Tampa 2 Pressure

Green Bay is in a 4-2-5 nickel personnel with OLB body types at DE bluffing the double A gap blitz look.

The Rush:

Nickel and both DTs create a 3 man rush

The Coverage:

8 man drop Tampa 2 with both inside LBs in coverage. One LB drops into the deep hole while the other handles the low rat.

The Center turns in the protection to the strong side. The strong side DT occupies 3 blockers (OT, OG, & C). The long stick DT from the weak side ends up on a 1 on 1 vs. the weak side guard. The Nickel beats the OT with speed and pass rushes the RB. Great job by the only rusher with a 1 on 1 to win his match up. 

Really creative 3 man pass rush concept from Mike Pettine.

Quarters Pressure

Green Bay is in a 4-2-5 nickel personnel with OLB body types at DE.

The Rush:

Zero technique is attacking away from the rush pressuring A gap, B gap, and working to contain. The DT is a long stick and the Rush is off the edge. The LB is blitzing B gap. The effect is very much a 4 man version of America's blitz.

The Coverage:

The strong side is playing a trips 2 high coverage tool. The Nickel, Safety, and Rush are playing a 3 over 2 on the inside WR's. The Corner is locked on #1. Weak side the coverage is cover 2 tool with the ILB dropping weak side and the safety playing the deep 1/2. This coverage concept is common in 2 high split field coverage systems.

The RB was attempting to chip the Rush backer who went into a 3 point stance and presented a speed edge rush threat. The attempted chip allowed the Will to run through unblocked in the B gap. The impressive part of the design is the zero technique nose occupies 3 OL opposite the blitz. Even if the RB attempts to block the Will the defense creates three 1 on 1's. Forcing the protection to waste 3 OL on 1 DL and getting three 1 on 1's in a 4 man rush are exactly the outcomes the defense wanted to accomplish. All the while the defense can cover down with a 7 man drop 2 high coverage concept. 

Nice usage of a non-traditional 4 man rush to get great pressure by Mike Pettine.

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.

Align to Win Part 2

What is the difference between personnel and spacing? As there is no universal football terminology, I'll start with how we define these terms.

Personnel is the people on the field. If we want to substitute a player into the game because that player has a skill set for the job at hand, we can do that with a personnel group change. Need an extra DB, sub one in with a new personnel group. Need your best pass rushing DL on the field, sub them in with a personnel group on 3rd & Obvious Pass downs. Bottom line Base personnel subs out for a specialized personnel group. Could be a a 1 for 1 sub or a mass substitution. 

Spacing is how the defenders line up. Can a 3-4 personnel space like a 5-2, 5-3, 4-3, 4-2, or 3-3, yeah absolutely. Can a 4-2-5 with a hybrid player at DE morph into 3-4 concepts, definitely. As a defense, we are not bound in any way by the idea that personnel dictates spacing. If we have versititle players, specifically hybrid DB/LB or LB/DL we can play any number of spacings with the same personnel on the field. 

Got a sub group of elite speed rushers, great, create a 3rd down specialized pass rush package and go sic 'em. But what if your best 11 are just that, your best 11. This is where spacing and align to win come together to help create specialized pass rush opportunites with base personnel.

FRONTS

Take a base 3rd down pass rush alignment. The DT's widen to work pass rush against the guards and the DE's are outside against the OT's. If the DE's are the best rushers and the guards are the weaker protectors it's possible the offense has exactly the matchups they want (G's vs DT's and OT's vs DE's).

With a simple call the defense can instead flip the DL alignments. This is still a 4 man front spacing with new roles for the DL.

Now the interior OL has to contend with the better rushers. The DT's soak up the better pass protectors on the outside. The DT's likely can align with width and keep contain. This alignment also lends itself to still running pass rush games.

Ultimately this stunt gets the DE back out to the outside.


Maybe the defense wants to attack a specific side of the protection. Again a front adjustment can help.

Nothing says the defense cannot align with both DE's on the same side. The DT's can  contain and build a backstop opposite the Ends. The DE's can now work base pass rush or pass rush games and attack the weaker side of the protection.

Change the Spacing

Another option is to build an X rusher package. The idea is simple if you have a good rusher to sub you can sub for the X. If you don't you use your base 4 DL as the 3 down linemen and declare one as the X rusher. Who should be the X? Possibly the best rusher because the X can align anywhere and has good rush opportunities. Is is also possible to use the 2nd best rusher as the X. This allows a slightly lesser player to get and advantage in the rush and have the best chance to succeed. Meanwhile away from the stunting X can be the best rusher working in isolation.

Edge - X off the edge

The X can align off the edge and rush like a OLB type pressure. The X makes an Edge Left or Edge Right call to declare where he is aligning and rushing. The front works away from the X's call.

The Nose and DE opposite can also work pass rush games to create good matchups opposite an edge call.

Gilligan - Guard on an Island

The X can walk up an isolate the Guard with a two way go. Again the Nose and End opposite the X can work base pass rush or a rush game. The X calls Gilligan Right/Left. From the same X on the guard alignment the X can work pass rush games with the End or the Nose. 

Another option is to build a choice package for the X. For example:

 Against sets with the RB set to the boundary or other drop back pass indicators the X calls Gilligan to the weakest OG.

But against sets with a threat of sprint out pass the X calls Edge to the sprint out threat. With a little planning the defense can be in a best rush situation with a simple set of weekly rules.

A defense can easily build multiple pass rush stunts by aligning the X rusher where ever the defense wants. The spacing choices are endless. X can line up as a Stack LB, 2 point or three point, stem around pre-snap, blitz into the rush, etc.

The X package can be a way to get great spacing multiplicity without subbing new personnel. The defense can easily use the X package to also build in various 5 man pressures and 6+ blitzes with the multiple spacing options of having the X rusher anywhere. When thinking about aligning to win, the defense has no rules about # on the LOS or structure of our alignments. Why does our best pass rush DE have to line up on an OT?

Weak Side Fire Zone Corner Blitz from a Hybrid 4-3 Under Front

This blitz is from the 2007 USC Playbook from the Pete Carroll Trojan defense. The USC defensive front used a hybrid 4-3 / 3-4 concept. One of the DE's is a hybrid player who can play as a traditional hand on the ground defensive end. That hybrid DE also allows the defense to transition to a 3 man front concept by playing that DE in a 2 point stance. 

FIELD COWBOY 3 SEAM

Field sets the nose to the field and the 3 technique into the boundary. The boundary DE (here the right DE) is the hybridized player.

The Rush:
Cowboy - Blitzes the Corner & the Will from the Boundary

Field DE - Contain
Nose - Field A gap
Tackle - B Gap
Will - Blitz A
Boundary Corner - Blitz Contain

The Coverage:
3 Seam is a 3 under 3 deep fire zone coverage concept

Sam - Hot 2
Mike - Hot 3
Boundary DE - Hot 2
Field Corner - 1/3
SS - Middle 1/3
FS - Boundary 1/3

If the offense aligns with a #2 weak at TE the defense is able to keep the blitz and the coverage intact.

With the blitz coming from the boundary, any 3x1 formation to the field can be handled without any adjustment. The Mike is able to handle dropping off of the #3 receiver to the field. The blitz and the coverage operate without any checks, changes, or adjustments.

Against a 2x2 formation with a split #2 receiver into the boundary the defense shows its flexibility. The boundary DE makes an "Okie" call. Okie moves the Tackle to a 5 technique. The hybrid DE walks out and is able to align as an OLB to execute his pass drop on a split #2 receiver. The Boundary corner has a difficult path to blitz with the DE and split #2 in his way. To solve this problem, the FS makes a "Sheriff" call. Sheriff means the safety is now blitzing instead of the corner. 

Pete Carroll's defenses with the Seattle Seahawks have featured this same concept of blending 4-3 and 3-4 concepts. Moving forward, hybrid players will continue to play a critical role in allowing defenses to innovate.