Man Free VS. Zone Pressure

UNDER PRESSURE

The word pressure as a verb means to persuade or coerce someone into doing something. It can also be seen as a state of physical or mental distress. When applying pressure as a defense, we are trying to do both.  We would like to persuade the offense into a state of mental or physical duress.  When I say that I don't just mean the QB, but the entire offensive system. The thing about applying pressure is it becomes a risk/reward type situation.  Sometimes depending on the coverage structure you play behind the pressure you may be putting pressure on YOUR players as well.

TOUGH TO COMPLETE PASSES FROM THERE

Most people understand that if you can harass the QB you can slow down an offense.  The problem is not how to harass the QB or the run game, the problem is how can you be solid and sound behind the harassment.  Blitzing just to blitz is a bad bad idea.  All blitzes should be thought out and calculated based on personnel, field position, tendencies, and flow of the game.  Blitzing in general should not be your first course of action because if it does not work, then what do you fall back on?

WHAT IS A ZONE BLITZ?

First I think we must define what a zone blitz is.  For today's blog we are talking about sending a 5th rusher and playing zone coverage behind it, with only 6 players in coverage.  That means we are short a player in our zone coverage so we must adapt the coverage a little bit to account for that.  The picture above is a simple version of a 3 under 3 deep zone blitz coverage.  The underneath coverage has 2 Seam Curl Flat defenders and a middle hole or hook 3 player.  The back end of the coverage is playing deep thirds.  This is a much better look vs. the run game because it is essentially an 8 man front with a force defender to each side and zone players are in better positions to support the run because of where their eyes can look.  The issue becomes the coverage aspect of the pressure and making sure you can match the coverage to the formation you are seeing.  In this diagram the Hook 3 defender is on the same side as the #3 receiver and that receiver is in the backfield.  If that #3 was a wide out and lined up opposite the Hook 3 defender you will now need to make some adjustments in the coverage.

MAN FREE BLITZ

In the diagram above you are now looking at a 5 man, man free blitz which means the coverage will be man to man with a Safety free in the deep middle of the field.  Now that the coverage has become man to man it makes defending the run a little more difficult.  In today's wide open spread style offense's you are going to see a lot of 2x2 and 3x1 sets which means those 4 wides can run guys off in man coverage very easily.  For us at my high school if we play man we look exclusively at our man because I don't want my guys "peeking" in the backfield and giving up an easy 6 points on play action passes.  That will slow down their run fits if those are wide receivers they are covering.  So now we have to make sure the outside edge rushers become the force players in the run game.  What we gain though is the ability to line up and play faster and more aggressive because we are not as concerned with getting out formationed or having to check our coverages to certain formations.

Each 5 man pressure comes with it's own set of strengths and weaknesses and you must decide which works best for you and your players.  The ideal scenario would be the ability to do both.  We have opted to not do both versions because our players play both sides of the ball and we felt like we did not have enough time to teach both. Remember when blitzing its not the actual blitzes you draw up that's important but making sure you are sound in coverage and run support behind it.  The amount of blitzes you could draw on paper is endless, but the structure you play behind it is the most important thing.  Keep in mind the goal is to make the opponent have to beat you, don't beat yourself and do it for them.  Whatever you can teach best and your kids can play best should be the determining factor in making your decision.

PLAY FAST

Keeping Force Rules Simple

Simple Force For Success

One of the things I like most about the 425 is your ability to make force rules simple for your players and declare the run fits as easy as possible.  For the sake of today's blog I will keep this limited to 2 Back 21 personnel groupings.  I played 3-4 under fronts for 10 years and teaching read force was always a tough deal for me.  Keep in mind that read force is occurring between a safety and an OLB so it requires 2 players being on the same page and reacting accordingly.  I choose to play a 7 Tech Defensive End which is inside eye on the Tight End.  I know a lot of people do not like playing a player in a position where he is reached by alignment, and vulnerable to easy down blocks because of the angles involved.  My answer to that is I sacrifice those things to easily define my run fits on the back end.  Now my down safety knows he will always be the force player and my FS knows he should always run the alley and fit off the Mike LB.  I can now identify the blocks those players will see and the techniques needed to defeat those blocks. When I was playing under fronts with read force i had a problem finding a real good Sam LB that could play in a 9 tech with the ability to wrong arm and close down blocks while also effectively defeating the reach block.  The safety side of that was easier because on the back end you are just making the 9 tech right no matter how he fits the blocking scheme.

When dealing with lower levels of football like High School, Junior High, or Pop Warner you have to keep time constraints and athletes going both ways in mind when developing your schematics on defense.  I chose to be a 425 team because of the simplicity, not the complexity.  All things considered the 3-4 odd front stuff is definitely harder on an offense but it is also harder on a defense.  Especially if you want to go all out and try being a 2 gap team.  Because I have a lot of players that play both ways on my team, my time to teach them is cut down tremendously.  I need a scheme that is simple to teach and understand but also very flexible in nature. My defensive end is probably also a fullback or offensive lineman for me, so playing him in a 7 Tech makes things a lot easier on him and my staff.  The thing you have to sell him on is the fact he may not make as many plays on paper as a 3-4 outside LB, or as a head up or 9 Tech end.  A lot of this discussion is pointless because most people today are trending towards playing without a Tight End, and that DE now becomes a 5 Tech anyway.  But that also helps me defend my argument by saying if we see a Tight End twice a year the 7 Tech adjustment is easier to make.  You take a Sam LB who is playing in space 90% of the time and then ask him to play as a 9 Tech on a Tight End, and i think you are asking for trouble.  Now if he only plays Sam LB and has 5 days a week to work techniques vs. Tight Ends then I can see your point.  The great thing about it is you have the ability to fit your scheme to your players and your schedule if you are flexible enough to teach more than one scheme.  A great example of that to me is the military academies and the flexbone.  They run a system conducive to the players they are able to recruit.

At the end of the day it comes down to what you feel you can teach best, and what you feel your players can learn and play the best.  If we all had to play the exact same thing what fun would this be!!!

PLAY FAST