Speeding Up Slow Developing Plays

One reason to call pressure is pressure changes the tempo of a play. Slower developing plays like play action pass and screen will not work on the timing they expect to operate on if pressure forces the play to happen more quickly. 

A 2nd reason to pressure is plays designed to manipulate defender's reactions in base defensive techniques can find difficulty creating the desired effect vs. pressures. A pressuring defender isn't making the same run/pass read like in a base defensive technique. Attempting to fool a defender is harder when the defenders actions were defined pre-snap and are less reliant on a post-snap read/reaction. 

Here are four examples from Week 6 in the NFL

Buccaneers are in base personnel on 1&10 vs. 12 personnel.

The concept is a simple ILB edge pressure backstopped with 3 under 3 deep fire zone. The pressure forces the RB to adjust to make his block off his play fake to pick up a full speed edge rusher. The defenders aren't manipulated. The rushers don't buy the run fake. The pass droppers know the pressure can disrupt run or pass allowing coverage players to be coverage players who react to run not primary run fitters. The QB's play action tempo is too slow for the tempo of the pass rush created by the pressure. 

Giants are in Nickel personnel on 1&10 vs. 21 personnel. 

The Giants are bringing a 4 man sim pressure rushing the Nickel off the edge backstopped by a 4 under 3 deep coverage. The usage of  21 personnel, motion to a 2 back formation, and flash fake are designed to hold underneath defenders. If the underneath defenders are held there will be space to throw the switch verticals in the void created between underneath droppers and deep zone defenders. The rush changes the tempo and creates immediate pressure in the QB's face. The zone coverage specifically the roll down Safety is unaffected by the play fake preventing a void in coverage from being created.

Patriots are in Dime personnel on 2&9 vs. 12 personnel.

The pressure is 6 man blitz backstopped with Cover Zero man. The man coverage player on the RB engage rushes to add a 7th rusher when the offense presents a 6th blocker. The plus one pass rush requires the QB to account for the unblocked rusher. The QB has little to no time to react to an unblocked rusher following the quick play fake. 

Steelers are in Nickel personnel on 2&8 vs. 11 personnel.

The Steelers bring a simple Nickel edge pressure sending the DE wide and Nickel on a low track backstopped by 3 under 3 deep fire zone. The Browns are running a RB screen that is well schemed and set up for a potential big play with 3 OL leading the way for the RB. There isn't time for the QB to set up and deliver the ball off the play action fake. The DE who makes the play is in principle going to be controlled by a down block from the OT, orbit WR reverse bluff, and a TE blocking across the formation. The DE is edge rushing as part of the pressure preventing the down block/reverse manipulation and is too fast off the edge for the TE's block. 

Great stuff from Todd Bowles, Patrick Graham, Bill Belichick, and Keith Butler. Pressure is a tool and sometimes the tool is used to speed up slower developing plays and prevent defender manipulation.

Reading the Slide of the Protection

 The Dolphins are in a 2-4-5 Nickel personnel on 2nd & 10.

The Rush:

The End and Will are rushing as contain rushers. The interior 4 are reading the blocks of the OL to determine if they rush or drop out to hot drops. In this example the right interior stay as rushers while the left interior rushers drop out. More on this concept later.

The Coverage:

Cover Zero man with 2 hot droppers. The Safeties are using engage hug rush technique, attacking their man responsibilities forcing the TE and RB to block the players covering them in man coverage. When the X goes in motion the Corner runs with and bumps the Nickel reassigning with the new formation.

The read of the protection is a straightforward idea: 

If the OL is blocking toward the LOS defender the defender doesn't want to run into a player set up to block him, drop out with zone eyes to help on hot throws. The pressure is overloading the protection the QB must get the ball out fast.

If the OL is blocking away from the LOS defender the adjacent OL then must be responsible for blocking him. By attacking the near hip of the OL the defender is reading, it will take the defender as far from the adjacent OL's block as possible and put him on the fastest path to the QB

In this example starting from left to right:

DE - Contain rush

Rush - Reading the Guard, G blocks to him drop to hot throw

DT - Reading the Center, C block to him drop to opposite hot throw

Rush - Reading the Center, C blocks away, penetrate off Center's near hip

Mike - Reading Guard, G blocks away, penetrate off G's near hip

Will - Rushing C gap, becomes contain rusher if TE and RB release on routes

Safeties - Engage rush the TE/RB

If the turn of the protection had been different:

DE - Contain rush

Rush - Reading Guard, G blocks away, penetrate off G's near hip

DT - Reading the Center, C blocks away, penetrate off Center's near hip

Rush - Reading the Center, C block to him drop to opposite hot throw

Mike - Reading the Guard, G blocks to him drop to hot throw

Will - Rushing C gap, becomes contain rusher if TE and RB release on routes

Safeties - Engage rush the TE/RB

In this example the Rush will attack the RB which both creates immediate pressure on the QB and prevents the RB from getting into a route. The RB blocking inside also allows the Safety to be free off the edge. The penetrators will again create stress on the interior of the protection with the OL setting away from them. 

These are the types of man blitzes that allow the defense to make the OL wrong no matter how they choose to block, help deny hot throws, and prevent rushers from running into OL set up to block them. 

Great scheme from Dolphins Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer and Head Coach Brian Flores. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.