two complimentary pressure concepts from San Diego State.

The Aztecs are in a 3-3-5 personnel but are aligned in a 4-2-5 under front spacing.

The Rush:

The Sam and Will are contain with the Mike hitting the A gap. The Nose and reduced DE are working a twist.

The Coverage:

Cover Zero 

The success of the pressure is all about the speed of the blitzers. Both the Sam and Will are able to win with speed and create the strong side pressure forcing the fumble.

Later in the game the Aztecs present the same strong side cover zero pressure concept pre-snap. Post-snap the concept is zone under man corner pressure instead.

The Rush:

The DL is slanting strong with the corner pressuring off the boundary edge

The Coverage:

Zone under man concept. More on the coverage concept HERE.

The offense ID's the strong pressure threats and attempts to adjust the protection. The adjustment is to send the slide to the pressure. This forces the RB to block across the formation which is a difficult pick up. Even more difficult is this corner pressure creates 2 rushers off the edge vs. the RB in a full slide concept. The corner ends up on the free run and creates a second forced fumble. 

Great execution from San Diego State and great plan to manipulate pass protection from Defensive Coordinator Zach Arnett and Head Coach Rocky Long. Rocky Long coached teams have played great defense for the last 20 plus years. Really fun defenses to break down and study at both New Mexico and now San Diego State. Coach Long doesn't get the credit he deserves as a great football mind and defensive coach. 

Cover 1 Peel Blitz

Here the Jaguars are in a 3-3-5 nickel personnel

The Rush:

Ends are contain with peel responsibility to cover the RB on any route crossing face. The Nose is working weak opposite the crossfire action from the Mike and Will. The weak side down safety is going depth and under into the B gap.

The Coverage:

Cover 1 with the edge rushers peeling for the RB.

The pass protection is a 5 man scat with the RB free releasing. Being in a scat protection forces the OL to block the 5 most dangerous threats. The guard has eyes on the mugged up Will LB. When the backer drops off and the Mike triggers to blitz the A gap the guard's eyes and feet are pulled to the strong side to help pick up the nose working away from the cross fire. The Guard working strong creates the run through for the B gap blitzing safety. The scat release RB is eaten up by the DE on the peel technique. Good design and execution from Jacksonville.

Short Yardage Run Blitz

Here is a cover zero run blitz on 4th & 1. Texas Tech is in 3-3-5 personnel against 11 personnel.

The Rush:
4i-0-4i front. The End to the blitz is long sticking down to the A gap. The Nose and away DE are moving away from the blitz. The Sam is crashing down the LOS off the edge with the SS taking the wide track off the edge.

The Coverage:
Cover Zero with the WS adjusting to the Y motion. The Mike is man to man on the RB.

The offense is trying to gain the numbers advantage to the boundary with motion and double pullers.

The Will sets the edge weak. The End looping outside does a good job disrupting the pullers and building a wall. The Nose, flowing Mike, and man coverage WS triggering on the blocking Y all add to the wall play side. The Sam is able to chase the play down behind the wall for a TFL. The SS can secure for the QB pull to the field on any read/naked scheme. 

This offensive scheme does a good job of trying to outnumbering a defense. The pressure on short yardage did a better job on this play of changing the math back to the defense's favor. Great call from David Gibbs and execution from the Red Raiders in short yardage.

Michigan Open Edge Run Pressure

When a TE is in the game, one tried and true pressure strategy is to slant the defensive line to the TE and send extra rushers to the open side (opposite the TE). The philosophy is simple, the moving DL make the TE side runs more difficult and help build a wall. The defense is looking to force the RB to hit the wall or cut back way from the moving DL into the extra rushers.

Michigan is in a sub personnel with 3 LB's 2 Rush Backer (OLB/DE types in 2 pt stances) and 1 down lineman. The secondary is a 6 DB dime personnel.

The Rush:
The front is slanting to the DE with 2 edge rushers. The inside edge rusher is able to bend flat and chase down the RB on run away while the outside edge rusher is able to play for boot/naked from the QB.

The Coverage:
Cover 1 with the mugged up LB manned on the RB.

Good job by the TE side edge rush building the wall and the bending open side rusher chasing the RB down.

Good stuff from Coach Brown and the Wolverines.

Attacking the Slide Side with 3-3 Stack

Stack spacing allows for all kinds of interesting and effective pressure concepts. One classic 3-3 pressure is to bring the stack backer and Mike to the same side of the center pressuring the inside gaps.

This pressure has been around for a long time. Unfortunately the pressure is easy to pick up in a half slide pass protection. The Center and Guard are in good position to see and block the Sam and Mike. The Will can green dog the RB and generate pressure that way. Ultimately this concept comes down to personnel and who in the pass rush can beat a blocker. One way to improve this pressure's effectiveness is to add a read concept. As opposed to the previous 3-3 read concept that attacked the RB's alignment, this concept attacks the slide side of a half slide protection.

The concept is similar but the read elements to the rush create opportunities for the Nose, Mike, and Sam. The pressure is set away from the back. If the back was aligned to the Sam, the Sam would green dog and the Mike and Will would be in the pressure.

The Rush:

Ends - Contain

Nose - Work opposite the pressure, read the Guard

Mike - Fast pressure in the A gap, Read the Guard

Sam - Read the Guard, Pressure B gap to Midline

The Coverage:

Cover 1 with the non-pressure LB using a green dog technique on the RB. This could also be a 3 under 3 deep fire zone coverage.

The Reads:

Nose - If the guard blocks to you, cross face to the inside rush lane

Mike - Guard away, wide in the A gap and stack the guard. Inside rush lane. 

The Mike and Nose both widen in this situation to create the midline rush lane for the Sam.

Sam - Attack the wide B gap. If the Guard sets to, wrap to the midline rush lane.

The goal here is to create a twist action with the Mike and Sam. If the Mike penetrates the A gap and stacks the guard, the center is forced to set deep and commit to blocking him. When the Sam wraps to the midline the center has difficulty passing off the Mike and picking up the Sam.

If the offense decides to slide the protection to the alignment of the RB the pressure still works.

Nose - Guard away, widen and stack him, inside rush lane

Mike - Guard to, redirect and stack the Center, midline rush lane

Sam - Guard away, run through the B gap, be ready for the block of the RB

This also works if the offense is flipping the alignment of the RB late in the cadence. Read pressures can help defenders to win in the pass rush by creating win/win pass rush opportunities.

Read Pressure from the 3-3 Stack

The 3-3 stack spacing has many options for both blitzing and bluffing pressure. One of my favorites vs. 10 personnel is a read pressure. The rush reads the turn of the protection and adjusts to give the rushers the best possible rush opportunity. The pressure is based on the RB's alignment. 

Rush:
DE's - Contain
Nose - Slant to the RB (Reading Guard)
Stack LB opposite the RB - Rush A gap (Reading Center)
Stack LB to the RB - Rush B gap (Reading Guard) read out to Wrap

Coverage: 
3 under 3 deep firezone or Cover 1

If the back was aligned on the other side the roles would adjust. 

The Reads:

Sam - If the Guard blocks down Run through in the B gap. Expect the block of the RB. Inside rush lane.
Nose - Guard blocks toward you, redirect to the midline, Stack the Center
Will - Center to you, widen to inside rush lane. Stack the Guard

This is a situation where you can really turn up the heat by going Cover 1 instead of Cover 3 fire zone.

In a Cover 1 situation the Mike can use a green dog technique to overload the the RB. Both the Cover 1 and Firezone versions have applications.

When the turn of the protection is toward the RB the pressure adjusts.

Sam - Guard to you, wrap to opposite inside rush lane. We want the Sam to initially attack the guard then wrap. Wrapping too early disrupts the timing with the Nose and Will. 
Nose - Guard away, widen to inside rush lane, stack the guard
Will - Center away, midline rush

This pressure could also be set away from the RB. By doing this the defense will likely get the 3 man twist action to attack the slide.

Allowing rushers the opportunity to read and adjust the rush can help  in a number of ways.

#1 Helps players understand how pass protection schemes work
#2 Helps players understand they have a role in the defensive scheme but that role can change post snap based on the offense's scheme
#3 Increases confidence the call can work in any situation
#4 Helps players develop the "be a playmaker" mentality. We want our guys to understand they are not simply "running calls" they are making decisions that either help themselves or hurt themselves in terms of playmaking and production. We are constantly working to coach the mindset  of "I'm blocked" out of players. The opportunity to produce within the scheme is there on every play.