Overload Front Cover 1 Pressure

 The Steelers are in Dime Personnel on 3rd & 7 vs. 11 personnel.

The Rush:

The front is overload with 3 DL on the same side of the center. To the overload side there is a twist game with the DT up the field and the Rush looping inside. The DT is working a 1on1 vs. the Center and crosses face. The Rush opposite the overload is contain with the Nickel pressuring through heel line of the up field rush on a straight line run to the QB.

The Coverage:

Cover 1

The overload plus the walked up Mike covers all the OL. The protection is forced into man blocking with 5 1on1 matchups vs. the DL and the Mike. By forcing man protection the Guard is wasted on the Mike who is man covering the RB. Also the man protection helps the twist game to the overload avoid a slide protection concept giving help on the twist. The DT crossing face on the Center helps create space for the twist to operate to the overload side. The Dime is presenting pressure in the B gaps to attract the attention of the RB. The goal being the getting the RB to step up inside to block the Dime as a rush threat leaving the Nickel on a free run. The RB isn't fooled and even points the edge IDing the pressure threat. The Safety to the pressure also caps the blitz indicating the Nickel is going. The RB oversets to a perceived edge pressure threat when the Nickel is on the inside rush path. 

Nice design from Keith Butler. 

Cover 3 Safety Sim Pressure

 The Ravens are in a specialized pass rush Dime Personnel on 3rd & 5.

The Rush:

The DE's are contain with the Nose working away from the pressure. The Safety is pressuring the weak side inside pass rush line.

The Coverage:

Sting - 3 Under 3 deep Firezone with a free/bonus dropper to create 4 under 3 deep concept.

With the mugged up A/B gap threats and the safety bluffing pressure strong the OL slides to the strong side rush threats. The slide allows for the pressure safety running through on the RB 1on1. The coverage creates confusion also. The initial look is 1 high pressure, but when the post aligned safety rotates down the look simulates a zero pressure. The QB has to ID one safety rotating down while the other is popping the top to the post. 1 high coverage that rotate to 1 high can be difficult to quickly ID under pressure. 

In coverage the free/bonus dropper is able to collision the #3 receiver which helps make the 3RH droppers job easier. The seam droppers hang in the seams as opposed to expanding to the flats.

Nice pressure design from Wink Martindale.

Weak Overload 3 Cloud Sim Pressure

Duke is in a odd front Dime personnel on 3rd & 7 vs. 11 personnel with a flexed TE. The Blue Devils are showing an up pressure presentation with both LBs and the Dime showing near blitz demeanor at the LOS.

The Rush:

The Nose is looping to contain opposite the edge rushing walked up LB. The DE is up the field before working inside to balance the pass rush. The Mike is delayed before wrapping tight off the DE's movement.

The Coverage:

3 Cloud - the Corner is the flat player with a no reroute zone technique

The protection is a 6 man half slide concept. 

The Guard is starting the slide. The 4 OL in the slide are accounting for the 4 threats (Green). The OT is manned up on the DE and the RB is responsible for the edge. The OT cannot expect help from the Guard. The technique of the DE and Mike make life difficult for the OL. The DE attacks the OT thought the inside shoulder into the B gap, pressuring up the field and inside. The OT sets out initially to the alignment of the DE and immediately travels back inside with the DE on the movement. The OT has no guaranteed help inside. The DE's rush technique buys the OT. The Mike's tempo makes his intentions unclear. Is he going to drop out, man the RB, spy the QB, re-insert into the rush???. The T/G have a very difficult pass off with two threats on different levels with the DE deeper and the Mike adding later especially when the Mike's intentions are unclear. 

Nice pressure design from Duke Defensive Coordinators Ben Albert and Matt Guerrieri. 

Complementing 5 Up Pressure Concepts

The 2018 Seahawks are in an even front spaced Dime personnel on 3rd & 3 vs. 11 personnel with the TE flexed to presents a 10 personnel structure. 

The Rush: 
The Mike is engaging the Center before working the strong side rush. The Safety is pressuring the A gap with the 3 tech working a B gap pop to contain.

The Coverage: 
Cover 1 with edge covering the RB

The pass protection is a 5 man scat with the RB free releasing. The initial presentation from Seattle forces a 5-0 putting the covered OL into 5 1on1 matchups. The look shows 5 rush threats with the box Safety on the RB in man coverage. The weak OT/OG are forced to fan/fan on the rush threats. The OT has no way of knowing initially the edge rusher is actually manned on the RB and will leave the pass rush when the RB releases. The DT does a good job of attacking the B gap to occupy the OG before working to contain. By the time the OG passes the DT to the OT it is too late to reset to the A gap pressure. The Mike does an excellent job of engaging the Center to create space in the opposite A gap while still working a pass rush move. The Safety isn't one of the 5 most dangerous threats initially creating a pass rush opportunity. The Safety does a nice job staying tight in the A gap to prevent the OG from being able to redirect and set the new A gap threat. The tight man coverage prevents routes from developing while the pressure forces a fast throw and contact on the QB. Consistent Pressure > Sacks. Play forced a 3rd & 3 to a 4th & 1.

Good pressure plan from Ken Norton.

5 Up Cover 1 Twist Pressure

The Patriots are in a Dime personnel with OLB bodies at DE on 3rd & 14 vs. 11 personnel.

The Rush:
Strong side 3 man twist game with the DT & Mike working out while the Rush is up & under to the midline pass rush lane. Weak side it is a 2 man twist game with the DT penetrating while the Rush LB engages the Guard before looping to contain.

The Coverage:
Cover 1

The 5 up alignment by the defense puts the OL into man protection rules create 5 games of 1 on 1. Weak side the DT and Rush job swap allowing the bigger more powerful DT to be the penetrator while the faster more agile Rush LB is the looper to contain. Both looping Rush LB do a nice job timing their stunts attacking up the field before wrapping tight off the penetrating rushers working up the field. All 5 pass rushers continue to get vertical push of the pocket while exchanging rush lanes laterally. The Dime personnel allows the defense to match up with DB's across the board including the TE and RB.

Nice pressure design from New England and Bill Belichick. 

Exotic Split Field Coverage Corner Sim Pressure

Navy is in a sub 2-2-7 personnel on 3rd & 11 vs 10 personnel.

The Rush:
4 man rush with the Rush LB and Dime as contain. The Corner is on a low track running through the heel line of the Dime going up the field creating a straight line run on the QB. The DE is up & under to the opposite inside pass rush lane to balance the pass rush.

The Coverage:
Strong side Quarters concept with a weak side roll down halves coverage concept. Nice usage of the Safety down in the flat to replace the Corner with the extra Safety popping the top to the weak side deep 1/2. The Nose is dropping off to spy.

The threat of strong/field side pressure attracts the attention of the OL. The pass pro is a 1/2 slide concept setting to the strong/field side. The weak side Guard is in the slide leaving the weak side OT man on the DE. The defense rushing 3 outside the OT overloads the protection weak. The DE occupies the OT initially before being passed off to the slide side as he rushes inside. The issues created for the OT are the timing the angle and speed of the Corner. Both make it very difficult for the OT to pass the DE and still be able to set and pick up the Corner. The Corner is wide, fast, on a straight line run to the QB, and outside the OT's vision all which increase the degree of difficulty for the protection. The result is the 2 on 1 overload of the RB.

Nice design by Defensive Coordinator Brian Newberry to present overload strong, actually overload weak, all while disguising the coverage concept.

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.

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. 

Bluffing Pressure to Force Hot Throws

TCU is in a 3-2-6 Dime personnel on 3rd & 7.

The Rush:

America's Blitz pattern with a long stick DE to the pressure, the SS as the outside rusher, and the ILB on the inside pressure

The Coverage:

Cover 1 with the non-blitzing ILB on a green dog technique

The pressure itself is very traditional in both pattern and coverage. The weak side bluff helps increase the effect of this pressure. The ILB walked in the B gap, the Dime bluffing off the weak edge, and the post safety walking low all send the signal to the offense weak/boundary pressure is coming. The look even forces the boundary OT to point out the potential edge pressure threat from the Dime. 

If the QB looks at this pre-snap presentation and thinks the protection has the look picked up he would be right. The OL would be sliding into the pressure and the defense is not threatening to overload the RB. However, the presented pressure and actual pressure are not the same. If the QB holds the ball against the actual post-snap look the pressure is going to get a 2 on 1 vs. the RB. The Green Dog makes it a late 3 on 1. The protection will not hold up post-snap.

The QB has to ID that any two edge rushers from the field overloads the RB and forces a hot throw. The protection cannot block it. The QB does make that ID and gets the ball out fast.

This is one of the valuable aspects of pressure. You don't have to get sacks to succeed. Pressure changes the timing of offensive plays. Forcing a hot throw here prevents the route from getting to the sticks at 7 yards. The offense now has to bank on the WR making a contested catch vs. man coverage at 4 yards then breaking a tackle to get 7 and a 1st down. 

The offense was forced to take a sack or throw the ball short of the line to gain. The offense took the better of the two options but the result is still 4th down and the defense is off the field. Defense dictated the options with the presentation of pressure and killed the play off with the execution of the pressure and coverage.  

Really nice usage of a bluffed pressure by the Horned Frogs to create more pressure forcing the ball out quickly. Always good stuff from Gary Patterson. 

Breaking Half Slide with Blitz Angles

Alabama is in a sub personnel Dime with OLB body types in the DE roles. 

The Rush:
5 man pressure with the boundary Rush LB going up the field and the Dime rushing on an angle through the Rush's heels.

The Coverage:
Cover 1

The defense has all 5 OL covered up. Previously this concept was covered in Breaking Half Slide Protection. The idea is simple, if all the OL are covered none of them are in the slide (zone) portion of the protection and all the OL end up manned up. Here the offense elected to keep the slide intact. Several problems resulted. The DT to the field got a clean run through on the RB. The guard is in a tough position. The protection says slide left and there is an A gap rush threat to slide toward. Even if the guard blocks the DT, the mugged up LB presents an A gap run through threat for the RB. The boundary guard attempts to provide help on the sticking DT for the Center who is sliding to the boundary. This is where the blitzer's angle comes into play. 

If the Dime simply blitzed the B gap, the protection can pick up the pressure pretty easily. The guard can post his inside foot and help with the DT while still setting to the new B gap rush threat from the Dime.

Instead the Rush is going hard up the field. This allows the Dime to run a straight line track off the Rush's heels directly to the QB.

The guard has a much tougher task. Just looking at the picture shows the challenge. With the OT setting up the field and the QB dropping in the pocket the angle for the guard becomes extreme. The picture illustrates the length of the guards pass set line is significantly increased. When the guard posts to help on the DT, the race with the Dime becomes almost impossible to win for an OL. 

Really nice execution from Alabama. Good stuff from former DC Tosh Lupoi and Coach Saban.

Using Creativity to get More from a 4 man Pass Rush

2017 Florida State is in an X backer personnel with a sub secondary on 3rd & 8.

The Rush:

The Ends are contain with the X and Nose executing an interior pass rush twist game. The Nose jabs away which helps create space for the X backer. The X backer uses the space to get the guard to engage and commit. When the Nose wraps the Guard has a hard time redirecting to pick up the twist.

The Coverage:
Cover 1 with safeties in the hole and post. The sub personnel allows for the defense to match all the speed receivers with DB's. The Mike in this situation is a 7th DB, in this case a big safety body.

The Seminoles built a nice situational pass rush package. The 7 DB's allow the coverage to match-up against the speed Syracuse has on the field. The X backer allows a versatile pass rusher to get involved in the interior pass rush. The stunt is not new but FSU does a good job of utilizing personnel to get the right people on the field doing what they do best and executing the call at a high level. 

Michigan Open Edge Run Pressure

When a TE is in the game, one tried and true pressure strategy is to slant the defensive line to the TE and send extra rushers to the open side (opposite the TE). The philosophy is simple, the moving DL make the TE side runs more difficult and help build a wall. The defense is looking to force the RB to hit the wall or cut back way from the moving DL into the extra rushers.

Michigan is in a sub personnel with 3 LB's 2 Rush Backer (OLB/DE types in 2 pt stances) and 1 down lineman. The secondary is a 6 DB dime personnel.

The Rush:
The front is slanting to the DE with 2 edge rushers. The inside edge rusher is able to bend flat and chase down the RB on run away while the outside edge rusher is able to play for boot/naked from the QB.

The Coverage:
Cover 1 with the mugged up LB manned on the RB.

Good job by the TE side edge rush building the wall and the bending open side rusher chasing the RB down.

Good stuff from Coach Brown and the Wolverines.

Texas Cover 1 Safety Pressure

Here Texas is in a 3-2-6 Dime personnel on 3rd & 14.

The Rush:
Ends  - Contain
Nose - Work away from pressure
Will - A gap
Safety - Walk down blitz B

The Coverage:
Cover 1

The Nickel and DIme appear to signal an "In & Out" combination coverage on the closely aligned #2 and #3 receivers. The Mike is mugged up on the guard while manned on the RB. Post-snap the Mike green dogs and adds to the pass rush.

The mugged up LB's gets the OL into a 5 vs. 5 situation. Every OL has an immediate threat to block forcing them into 5 games of 1 on 1. The occupied OL force the RB into blocking the blitzing safety. In coverage the In & Out has a hard route combo to handle with both #2 and #3 running inside breaking routes. Fortunately, the pressure hits home before the routes can come open.

Good stuff from Coach Orlando and the Longhorns.

Ravens Overload Firezone Pressure

Here are two examples of 4 from a side overload firezone pressures the Baltimore Ravens dialed up this season.

Baltimore is in a 2-3-6 Dime personnel grouping. The DE's are OLB bodies diagrammed here as Rush Backers (R).

The Rush:
Nickel - Edge
Rush Backer & DT - Inside moves
Mike - Cross the Center
DT - B gap to Contain weak

The Coverage:
3 under 3 deep firezone coverage

Three elements that help this pressure succeed:

1. The Nickel is uncapped. There is no player aligned directly over the Nickel. This signals to the pass protection the Nickel cannot blitz. No capper = no one to cover the #2 receiver and replace the Nickel in coverage

2. The Rush backers are both potential droppers. The potential the Rush backers could drop helps protect the trips side. The #3 receiver is not uncovered. The Rush is possibly the 3 dropper to the trips side.

3. The Safety bluffing weak signals 4 rushers weak when the pressure is actually 4 from the strong side. The safety alignment also further signals the Nickel is not in the pressure.

The protection is in a tough spot. The structure is 3&3. The OT OG C working strong and the OT OG RB working weak. Any 4 from a side overloads the protection and requires a hot throw. The Center cannot let the Mike cross without traveling back (cannot let the Mike be the 4th rusher weak). That leaves a 3 on 2 vs. the pressure side OG and OT. The uncapped Nickel prevents the strong side hot concept from entering the QB's mind set. The pre-snap presentation says the weak side might have 4 rushers. When the weak side Safety runs out to the post the the 4 weak hot threat is gone (QB thinks there will be time & protection) only to have a strong hot throw situation post-snap. Everything happens so quickly before the snap it is difficult for the offense to make any protection adjustments.

The Ravens used a similar concept later in the season.

The Rush:
Nickel - Edge
Mike & DT - Up the field
Rush Backer - Loop opposite A
DT - B gap to Contain weak

The Coverage:
3 under 3 deep firezone coverage again with the weak side safety presenting pressure weak and rolling the coverage late.

The effect is another 4 strong rush. The look on film is the Chiefs may have adjusted the protection pre-snap to account for the pressure threat weak. The result is again a 3&3 protection. A possible protection check makes sense to put the OT OG C working weak to block the pressure threat. The protection sends the RB strong with the OG and OT. The issue is the protection ends up with 3 blockers on the weak DT (3 on 1 is a defensive win). The RB is forced to pick up the Mike in the A gap. The penetration of the Mike makes the OG's job to block the looping Rush almost impossible. 

Quality pressure designs from the Raven defense to overload the protection.

Dime Package Man Pressure

Here are two ways the Saints got a safety involved in pressure last season. 

The Rush:
Safety Edge Rush
End & DT to the pressure working a twist. The DT is up the field penetrating the B Gap with the DE wrapping to the A gap.

The Away DE and DT are working a normal pass rush with the DE containing and the DT with a 2 way go on the Guard.

The Coverage:
Cover 1 man free. The Mike and Dime are both walked up into the A gaps. The Mike falls off on the snap to man cover the RB. The Dime runs out at the snap to replace the blitzing safety.

The pressure pattern is a common pressure pattern found in many defensive playbooks. What makes the pressure work is two factors: the Double A gap bluff look and the utilization of a Dime personnel.

The double A gap look forces the 5 OL and RB to be occupied with immediate rush treats. The Safety is not a primary threat and is less threatening in the look which allows his pressure to surprise the protection. With the blockers all focused on initial threats the pressure is home before the protection can identify who is actually rushing.

The Dime personnel allows the coverage to work. This look is possible from a nickel personnel. Asking a LB to run out to man coverage is a big task. Asking a Dime DB to run out to cover a #2 is both possible an effective from a Dime personnel.

The Rush:
DE's Contain
DT's A Gap Rush
Mike & Safety - B Gap Rush

The Coverage:
Cover Zero man coverage with the Safety hug rushing the RB. When the RB blocks the Safety adds to the rush.

The pressure pattern is again a common concept found in many defensive schemes. Most teams carry a standard Double ILB B gap pressure in a nickel personnel. However, the decision to use a Dime personnel instead again greatly increases the effect on the protection. 

The usage of Dime f manipulates the protection. The offense declares the 4 DL and the Mike backer as the primary threats. This makes sense as those 5 are the closest to the LOS and most likely to pressure. The 2 Deep shell further reinforces the the OL's decision to handle those 5 threats as primary. The deep Safety blitzing is not an obvious rush threat which again allows him to catch the offense off guard.The hug rushing Safety occupies the RB by entering the rush. The result is an unblocked blitzing Safety in the B gap.

These are both creative ways to use Dime personnel to get greater productivity out of tried an true pressure concepts.