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.

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. 

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. 

1 Rat A Gap Pressure

2014 Eagles are in Nickel personnel with OLB bodies at DE on 3rd & 6.

The Rush:

4 DL are rushing from an even front spacing with the Will LB on the A gap pressure

The Coverage: 

1 Rat with the Mike dropping off the LOS to the Rat. The pass rush is peeling to account for the RB.

The 5 up look from the Eagles puts the OL into 5 games of 1 on 1. The RB is forced to account for the A gap run through LB. The pressure prevents the RB from getting into a route and dents the middle of the protection. The contact between the LB and RB happens in front of the QB helping to get him off his spot and break his throwing progression/rhythm. 

The Nickel is playing outside on the #3 receiver expecting help from the rat LB. This is an excellent example of the rat technique. The rat cuts #3's crossing route causing the Nickel to fall off to become the new rat in the hole. 

Nice pressure design from former Eagles 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. 

2 Man Overload Front Pass Rush Twist

The 2014 Eagles build an overload front to increase the effectiveness of their 4 man pass rush and twist game. Philadelphia is in a dime personnel with OLB's bodies as the DE's on 3rd & 10.

The likely spacing from this type of 2-3-6 personnel is something like:

The Eagles instead space in a odd front overload with both Rush LB on the same side.

The Rush:

The Rush LB's are working a twist game with the interior Rush LB working to contain through the B gap while the outside Rush LB works up & under. The DT aligned as a zero technique Nose works up field through the Center before working away from the twist. The weak side DT is the contain rush.

The Coverage:

2 Man with the weak side working a bracket on the X receiver.

The front puts the two best rushers on the same side working the twist. The overload front also forces the OL to man block that twist. With the zero technique Nose covering the Center the OG & OT are 2 for 2 vs. the 2 Rush LB's. The Nose does a great job of engaging the Center then working away into the weak side interior rush lane. The engagement prevents any help from the Center to the twist game. 

The coverage presents pre-snap as a 1 high concept likely Cover 1. The down Safety weak bluffs pressure or being manned on the RB before bailing to bracket double the X. The low alignment of the safety allows the coverage to present a 1 high coverage only to play out as a 2 man concept. The horizontal double on the X with the Corner outside and the Safety inside denies any initial looks to the X.  The X won't be quickly open allowing the twist game time to get home. Strong side the QB is likely looking for best man matchup against Cover 1. The coverage rolls strong side into 2 trial man with aggressive man technique and safety help over top. Again the quick throws are gone and the twist game has time to get home. 

Nice design of a non-traditional 4 man pass rush concept to generate pressure and usage of 2 man from former Eagles Defensive Coordinator Billy Davis. 

Manipulating Pass Protection Match-Up with 6 Up Alignment

The double A gap mug look is a common alignment used at multiple levels of football.

This type of alignment forces the pass protection into 6 games of 1 on 1 with the RB in the protection. Often the protection requires the RB to account for a A gap rusher. The A gap threats in this look are LB's. Assigning the RB to a LB who has a higher probability of dropping into coverage compared to a DL can keep the RB from needing to make a pass block some percentage of the time. The offense could also possibly give the RB an End, however a pass rushing DE is typically a worse match up for the RB than a LB.

The 2014 Eagles come out in a Dime Personnel with OLB bodies as the DE's on 3rd & 12. The expected spacing is something like:

The Eagles could have built the 6 up look from there by walking the Mike & Dime up in the A gaps to build the double A gap mug spacing.

Instead the Eagles use the Rush OLB's as the A gap threats and walk the Mike & Dime up as the edge pass rush threats.

The Rush:

DTs both expand through B to contain. The Rush LBs are both through the A gaps.

The Coverage:

Cover 3

The pressure and coverage concept are simple staples. A four man rush using four traditional rush threats and backstopped with a basic cover 3. The usage of the Rush LB's in the A gaps affects the protection in a significant way.

The protection is a 6 man half slide concept. The OT & OG are manned on the Dime & DT leaving the Rush 1 on 1 vs. the RB. This is a mismatch especially because the Rush was Connor Barwin who had 14.5 sacks in '14. The pass pro does not want the RB 1 on 1 with an elite pass rusher especially not straight down the middle in an A gap. However, the protection has rules for handling a double A gap mug and those rules put the RB on an A gap threat. Pass protection is like the Matrix.

The Rush LBs in the A gaps stresses the protection's double A gap mug rules. It is easy to sit back and say "well if this player is the A gap threat protect it this way, but if the Dime is on the edge block it like this...." but that is all way easier said than done. Changing up pass rusher alignment is a simple effective way to attack protection by creating mismatches. 

The Eagles alignment also allows the more athletic Mike & Dime to be the zone pass droppers and keeps the DTs and Rush LBs as pass rushers. 

The coverage has to deny the quickest easiest throws to allow the four man pass rush to get home.

The coverage is rotated down to the strong side with the Corner over the X receiver playing an off alignment. The Safety weak works to the post. If those indicators tell the QB to look and work weak to the X in isolation vs. the Corner the quick isolation throw isn't there. The Dime running out to the Curl-Flat drop allows the defense to effectively double cover the X eliminating the iso to the X as an option. The strong side route combinations don't have time to develop with the quick A gap pressure from the pass rush getting the QB off his launch point. 

Nice pressure design to create mismatches from former Eagles Defensive Coordinator Billy Davis.