Cover 3 Sim Pressure vs Empty

The Ravens are in Nickel personnel with OLB bodies at DE vs. 12 personnel empty on 2nd & Long.

The Rush:

The front is spaced like an even front in over G. The Mike walks up running a twist game with the DT. The 2i DT is looping to contain opposite the pressure.

The Coverage:

Sting Concept - Sting is a 3 under 3 deep firezone with a 4th dropper as the free/bonus dropper. The end result is a 4 under 3 deep 3 buzz like coverage.

Here is another example of Sting vs. Empty from the Rex Ryan/Mike Pettine. 

The OL is in a 5 man protection. The usage of the DT in a G helps influence the Center. The Center is looking to give the guard help with an inside shaded DL. When the Mike walks up the defense has 3 rushers overloading 2 blockers. The Center is forced to redirect to a full speed inside LB. The T/G do a nice job squeezing inside to take the most inside threats. The G loses his 1on1 but the T/G do a nice job of taking the 2 most inside threats and leaving the widest rusher. The QB drifts away from the unblocked rusher to give the protection a chance. 

Without knowing the call the coverage is difficult to tell. I think it is Sting because of other sim pressure concepts the Ravens have run as well as the coaching tree Wink Martindale comes from. However, this could also be 3 buzz with 2 Curl-Flat and 2 hook droppers.

Why differentiate between sting and 3 buzz? Playing a sting concept allows the defense to maintain it's firezone coverage principles when bringing 4 instead of 5. The Ravens bring 5 and play fire zone regularly. A concept like sting can help eliminate complexity. It can be easier on players to stay this is fire zone with a free/bonus dropper when rushing 4 instead of a different coverage like 3 Buzz. The 5th rusher is simply replaced by the free/bonus dropper in Sting to create the 4 under 3 deep coverage.

Nice job creating pressure with a non-traditional 4 man pass rush from the Ravens and Wink Martindale. 

Overload Sim Pressure vs. Empty

Florida is in a 3-3 personnel against empty on 3rd & 8.

The Rush:

Sam is blitzing off the field side edge. The Nose stems pre-snap to the field A gap. The stem of the Nose along with the mugged up LB creates an aligned overload at the LOS pre-snap. Post snap the rush is a twist game by the End and Nose with the weak side end as contain. 

The Coverage:

Split field coverage using quarters coverage concepts. The strong side is a quarters concept with the corner man on #1. The Will bluffs edge pressure but drops out to play a quarters concept to the weak side.

Nice sim from Florida. The final look is a four man pass rush with an interior twist game back stopped with split field quarters coverage. Good stuff from Todd Grantham and the Gators. 

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. 

Pressure vs. Empty

Here is a well designed pressure from LSU vs. an empty formation from Alabama.

Alabama goes 00 personnel and LSU matches with a multiple DB sub package on 3rd & 6.

There is only one DL body on the field but the front is a very traditional 4 down alignment with two 3 techniques and two A gap mugged up rushers. The difference is 5 of the players at the LOS are in 2 point stances. The presentation is a 6 man blitz with 1 DL, 3 LB and 7 DB bodies on the field. 

The Rush:

The 3 techniques convert from B gap to contain rushers and both A gap rushers are in the pressure. Both of the aligned edge rushers drop to coverage. End result is a basic four man pass rush concept.

The Coverage:

Split field coverage concept with a four over three coverage tool to the field and three over two coverage tool to the boundary. 

This structure allows LSU to rush 4 and drop 7 using a traditional 4 down pass rush and split field quarters coverage on the back end all while creating a run through in an A gap. By using sub personnel the Tigers are able to get skilled players into the coverage drops and still generate a pass rush. For the "Well Bama/the OL should have just...." crowd. The OL is in a big time bind here. They have to block most dangerous as there are only 5 OL for 6 pass rush threats. "Protect inside first...."  sounds like a good strategy until you consider personnel. If the OL slides the protection leaving an edge rusher free the inside rush would in principle be blocked. In that situation the OL would also be freeing up either #3 (currently leads LSU in sacks) or #18 (4th currently on LSU in sacks) off of one of the edges. The OL doesn't know if one, both, or neither of the edge guys will drop. Which is the bigger threat: A gap mugged DB or a top sack guy off the edge? Good design and usage of personnel from Coach Aranda and great execution from the LSU defense.

Alabama Cover 2 Zone Pressure vs. Empty

Here is an effective pressure concept Alabama used vs. LSU. 

Alabama is in a 6 DB Dime personnel with 2 stand up DE's (OLB types).

The Rush:
End - Up the field to Contain
Tackle - Slant inside
Nose - Loop to Contain
Nickel - B gap pressure

The Coverage:
Corners - Flat
SS & FS - Show 1 High Safety rotate to Deep 1/2
Dime - Zone to #2 Strong
Mike - Zone to #3
End - Zone to #2 Weak 

The initial alignment by Alabama dictates the protection.

The LSU pass protection has 5 blockers for the 5 most dangerous rushers. Pre-snap the immediate gap threats represent the 5 most dangerous rushers.

The RG is forced into being manned up on the DT and blocking him on the inside move. The RG doesn't know the Center, LG, LT will be freed when the Mike and DE drop into coverage. The deep pass set of the RT against the speed rushing DE creates the clean B gap run for the Nickel. By the time the OL could process what is happening the Nickel is in the face of the QB.

Carolina Panther Overload Zone Dog vs. Empty

Here is an overload zone dog used by the Carolina Panthers in 2013. The dog is backed up by 3 under 3 deep zone coverage.

The RB motions to empty and the Panthers run an overload to the defensive left side. The rush sends two through the B gap.

The Rush:
End - Contain
Tackle - 3 Tech, Long Stick to Opposite A
Tackle - 3 Tech, Work to Contain
Will - Rush B gap to A Gap
Safety - Rush widest part of B gap

The Coverage:
Mike & Nickel - 2 droppers
End - 3 dropper
Corners - 1/3
Safety - MOF

The Panthers rush 5 against a 5 man pass protection scheme. The offense has enough blockers but the rush scheme violates the rules of the protection.

Initially the Guard and Tackle are forced to set to the right to block the DT and DE. That leaves 3 blockers to the left (Center, Guard, Tackle) to block 4 rushers (DE, DT, Will, and Safety). 

The offense could pick up the rush if the OL was sliding to the pressure.

The offense doesn't know the End is going to drop off into coverage. Therefore it is impractical for the offense to slide to the pressure and risk leaving a DL unblocked.

If the OL slid when the Panthers were rushing 4 down linemen, the DT and DE would have an easy 2 on 1 vs. the RT.

The RG initially set to the DT. Once the DT worked outside to contain, the guard was able to redirect and block the long stick DT from the pressure side. Once the RG redirected the offense had 4 blockers for 4 rushers. The challenge for the offense is the Center has to travel back with the long stick DT. The Center set to the pressure initially and has no way of knowing the End opposite the pressure dropped into coverage. If the Center let the long stick DT cross his face, there is no guarantee the guard will be there to help. Pre-snap the protection rules are the RG and RT need to block the DT and DE. The Center has no way to know that is no longer true. Once the Center traveled back the defense created a 2 on 1 for the LG. The guard is also forced to travel back with the Will. The LG has Center help allowing him to pass the long stick DT to the Center. The Will rushes the B gap and the guard sets to him. Once the Will makes an inside move; the guard is forced to travel back with him. The guard can pass 1 inside move to the center, he cannot pass 2 inside rushers. That leaves the safety rushing from the secondary on a clean run through for the sack.

This pressure is a good reminder about the nature of bringing pressure. There is a balance between coverage and pass rush. The more coverage the more time the rush has to get home. The more pressure the less time the coverage needs to cover. Some coaches are tentative about dropping a DE into coverage, thinking he will be a major coverage liability. The expectation of the DE as a pass rusher sets the OL's protection rules. Dropping the DE into coverage allows for an overload rush that attacks those protection rules. While 3 under 3 deep zone coverage is not perfect, dropping a DE does allow for overload pressures that can cover up those imperfections. 


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