Running a Bear Front Twist Pressure from Even Front Spacing

The Patriots are running a 5 up Cover 1 twist pressure from Nickel personnel on 3rd & 6 during the 3rd preseason game last year. The pressure is most common from Bear front spacing, examples featured previously are linked from Alabama, Wisconsin, and the Baltimore Ravens. New England uses an even front spacing with a mugged up ILB to build the pressure. The post snap execution is the same.

The Rush:
Ends are contain with the interior running the 3 man twist game. The LB and DT cross face and penetrate while the DT works up before wrapping.

The Coverage:
Cover 1 with Corners over with a weak side in/out combo coverage by the Safety/LB on the RB/TE

The 5 up presentation gets OL into a man protection principle. The manned up OL is forced to sort out the 3 man twist. The crossing face action of the LB/DT forces the OL to set then change direction. To pick up the wrapping DT the OL would be forced to set, change direction, and redirect. That is difficult ask for any OL. The wrapping DT does a nice job of keeping his shoulders square and gaining ground to the QB as he wraps. 

This is a tried and true pressure concept. The Patriots do a nice job of changing the pre-snap presentation to disguise the classic bear front concept in a even front spacing. Changing presentations is a great way to get more from top pressures. The pressure is the same week to week but the offense has to ID the pressure from various presentations. Great strategy to get the most from your top pressures.

Always good stuff from Bill Belichick even in pre-season games. 

Middle Overload Cover Zero Blitz

The Patriots are in an Odd front Dime personnel with OLB bodies as the DE's on 3rd & 15.  Using the ILBs mugged up in the B gaps creates a pseudo-bear front spacing.

The Rush: 7 man overload concept with the Nose playing through the Center, the Rush LBs off the edges, the ILBs in the B gaps, and both Safeties in the A gaps.

The Coverage: Off Man Cover Zero with the pass rush accounting for the RB. The Dime is playing a choke technique on the TE. Choke is a term for inside press on a TE putting the defender in the C gap. 

The blocking does not have the numbers to block the blitz leaving the play side A gap Safety unblocked. This same pressure would have similarly overloaded a pass protection scheme. The off-man coverage makes all quick throws be caught underneath short of the line to gain while denying deep routes with alignement. 

The choke Dime & Rush backer do a nice job using a latch technique. This is a common principle in bear front structures.

If the TE blocks the C gap choke Dime in either a run scheme or pass pro the edge rush remains unblocked while the Dime provides C gap body presence.

If the TE releases the Dime plays his man responsibility.

If the TE blocks out on the Rush, the Rush will latch him. The Rush takes over the TE in man coverage working to maintain outside leverage. The choke Dime rushes the C gap. This technique is useful to prevent the 2 for 1. If the Dime widens to play man on the TE when the TE blocks out on the edge rusher the offense is widening the C gap and occupying both the choke player and edge rusher with one blocker. Using the latch concept allows the defense to prevent this stress situation.

Good stuff from Bill Belichick and New England. 

Combining Open Edge Pressure & Twist to Attack the Run

The 2014 Eagles bringing 5 man pressure vs. slot set I formation run. Philly is in 3-4 personnel.

The Rush: 

The Sam is stemming down to get to an inside pressure path with the Mike scrape blitzing outside. The interior DL is working a twist with the Nose penetrating and the End wrapping over the top.

The Coverage: 

3 Under 3 Deep Fire Zone

The scrape blitzing Mike does a good job being violent on the lead block of the FB. The stem down pressure from the Sam plus the interior twist helps the Will get over the top of the OL's blocks to get involved at the point of attack. 

The Eagles ran it again against the same formational look. 

The stem down technique from the OLB makes the cutoff block of the OT very difficult. The interior twist does a good job getting the wrapping DE involved on TE side run schemes. 

The stem down pressure technique is a great way to disguise the pressure and allow the OLB to cheat to his work. The stem down also creates a psuedo-bear front effect, while not a true 3-0-3 spacing inside the pressure shares many qualities with a bear front. 

More good scheme from former Defensive Coordinator Billy Davis. 

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. 

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. 

Bear Front Twist Pressure

Baltimore is in a specialized pass rush personnel on 3rd & 10. The package is a 2-3-6 made up of 1 DT, 1 DE, 3 OLBs, 3 Safeties, and 3 Corners.

The personnel is in an interesting spacing the 3 OLB bodies listed in the diagram as R for Rush backers are all on the same side of the formation. The strong side edge rusher is a Safety body instead of an OLB body.

The Rush:

5 Man rush with 2 edge rushers and an interior 3 man twist game. Both down DL are slanting with a looping blitzer over the top.

The Coverage:

Coverage Zero with a hole dropping ILB

The bear front spacing would force many protections into man blocking making every OL 1 on 1. Instead the Bills full slide the protection with the RB cross blocking for the edge rushing Safety. The looping blitzer is able to pressure the space between the slide of the OL and the RB on the edge forcing a difficult redirection block for the OT in the slide. The outside rushers build edges while the interior twist pushes to collapse the pocket. The twist is unexpected. The likely 3 man twist from bear front is to have the Nose and a 3 tech penetrating and one 3 tech looping. The Ravens using the off the LOS linebacker as the looper is a nice variation. 

The coverage does an excellent job. The bunch side corner mans the outside receiver and gets help from the dropout LB in the hole. The safety manned on the RB also flashes through the window to help deter throws inside against a Corner who is out leveraged on inside breaks. The Nickel presses the point rerouting before manning the off the LOS receiver. The jam on the point helps the deep safety pick up the point receiver's route and disrupts the timing of the overall route combination. Backside the off man tech of the corner denies the X.

This type of bear front pressure with an interior three man twist has been popular for a long time. Here are three examples of a similar concept featured in the past from Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia Tech.

Really nice variation of a tried and true pressure concept from Wink Martindale and the Ravens.

2 Under 3 Deep Double A Gap Blitz

The Colts are in a dime personnel on 3rd & 10.

The Rush:

The DL is in wide alignment DE's and double 3 techniques. The Dime and Down Safety are the double A gap rushers. 

The Coverage:

2 under 3 deep with the Mike and Nickel in the underneath hot drops

The mugged up Mike LB on the Center creates a bear front spacing. With all 5 OL covered the pass protection is forced into being manned up with the 5 immediate rush threats.

With the OL all covered any blitz threat from off the LOS belongs to the RB. The RB is threatened with a blitzer on his side of the protection which keeps the RB's eyes and block on the weak side. The Center's pass set and eyes are occupied by the mugged up Mike. When the Mike drops weak the Center's set and eyes work weak to the blitzing down safety. The initial presentation in combination with the drop out LB occupy the Center and RB to the weak side allowing the Dime to run through in the strong side A gap. 

The Dime's pre-snap alignment and demeanor suggest he is going to cover the #3 receiver. The Dime even has a subtle outside tilt to the #3. The pre-snap off coverage alignment of the weak side Corner suggests access in the passing game against the Corner. As the post-snap pressure shows the QB looks to throw to the weak side access throw against the Corner 1 on 1. The coverage strong is very light here. The Nickel in the strong hot drop is stressed with threats from both the #2 and #3 receivers. The post safety can potentially drive down on the #3 late. 

The pre-snap presentation and pressure encourage the QB to throw to the X receiver in expected isolation. The QB is forced to process quickly against the run through unblocked A gap blitzer. Really interesting manipulation of the offense and QB here. The throw ultimately goes into a double coverage.

Interesting usage of 2 under 3 deep coverage and great execution by the Colts and defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. 

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.

Pass Rush Twist vs. Empty

Here Wisconsin is in a 4-2-5 Nickel personnel with OLB bodies at DE. The Mike LB is walked up to create a bear front spacing.

The Rush:

3 man twist game with the Mike and DT penetrating and the boundary rush looping inside

The Coverage:

Cover 1 man free with the field side Rush LB dropping to play the rat in the hole

The initial alignment vs. empty of all 5 OL covered creates man blocking across the board. The guard opposite the twist is forced to widen initially with the DT in the B gap. 

The width the OG gets in his set does two things:
1. Creates space for the looping Rush
2. Makes the Guard late to provide help to the Center

The Center has a difficult set here also. The Center sets to the mugged up Mike. The Mike's speed and width force the Center to set hard and commit. The aggressiveness of the Center's set makes it difficult to redirect on the twist.

Nice usage of a pre-snap bear front presentation to get the the OL manned up. Covering all the OL gets more mileage out of a traditional four down front pass rush game. Four down pass rush twists can be picked up most effectively when the free OL is able to provide help to adjacent OL allowing the twisting rushers to be passed off. Covering all 5 OL and forcing help from a free OL to be late makes this twist effective. The usage of OLB's at DE also helps this call succeed. Hybrid players on the edge are both capable as pass rushers and in coverage drops. The uncertainty of their role for the OL helps create difficult pass set situations. Good execution from the Badgers and scheme from Jim Leonard. 

Bear Front Twist to Attack Counter

Here Alabama is defending a 3rd and 13. Auburn motions in from a double stack formation to a 2x2 hip player formation. Alabama is using a Dime personnel with 2 Rush backers aligned together into the boundary. With the Mike walked up the front is a bear spacing.

The Rush:

5 Man rush with an interior 3 man twist

The Coverage:

Cover 1 man free with a high safety manned on the RB. The DB's are using a TopHat technique on the stacked WR's. The press aligned DB bluffing press on the LOS WR while actually playing man on the off WR. The deep DB is manned on the LOS WR. Good execution of a combo coverage concept.

The defense does a good job fitting the counter. The DE, looping Rush backer, and man coverage safety create 3 vs. 2 on the pullers. With man coverage the defense is boxing blocks to force the run back inside. 

The DE boxes the first puller back, the looping LB boxers back the OT rolling the hole, and the man coverage safety runs inside out staying on the back hip of the ball carrier. 

This call has good play as a pass rush stunt but the Tide defense does a good job fitting counter and getting the sticks to 4th and long.

Good stuff from Alabama and Pete Golding.

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.

Bear Front Green Dog

Simple example of using bear front and cover 1 with green dog technique to get a 6 man pass rush.

The Rush:

The DE and DT are working a twist with the DT penetrating and the DE going up and under. The Mike is walked up rushing the B gap and Rush backer is off the edge as contain.

The Coverage:

Cover 1 with the Dime using a green dog rush to cover technique. When the RB blocks the Dime adds into the pass rush.

This is a simple concept with well executed nuance.

The looping DE does a great job of pushing up the field before working his inside move. The inside move is tight through the heels of the penetrating DT. The timing and path allow the DE a full speed straight line path to the QB. 

The down safety and dime both show pressure to the TE side and opposite the RB. The threat of pressure helps force the OL into a hard slide in this half slide protection scheme.

The DT aligned on the center is working a bull rush type technique which:

1. Occupies the Center preventing the Center from helping on the looping DE

2. Forces the Guard in the slide to set to the midline leaving the RB on the Mike and creating a short edge for the green dogging Dime

The Dime is presenting pressure opposite the RB. As the slide of the OL sets the RB is left one on one with the LB in the B gap. The Dime's positioning allows for an extremely efficient path to the QB. The Dime keeps his path tight off the blitzing LB's hip, stays square, and has low pad level to allow for quick change of directions. Similar coaching points to a looper on any LOS twist game.

Well executed details from the Eagles and good design from Jim Schwartz.

Bear Front Middle Overload Blitz

Cleveland Browns' Defensive Coordinator Ray Horton brought this middle overload blitz in week 17.

The Rush:

Will - Contain

Tackles - B gap Pressure

Nose - Midline

Mike & Safety - A Gap

The Coverage:

The coverage could be a cover 1 variation or a 2 under 3 deep match up zone concept. Without knowing the call it is hard to tell. Either way the coverage defenders are playing very aggressively on the receivers knowing the overload pressure is going to prevent the QB from holding the ball. 

The protection has the numbers (6 vs. 6) to pick up the rush. The conflict for the OL is expected threats vs. actual rushers.

Initially the OL has an easy pick up in concept. The OL handle the 5 rush threats on the LOS and the RB has the Mike backer if he rushes. 

When the SS rolls down into the box to rush the A gap and the Sam drops in coverage, the clean 6 vs. 6 picture changes for the OL. The OG and OT who set to the initial threats of the DT and Sam would be forced to redirect to the inside to pick up the new rushers.

The OT could see the Sam drop and redirected inside. The Guard was already engaged with the DT and missed the redirection leaving the SS unblocked in the A gap.

Even if the Guard identified the Sam dropped into coverage, the blitz pick up is difficult. The Guard has to redirect to block a full speed blitzing SS. The OT is left alone on a 3 technique with an inside rush lane to the QB. Both blocks are difficult.

The OT has a tough situation when the SS rolls into the box as well. The OT could set to provide better body position on the 3 tech. By setting this way the OG and OT would have a better chance to redirect to the pressure. The issue is the OT doesn't know the SS is going to rush or that the Sam is going to drop. The walked up LB on the LOS is the more likely rush threat than a high safety rolling down. If the OT doesn't set the Sam, the risk of getting beat on a speed rush goes up. The percentages say the Sam is going to rush therefore giving the more likely rusher an easy speed rush is an unlikely plan for the OT. 

Why didn't the QB throw hot? The protection can pick up 6 in principle but cannot block 7. Five rushers on the LOS plus the Mike & SS is 7 in the pressure picture. Once the Sam drops from the LOS the pressure picture no longer has 7 threats. The read to throw hot is not clear. There is a QB adage "If you don't know, don't throw." and in this situation the QB has a confusing picture to process. 

The coverage is also designed to denying hot throws. The corners are pressed and denying anything easy to the outside. A MOF safety is over top of the inside receivers. The 2 underneath defenders are there to play any quick throws to #2 or #3. 

Unclear hot read + tight aggressive coverage + immediate unblocked A gap pressure in the face = sack. Good stuff from the Browns on 3rd & 6.  

Buddy Ryan 4-3 and 46 Defensive Resources

Here are some links to Buddy Ryan playbooks from:

1985 Chicago Bears

1990 Philadelphia Eagles

1993 Houston Oilers

1994 Arizona Cardinals

7 Man Overload Blitz from the Bear Front Part 2

I have received some questions about the 7 man overload blitz from the bear front. One of those questions is how to handle empty formations. When answering this question it is helpful to look at how we align in the bear front from a 4-2-5 personnel.

The Will linebacker is on the line of scrimmage filling the role of a contain rusher. The DE is reduced down to play the away side 3 technique. We bump the SS into the box to fill the role of the 2^nd linebacker. If the offense chooses to align or motion to empty the SS adjusts from the box to handle the 5^th receiver.

Our Mike will make a check alerting the Nose to rush the A gap. With no back in the backfield to spy, the Nose is free to rush the passer. The 3 techniques keep their read out responsibility.

Against a TE, the contain rusher will align in a 9 technique playing outside. The 9 technique is leveraging all blocks outside in.

The man coverage player is aligned inside and will fit in the C gap. Once the TE blocks the man coverage player can play the run.

We can play the safety in press technique on the TE by game plan. 

Against an H-Back the FS or WS will handle the hip player, while the Nose is still spying the running back. This allows the man coverage safety to mirror the hip player’s blocking. 

When the hip player blocks the man coverage player will be there to provide an extra defender.

Another question that is bound to pop up is how to handle the option. The contain players have pitch and are expected to slow play. The goal is to create indecision and force a late pitch. Contain players must balance slow playing with not being out leveraged by the pitch back. The Nose will disengage the center and work toward the back. With the contain player handling the RB on the pitch, the Nose is freed up to take the QB.

We call a limited number of bear front calls per game. In any game plan we do not necessarily plan to use bear front against every personnel or in every down and distance. We also don’t plan to use this 7 man overload blitz in every situation. Teams playing us however, are forced to be prepared to block all of their plays vs. the bear front. Being prepared for our base defense as well as our change of pace calls like bear limits what an offense can carry in a game plan.

Are bear front adjustments from the 4-2-5 something you guys would like to see more about in an article?

7 Man Overload Blitz from the Bear Front

There are multiple ways to get to the Bear front alignment. If you align in the bear from a 4-3, 4-2-5, 3-4, or 3-3-5 personnel this blitz is a possibility. The coverage is cover zero with the defensive line accounting for the running back in coverage.

The Rush:

Ends: Contain Rush, Peel if the running back crosses your face in a route

Tackles : Inside Rush through the B gap, Read the block of the Guard

Nose - Engage the Center, Spy the running back

Mike & Will - Inside blitz your A gap

The Coverage:
Corners - Man #1
Safeties - Man #2 or #3 in a 3x1 formation away from you.

Spy & Peel Technique

The Nose will get off the ball and engage the center. Once engaged the Nose should get his eyes to the running back.

If the running back steps up inside, the Nose will disengage the center and man cover the back.

This technique should put the Nose in great position to defend any running back screen concepts.

If the running back blocks one of the blitzing linebackers the Nose becomes an extra rusher.

The linebacker is an inside blitzer and will always attack the block of the running back to the inside. By attacking the inside of the running back, the linebacker will disrupt the QB's rhythm and footwork. The Nose will work to the outside of the block. The Nose must be aware of the RB chipping the linebacker before running a screen. If the back does block the Will, the Nose should be in good position to clean up the QB if the Will does not get the sack.

If the running back releases, the End will handle covering him in man coverage.

The Nose will go to cover the running back. As the back is picked up by the End, the Nose will replace the End as the contain rusher.

Read Technique

Both Tackles have read technique. The DT's are getting off on the snap and attacking the guards. If the guard pass sets to the DT, the DT drops outside looking for a hot throw. The depth for the DT's drop is 3-5 yards. If the guard does not set to the DT, the DT continues to pass rush through the B gap. Depending on the blocking scheme one, both, or neither DT could drop.

The defense is presenting 4 rushers to the right (End, Tackle, Mike, and Nose) the offense only has 3 blockers (RT, RG, Center). The extra (unblocked) rusher should force a hot throw. The right DT is reading out and should drop hot. 

To the left the offense has 3 blockers (LT, LG, and RB) for 3 rushers (End, Tackle, and Will). 

If the center attempts to create a 3 vs. 3 to the right (Center, RG, RT for End, Tackle, Mike) the defense has a 4 on 3 overload to the running back. The Will should attack the RB to the inside while the Nose works to the outside of the RB.