A rising defensive mind the past five years, Chris Ash is renowned for developing fundamentally sound players and being a passionate teacher. With the success of the zone read this season in the NFL, maybe the pros can take a clue from one of the better coordinators out there with this clinic. Ash reviews how fire zones and Tampa 2 coverage can stymie these quarterback-dependent offenses.
As touched on earlier this year, Manny Diaz makes a great point when he says that his fire zone “is the safest thing I can run”. Coupled with pattern-match principles it allows the defense to congeal itself into whatever form the offense runs like a veritable coverage jiu jitsu.
The point of this post will be to illustrate the flexibility the concept provides where most blitzes would ‘break’ or require a check out of. We will concentrate on how coverage defenders should respond to challenging patterns from typically stressful formations of 1-back and empty. This is an element that we enjoy discussing here; the evolution and adaptations within the game of football.
The key to the success of this type of defensive application remains the teaching methodology that carries concepts over from Cover 1, to Cover 3 pattern match, to Rip/Liz match. The combination of these fundamentals are what the success of the fire zone is built upon. Neglecting or not thoroughly teaching the roles will limit the effectiveness of how players operate within the fire zone.
For the sake of discussion, we’ll narrow the application to the “NCAA Blitz” fire zone that everyone runs, but keep in mind, just plug-and-play personnel groupings because it’s all relative regardless if it is a safety, backer, or lineman taking on the role of one of the underneath defenders. For the sake of clarity in this review, terminology varies from staff to staff, but I will refer to the wall/flat player as the ”SCIF” player and the middle hole/hook player as the “final 3rd” defender.
As we’ve discussed before, any defense can line up against 2-back pro formation, it’s what the defense has to become when confronted by 2x2 or 3x1 sets that determines what the defense actually is.
The best way to conceptualize the coverage matching is that you will zone into the pressure / man (match) away from the blitz.
2 x 2
With the fire zone you’re essentially getting 3-deep coverage, a seam player, and one final defender to match the third receiver to either side (or cut any crossers). Because 2x2 is one-back and essentially a ‘spread’ set, the Rip/Liz check becomes the standard way to aggressively handle the two seam receivers. Instead of passing off receivers or spot-dropping, letting voids develop – this method ensures the routes will be accounted for while still avoiding the inflexibility of true man coverage.
How the remaining back will be accounted for is all that really differs from Cover 3. This also plays into how shallow crossers will be handled (with inside verticals compensated with Rip/Liz). Without the ability to funnel the back between two linebackers, you only have one backer (and lose the ability to ROBOT away inside routes). This essentially has the middle hole player assigned to aggressively match the back (who is #3 receiver to whichever side he releases).
2x2 out of a 3-deep concept (fire zone) will be handled simply by Rip/Liz in all cases. This remains true unless a receiver immediately breaks inside under 5 yards. With inside breaking routes, the defenders will not chase but alert the final 3rd player that he has a route approaching (“cut” as the hole defender). The final 3rd defender will receive an “UNDER” call from one of the outside defenders (an inside breaking route under 5 yards). This is a post-snap call on Rip/Liz to zone off into a 3 deep principle (#1 or #2 takes route inside).
Typically with a shallow, it is paired with a back flaring to the side of the field where the shallow originated to serve as an outlet receiver. This makes for an easy exchange, just like a “rat” call in Cover 1. The SCIF and final 3rd player just replace one another’s receiver, though the distribution remains consistent (the shallow becomes the 3rd route, the flare is the 2nd route, and the post is the 1st route in the distribution).
A more challenging route package for matching would feature the shallow to the same side as the flare. In this example, both SCIF players would carry #2 vertical with the Rip/Liz rules and the final 3rd player would pick up and carry the crosser after receiving the UNDER alert. With all threats leaving his area, the away-side corner would sink and high-leverage the dig route.
3 x 1
Trips formations can be a bit more challenging to the fire zone because it can immediately out-leverage defenders by alignment (3 receiver side). Even though it presents a horizontal stretch, the 3 receiver set can be handled using the same method as the zone-push concept, “Mable”. The first outside receiver would be manned by the corner. The second and third receivers will be (banjo) matched by the SCIF and final 3rd player underneath with the corner to trips manning on the #1 receiver. The away-side SCIF player would immediately look to match the back or whoever became the #4 receiver in the route distribution.
Here, just like in 2x2, the shallow by X precipitates an UNDER call by the corner letting the final 3rd player know he has a receiver crossing the formation (becoming the 3rd receiver / 1st receiver inside to trips) to cut. The away side corner would high-shoulder squeeze the shallow into the formation until picking up the (meshing) drag by Y. This leaves the away-side SCIF player free to jump the back releasing to his side.
The previous two examples showed #2 in the trips being the first underneath out route. What happens if #2 releases inside (such as with spacing shown here)? The H receiver would become the first receiver inside, with the Y being the first receiver outside. Since the H is no longer the #2 route in the distribution, he is passed off to the final 3rd player. The SCIF player matches the Y as the first of these two ‘outside’ underneath.
Empty
With empty, the only check required would to be ensure that the rush is coming away from the 3-man surface due to leverage issues. With two receivers away from trips essentially in man coverage and zoning to the trips, it would require the zone defenders to the trips side to be afforded the best possible positioning on the two inside receivers (just flipping where the overload is coming from). Just like against any trips set, the trips-side defenders would Mable (zone push) into the route dispersion. The away-side would aggressively man the remaining 2 receivers and retain the middle-of-the-field safety.
** PS ** The slot coverage post is coming. This pattern match post just happened to be ready first and I don’t want to sit on anything that could help.
Also, if you haven’t figured it out already, our former YouTube account that included many of the cut-ups featured in previous posts has been deleted by Google/NFL Properties. Hope you downloaded / picked up on those video illustrations while they were up.
how the front integrity remains sound (how the gaps are accounted for) and
how their proliferation relates to teaching methodology (it remains consistent with everything they already do).
Now this post won’t contain any answers – I’m just passing along some things that have piqued my curiosity. Be sure to check out blitzology if you’re interested in getting practical insight now.
I am certainly open to any insight. I am most intrigued by how Dom Capers has been using this (loved his work with the Panthers, plus he was with Saban in Miami) and in particular, the use/technique of the 2 defensive linemen (not ‘Psycho’). I am more intrigued by this because of how the DTs handle the interior gaps as well as the use of standup linebackers on the edge (that puts you in a real 42 because that is how personnel is used, anyway, with no true defensive ends in great supply). TCU has been doing this more and more against 1-back gun offenses because there is little threat of being 'blown off the ball' or out-leveraged when standing up (to the field).
I feel there are certain known factors that provide clues towards what is actually taking place and that would be as follows;
The offensive personnel groupings have no bearing on when these are used. 21 / 11, pro, double-tights……it makes no difference.
I am not quite certain how much ‘field’ and ‘boundary’ has any true relevance concerning the tendency with these groupings. The NFL hashes only give you a little over 9 feet of difference between the area of the field, so I don’t believe there would be a true game plan based on this
Because of the assumption of #2, I would believe that pressure is designated by formation splits and/or back set, as this would be the better indicator of protection.
#3 gives credence to the effectiveness of fire zone/blitz pressure (catch man) coverage, where it can provide ‘unbreakable’ answers, rather than playing double coverage calls (pro/twins).
The modular approach to the fire zone (hot 3, SCIF, deep hole, etc) means you can plug-and-play any defender into a role to come up with a myriad of options to cover 5 receiving threats. It is this approach that I feel will be what most of us (coaches) can use to improve how we teach the game and include more players in the game.
With only 2 defensive linemen in the front and the center never being covered (usually double 3 techniques) , my completely unfounded assumption would be that these guys are playing a heavy (2 gap) technique (which is really becoming prevalent). This also aides in muddying the Mike declaration for 5 and 6 man protection. Though this initial thought may be incorrect or their reads have become incredibly effective in controlling the playside gap. Actually, it is how the 2 DL contribute to controlling the front that has me the most intrigued because it doesn't appear that the 5-7 technique backers are that integral to gap-integrity (as in, they are either controlling the gaps with the pirate stunts associated with fire zone or are looking to spill everything to the SCIF or sideline in man).
Of course, any or all of these assumptions may be incorrect, but if I can find anything we can take away from this I’ll pass it along. It goes without saying that the NFL (game) is primarily about key players that allow you to do things most every other team cannot. Meaning, a good portion of this could be just the by-product of having freaks on your defense.
The constant at the lower levels (particularly high school) is that :
Your best personnel IS your best personnel, meaning your ‘base’ defense is usually your only defense and if you can sub with considerable competent depth on defense, you are in the minority.
Your effectiveness on defense is relative to the quality of opponent you face. If you face offenses that are relatively 1-dimensional and/or do not vary much on down and distance, then situational game planning with personnel groupings like these can be hit or miss.
Additional thoughts....
Semi- related to the Capers nickel exploration, is just an empty adjustment Capers used with Saban at Miami, “Rain”, that follows the same principles. This is a 5-man check-blitz premised out of 0 coverage, but could be used with fire zone 3-deep / 3-under coverage.
The beauty of this is that you’re going to get 5-man protection with no back, so how you declare the mike (extra rusher) is crucial. With the double-3 techs and no real Mike to be found, you give a lose-lose situation to the offensive line with no clear picture to where the pressure will come from.
By presenting a rush of 4, the quarterback would either check to the most dangerous threat or away from the hot. Either way, the defense will be sending two bandits to each B gap, having the blitzer to the side the center does turn his shoulders to (the slide side) pop out and become the “hot 3” player in the hole. This leaves the away side B-gap blitzer a free pass to the quarterback against the man-protection side of the formation (G & T vs edge rusher and DT in A).
Addendum to the Additional Thoughts...
ahem......actually nothing to do with Capers, but following the same meme and how it is used elsewhere. While I really don't have problems 'controlling the front' with the standard 5-man fire zones because it remains sound. I just know that many DCs have been teaching their interior defensive linemen with a variety of techniques over the past 5 years (bridging the gap between 1 gap and 2 gap read) creating more versatile possibilities in what you can pull off in situational defense.
"I always think that schemes are overrated....We're going to attack out of a multiple array of fronts. If I had my druthers, I'd like to play a 5-4-5, which you're not allowed to do. But I want the offense to feel...like we've got about 13-14 guys running around. We want to look like we have an unfair advantage."
The youth movement injected into the University of Texas program has generated a lot of buzz recently. The hope is that the new found energy translates to on the field production after a lackluster performance during the 2010 season. One reason to be especially excited is that replacing legendary defensive mind, Will Muschamp, is Mickey Andrews / Chuck Amato protégé, Manny Diaz. Diaz’ eager hustle, passion for fundamentals, and keen attention to details is apparent in his body of work through NC State, Middle Tennessee, and Mississippi State and are what have propelled him on the fast track to success. Having never played college ball, Diaz doesn’t get caught up in over-complicating the game, but keeping his scheme idiot-proof.
“Offense and defense is about asking questions and having answers.
When an offense presents something, the defense has to answer.”
With the advent of the versatile 1-back gun in today’s offenses, defenses need to account for so many attacks that they must figure out what exactly they are looking to defend. Diaz believes that to stay ahead of the curve, to, a defensive coordinator needs to force the ball to go where he wants it to go, rather than attempting to just ‘defend the whole field’. With this approach, you are left with even more reason to include fire zones.
FIRE ZONING THE RUN GAME
“Dare the offense to run – then make them run into something they don’t want to run into”
Throughout the 90s by the way of Miami, defenses transitioned to the mantra of speed, with the defensive ends becoming the most disruptive players on the field. The more offenses game planned and tried to deal with these athletes, the more they realized they just couldn’t block those guys. This is what has brought us to the current flavor of offense, where they don’t even block the defensive ends (read game).
“Don’t let them make decisions – with fire zones you make all the decisions for them”
Combating the gun option, Diaz feels the fire zone is the perfect RUN defense because of the key-breaking look it presents. In most fire zones, you will overload one side of the ball with 4+ rushers with the backside dropping into coverage. For a quarterback, you are faced with a confusing picture.
If you read the backside end on zone-read, a defensive end that crashes (attacks the back) will tell you to pull the ball and run. If the backside end hangs or stays lateral, the quarterback should give to the back.
The problem is, against the fire zone, “none-of-the-above” is the answer. As you see in these pictures, if a quarterback sees the backside end hanging (not attacking the backfield) as he would if he were dropping, the quarterback would give to the back, who would be running straight into the teeth of the blitz.
With the fire zone, Diaz feels he can get the best of both worlds as it is an 8-man front with middle-of-the-field support with 6 defenders covering 5 potential receivers.
“Its just Cover 3 with a hook player blitzing – that’s a fair exchange.
It is the most stable thing I can run”
A large part of the success Diaz has experienced with fire zones is due in large part to the way he employs them. Simplicity is the key, contrary to most defenses, Diaz believes in spot-dropping with his 3-deep, 3-under to prevent his defenders from thinking or making mental errors. In this post, we explore how he defines and installs his foolproof approach to the fire zone.
FIRE ZONE
Much like how Nick Saban installed his middle-of-the-field coverage principles (curl-to-flat / hook-to-curl players), Diaz teaches ‘jobs’ instead of specific instructions. There are only 3 positions to be defined for this to work. The only thing that a defender needs to know is which one of the three will he be (and adhere to the simple rules for each).
The basic 3 deep fire zone features a long sticking defensive line away from the blitz with two backers or a backer and a defensive back rushing. The simple rules of this scheme allow you to mix and match who will be the rushers.
Diaz has found that when running fire zones, they eliminate front calls (less for the defense has to worry about) with the only thing the defensive line has to know is that there is a fire zone going on and which side the blitz is coming from. When you know that, the line will just align away from the gap they intend to stunt to.
The rules and integral pieces of the fire zone are as follows:
“Hot 2 to the field”
Defender is a curl-flat player. “Hot 2” means #2 receiver will be the hot target versus blitz (receiver will stem 5 yards and turns around against blitz). This defender simply has to control #2 (or whoever becomes #2) hot versus a pass read. The landmark will be 2 yards outside the hash (or the hash to the field in high school). If the quarterback continues to drop, he will get to 12-14 with his eyes on the quarterback. Versus a run read, this player is the contain / force, and will outside-in leverage the ball.
“Hot 3”
This is a simple job. On pass, he is simply to get to the middle of the field (regardless of where #3 is) defending space in the hole. If the quarterback continues to dropback, he will fall to a depth of 12 yards.
Versus the run, he simply has to recognize who #3 is and relate to him and spill with inside-out leverage.
Versus option, he is a dive player only.
The Hot 3 player is the only player that can exchange assignments with a defensive end (called “switch”). Switcher– is the linebacker away from blitz that will be the Hot 3 player (DE away is the Hot 2 player). If there are two receivers removed, the DE can’t possibly play the curl (Hot 2) so the Hot 3 player (linebacker) will make a “switch” call. All this does is ensure that the offense doesn’t make you check out of the blitz or out-leverage you. The Hot 3 and Hot 2 will switch assignments and the linebacker will walk-out and align inside #2.
“Hot 2 to the boundary”
This player will drop to 4 yards outside hash (2 yards outside the high school hash) to the boundary. Like the other Hot 2 player, he will drop to 5 yards against quick step and 12 yards against drop back pass and will be contain on run with outside-in leverage.
Usually the Hot 2 to the boundary will be a defensive end (brining field pressure). The coaching for the defensive end is simply, “Just go backwards” – that’s it. When in the boundary (“hot off of #2”) if #2 is in the backfield (i.e. some type of 3x1 to the field), this player must tackle him if he runs an inside run. In the boundary, this technique is exactly like you would play as an outside linebacker in a traditional 44 defense.
*Once you declare who #3 is, all of the pieces fall into place and there remains no more thinking involved in the defenses.
Outside Blitzer
When bringing extra pressure with backers and backs, one of the rushers will be the outside (or contain) blitzer. This player is geared to get after the quarterback, but must recognize how he fits into the blitz. On back flow away, he will have the quarterback outside-in. With flow to, he will tackle the running back (on play-action or not). Versus lead-option, this blitzer will immediately take the quarterback (as the Hot 2 player outside of him will take the pitch).
Diaz will teach how to drop to the field for a month to build competency, then will acclimate his players into counting guys and understanding the support fits against the run game. The beauty of this approach is that the fire zone now becomes an “offensive play” for the defense and can be practiced during 7 on 7. The rationale here is to install it (all of it) quickly and just run it over and over to work out the details on the fly.
Effectiveness of Blitzers
The most underrated element to Diaz’ approach to fire zones, is the coaching of the blitzers. With the fire zone, the defenders are attacking PEOPLE (not gaps).
The stunts tell the players how to penetrate, then attack the passer. The mindset here is to treat blitzers like ball carriers (the blockers are tacklers), that after taking the proper path, the blitzer should “find the open grass”.
Instead of telling a player to “blitz the A gap”, he will sell it as “you blitz the guard”. The philosophy is to take the path of least resistance; the quickest way to disrupt the passer. The blitzer will fight the soft shoulder of the blocker (not try to struggle where the blocker is strong). If the blocker sets hard inside, the blitzer has the freedom to bounce his path and fight the soft (outside) shoulder and take the easiest way to the quarterback.
COVER 2 CHANGE UP: “TRAP”
With any good attack, you need a counter-punch, a change up. With playing MOFC coverages such as Cover 1 and 3-deep fire zone, it is important to keep an answer up your sleeve for when the offense gets wise to what you’re doing. The TRAP fire zone is strong where fire zone coverage is weak. With Trap Coverage, Diaz uses man-match coverage (not spot dropping….except for the flat defender).
Trap fire zone is just a changeup that will have two blitzers outside the Mike linebacker (which can play havoc on protection that adjust to the MLB). Just as detailed above, once you define the jobs within the coverage, plugging and playing defenders can be simple.
“SEAM PLAYER” – Defender will be inside and on-top of whoever is ‘seaming’ unless he goes to the flat (look up inside cut to the curl).
“BUZZ / TRAP PLAYER” – This will be the strong end to the call and will be the buzz defender (playing from inside-out position) that shoots to the flat away from the trap defender. The corner to the blitz side will be the trap defender (corner is playing from wide position). This corner should be trying to show that he’s 3 deep as he is in fire zone coverage, but will be hanging on the flat. The rationale here is to make it look like a blown assignment by the corner. He will plays the gap inside #1 on run. As a trap player, the corner will rob the slant or he will carry #2 on the wheel. Again the simplicity here is what is important; when the trap player doesn’t even move, he ends up in a better leverage position.
“½ FIELD DEFENDER” – This will simply be the backside corner and safety. The rules are simple, seam #1 by remaining inside and on top #1 unless he goes to the flat (even on a shallow by #1). The deep half player will act as the eyes of the corner. Versus a Hi-Lo (CHINA) concept, the safety yells, ”CHINA”, so he can match him. If the offense comes out in 2 backs the safety will seam the back away from the blitz (if he blocks or is free releasing)
Because you have 4 underneath defenders, there is no switch call in trap coverage.
With trap coverage, there are some basic guidelines to ensure everyone is on the same page and aligned for success:
Vs empty…..LB has to walk out
VS 1 back – MLB has #2 and the WLB has #3
VS 2 back – WLB takes #2 weak or #3 strong
As you can see there is nothing revolutionary to what Diaz is doing, but the method he uses to simplify his scheme and is something that can be picked up by young players and develop a hyper aggressive defense that appears multiple and complex but remains easy to digest.
My name is Chris Vasseur and I coach Safeties at a Junior College in Northern California. I have befriended Brophy on the infamous Coach Huey website (I go by “VassDiddy” over there). I truly consider him the best defensive coach in all of High School football and I have learned so much from him. He invited me to write for this blog and I am extremely excited and honored to do so. I have contributed to the blog before (Virginia Tech Robber and Nick Saban’s Rip/Liz Match articles) but never have written an article.
My first topic is the “30 Dime” blitz package. The 30 Dime package is commonly referred to a 3 DL, 2 LB, and 6 DB defense used in long yardage situations (3rd & Long, 2 Minute). Since I base out of a 4-2-5, I already have 5 Defensive Backs so I would only make one change. I would take out the lesser of the two interior pass rushers, and bring a 6th DB (could be a Safety or a Corner) on the field. For 3-4 or true 4-3 teams, you might have to make 2 substitutions. The change of personnel is all based on your team and what you are facing. Against certain opponents, I would bring my best Corner in the Slot and bring in a 3rd Corner to play outside.
I believe this is the future of the NFL and will eventually permeate college football. I know… you are probably thinking: “Vass, this has been going on for years. What are you talking about?” True, but the implementation and thought process is changing. Teams are no longer just using this as a prevent defense, but as their primary method of pressure. Unless you have two dominant interior pass rushers, this package is perfect. In the first installment of my Dime package manifesto, I will examine why I began utilizing this format and the various coverage combinations that you can utilize. The second part will delve into the blitz and coverage possibilities, and how you can make combination calls to gameplan offensive formations and protections. The third part will examine how I use a “menu” effect to gameplan 3rd Down to create endless possibilities, showing you how you can easily customize this package to fit your system.
Let me start by saying that I am, and have always been a “40 Front” coach. I know there are many ways to skin a cat, and for me, I prefer the 4-Man line. I love the versatility and adjustments versus most offensive formations. I also like the ability to stop the run and play pass without a call or change of personnel, unlike the 3-4. I also think the fronts require less specialization than a traditional 3-4 defense – I believe you only need one true defensive lineman (3 technique) and one true linebacker (Mike). Plus, I went to school and worked briefly for, the University of Miami where the 4-3 was altered and turned into what it is today. I also worked for one of the Godfathers of the 4-4 to 4-2-5 movement. Needless to say, I am a little biased towards the 4-Man line.
My philosophy led me to discover this package. I love to pressure. However, I don’t like to just rush 1 extra defender, because I don’t feel the pressure is really getting home. Conversely, I am not one to roll the dice all the time and just leave people uncovered and/or play with no deep coverage. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll bring 6 or an 8-Man check blitz, but not as the primary method of pressure. This is why I love Fire Zones. They provide a middle ground. You have the ability to overload the offense’s blocking scheme and truly put pressure on them, while having sound, deep coverage. Plus, the creativity and possibilities are endless.
So, I researched everything I could get my hands on. I looked at playbooks, broke down games, talked to coaches, attended clinics, etc., all hoping to learn cutting edge Fire Zones. Over the years, I came to this conclusion: the Over front is great at overloading the weakside, but overloading to the strong side opens up major holes to the weakside (mainly having the slowest and least athletic lineman, the 1 technique, looping to contain, two gaps over). In the Under front, you can overload the strong side, but the weakside overloads aren’t as easy to run (Mike is too far to the strongside to bring). You can bring the Weak Safety down to blitz, but if they have 2 WRs to that side, now what? You have no one to cover! My solution was to blitz from the weakside from the Over front, and stem to an Under front pre-snap, to bring strong side pressures. The problem was solved… or so I thought.
I began coaching with my semi-pro team the spring and had all these face-melting (one of Brophy’s favorite adjectives) blitzes I had collected and installed. The league was a predominantly passing league, which was a departure from the high school league I coached in; our Defensive Ends had to be true pass rushers. We got into the first game and we needed to start bringing pressure to make things happen. The problem was this: in the Over Front, to overload the strong side or up the middle, I had to drop my Weakside Defensive End who is arguably the best pass rusher in the entire league. For the weakside overloads, I had to spike him into the A or B gap. I tried bringing 5 and playing Man-Free and nothing got home. Bring 6? It was almost like an automatic Touchdown. I eventually said, “screw it” and went back to a 4-man rush and the Quarterback had about 7 Mississippi’s to throw it. Needless to say we didn’t do well…
I began looking for answers. I busted out the playbooks and notes I had collected, and watched replays of NFL games. I watched the best defenses in the league at pressuring the Quarterback (i.e. – Jets, Saints) and saw that they were using these 3-Man lines. With this package, we could take out the Nose (my worst pass rusher who had to contain with strongside overloads) and bring in an additional Defensive Back, and bring the same pressures. The best part? I could bring my beast Weakside Defensive End, 100 miles an hour.
I had seen this package before, but they were doing something different. They were running what has become the “traditional” fire zones, the same blitzes with Man-Free coverage, and a Man-Free Peel coverage. They brought 6, played coverage with 6, and had their Defensive Ends still rushing the passer.
The key was that they assigned each edge rusher to “rush to cover the Running Back.” This is especially effective in the NFL because most protections are 6-Man, so he’s going to stay into block anyway.
The 30 Dime Front, allows the defense to run the same blitz paths with different coverage combinations, easier than a 40 front. You could feasibly run the “NCAA” blitz with Fire Zone Cover 3, 2 Trap (2 Deep/4 Under), Roll Cover 2, Man-Free, and Man-Free with an additional rusher and peeling Defensive Ends. When I ran the Over and Under front zone blitzes, I had to try to find one blitz to cover what I wanted to defend – I had to try to find one blitz to beat the protection AND defend the types of routes. If I wanted to bring the “NCAA blitz” for example, I had to play 3 Deep/3 Under, or a poor version of a Roll Cover 2. However, with the 3-Man line, I could create a “menu” because the blitz “paths” were separate from the coverages and were not tied together like the 4-Man line. Now all I had to do was teach the basic coverage concepts (3, 2 Trap, Roll 2, and Man-Free, Man-Free with Peel) and could bring whatever paths I wanted and slap them on a wristband.
To illustrate this point, let’s examine a problem I ran into before I decided to use this package. We faced a Sprint-Out passing team and tried running the infamous “NCAA” blitz to overload the strong/sprint-out side. It beat the protection, but there was a huge problem. We were short to the strongside of our coverage. This is because our Hook 3 player is lined up all the way to weakside and the QB could quickly and easily dump the ball to the 3rd WR. With the Dime package, the DE now rushes and I can simply bring the Dime back over to cover #3. Or, if we wanted to play zone, we could roll the coverage and play a Roll Cover 2 to the Trips side. I began to tinker with the idea and I realized that I could gameplan to beat the protections by choosing the blitz path I wanted. After I decided how to defeat the protections, I could gameplan the coverages I wanted based on the formations they ran, type of passing game, and routes.
An additional bonus of this package is that the Guards have one more thing to worry about. In our 40 Front, one had the 3 technique and the other combo’d the 1 with the Center. In the Bear (which we run a lot of), they were both man-to-man. In the 30 Front, the Guards have to Dual Read, a completely different read and technique.
Also, the Dime package allows us to keep the zone coverage responsibilities consistent. Out of a 4-man line is that you have to exchange coverage responsibilities with your DE and ILB. If only 1 WR, the DE drops Wall to Flat and the ILB has to drop Hook 3. If there are 2 or more, the ILB has to drop out to Wall/Flat and the DE drops inside for Hook 3. This is because you don’t want a Defensive End carrying a Slot WR vertically.
This may seem like a lot of stuff. It can be if you look at each blitz as its own separate entity. However, if you teach the coverage concepts, mixing and matching blitz paths with them is simple. In fact, I used this with a semi-pro team that practiced once a week, and only 50% of the team showed up. With the cunning use of wristbands and simplicity in teaching coverages, you can mix and match all of these concepts to create your own menu.
In the next installment, I will detail the various paths and coverages you can use in detail. Also, I will touch on how you can make “combo calls” to designate the coverages you want to play versus 2x2 sets, vs. 3x1 and Empty sets.
I look forward to contributing more and please feel free to ask questions, comment, or heckle me in the comments section.
Good luck this season and I’ll “see” you soon! -Vass
P.S. Thanks Korey Gray for helping me discover this package by telling me you didn’t want to drop anymore. I was blinded by all the fancy X’s and O’s and I didn’t let my best player do his thing.
As covered many times in various forms before, the fire zone blitz concept is prevalent in today's game. In this post, we'll cover probably the most under documented aspect of it, the SCIF player. Losing an underneath zone defender to pressure may cause some 'fundamentalist' thinking DC's to lose sleep... "how do you account for the four underneath zones"?
The 5-man pressure package can seem complex or superfluous to many folks, treating it as an alien concept. If you already pattern-match from a MOFC, then adapting to the fire zone for your players and philosophy becomes a natural extension. When players understand zone coverage as it relates to pattern distribution, plugging and playing them into similar roles becomes feasible because of the shared skill set.
When running a fire zone from a coverage standpoint, not much will actually change in the secondary. The fulcrum to this scheme will fall on the integrity of the SCIF/Bronco player, who controls the seams and matches the second receiver in the distribution. This player can be anyone within realistic alignment position (safety, linebacker, defensive end) near the seam. The beauty of the fire zone is its flexibility, you can bring anyone to match / fulfill the 3 underneath players.
If the SCIF player is a member of the secondary, the adjustment is extremely simple. If it is being run out of a 3-man / odd front, there usually is no need to drop linemen to create a fire zone, so you would typically end up with a Dog, Backer, or Safety as the SCIF player. Whoever it may be, the rules and technique will remain the same. The goal is to control the seams, the area between 2 yards inside the hash extending out to the numbers. You are essentially expecting a sack or force a short throw (below the conversion down) and outside (difficult).
This SCIF player must control the seams, which will be immediately threatened by the #2 receiver. On the snap, the defender will keep his eyes on the quarterback, bounce his feet (much like a Cover 4 safety), and easy pedal out with a slide step. Once recognizing drop back action from the quarterback, his eyes will snap to the #2 receiver and continue to slide for depth to stay on top of #2 at a depth of 10 yards.
Because this is a pressure package, the throw, if it occurs, should be quick (under 2 seconds) and not allow the quarterback much time to process through his progressions. If the quarterback's shoulders are directed at the seam, the SCIF player should be expecting an inside or vertical route, to which he has out leveraged the receiver (eliminating the throw). The SCIF defender should know that once the quarterback's shoulders go OUTSIDE the seam (exaggerated toward the flat), there is no way for him to progress back inside (and even if he did, the 'final 3' player would handle it). Therefore, if the quarterback's shoulders turn outside the seam, the SCIF should work parallel (expand width) to the numbers (sideline).
If #2 pushes vertically on the seam, the SCIF should catch at 10 yards and carry. He is essentially looking to play 'catch' technique on a vertical stem by #2 with inside-out leverage.
If #2 runs a speed out, the SCIF should slide to his outside foot and bust to the curl route, expecting the #1 receiver to be there on a curl-flat combo. The SCIF should not jump the speed out (but anticipate #1 will be the #2 after the pattern distribution).
If #2 breaks inside (shallow) underneath 10 yards, the SCIF will attempt to deliver this receiver to the final 3 player in the hole with an outside leveraged collision.
If the quarterback's shoulders open AWAY from the SCIF player (he is backside), remember, the quarterback won't have time to work back inside, the SCIF should slide parallel inside, no further than 2 yards inside the hash and help squeeze the ball with the 'final 3' player.
Where things get dicey is when you involve a lineman (end) in coverage as the potential dropper / SCIF player. This really becomes a run stunt because being away from the pressure overload, the defensive end's interior linemen will be stunting to his side. The nearest lineman will be looping to his "C" gap contain responsibilities, leaving the SCIF defensive end as a potential "B" gap filler. Below are some reinforcement drills on how the SCIF DE will mirror the back (load/flare) with leverage. The SCIF DE should always think of himself as a run-player FIRST, and a dropper only if there is no run action by the back.
Now, it should be noted that Nebraska doesn't rely on the fire zone nearly as much as many other NCAA defenses. It does provide them with a sound concept against every offensive formation with 5-man pressure. In this post, we'll take a look at their most used blitz and the coverage rules behind it.
Pelini supports all his fire zones with the 3 deep 3 under coverage known as "3 Seam" which simply declares that there will be 2 Bronco players and 1 "final 3" player. The only question remaining is who will fill those roles.
We'll look at the package "Strong Go", which is simply the standard "NCAA Blitz" fire zone. Nebraska will primarily only use this blitz against 10 and 11 personnel. Believe it or not, along with Boston and Frisco concepts, this fire zone package is also installed in the first day of fall camp (with a different fire zone package installed each day thereafter).
This is a strong side / passing strength overload based out of the Frisco family, that is adjustable and sound against any formation. The tight end is matched inside, outside and vertical by the hole, SCIF, and deep hole player, eliminating any hot to him.
The pressure side end long sticks to the “A” gap opening up a lane in the “B” gap for the Mike. The away end becomes the potential dropper, playing run until pass shows, then bailing to take away any hot into the seam. The corners play 3 bail and are man-conscious on #1. From a 2-high shell the safety to the pressure side drops on top of #2 as a SCIF/Bronco player.
The concept remains sound against Trips / Trey looks and just walks the Buck out on #2 and effectively sends pressure from the passing strength.
Even with a formation reset or a called Boston (Over) front, the concept is solid (set to the passing strength). The pressure comes from the passing numbers side, almost egging a quarterback to throw a hot to #2, who is about to be robbed by the dropping Bronco safety.
As we covered earlier, for every concept installed, a counter-concept is introduced. In this case, instead of a passing strength pressure, the opposite would be a weak side blitz, known as "Flex Go", always run out of the Boston (Over) front. Instead of blitzing into a passing strength, "Flex Go" blitzes away from the passing strength.
If 2 becomes 1 (motion/shift) the safety replaces the Mike, and the Mike becomes the Bronco player to the pressure.
This provides an easy adjustment/answer to everything that can be presented on any given down. A simple breakdown of motion / shift checks out of this blitz looks like this:
2 (wr) becomes 1 (wr) = Flex (Buck / Safety)
1 (wr) becomes 2 (wr) = Strong (Buck / Mike)
In the example below, strength is set to the flexed tight end and StrongGo is called. This will bring the Buck and the FS (with a switch call on the Mike, who becomes the Bronco player).
The final 3 player is the Will, with the away-side end playing run, then dropping underneath the stem of the single split receiver. The field pressure forces the ball into the area where the end drops to (that the quarterback did not account for).
The very same concept can be applied to any front, with nothing new to teach. Shown here with the Spinner package detailed earlier:
General Zone Pressures 1. A solid variation to stopping the run and rushing the passer, the foundation of a GREAT defense
2. Zone pressures allow you to bring extra rushers and play a safe coverage behind the blitz (not as much risk vs. Cov-0 but still high reward w/ negative plays by offense)
3. As a defensive unit, you MUST work on your run fits and QB (Pressure points of the passer) rush lanes vs various personnel/formations/plays. (Trash cans can be used for walk through and run through).
4. QB/WR are taught concepts of the following
Split safety looks C2/C4/C6
Post safety looks C3/C1
No safety look C0 / man-to-man Therefore have certain route concepts and combinations that can be designed against each defensive coverage concept
5. QB/WR is taught when you see a blitz, look to;
Will protections hold up and work the “concept side” of the pass play
Throw to the “hot side” of the pass play
QB/WR may have route/sight adjustments called within pass play of “trouble call” (Blitz side)
As a defensive unit we want to identify all or most of the “concepts and hots” that offense want to use to attack our defensive package. (game plan/adjustments)
6. Can “trigger” the QB to make the hot throws vs what appears to be man-to-man coverage and void areas that are in the defense. The zone pressure concepts will drop defenders in those ‘hot areas’.
7. QB will tell you so much at when, where, how.
QB Helmet (snap count, hots, checks)
QB 1st 3 steps (concept/hots/screens)
QB directional Keys
QB delivery keys
8. Droppers / Cutters / Screw Down players began on basic progression concept
Hot
RB
Crosser
9. Game Planning
Ability to attack the weakest blocker in protection (OL,TE,RB) in a 2 on 1 concepts (high / low, inside / outside)
Ability to attack certain protections and trigger certain adjustmetns with blitz threats Man Full Slide Half Slide Dual Read
Gamble: The QB has to have time to pick out the open WR in the open area
At this point, Jones began illustrating several of their 3 deep / 3 under pressures. Among them were two impressive concepts to take note of; "Dog" and 'Mafia'.
To take advantage of an explosive rush end they had last year (#9 Claude Davis, now at South Florida), they used this looping stunt. "Dog", showing man coverage blitz (4 rusher overload to a side) then loop the rush end into the far A gap. With the Nose looping to outside contain and the Mike coming fast in the A gap, the stretch of the opposite A gap opens up.
Out of 3 high
Out of 2 high
"Mafia" was another concept they used to exploit the weakside bubble. So vs man protection it provides an easy path to bring a rusher free, vs run they cover up the weakest gap fit on the front. They have found that looping the nose (away from the mafia stunt) can always get the center to jump this crossfacing defender and really open up the area of attack.
vs tight #2
Normally, vs 2-back, the Will and Mike would be looping into the bubble. In this depiction, vs twins, the safety screws down and replaces the Will and becomes a hot blitzer.
Mafia zone pressure vs twins
Of note on this clinic was the verbiage used to coach the BRONCO ends. To keep them honest and playing run first, they don't coach them to drop, they call them "potential rushers" (courtesy of Pete Jenkins). In "mafia", the drop end now is the hole player. Instead of walling off #2, he is falling inside to the hole and fits on cutback on run away.
I was looking for some film to throw over to Trojanfootballanalysis, to anticipate what flavor the USC defense would have. Looking for the cliched "Cover 2" / "Tampa 2" to feed an echoing "sports fan" audience, I couldn't find any......just a ton of C1 and fire-zones (even when they SHOULD have been in 2-high, to which Ohio was able to exploit the seams by #2).
As discussed previously, here is just another look at the do-everything fire-zone concept of Sting and Bark. Heavy hat tip to coachhuey’s captmccrae and Aztec, whom I learned this package from years ago.
The basic premise is a hard 5-man slant with a safety walked down creating an 8-man front. This is a prepackaged pressure and can be called to or away from strength.
As the clips illustrate, you can run these against run and pass, and is a very good pressure package against both. These are perfect against 2-back sets and will force offenses to rely on their quick game or leave 7+ in for protection.
These pressures, largely accredited to Dick LeBeau in Pittsburgh/Cincinnati days, were a staple of the Monte Kiffin Viking/Buccanneer defenses. As you’ll see his use of explosively quick interior linemen (Warren Sapp, John Randle, Booger McFarland, etc) accentuated their talents for movement and aggressiveness.
This is a defensive line slant AWAY from the TE from an Under front, with linebackers playing back strong. The slant will always be run to the 3 technique side of the front and the safety TO walks down. This is a great run blitz, as the MLB aims for the B gap chasm created by the sticking End (inside) and the SLB outside the TE. The WLB slow plays the flow, looking for cutback.
This stunt is run to the 2 receiver side, not particularly strong or weak. The SLB will always run the blitz. The MLB has a key blitz, meaning he is reading flow, as he’ll abandon his blitz if the back flows away. This reaction actually helps the timing of the blitz, as it delays him for a second so the stunt of the defensive end helps clear his gap assignment.
On action to the perimeter, primary contain is handled by the “Bronco” defender who in this case was the Rover and backside end.
The “Bronco” is a seam to flat technique, and relies heavily on the ‘pattern-match’ principles discussed at length on here before. When you are in 3 deep - 3 under, your players just can't just spot drop with your seam players. The bronco player must rally to get on top and match #2, or the seams (of 1-high coverage) will be exposed.
If #2 goes vertical, he should match and carry (vertically).
If #2 flattens (heads outside), the Bronco player should drive through the curl to the flat.
If #2 goes under, he cuts him and looks to rob #1 underneath.
All of this is nothing new to teams that already pattern-match, and the 'parts' become interchangeable. This methodology opens the door for ANY player to now become a Bronco defender, leaving pressure combinations limitless.
Categorized by a defensive line slant TO the TE from an Over or Under front with the linebackers playing back weak. Strong Safety and MLB are blitzing – safety to callside A and MLB to the backside A, the Nose creates the space by sticking to callside B.
This is a particularly effective run blitz as you get immediate inside pressure, with edge defenders slow playing perimeter action, leaving the WLB in the hole (reading back flow) to clean up anything underneath.
