Backer Support & Alley Safety vs Load Option

Army is in 3-4 personnel odd front spacing vs. Air Force. The run support to the option is Backer support with the OLB as the pitch player. 

The OLB is the force/pitch player shuffling for width on the LOS. The slow play helps make it unclear to the QB what the OLB will do. By not committing immediately and obviously to the pitch the OLB buys time for the ILB and Safety. The OLB is able to shuffle keeping leverage to play the outside half of the pitch.

The ILB is able to play inside out to the inside half of the QB. The alley Safety comes downhill to play the outside half of the QB to the inside half of the pitch.

The fit results in the alley safety to be able to vise the QB with the inside/out ILB and once the ball is pitched vise the ball with the outside/in OLB.

This type of teaching method allows the defense to play multiple support structures on the edge. Teach the elements of support and change who handles the force or alley.

In a sky support the Safety plays force/pitch taking the outside half of the pitch while the OLB plays the alley going from outside half of the QB to inside half of the pitch.

In a cloud support the Corner is force fitting O/S half of the pitch with the OLB in the alley playing O/S half of QB to I/S half of the pitch.

Good stuff from former Army Defensive Coordinator John Loose. 

Pressuring Y-Off/Sniffer Formations

Y-off creates some challenges that an inline TE doesn't. For an inline TE the pressure concepts tend to focus on Closed or Open side pressures. With a Y-off one issue can be the unknown of where/how the Y-off will block. The Y-off may block his side as a point of attack blocker on power or wide zone. The block on the side of the Y-off's alignment may also be a cutoff block on zone away. The Y-off may block across the formation on split zone or counter concepts. The Y-off may block inside on insert and wham schemes. Add the Y-off release schemes to block 2nd level players or run routes in RPO concepts and there is alot to sort through to pressure Y-off. There are many strategies that work. One we've used the last few seasons is having our edge blitzer read the Y-off to determine his pressure pattern.

The Rush:
The Nose is crossing face with both DE looping to the C gaps. The ILB is pressuring the A gap to the side of the Y off. The Sam is a read pressure reading the Y-off to determine the pressure pattern.

The Coverage:
3 Under 3 Deep

The Read:
The Sam aligns at the heels of the DL reading the Y.

If the Y blocks to the side of his alignment the Sam pressures outside setting an edge and accounting for the extra gap created by the Y. The 3RH ILB can shuffle to the side of 3 on runs and fit the open B gap. The Seam dropping OLB can fold on runs to the open B gap opposite the Y.

If the Y blocks across the formation the Sam blitzes inside. The 3RH and Seam dropper can account for the gaps opposite the pressure including the extra gap created by the block of the Y.

The offense is running a split zone concept with the Y blocking across. The Sam reads the Y across and pressures inside. The 3RH and Seam droppers fitting opposite the pressure. 

Reading the Y-off can be a strategy to handle the unknown of where to pressure a Y-off formation.

Odd Front CrossFire Pressure

The 2015 Eagles are running in an odd front spaced Nickel personnel vs. 11 personnel.

The Rush:
3 technique looping to contain, Nose & DE slanting away from the pressure. The Mike is 1st in the A gap with the Will wrapping 2nd over the top to the opposite B gap.

The Coverage:
3 under 3 Deep Fire Zone with a Safety as the 3RH drop

Several nice elements to the run pressure. The stem down to a 3 technique influences the OT. The OT hesitates when the 3tech loops out across his face creating time & space for the wrapping Will on the cross fire. The Nose, DE, and OLB do a nice job building a wall on the front side of the zone forcing the wind back into the pressure and drop in Safety.

Nice pressure from former Eagles Defensive Coordinator Billy Davis.

Rotated Cover 2 Run Pressure

Navy in a 3-4 personnel odd front spaced running an America's blitz variation.

The Rush:

DL slanting away from the pressure with the OLB on a low track spill course and the ILB scraping over the top

The Coverage:

4 under 2 Deep Firezone Concept

Interesting coverage rotation using the weak side Safety to rotate to the strong side hook. The pressure is able to bounce the ball to the unblocked scrape ILB back stopped by the hook Safety inserting behind the pressure. The perimeter blocking isn't accounting for the back side safety in the play side alley. 

Nice 4 under 2 deep concept from Navy Defensive Coordinator Brian Newberry. 

Odd Front Sim Run Pressure

The 2014 are in a odd front spaced 3-4 personnel.

The Rush:

DE's are in a 2 gap technique, Nose slants away from the A gap pressure ILB 

The Coverage:

Quarters

The non-pressure ILB deepens and zeros up allow him to play C gap to C gap. The pressure in front of him cancels the gaps and provides protection. The A gap pressure dents the back side of the play helping disrupt the 2nd puller in the counter scheme. The 2 gap DE is able to throw over the top of the B gap cutoff block of the OT allowing him to get involved in the play front side. The non-pressure ILB is unaccounted for by the blocking scheme with the 2nd puller unable to roll the hole.

A 2nd example of the same concept. This time the coverage is a flooded cover 3 vs. a 3x1. 

The pressure gets a play side run through allowing the LB to chase the play. On the edge the scheme cannot account for the roll down Safety. The TE blocks the force playing Nickel. The roll down Safety is in the alley inside force, unblocked at the point of attack. 

Nice sim pressure concepts from former Eagles Defensive Coordinator Billy Davis. 

Defending Sail Route in Cover 3

The 2017 Titans are in 3-4 personnel playing a 4 man rush Cover 3.

The Browns are in a 12 personnel bunch running a naked off zone blocking with a 3 level sail route to the the strong side.

The sail route is designed to put the strong C-F player in a high low bind. The Corner is gone with the 7 route. The C-F defender is shown a hard run action. This helps control the depth of his drop. Next the C-F defender is being quickly out leveraged to the flat. If the C-F defender stays low on flat route the crossing route will be open behind him and under the deep 1/3 Corner. Sail route is a stress route on cover 3 for this reason.

The Titans use some nice techniques to mitigate the stress area in Cover 3.

The strong side C-F defender uses a sail technique. Initially he runs to the flat route. As he regains leverage on the route he opens his hips inside and gains depth. This gives him the vision to the see the QB and work into the throw window to the crosser. The post safety uses a nail down technique. The Safety comes out of the post and takes over the crossing route. The Corner replaces the Safety in the post. The nail down not only helps cover the crosser it also helps flatten his route. If the crosser attempted to climb to gain more depth over the C-F defender the nail down Safety can undercut the route. The crossing route's depth helps the sail technique C-F defender make the play.

Great stuff from the master Dick Lebeau in is final NFL season. 

Bear Front Cover 2 Zone Pressure

The 2014 Eagles are in 3-4 personnel on 2nd & 10. The front is in a bear spacing 3-0-3.

The Rush:

Both 3 techniques are pinching with the Nose looping out to weak side contain. The Sam is working inside with the Mike scraping blitzing outside to contain.

The Coverage:

Cloud cover 2 to the pressure with the Corner is the weak side deep 1/2

The 5 up bear front forces the OT into a 1 on 1 vs. the Sam with space created inside by the 3 technique on the pinch. The more athletic OLB turns the space into a quick pressure. 

The coverage disguises as a 1 high post defense pre-snap with a safety rotated down to the field. Post-snap the 2nd rotation happens to create a 2 high coverage. The Vertical-Hook players both do an excellent job of position maintenance on the #2 receivers. They stay inside and even denying the MOF and preventing inside cuts. All of their help is outside. This is a NO reroute technique. 

More good stuff from former Eagles Defensive Coordinator Billy Davis. 

Ambushing Power Read

Wisconsin is in a 3-4 personnel using the field OLB as the 4th rusher. The spacing created is like a 4-3 over front.

The Rush:

4 man rush with the Sam as the 4th rusher in the charge.

The Coverage:

4 under 3 deep Cover 3 concept

Nebraska is in 12 personnel with both TE's flexed as receivers. The RB is aligned as a receiver before the jet motion to run jet power read. The concept could be a stress play for this defensive call.

If the Sam runs up the field to the jet sweep, the read will be a clear keep for the QB. The run will hit behind the pulling Guard/Double team off tackle. The Will LB will have a difficult fit and task to make the play. The Mike has to block shed vs. a flexed TE.

If the Sam sits at the LOS or crashes flat down the line, again there is a clear read for the QB. The ball will get handed to the jet sweep. The offense has a 3 for 3 on the perimeter including a TE on the Mike and a Corner who will be slower triggering from the deep 1/3. 

Either outcome is a difficult run fit for the defense. The Badgers instead chose to ambush the power read.

The Sam attacks up the field off the edge. The read key is up the field the ball should be kept on the power. Once the Sam is up the field he flattens off to play the QB. Simple plan: force the keep and tackle it. The QB's action meshing with the jet keeps him deep in the backfield giving the Sam the chance to play up then go flat.

Good technique and pressure design from Jim Leonard to take the stress out of a stressful play with edge rusher technique.

Defending Wing-T G Scheme Runs with a Slanting 3-4

The 3-4 defense has a long history of slanting the front. Here are a couple examples of a odd front 3-4 slanting to attack the wing-t running G scheme off tackle runs.

The defense is spaced as a odd front using head up 4 techniques on the OT's. The front is slanting to the TE/Wing and adding the OLB into the charge. The post-snap spacing is the under front.

The OLB away from the slant creases the wing fitting in the C gap boxing back the pulling guard. The slant of the front does a good job of fighting the movement of the down blocks. The play ends up falling on the block of the wing as the critical piece. The ILB sheds the block and the Corner does a good job of folding in to help make the tackle.

The next slant is coming from the TE side. The slant turns from pre-snap odd front spacing into a post-snap over front. 

The OLB to the wing is in the charge. On the snap the OLB is attacking the C gap too quickly for the pulling OG to make his block effectively. The OLB is able to disrupt the play in the backfield in large part by changing the tempo on the offense. The defender is attacking the the play's point of attack faster than the the blocking was ready to handle. The LB's are all on a chain fitting with a 3 backer fit. The Sam pulls off the LOS on play away to fold into the box.

Next the offense shifts to unbalanced.

The slant is going to the unbalanced surface again creating the under spacing. The Nose does a excellent job winning across the face of the Center on the slant. The Nose builds a wall. Ultimately the backside TE becomes the critical block and is forced to cutoff a slanting DE which he was unable to do in this example. While the unbalanced formation likely improved the playside blocking personnel it may have weakened the backside of the play's ability to make the cutoff. An OT was likely better to cutoff a DE than the TE. 

Good stuff from North Greenville on defense using slants vs the Wing-T.

Reading the Slide - Putting the Center on an Island

Previously I wrote about reading the slide to get pass rushers home for Coaches' Lounge.

Here is another example of reading the slide of the protection.

The Rush:
End and Rush - Contain Rush
Tackle - Slow Under on the OT's set
Nose - Strong A
Mike - Reading the set of the Guard. If the Guard sets inside to the Nose the Mike will run through in the B gap. If the Guard set out to the B gap the Mike will convert to the his rush to the opposite A gap

The Coverage:
Cover 1

The protection is a 5 man scat protection with the RB free releasing. The width of the Tackle and Rush force the Guard and Tackle to set wide. The Mike reads the set of the Guard coming to him and wraps. The width of the sets creates space inside for the wrapping Mike to win one on one vs. the Center. The Center is forced to redirect off the Nose to block a superior athlete in a large space. The degree of difficulty for the Center creates a major advantage for the blitzing LB. 

This concept plays similarly vs. a half slide concept.

 The RB is in good position to help on the wrapping Mike. When the RB blocks the Will adds to the pressure using a green dog technique. 

Another likely protection from this formation is full slide.

The Tackle is slow under allowing him to stay outside when the OT slides away. This allows the Rush & Tackle to create the 2 on 1 overload on the RB.

If the offense uses a half slide with the RB crossing the formation the pressure can attack the RB. 

The Mike reading the slide allows for a run through in the open B gap. The RB is forced to pick up a full speed Mike from across the formation. 

Reading the protection allows rushers to avoid running into blockers and attack daylight.

Tite Front vs. Zone Read Arc

A previous post about playing zone read from the Tite front was featured here.

An OT cutting off a 4i is difficult which was illustrated in the prior post.

The ILB is able to stack and fall back protected from the OT by the 4i.

Many offensive coaches have borrowed a solution from veer option teams, arc block the OT to the ILB.

The theory is simple. The 4i is the read key, the OT will outside (arc) release the 4i allowing a free climb to the ILB.

The assumption is the defense is playing scrape exchange which should result in easy blocks.

The offense is assuming the 4i will chase the dive, causing a keep from the QB. The ILB should be getting a face full of OT creating a tough run fit for the defense.

The reality is many 4i's and LB's are reading the blocking scheme. Against the cutoff block as in the first diagram the 4i will look to beat the cutoff and chase the dive. The result is the scrape exchange with the ILB. However against the OT on an arc block the 4i many not chase the dive.

The 4i is keying the OT. When the OT arcs the 4i can widen. For the QB the read key widens which should trigger a give read. The 4i widens playing square to controlling for the QB and cutback. The ILB sees the B gap widen as the 4i widens, triggering a fill read. The arc block of the OT is wasted when the ILB doesn't scrape outside and instead fills.

Here is a good example from LSU

The arc blocking scheme is negated by the 4i and ILB reading the blocking scheme. The ball is handed into a loaded box look for a minimal gain.

Good stuff from LSU and former defensive coordinator Dave Aranda. 

Scrape Fire Zone Teach Tape

Here is a short teach tape on an America's blitz variation. I discussed this pressure on the podcast I did with Coach Vass a while back (Coach Vass Pod). This pressure pattern has been an effective run pressure for us. 

SCRAPE PATTERN

The DL is looping away from the pressure. The 4i to the pressure is on a stick to the A gap. However, we allow this player to stem to a 3 tech pre-snap if necessary. The stem allows for a couple of positives:

1. The DL can use the one gap movement technique we use and practice most often. This can be an easier technique to execute than a traditional long stick moving 2 gaps.

2. Helps prevent the DL from getting cut off from the A gap on zone runs away

3. Helps on block back pull schemes - More on this later

The OLB to the pressure is on a low track. On any read scheme the low track has the lower threat. The low track will cross any block from the OT and spill any kick out block. The low track blitzer is on a path through the outside hip of the OT.

The ILB has the wide track pressure. On any read scheme the wide track has the widest threat. The wide track is the edge of the defense to the pressure. The wide track will go at the snap, wrapping tight off the outside hip of the low track blitzer.

The DL may be tagged to use a Nut stunt instead of looping away from the pressure.

The Nut allows the 4i away from the pressure to penetrate and the Nose will loop over the top. 

READ SCHEME

Here the looping Nose does a good job stopping the flow of the zone run allowing the low track blitzer off the edge to make the tackle for no gain. The 4i cheating his alignment down allows the stick technique to get to the A gap preventing the RB from punching the back side A gap when the Nose built the wall in the front side A gap. The wide track ILB is in position if the QB had kept on the read.

Here the zone read has a cruiser Y off lead block for the QB when he keeps. The low track forces the keep read allowing the wide track ILB to quickly pressure the QB on the keep. The seam drop safety could improve his technique here. The seam dropper is relating to the #2 which is initally the RB. Then the RB's flow and the Y off's cruiser path cross the Y off is the new #2. The safety should react faster to this exchange to provide the extra defender when the Y off cruises past the low track blitzer to wrap for the wide track blitzer. 

KICKOUT BLOCK

Here the pressure is into power. The low track blitzer does a good job getting under the kick out however we would like more pry up the field and finish with shoulders square. As it plays out the low track does get part of the pulling guard but with more pry up the field the low track blitzer can get a true two for one. Nice job by the wide track blitzer using his hands to shock the crack block and by the back side ILB reacting to the pulling guard. The seam dropping safety must do better making a run/pass read, specifically following the rule of Don't Go 'Til You Know. 

Here the loop of the DL builds the wall on the split zone which forces the RB to hesitate. There is no clear hole to hit. The low track blitzer does  get under the block of the cutter Y off. We would like the contact to be thicker, more body on body. The Wide track blitzer does a good job of checking the QB for open hands before chasing down the RB. Weak side the seam dropping OLB is walked up on the LOS. His #2 receiver is the Y off. When the Y off goes on the cutter path the new #2 is the RB. The OLB should see those keys through the end of LOS. Nothing here reads as pass. The OLB should be more firm at the LOS and shock the block of the OT setting a hard edge.

Here the play is GY counter. The low track blitzer is excellent prying under the kick out and finishing with shoulders square. The wide track blitzer should stay tighter to the outside hip of the low track blitzer on his path but does a great job anchoring his hips to attack the 2nd puller. The seam safety drops in to be the free hitter making the tackle on the running back.

VS. HARD TE

Nice example of the 4i cheating to get to his work in the A gap. The low track blitzer is good here beating the cutoff block of the TE. The loop of the DL again builds the wall play side allowing the low track to chase the play down from behind.

NUT

The low track is under the kick out block. The Nut on the back side allows the 4i to shed and work strong. The non-blitz ILB should react faster to the pulling guard and backfield flow. Nice example of the nut by the 4i and Nose.

PULLER AWAY FROM PRESSURE

Here the offense is running power away from the pressure. The issue is the offense is adding a pulling OG and we must add defenders to match the numbers. The wide track ILB does not read out with the pulling guard. The wide track is the edge of the defense to the pressure side. The DL here must cross on block back pull schemes. This is a good example of the 4i seeing the guard on the pull and crossing the center's block back. The 4i should use a more compact technique on the arm over. The Nose also does well looping and crossing with the block back pull scheme, crossing the face of the guard blocking back. The low track OLB is completely wrong here. The low track should cross the block of the OT. 

Several clips of scrape pattern to show situations that happen when running this type of pressure. Hopefully there is a tip or coaching point here you can use when coaching your pressures.