4-2-5 Weak Overload Firezone Pressure

New Mexico is in a 4-2-5 personnel with stand up hybrid players at DE running two examples of the same fire zone concept.

The first time the Lobos dialed up the pressure on 3rd & 10.

The Rush:

The DL is slanting away from the pressure with 3 tech DT on a long stick movement going 2 gaps. The Will is wide as the contain rush with the Mike wrapping off the long stick DT.

The Coverage:

3 Under 3 Deep Firezone 

The dropping DE does a nice job of attacking the OT before dropping out. The protection is a 6 man with the RB scanning. The Center is setting weak which allows the Guard to pass the DT to the Center and set the Mike on the inside pressure. The RB has responsibility for the Mike if the Mike had pressured the the side of the RB. The challenge for the RB is going inside out to the opposite side. With an interior threat from the Mike the RB checks his inside threat. By stepping up to check the Mike the angle to get to the Will off the edge is extreme. 

Later the Lobos use the pressure again this time on a 3rd & 6.

Another 6 man pass protection scheme. Again the dropping DE attacks and occupies the OT before dropping out. This time the Center is setting away from the pressure. The result is the T/G are manned up opposite the slide of Center. The G is forced to travel with the 3 tech on the long stick because he doesn't have guaranteed help from the Center. The Center is occupied setting the A gap DT and would have a difficult redirect set to travel back with the Mike then take over the long stick DT. The Guard would have to react to help from the travel back by the Center and redirect to the Mike. 

Nice pressure design from UNM Defensive Coordinator Jordan Peterson.

Double A Gap Mug Zone Under Man Pressure

The Browns are in Nickel personnel on 3rd & 7. The defense adjusts to motion and walks into the pressure concept. Likely this is a blitz the formation concept adjusting to the new formation following the motion.

The Rush:
Safety is off the edge with the DT and ILB penetrating. The DE is looping weak.

The Coverage:
Zone Under Man

The pass protection is a 6 man scheme with the RB accounting for an A gap. The OL is in a bind. With all the OL covered they are forced into a man protection principle. The pressure presentation make it difficult to quickly assess who are rushers and who is dropping. If the OL fans out to the Safety they risk leaving an interior pass rush threat unblocked to the QB. If they don't fan to the Safety there is an immediate pressure to the QB off the edge. The QB doesn't want to be forced into a hot throw on 3rd & 7 against a 5 man pressure. With a 6 man protection the offense does not want a 5 man pressure to force a hot throw.

Hot throws are also problematic in that the routes will be thrown quickly and likely short of the line to gain.The coverage concept allows the defense to add zone droppers to deny the hot routes to the inside receivers while playing off man to deny the vertical shots. 

The coverage concept also allows the defense to show the double A gap mug while the droppers can execute the drops assigned. The coverage responsibility isn't in conflict for the skill set of a DE/ILB and avoids conflicts based on alignment. The alignment/pressure presentation is critical to affecting the pass pro and allowing the Safety to come free. 

Nice design from former Cleveland Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks. 

Overloading the RB with 2 Under 3 Deep Pressure

Clemson is in a Nickel personnel on 2nd & 7.

The Rush:

Pressure side DE stems down to a 4i. The full line is slanting away from the pressure with the ILB and Safety pressuring off the edge. The ILB is first going up the field and wide, while the Safety is outside and going through the heel line of the up field ILB. The path gives the Safety a straight line run on the QB.

The Coverage:

2 Under 3 Deep

The usage of the stem down by the DL is a huge factor in allowing the overload of the RB.

If the defense has aligned the DE is a 4i initially the OL may have declared the protection accounting for the defense like a odd front spacing. 

The Guards and Tackles could work a fan/fan concept with the Center on the Nose. This would allow the protection to pick up the pressure.

The strong side OG/OT would handled by the DE/DT. The Center would lock the Nose. The OG would set the pressure side 4i and travel back with him as he tries to cross face. The OT would pick up the first edge threat from the ILB while the RB would pick up the 2nd threat from the Safety. This would allow the QB time to hold the ball and give routes a chance to get open vs. the 2 under 3 deep. There is no doubt a 2 under 3 deep coverage wants the ball out fast to prevent the routes from finding the open space in the coverage concept.

The DE's alignment however wasn't initially in a 4i, he stems down to the 4i alignment.

The 5 technique DE gets the OL into a half slide protection. The OG is uncovered starting the slide putting the OT manned on the DE. The RB is responsible for the either the ILB or Safety blocking inside out. If both blitz the QB has to handle the 2nd free rusher with a hot throw. The RB wants to block the most inside threat.

When the DE stems down during the cadence it is too late for the OL to get into a fan/fan concept. The OT stays manned on the now 4i aligned DE. This functionally turns the protection into full slide with the whole OL setting away from the pressure. One tried and true pressure plan against full slide is to get 2 rushers off the edge vs. the RB. That is exactly what this concept creates. The bonus is the pressure path.

The ILB and Safety present spacing off the edge with the ILB first and inside and the Safety second and outside. The spacing appears to the RB that the ILB is the most inside threat. The RB aggressively commits to blocking the first threat. When the Safety goes through the heel line of the ILB it creates an efficient straight line run on the QB. The RB has difficult pick up against this look to ID the Safety as the most inside rusher. The RB is already committed to the ILB leaving the inside most rusher free.

The QB is forced to get the ball out fast with immediate pressure in his face. The QB is forced to throw at a pressed up X receiver before the route has time to develop. The QB also had no time to work back to the route combination to the strong side.

Nice pressure design from Brent Venables. 

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.

Defending Wing-T TE Runs with Under Quarters

West Alabama is in an under front 2 high quarter quarter half concept vs. the wing-t.

The Mike is in a 10 and Will is in a 50. The Sam is aligned in a 9 technique but on motion he moves to a 50 off the ball. This allows the defense to fit as a 4-3 with the linebackers using a lever-spill-lever fit.

The Will does a great job leveraging the G block from the pulling Guard allowing the Safety to run the alley to make the tackle. 

The head up alignment of the DE on the TE allows for the DE to quickly engage and be violent on the pulling Guard on the G scheme. The 50 LB has a good alignment to be able to overlap and leverage the run. 

Another nice example of the 50 LB playing the lever technique, leveraging the ball back to the 10 LB. Also really nice example of the DE working a block shed and throwing across the face of a down block to get back involved in the play.

Against a shift to unbalanced the defense has a easy adjustment.

The offense presents a Guard over unbalanced, the defense aligns in the same under front spacing as before.

Once the OL shifts to build the unbalanced the DL slides into an over front with a 9 technique Sam. The ILB bump into a 4-2 box. 

The over front forces the wing into a down block and naturally widens the play. The defense can present 3 defenders off the edge in the Sam, Mike, and Safety vs. 2 blockers in the kick out and puller in the power scheme.

Good stuff from Steve Sisa and the West Alabama defense. 

Split Field Coverage 5 Up Twist Pressure

Wisconsin is in a sub Nickel personnel with OLB bodies as the DEs. The expected spacing is a traditional even front structure from this type of personnel.

The Badgers instead space as a pseudo-bear front covering all 5 OL. One of the OLB is aligned as a stand up 3 technique. An ILB is walked up as the edge pressure threat.

The Rush:

Both DT's are penetrating with the Rush backer working an up & under wrap to complete the 3 man twist game. The field side Rush backer is the contain rush.

The Coverage:

Split Field Safety playing quarters coverage concepts on both sides with the Mike LB dropping off the RB.

Purdue is using a scat protection free releasing the RB. The 5 immediate pass rush threats covering all 5 OL force the protection into 5 1 on 1 blocks. The Nose and Guard are committed to the penetrating DTs when the wrapping Rush shows up preventing them from reacting back to the Rush backer. The timing of the twist allows the pressure to strike the balance between forcing the OL to buy the penetrators and still hitting the wrap fast enough to get quick efficient pressure. 

Nice technique by the Rush backer keeping the path tight off the penetrating DT's and getting square and vertical to be in good body position to finish at the QB as he wraps. 

Good pressure design from Jim Leonard. 

1 Rat Pressure vs. Empty

The Broncos are in a sub Nickel package 4-2-5 spacing with OLB bodies at DE.

The Rush:

DL slanting weak with the pressure side Rush LB working up & under pass rush. The Nickel is pressuring off the strong side edge.

The Coverage:

Cover 1 Rat with the weak side Rush LB dropping to be the rat in the hole

The pre-snap picture shows both ILB's walked out and a 2 high safety shell. With the RB aligned outside the picture looks like it will not be man to man coverage. A LB didn't go out wide as the man player on the RB which implies split field safety coverage. 

The OL is in a half slide to the weak side. With only the 5 OL in the protection the OL must decide who/what looks are the most dangerous. The 5 OL have to set to the biggest threat. The pre-snap picture of 2 high safety coverage with ILBs removed from the box, the likely pass rush is a 4 man rush with possible pass rush twists from the 4 threats on the LOS. If the slide went to the field the weak side OG and OT would be man to man on the 3tech DT and Rush backer. By sliding weak instead the OL can more easily handle weak side DL pass rush twists. If the DL is going to run a DL twist game against a weak side slide the best place to attack is on a twist game to the man side. This means the DL would need to use the strong A gap DT in the twist game. The protection is doing a threat assessment and the 330LB Nose is a lower threat in the twist game vs. the weak side threats. This protection gave the OL a good look vs. a 4 down pass rush with possible DL pass rush twists which is the most likely post-snap threats.

The Nickel as the 4th rusher is unexpected from the pre-snap presentation. The OL is not accounting for the Nickel in this protection. An extra rusher from the man side of the protection is the responsibility of the QB to get the ball out quick/hot off the unblocked rusher. Why doesn't the QB see the pressure?

The pre-snap look shows the defense has 4 over 3 strong side and 3 over 2 weak side. Two elements bring the QB's eyes weak. One is the pre-snap look of a  match-up of an ILB vs. a TE. The other is post-snap safety rotation. When the Safety rotates to the post it brings the QB's eyes weak. The rotation made the 3 over 2 weak into a 2 vs. 2 weak. The TE/LB match-up and coverage rotation makes that the side to throw against. The protection needs the QB to account for the extra rusher strong. The coverage look makes the QB want to throw routes opposite the hot throw pressure threat. 

The Nickel ends up on the unblocked run because the QB had him in the protection and didn't see him because the coverage drew his eyes opposite the pressure.

Nice empty formation pressure design from Ed Donatell and Vic Fangio. 

Max Drop Tampa 2

Here is an example of an 8 man drop Tampa 2 coverage concept. The Jets are in a 
4-2-5 Nickel personnel with OLB bodies at DE on 3rd&7.

The Rush:
3 man rush with DT's on a interior twist game. The 3 tech is a penetrator while the Nose is 2nd looping over the top.

The Coverage:
8 man drop Tampa 2 

The initial pre-snap picture is a 4 man rush 2 high safety concept. The offense knows if the weak side safety says weak to play a cover 2 concept in a 4 man rush defense the place to attack is strong side. The safety working weak means the defense has the offense outnumbered weakside.

This is a problem area of 4 man rush Tampa 2 coverage vs. 3x1 formations. By playing the safety weak the QB's progression goes strong. In a 4 man rush Tampa 2 call there is a soft spot over the #3 receiver's initial alignment extending inside underneath the hole dropping LB. That area can be attacked by any of the strong side receivers depending on the route combination. The weak hook player can squeeze strong but doing so weakens the weak side coverage on any 2 man route combos between the X receiver & the RB. 

The Jets instead use a 3 man rush to mitigate the stress area in Tampa 2 coverage vs. a 3x1 formation. The Jets use the OLB aligned as the strong side DE to drop out on the #3 receiver. The 8 man drop is unexpected from the pre-snap even front presentation which is likely a man 4 pass rush based on alignment. Post-snap the coverage has a safety working weak which takes the QB's eyes strong. The OLB dropping combined with the Tampa 2 coverage is a strong side 5 on 3 advantage for the defense. When the strong side routes are denied by the overloaded coverage, the QB works back weak. The throw is late to the RB on the check release and an immediate tackle by the flat defending Corner for a gain of 1. 4th down - Punt.

Good stuff from Gregg Williams to dial up an unexpected 8 man drop Tampa 2 to get off the field on 3rd down.

Pressuring Wing-T

Here is an interesting 5 man rush concept vs. the wing-t. The pressure is going to the 3 man surface regardless of if the 3 man surface is a TE or Guard over unbalanced. The defensive spacing is a 4-2-5 field under. The front has the 3 technique to the boundary.

Example 1:

The concept is to simple plug pressure to the three man surface with a read out element.

With motion to the 3 man surface the pressure is a simple B gap plug. The blitzing LB follows the pulling guard on the jet sweep scheme helping disrupt the play chasing it down from behind as the force player builds the wall outside.

Example 2:

The next pressure is again set to the 3 man surface. This time the 3 man surface is into the boundary. The ILB will plug the open A gap. There is a read out on motion opposite the 3 man surface.

The Will reads out on the motion snap blitzing the opposite A gap. The pressure allows the Mike LB to fast flow with the playside A gap filled by the backside pressure.

Example 3:

The pressure is again set to the the 3 man surface on the unbalanced formation. 

Before the OL shift the pressure was going into the boundary where the 3 man surface is initially located. Following the shift the pressure resets to the field and the new 3 man surface. The LBs are visible communicating and resetting the pressure. The ILB has motion coming to the 3 man surface and plugs with no need to read out.

Example 4:

The pressure is once again set to the 3 man surface. 

The ILB reads out on motion away snap blitzing to the opposite A gap. The snap pressure disrupts the run on the fold blocking scheme. 

Interesting concept to help account for a wing-t team that likes to shift the OL and change the location of the 3 man surface. Good stuff from Kevin Porter and Fort Valley State. 

Cover 1 Rat Pressure

Wisconsin is in a 4-2-5 personnel with OLB's at DE. 

The Badgers are in Cover 1 with the Nickel matched up on the slot and the boundary safety spun down into the box. The Safety and two ILBs make up the 3 on 2 funnel technique against the TE and RB.

The Rush:

The 4 man front is in the pass rush. The Safety and Mike have the TE and RB when they block to boundary side. Both green dog and add into the pass rush.

The Coverage:

Cover 1. The Nickel is playing outside leverage man on the #2 expecting inside help from a Rat dropper out of the funnel. The Will LB becomes the Rat in the Hole with the two man coverage threats (TE and RB) working to the boundary side and being manned up by the Safety and Mike.

Really nice job by the Mike mirroring the the flow of the backfield. When the RB works back outside the Mike reacts and changed course. The Mike makes a nice jump cut to get into daylight as he adds on the green dog. Against a 7 man protection the rush is still outnumbered 6 on 7. The Mike's technique to find daylight makes the pressure work. The DT's each eat a double team leaving the Mike free on the run through. 

Good execution from the Badgers. Always well coached defense from Jim Leonard.

Weak Side Overload Pressure

Weak side overload pressure from TCU. The Horned Frogs are in a  4-2-5 personnel spaced in a over front with 2 high safety alignment pre-snap.

The Rush:

6 man rush with both the Will and Corner in the pressure. The DL is slanting away from the pressure.

The Coverage:

Strong side 3 over 2 quarters with man away. The WS replaces the blitzing corner on the X receivers. The pressure is designed to eat the RB.

Pre-snap the blitzing corner does a good job showing bail and hiding his intentions. The WS also does a good job holding the look. The WS doesn't tip the Corners pressure and aligns in a location that would allow him to potentially poach the #3. The pre-snap sight picture for the QB is unclear. 

The protection is half slide to the field/strong side forcing the OG to set to the Nose. Once the guard sets inside the ILB pressuring in the B gap is a very difficult pickup. The OG has to redirect to pick up a full speed blitzer. The RB sets wide to the Corner leaving the OG 1on1 with the Will. 

If the OL went full slide the OT could have set to the Will. This would have left the DE and Corner 2on1 overloading the RB.

Nice pressure design to overload the weak side from Chad Glasgow. 

Attacking with Weak Side Pressure

Here are some examples of UCF attacking FAU this season with a variety of weak side pressures.

The Rush:
WS off the edge with the weak DE working slow under

The Coverage:
3 over 2 quarters concept strong with man on the weak side

The two off the edge  pressure and loaded box kills off the zone read while the strong side coverage denys RPO options.

The Rush:
WS off the edge with the weak DE working slow under

The Coverage:
 3 Under 3 Deep Firezone

Same pressure as example one. This time the offense is running power read. The strong DE is up the field building an edge and forcing the QB into a keep read. The two off the weak edge creates problems for the back side of the power. The OT gap hinges and is occupied by the DE leaving the WS free off the edge for the TFL. 

The coverage initially looks like the FS is down and the WS is either going to play the post of help weak. This subtle disguise helps deter RPO throws strong with the FS showing down as well as protects the isolation of the X on the Corner with the WS body presence weak. The FS pops the top and the WS pressures attacking the run. 

The Rush:
Will backer walked outside off the edge. DL slanting away from the pressure

The Coverage:
3 over 2 quarters concept strong with man on the weak side

The design is very good against a TE cutoff run scheme. The WS and Mike load the box forcing the OL's combos to work inside and up to the interior threats. The DE aligned inside the TE is a difficult cutoff and the slanting interior DL force the ball to cut back/jump out. The Will walked on the edge becomes the responsibility of the cut split X receiver. The ILB vs. WR is not a great matchup for the offense combined with the very high degree of difficulty to make a block from WR on a walked up edge blitzer. The ball is forced to the unblocked Will for the TFL.

The Rush:
Odd front spacing with the Tackle and DE working a twist game. WS is pressuring late in the space created by the twist game

The Coverage:
Flooded Cover 3 concept

The twist and WS combine to create pressure and get the QB off his spot. The coverage is interesting. If this coverage concept was a normal Cover 3 Firezone the Mike would have been the 3RH dropper while the Will should have dropped to the weak seam. The Will should be dropping in FZ concept on the RB. Here the defense instead floods the coverage strong. The SS, Mike. and Will are all dropping strong to the trips. The Will even rolls back into the #3 to deny the weak seam route. In a typical 3 flood coverage the WS drops relating to #4 (RB) to the 1st crosser. Instead the defense uses a 5 man pressure to eat the RB while still playing the flooded coverage concept to deny the trips route combinations.

Randy Shannon put on a master class in weak side pressure planning in this game, really good stuff.