3 Cloud Sim Pressure

Georgia is in an odd front dime personnel on 3rd & 6.

The Rush:

Both DE's are edge rushers with the Nose working the strong side interior pass rush lane and the pressuring Safety as the weak side interior pass rush lane.

The Coverage:

4 under 3 deep coverage with a strong side Cloud

Several factors play in to the success of the call.

1. The pre-snap presentation of weak safety rotation.

The QB's pre-snap scan of the defense shows the weak side safety down. That picture makes many route progressions automatically work strong. The defense can create 2 on 1 coverage weak vs. the X receiver = work the strong side. The pre-snap look encourages the QB's eyes strong side.

2. The presentation of an overload and potential hot threat to the strong side

The mugged up A & B gap pressure threats gets the OL sliding to the immediate threats. The sliding OL  (G, C, G, T) can handle 4 threats. If the defense adds the 5th threat the QB has to handle the extra rusher with a hot throw. Again this picture encourages the QB's eyes to be strong. The QB wants to see if a hot throw off a 5th rusher strong is necessary.

3. The usage of 3 cloud coverage while protecting the coverage's stress areas.

Once the defense has the QB's vision and awareness to the strong side the ball is snapped and the play occurs. A couple of interesting factors play out post-snap. 

First the bluff of the Mike as a pressure threat can occur without the coverage being outleveraged because there is a cloud corner in the strong side flat. The Mike couldn't realistically bluff pressure and play the flat but getting to the hook drop over the bunch is very realistic following the pressure bluff. 

Secondly, one of the ways to attack 4 under 3 deep coverage is to get the RB out into the route either in a free release 5 man scat protection or as a check release in a 6 man protection concept. The RB in routes is difficult for 4 under 3 deep coverage because the 5 receiving threats can stretch the zone coverage both vertically and horizontally. Georgia denies this stress by sim pressuring with the Safety opposite the initial threats. The RB is forced to stay in to block in the protection. This is one of the biggest assets of sim pressure. A 4 man rush that keeps the RB in the protection. Also the sim allows the defense to pressure the likely weakest pass protector in a 1 on 1 match up. 

Third, the Corner and X in isolation can be an area teams want to attack in a strong rotated coverage. The Bulldogs help mitigate that threat by forcing the QB's eyes strong with the down Safety alignment weak and the hot throw threat strong.

4. The depth vision and break hash droppers inside.

The two drop out mugged up players are able to get depth to deny intermediate in cuts and still break and tackle low crossing routes. The zone nature of the drop allows them to also be in body position  with vision to break and vise tackle the QB on a scramble.

Really good pressure design from Dan Lanning. 

Attacking Buck Sweep with Safety Rotation

On a 2nd & 4 Georgia is in Nickel personnel spaced as a 2 high 4-2-5.

The coverage rolls late in the cadence to space as a 4-3 with the roll down safety taking on the roll of the "Sam" backer. 

The Bulldogs are able to leverage several advantages by rolling to a 1 high safety coverage:

Playing this coverage allows for the corners to play press and the Nickel to stay over #2. This allows for an aggressive denial of the split receiving threats on quick game and RPO concepts. On 2nd & 4 a short completion is likely to make the line to gain and a 1st down.

The pre-snap presentation has combination of the LB's alignment with a 2 high shell to deters weak side run or pass concepts. The looks invites the strong side run directly into the safety rotation. 

The roll down safety becomes the target of the crack block by the motion WR. The result is the Nickel and ILB being able to vise the pulling guard. The defense is able to outnumber with point of attack with defenders close to the LOS. 

The over front allows weak side ILB to hold for the QB read/keep schemes while the safety rotations allows the fits to handle the pullers strong.

The DT's on the twist is subtle advantage also the 3tech on the penetration picks off the back side puller while the looping shade is able to add a body to strong side run fit. 

Really nice usage of a denial 1 high coverage to create a gain of zero and set up a winnable 3rd down. Good stuff from Georgia Defensive Coordinator Dan Lanning.