Chris at Smartfootball got hold of the clip we uploaded for the TCU game review, and looked at the variation of the zone read that TCU ran against us last weekend here. Thankfully it saves me a couple hours of writing.
...Against TCU, however, in an otherwise solid defensive effort the Tigers allowed TCU’s quarterback Andy Dalton to rush 19 times for 86 yards, many of them on key conversions. After the game, Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele appeared flummoxed — or at least very caught off guard — by one spread-option variant in particular that TCU used....
...I’m going to disagree with the description of the play as a variant of the zone-read, though all of these plays fall within the same spread option family. Indeed, this is a play I’ve seen Florida and Urban Meyer use before, though the pulling guard is a nice wrinkle. I call it an “inverted veer.”
In the typical veer play from a spread set, the line blocks down and double-teams the defensive linemen on up to the linebackers. They leave the defensive end unblocked (except when they run midline veer, in which case it is a defensive tackle) and read that man. If he steps down for the runningback, the QB just gives the ball and steps around him. It is just the old first-read of the triple option adapted for spread sets.
But TCU ran a variant, one I’ve seen other teams use. They just “inverted” the runningback and quarterback: The runningback runs a sweep or outside zone action laterally. If the defensive end takes him, then the quarterback shoots up inside the defensive end. If the defensive end sits for the QB, the runner should be able to hit the corner. Remember, the defensive end is often the hardest guy to block, and especially so when you want to “reach” him to seal the corner.
In that way I disagree with the characterization of the play as a fake-zone read where the QB then runs back to the other way. You can see the runner is taking a wide angle. That said, I don’t know what TCU’s read was, but this is a play I’ve seen at least for a few years. And again, Meyer uses it at Florida with his fast runners heading outside and Tebow, the better inside runner, going inside.
Finally, the one wrinkle TCU has is the pulling guard. I think that was just designed to get better blocking at the point of attack, though TCU had them so crossed up he didn’t even end up blocking anyone. This scheme has a lot of similarities with how teams block the shovel play.
I suppose the reason Steele and Clemson had so much trouble with this hinges on what his linebacker’s reads were. I take it they were reading the quarterback and thinking backside with the zone read. If they read the pulling guard, for example, there wouldn’t be an issue with where the play was going. (This is one reason the veer blocking works so well, because the line steps one way and the play hits the other. The pulling guard can give this away.) It is just like on the famous counter trey play: if the linebackers read the pullers there are no issues with stopping it (though they may be weak to some other play), but if they read the fullback blocking away they can get crossed up.
I would point out that TCU ran a traditional zone read much more than this play, about 12 times total by my count, while this play was obvious to me only 3 times. DaQuan Bowers made the correct moves on the traditional zone read, taking the RB and putting the emphasis on the LB's to scrape around and make the play. However Maye was blocked out or in bad position to make a tackle several times by the Guard to the playside, as well as Conner/Cooper or whomever was playing Money (2nd LB in Nickel) on the particular play. Notice in this play in the clip, both LBs are coming in, so we were caught totally out of position.
When I went hunting for information about Gary Patterson's 4-2-5 scheme at TCU, I found almost nothing. Very little information is out there about it, but I did manage to find a partial download of their Cover 2 playbook scheme as well as Patterson's published article at a Nike Clinic about his defensive philosophy, along with help from Coach Huey's forums. Here I'll digest the important pieces to give a preview of what we will see against TCU next saturday.
A 4-2-5 and a 4-4 scheme (Virginia Tech) are not terribly different in general. You will need quick SS types to play LB in a 4-4, or matchup on TEs and the like in a 5 DB secondary. What is different about what Patterson does is in how he teaches it. When I read these articles, I was surprised at what they do in installation. Most coordinators will tell you that your coverage works with your front 7's alignment, i.e., one can dictate the other. You dont do crazy things with your LBs in a normal 4-3 because they could be totally out of position to get into their zones or man-coverage on a pass play.
But Patterson teaches them totally separately and believes the coverage is totally independent of the front aligntment.
Our fronts and coverages have nothing to do with each other. The front is called by the use of a wristband. We break down our first 6 or 7 opponents and put the fronts on the player's wristbands. We dont have to teach anything new to our players during the season. The team's may change, but the fronts do not. We do teach during the season, but we dont have to re-teach our fronts.
Patterson's then does one other thing other coordinators dont: he divides his secondary coverages into two calls called by the safeties to each side. In effect, his FS calls the coverage for one side, and the Weak Safety for the opposite side, dividing the offense down the middle. Most teams check off their coverage and make calls based on formations, but Patterson does not do this. In his words:
“We divide our packages into attack groups. The 4 DL & 2 LB’s are one segment of our defense. We align the front 6 and they go one direction. The coverage behind them is what we call a double-quarterback system. We play with 3 safeties on the field. We have a strong, weak and free safety. The free and weak safeties are going to control both halves of the field. They are the quarterbacks and they will make all the calls…
…In our coverage scheme we are going to divide the formation at the center every snap. We play with 5 defensive backs in the secondary…
…[If the passing strength is to the defensive left] the FS calls ‘read’ left. The FS is going to talk to the LCB, SS, and the read side LB. The weak safety aligns on the other side and talks to the right corner and right LB…
…Starting in spring practice, the 1st Mon. we teach Cover 2 (Robber). On Tues. we teach our Blue coverage (quarters)….On Wed. we teach squats-&-halves coverage (Cover 5). After that we are done teaching our zone coverages…
…We don’t worry about formations any more. When you divide the formation down the middle, to each side there are only 3 formations the offense can give the secondary. The offense can give you a pro set, which is a tight end and wideout; a twin set, which is 2 wideouts; or some kind of trips set that the defense will have to defend. That is all they can give you.
In 3 days we teach our kids to line up in all 3 coverages against those formations…when we start talking about our game play, we never talk about lining up. All we talk about is what the opponent is going to be doing and how we are going to adjust to it.
Unless the offense lines up in a 3-back wishbone or a no-back set, there are only 3 ways the offense can be aligned and still be sound. Unless we want the coverage to overplay something to one side, we don’t worry about formations….
The Defensive Front Basically, they normally align their DT’s in a 3-tech to the strong side, and either a Shade or 1-tech weakside. This is similar to what Clemson put against Georgia Tech. The advantage of playing your Nose Guard shaded off the Center's shoulder is that when he charges inwards, he can control both A-gaps. Their DE’s align in a 6-tech (head-up on TE) if there is a TE and in a loose 5-tech if no TE (just outside the OTs shoulder). Essentially their front will align either to the boundary/field (short/wide side) or a slight change based on whether a TE is on the OL. They do not flip-flop their DE's based on the formation or hash, only their DTs.
In blitzing, a small number of relatively simple calls can be combined into 157 distinct calls. But with the way he has simplified it, a DT only has to memorize 6 words to accomplish a variety of maneuvers and stunts.
…(When we blitz) the secondary doesn’t care what is going on with the front and LB’s. All they know is there is going to be a blitz and both LB’s are going to rush. That tells them they have to cover everybody if there is a pass…
…If there is a double smoke (an outside S blitz from both) being run, the FS knows the SS and WS are blitzing off the edge. He has to talk to the 2 LB’s to get them into coverage…
As far as blitzes go, its not the usual zone blitz with Cover 3 behind it that most teams, including Clemson, tend to run because of the split coverage to each side. TCU is not a heavy zone-blitzing team. They will blitz with Cover 2 Robber behind it, but for the most part are playing straight Man with a blitz. An offense cannot run base man protection schemes against them, because of their use of the twist and slide games (stunts essentially).
Coverages For the majority of the time, TCU is a Cover 2, Cover 5, or Man defense, but with Cover 3 in zone-blitz situations. What they tend to do against 2-back sets is slide a safety down into the box, so it looks like a 4-3, and play Cover 2 Robber to the side of the passing strength.
…In the secondary we have 3 basic zone coverages. We split the difference in those 3 coverages and it gives us 9 total coverages…We can also play cover 25. That means we are playing Cover 2 (Robber) to the FS side and Cover 5 to the weak safety side. The 1st digit in the number is the FS side and the 2nd digit is the weak side…
The problem with a 4-2-5 has usually been inadequacy against the rush. Against a Strong offset-I formation, for example, TCU will shift their LBs over to the strongside (called a slide) and slide the WS down into the box at the last second. With 3 DBs playing on the strongside, the Robber coverage call is unaffected. Despite the lack of another LB, TCU still manages to have one of the best rush defenses in the country because of these presnap shifts.
What is Cover 2 Robber? To the 2 WR side, for example, the SS and CB will matchup across the LOS with the FS playing deep-half. The FS watches the backfield for play-action, and once he reads pass his eyes immediately go to the #2 (slotman). If #2 runs vertical, SS stays with him. If #2 runs an out, the SS waits for #1 and is watching for a curl or post route by watching the guy's hips. He'll be underneath the route most likely to "rob" it.
If the hips sink, he's going to break and stop (like a curl). Then the SS jumps the route. Otherwise he goes with him on the post.
If #1 runs an in/out route, the CB calls "in" or "out" and the SS must get under the route to "rob" them. The CB is not responsible for them. On posts, the FS is meant to get under
On the weak side, there will only be the WS and CB on the #1 receiver, and the combination will play what is called "squat and half" coverage or "bracket" coverage. This means the CB will come up to try to squat or sit on routes (bumping the WR at the LOS) with the WS playing deep coverage. Bracket coverage looks a little like a Cover-2 zone, except that the first defender never peels off the receiver to defend the flat. Both defenders maintain high-low coverage throughout the receiver's route. Note that by "weak" I am talking about passing strength, not the Split-end side. The weak side would be a TE and Flanker, which are not as good at receiving as two true WRs to the strong side.
Cover Blue: Cover Blue is a cover 2 "Read", where the FS and WS both have halves, and the corners are in a read (called Blue technique) which means they will follow the #1 receiver vertical unless #2 releases outside before 8 yards deep. In this case the FS and WS will cover the #1 receiver. In a sense this is also Cover 4 (quarters).
Together with a cover 2 robber scheme to the other side, recall the coverage is called by the S to each side, it would be difficult for the QB to read.
The difference between robber and blue is who has flat, curl and wheel responsibilities. Cover 2 Robber: CB has #1 deep and post. SS has #2 flat, curl. Generally on a wheel route, they run the FS down and leave the SS underneath. FS has #2 vertical. If #2 runs an out, rob #1. Blue is 2 read but safety run support (SKY). CB plays outside #1 but on top of route if #2 blocks. If #2 to flat, CB stops feet and WS gets over top of #1.
Cover 5: A true Cover 2 look with CBs in Cloud (they have run support). The Free and Weak safeties are playing 2 deep zone with 5 men playing zone underneath. In other playbooks I've read, Cover 5 is a Cover 2 Man-under scheme, but not in TCU's. Also, TCU runs a matchup zone coverage like Clemson does now (not like V. Koenning, who ran a spot drop, like BC does) so it might as well be man/man. They almost never play the whole field in Cover 5, only one side.
The first topic to address is the misconception that the spread offense is a system on its own, it isnt. The spread is a set of formations with 3 or more wide receivers, thats all. Steele comments in his press conference that he expects multiple formations from Tony Franklin's offense: wishbone, zone read, and read options. The 4-3 front is capable of defending the spread, and can handle anything another team throws at you, but there are a few things to go through each week to decide whether to take out that LB and put in another DB.
Vic Koenning ran a 4-2-5 here last year, as does TCU. But their schemes are very different. VK's we've covered, and its a more spot drop read-and-react zone scheme where the SAM LB was actually more like a SS. This week, you will see Clemson doing things on defense that you will likely see from TCU's in a couple weeks.
Why go to a Nickel look? 1. You are putting more speed on the field. Usually you recruit another safety and bulk him up to playing a hybrid SS/SLB role, like DeAndre McDaniel.
2. Its a one-gap defense. LBs only really watch one gap, and their alignment doesn't hardly change from formation to formation. However, should they miss their gap on a running play, you are toast. Depending on the reduction of the front, sometimes one or two LBs may have two gaps to cover in a 4-3.
A 4-4 scheme like VT is not all that dissimilar to teach. Their LBs are more like SS's, its just that they do different things with the front. It can be equally good against the spread.
3. Speaking of which, you can do different things with your free safety. A true FS is a deep player who is a sure tackler, but can cover alot of the field. Nickel is suited to more Cover 3, and he's more of a safety valve. In a 4-3, he has to be more of an attacking player, and a better tackler, and I would say more of a field general. In a 5DB look, you can take a smaller faster FS and put him deep, and recruit two SS's and put them in the game. As a result, the SS position becomes easier to play because his checks are simpler, and can be a real hitter or run-stopper (Hamlin) like a Linebacker. This would also mean the FS gets less exposure in run-support, something which makes them famous and gets headlines as a heavy hitter (Ronnie Lott).
4. Ask yourself 'Are they using the Spread formation to create problems in the running game?' Rich Rodriguez does this, as does Urban Meyer. His spread is not about the pass, its about spreading you out and creating running lanes. If you run a 4-3, it makes sense to play the spread with your base, if that is the case.
5. Particular formations are easier to cover, as in Twins, or Doubles.
This week, going to the Nickel, Sadat Chambers will be in the game more as the FS, with Gilchrist as the nickel corner. His position is not just like that of a true corner on the edge, but teaching him the things he needs to use as the FS in the base 4-3 will work at nickel.
The major problem to watch for is whether they decide to run 4 verticals, e.g. from doubles above, and you're stuck in Cover 3. The underneath zone defender is playing a matchup zone (tight man within his zone) and once two players release into the deep 3rd, a CB or S has to play two guys by himself. How do we deal with that?
The first adjustment, particularly if they play Twins or Trips, is to bring your FS over to the wide side (VK did this quite a bit) and play a 1/4, 1/4, half coverage. Its still cover 3 matchup, and the CB is playing one half the field with the boundary as his help. He must force his reciever outside or he could be toast.
This corner is not quite playing a deep Cover 3, as he has no underneath help, and its more of a matchup zone/man coverage now. The FS is rolled over onto a weaker receiver in the slot (since he usually has not-as-good man coverage skills), likely Gilchrist but perhaps McDaniel. A weak safety (probably Chambers this week for MTSU) will be playing deep middle.
Against an empty backfield, you simply have to matchup one-on-one. You can still play cover 3, and you can disguise who is actually going deep, but its likely to still be the safeties as their alignment will already be deeper pre-snap. Its more likely that this is when you'll see straight-man coverage and blitzing the LBs.
To take the problem of a CB/S having to play two guys in his deep 3rd, you can switch to Quarters coverage. This brings us back to boundary/field adjustments, which we ran last year under Koenning. The passing strength is set to the Field (wide) side, or the side with the most WRs. Usually the left side, since a RH QB throws to his right, which is the left from our perspective. I will mention more about Cover 4/Quarters and "Bronco" against Trips at some later time.
Pressuring the QB. There are many things you can do from the Nickel, but I don't believe its as versatile as the 3-5-3 or even the 4-3 when it comes to crazy blitz angles. You will see some CB/S blitzing, and DL pressure is created through the use of stunts. Here is one particular blitz from Saban's playbook: a cover 1 CB blitz (star "*" is the nickel back, "$" is either a Sam or Will (now called Money), but sometimes another big safety). From Steele's comments this will be Scotty Cooper. The dotted lines indicate who matches up on who in man coverage. If the TE blocks down, or the Back stays in to block, one of the two LBs becomes a Robber. The term "even" refers to the front reduction and the placement of the DL and LBs. The DTs, in this front, each have 2-gap responsibilities. Everyone else has one. The LBs, Mac and Money, key the OG and nearest RB. The Ends key the TE/NB/OT in that order.
Finally, a Cover 3 zone blitz. First you declare your front, in this case "Okie" Notice the Nickel and SS switch responsibilities again, with the SS picking up the slot WR off the line and rolling down into his underneath zone opposite Money. There is a gap in the middle of the field to the TE side that Mac may not be able to cover from his hook zone. His responsibility will be more the RB than that TE.
In a Trey formation (3 WRs to one side, 1 RB, 1 TE) the adjustment is straightforward, with the CB shifting over top of the TE bracketed with the FS. Nickelback gets matched up on the inside slot man, with the SS rolling over the 2nd slot man. This generally can be given a double call and they'd check into a 1/4, 1/4, 1/2 setup with that CB ruling one whole side of the field. For Trips, shifted to the opposite side, the FS becomes the blitzer, with the nickel taking the flat and the SS dropping back in the middle.
I will save more on Nickel pressures for TCU game-week.
Just as an aside, I noticed Chris at Smartfootball wrote a blog on the scrape and defending the zone-read play using a 4-2-5, and since we'll see this play from our own offense many times, I think you should check it out. It'll also give a hint about TCU's philosophy.
Defenses today have to be multiple; there is no true 4-3 or 3-4 set anymore that is played on every down. Last year's Alabama team played a 3-4 base, but essentially only played a 3-4 40% of the time. Saban at LSU ran primarily a 4-3, but he does so many things that you can never pigeonhole his defenses. Why would you run one over the other when you'd run a 4-3 and won a Title? The answer is simply that you have the personnel to do it. If youre hired as a head coach and have 6 LBs who can all play, and only 6 Linemen, what would you do?
This is what bothered me when Clemson fans stated Steele would run a 3-4 here when he ran one at 'Bammer. We dont have LBs here to run it, but you will still see a few 3-4 sets against certain opponents.
What is the 3-4? Its just a front. Its a 'look' you want to give the offense to confuse them, because you want to hide what you are doing on defense as long and as well as possible. So dont be surprised when you see a guy who normally plays DE stand up like a OLB. Virginia Tech, for example, might tell you they are running a 4-3 in the pregame introductions, but it is really a 4-4 (or Gap 8) system....thats why they always seem to have one great tackler in the secondary. They are reducing their fronts in passing situations with a player like DeAndre McDaniel playing a LB position that is really more like a SS, which makes them better versus the pass than you would think a 4-4 team would be normally.
In order to help run support in the 4-3, the most common adjustment is to bring the SS down to LB depth and create an overshifted front, which we've already covered. This lets you shift the LBs over to the weak side, with the SS being (usually) the cover man for the TE or slot WR.
But in preparation to explain other defenses we'll see this year, we think its necessary to look into the other defensive fronts besides the simple over/under reductions. Specifically, the defensive line play.
The first thing to remember is that when coaches use the term 'technique' they don't always mean how to do something, they also mean the player's alignment, this is explained in the article above.
There are various other techniques to teach in combinations on one side of the line or the other, or inside DTs vs what the DEs are doing. For example, there may be a call where you want both DTs to run to the inside hip of the OG opposing them, towards the center. You would call that a "Tim". If its outside, towards the outside hip and to the OT, a "Tom". This is called a stunt, and it just means that you are having someone attack a gap they are not normally responsible for covering. You want to do this to upset the rhythm and blocking schemes of the offense, to create penetration on run and pass plays. One point to remember is that you will only want to stunt when youre penetrating, otherwise your defense is giving up ground. The stunts you use also change based on the type of blocking you're up against: man or zone. (you'll have to click the pic, sorry)
(obviously there is more info on the stunt in the images, but i'm leaving that out for now)
If the DE is told to run a '6' technique, lined up directly across from the OT, he's usually taught to charge inside. So if I called a defensive front "26 Tim" from the sideline, I'm telling my DTs to line up in a 2, my DE to line up in a 6, and the DTs to charge to the inside. If I play a 2 or 4 technique often with my DTs, then they are usually the bigger guys like William Perry or Terrance Cody, who can muscle through blocks. In that case you usually end up using them as a Nose.
Thats just a name, and other coaches may use other stunts with the same name. Against a stunting defense an offense may widen their splits to force the defense to change their gap responsibilties and adjust the front (this is partly why Texas Tech's offense has such success, they have very wide splits).
A 3-technique tackle, like Jamie Cumbie or Jarvis Jenkins, will be more likely to be the 290-300lb guy who can immediately shoot the gap, and more likely to stunt.
A common stunt is to slant your weakside DT into the A gap on his side, and then loop the Strong DT around behind him and into the weak OG's face. More explicitly, one DT charges into the A-gap, the other DT runs around his backside and into the Guard, effectlvely double-teaming that Guard. You could expect that to happen to Thomas Austin this year. The only difference in the figure below and what I'm explaining is that the figure depicts the DT attacking the inside of the opposing guard, instead of his outside. Usually a FB has to pick up the stunting DT, and coaches dont like their FB picking up tackles. A similar stunt is the Spike: Opposing teams would then be smart to run an isolation play to the strong side, by doubling the DT, singling out the DE, and isolating the MIKE on a Fullback blocker. MIKE has to take him on with a shoulder, not head-up, and force the RB to run towards the DE. That seems to me to be the easiest way to handle such a situation.
A "3-game" or Pirate stunt is with both Tackles and the weakside End ("3" comes from "30" or weakside/oddside, not that 3 guys are involved). Its the same as the above stunt, except that the DT runs outside around the weakside End instead of the weakside tackle. Both the End and the weak DT are taught to charge inside on the hip of their opposing blocker. The only problem here, as with any penetration, is the Trap. To eliminate that problem, along with cutbacks and isolation, you can run a "4-game" stunt, which is essentially the opposite except that the Weakside DT isnt stunting upfield to the QB, he's waiting to read the blocks and play the Trap.
The next variation on the 4-game is the Storm, which adds the SAM on a run blitz and the DT runs around his backside towards the TE. Obviously, you need athletic DTs to make such a play worthwhile, and you would preferably want to do this to the short side of the field.
An "open" or Jam stunt involves the Strongside End and the tackle. The End charges inside towards the Guard, while the tackle loops around him into the OT-TE C gap. Against triple-option teams like Georgia Tech, the stunts are used to change the rhythm of the offense and break their timing. The option has to be finely tuned and practiced to be effective and stunts are best used to break their patterns. Usually, the best point to attack is the QB decision area: the space behind the OT/TE where the QB must decide to pitch or keep it. The only problem for a coach here is that a player CANNOT miss on his responsibilities; a huge play will result. This is why many teams refuse to stunt against the option.
A common stunt against the option is the End Slant, where your Strongside DE charges into the OGs outside hip, or a pinching stunt where the End charges in with the OLB cheating up to do the same towards the TE's outside hip.
So there is a few of the stunts you'll see by essentially every team that runs a 4-3 defense, all of which will be useful in explaining defenses later on. Tomahawk Nation did a similar post including more on stunts here.
The R&S is quite difficult to defend. Each team that uses it has different characteristics and philosophies. One constant, however, is that the QB is the key. If he can scramble and attack the containment, you have an added element of pressure to the defense. If the option and counter have been included in the packages, its still another element to defend. This article is meant to illustrate a few things you can do to stop it, and to cover a few plays that are staples, I recommend going to SmartFootball. It is an addendum to our article on the option.
Most of what you now call a "pro-style" offense contains elements of the R&S. It may not use the standard 1-back, 4-wide or 3-wide/H-back formation that the Houston Oilers or Atlanta Falcons used to run, but its the same concepts and sometimes the same plays. Clemson's offense is loosely based off the R&S: Rob Spence was a R&S guy at Toledo before they evolved it into what it is now. There are a lot of half rollouts, screens and draw plays designed to hold back the pass rush in our offense, just like the R&S.
But we know that Paul Johnson has incorporated a chunk of R&S concepts into the GT offense, and since we've covered the root basics of defending the Flex, its now time to look at how to defend the R&S concepts specifically. The role of the H-back in the old Buffalo Bills R&S ("K-Gun") schemes, or the slot men, is now shared by the Wingbacks/TE in the Flex, so its actually a pretty direct carryover into the balanced formation Flex. The only true conflict is in the linemen splits, you want larger splits with the triple option than the R&S, in theory. R&S offenses use a lot of pre-snap motion and QB movement, just like the Flex. Just move your slot men closer to the OL, formation-wise. This type of passing attack can usually easily read Cover 1 and run routes designed to attack it directly, however if you can get pressure on the QB with good coverage you have a very good chance of stopping it.
There are several cornerstone plays used in the R&S that are its hallmark; the Choice, the aceback draw, the +roll, trap, trap option, and aceback screens I'll cover here. These can be put into any offense but I'll cover their defense as if we were playing against the standard Flexbone/Wing-T set with a diveback (the aceback in this terminology), two wingbacks, and 2 wideouts.
QB Sprint-out/Roll out plays The primary key to stopping the QB sprint roll is to allow the call side LB a free rush once he reads pass. You do not want him to play containment, which might be his responsibility on a pitch option to one of the WBs (the OLBs are usually responsible for the pitch man, recall), but rather have him force the passer in any possible lane from behind. The responsibility of containment is then left to the DE and DT on the back side of the play, and they have to watch for the reverses. However, that DT plays essentially a "spy" responsibility, waiting for the draw, and delays his pass rush.
Additional pressure could come from the DT on the call side or the other OLB, who also has no containment responsibility once he reads pass. The DE on the play side will attempt to loop around the OT and the Wing, and rush directly, in an opposite lane to the blitzing call side OLB, who would be taught to run directly at the OT's outside hip if possible.
The DB's could line up in any way in Cover 1, but its best to hide the alignment and adjust coverage on the fastest WR. Generally in a rollout play, the SS and FS will shift over to the play side of course, following their key. MIKE would have pass coverage on the aceback, man to man, unless he plays to block in which case MIKE becomes the Robber. His other responsibility will be to watch for the Draw or an aceback screen, along with the backside DT.
The problem, of course, is reading pass in the first place. The play side WB will run over the middle to attack the seam, and the backside WB either goes in motion pre-snap to the play side into the slot before running his route, or follows the QB and then runs upfield as a safety valve into the flats.
The trick, so to speak, is that the Wing to the rollout side or the FB are used in the protection scheme in a R&S offense. Their job is to chuck a DE or OLB on the rush, and then run out for screens or safety valve plays a few times per game. This is what forces you to keep a spy (MIKE) in the middle, and reduces your ability to get creative in blitzing those LBs.
To change it up, you may just want the backside OLB to drop into coverage and help the CB once he reads pass. So if the WB to his side goes in motion away, he will just drop back and could become the Robber, looking for crossing routes. That would help against any type of throwback pass or play-action.
The Trap The Trap/Trap-option is one of the oldest plays in football and before you think its just a Flexbone-gimmick play, read the article and look at the blocking assignments, and you'll see its in just about every kind of two-back offense there is. Basically the trap option is a fake FB Dive to the (non-pulling) Guard/Center hole, the QB does a reverse pivot and runs out for the pitch with the pulling Guard as his lead blocker. The old tried and true Trap is still run in the NFL, and Clemson runs it too. Its a staple, plain and simple. Here is a counter trap against the 4-3. So how do you stop the trap or trap option? Its the same as most option plays. You don't want the QB to run it, so when the play side OLB reads run, he waits for the pitch to the Wing. The DE's themselves HAVE to keep the OT from blocking MIKE, and try to help on the keeper, but it is MIKE who attempts to force the pitch. Again, the problem is reading the Trap in the first place, because the DBs will be watching the backfield motion, and it could nearly the same to them as the rollout above because of the criss-crossing Wingbacks. Thats how your SS comes up to support the pitch and gets toasted by the WB running right by him. The linebackers and linemen are the ones who'll notice the pulling guard, your safety might not.
The Aceback Draw The back side DT and MLB have the major roles in stopping the draw play. They both have spy responsibility as I stated above. This really isnt a big deal for MIKE because he's already supposed to pick up the aceback, but the DT can get confused easily because it's harder for him to see the flow-to or away with a big lineman in his face.
The Aceback screen To defense this common and difficult play, you would like to double-cover the ace with OLBs and the MLB. The OLB on the play side of the QB rollout above starts his pressure upfield to blitz and then reads the FB setting up for a screen. Now he is in position to be behind the blocking linemen going upfield. At the same time, MIKE, who is supposed to spy the FB, allows double cover, so both MIKE and the OLB converge on the FB from different directions. (img courtesy of SF)
The Choice/Go/Switch/Seam read plays Well you could write dozens of articles on defending this by itself, and I can't hope to do justice to it. Smartfootball has dozens of articles on the specific concepts of the R&S passing game, and the fact that the WR adjusts on the fly means that blanket statements about defensive coverages by myself (or anyone else) tend to look stupid. This type of route is basically like backyard football: the WR reads the defense while running, and then the route changes based on it. What might be a quick-in or hitch under Cover 2 can become a Go pattern if he reads Cover 3 during his initial 10-15 yard run. This type of route is generally run by the slot man, likely the WB in the Flex, while the outside split-end/flanker run their called routes in the huddle. Its a fundamental of the R&S offense, but its harder to defend against it specifically.
This is the Dive Choice, a hybrid play-action play, well suited to any situation where the defense expects a standard triple-option play.
In this play the SE has the choice. If the CB plays inside leverage, he runs a sprint out; if he presses up, a fade route; if outside leverage, a short slant; if a cushion, a hitch. This can be decided in the huddle or pre-snap, which is likely going to be the case unless you have experienced WRs/QB who can make the adjustment on the fly.
Enter the zone blitz. This is really the best bet to stop these plays, because you will either need good man-to-man coverage by the LBs or one of the safeties to beat a slot wideout when you face this play when you're in Cover 1 Robber. So, there is really not much specific in the way of coverage that you do differently against these teams. We'll be a Cover 1/3 team and thats not going to change for the spread or the option. In the week leading up to an opponent who runs such a play, you would go into pattern reading so the DB's can anticipate where a WR will attack, given that they know the coverage they are playing.
Recall this offense uses 6 men in protection schemes, for the most part. If you blitz a LB towards that blocking RB, and drop a lineman into coverage underneath, you create a mismatch. The RB won't be able to handle a fast LB for very long, and you can force the sack or a rushed throw into coverage. Here I'll just showcase the plays without commentary, notice how the routes change for a particular receiver as the coverage changes, to attack the seams in the defense. Cover 3's seams are the hashmarks, or the area between the Middle Deep man (FS) and the Outside Deep man (a Corner usually). Cover 2 is directly between the split safeties, and in Cover 0 (pure man) or Cover 1 (man with a FS playing deep) you would preferably run away from the middle or force defenders to choose who to cover by crossing your routes.
Frank Spaziani has been the defensive coordinator at BC for about a decade now, and was in the CFL immediately before that, and prior experience was under George Welsh at UVA. In 2008, the Eagles ranked in the top 10 in the nation in seven defensive categories, including interceptions (first, 26); turnovers gained (second, 36); total defense (fifth, 268.14 ypg.); red zone defense (sixth, 72%); first downs allowed (sixth, 14.71 pg.); rushing defense (seventh, 91.2 ypg.), and pass efficiency defense (98.81). In addition, junior linebacker Mark Herzlich was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
Now you can certainly believe that BC has been good the last few years because of Matt Ryan and had made a great decision to hire Coach Jagz in the first place, but you have to admit they were very consistent, if not flashy, under Tom O'Brien before that, and alot of it is because they play good fundamentally.
For the most part, Spaziani is a read-and-react type of guy, and the 3-5-3 Defend is one of his gimmick defenses that you'll see alot of in definite passing situations. Now he's the head coach at BC, and while I don't expect them to go to the ACCCG again soon, they will probably still be a tough opponent for years to come. This article makes use of one of his published articles on the 3-5-3 defense, which is suited as a base package against teams with alot of underneath patterns, with 5-step drop protections (like Clemson). Its also a good package to run in the Red Zone.
With the emergence of complex passing games in college football, defensive schemes have had to adjust to keep pace. It used to be that you would either play back and react, or that you'd apply pressure. But nowadays, the packages must have enough variety to meet all contingencies. They have to have been installed and practiced in the game week, or you'll lose against a good opponent. A pressure package is essential, but the variety is the real key to success. You dont want your defense to look the same to the offense as what they practiced that week, so you always try to hide coverages and blitz packages.
The biggest liability of the 3-5-3 is obviously the pass rush, and vertial stretch (which Clemson DOESNT do enough of), so BC expects the 8-man coverage itself to be the timing breaker, and the DL can get a coverage sack. BC uses LARGE DTs, and they arent expected to be very fast, just disciplined (this is also why they'll handle GT's FB Dive well). The two Tackles and the NG are in containment rush, both trying to go around the OT's and force the pocket to collapse around the QB to get the sack. The NG himself must be a walrus who can take a double-team, and is the man responsible for screens and draw plays.
The basic package appears as a variation on the 33 Stackset with an extra OLB/Nickelback playing, with the SS being the 5th guy in the underneath zone. BC's base is still a 4-3. WILL and SS take the flats underneath, with the two interior LBs playing hook/curl zone and the SAM taking a slot/TE (curl) zone up the seam (note that it could also appear as a shifted 4-3, with the Sam playing in a 3pt stance). The two CBs and the FS are playing the usual 3-deep zone coverage. In the figure above, W, S, and B are LB's (Will/Sam/Bandit), and the SS's are called "Dogs" on the callside, "Rover" on the weakside. One of them will most likely be a OLB or backup Safety/Nickel. Its just terminology.
Simple adjustments When field position doesnt give help to protect against deep stretch plays, the first adjustment Spaziani makes is to swing out his WLB and SS to match up across from the two WRs. In this "out" adjustment, they are told to bump the wideouts and throw off the timing so that they cant get past the 3-deep or into the seam before the pass rush can do something.
A second adjustment is simply to switch SAM and SS's responsibilities, with SAM taking the flat (and possibly lining up across from the WR) and the SS running back into the slot zone. Why does that help at all? Well first it helps control the seam better by giving another look to the QB (remember they attack the seam against a 3-deep), and second the SS is a better pass defender than SAM or the Strongside End.
So the 3-5-3 allows BC to defend 5 underneath zones, and helps cover an additional spot on the wide side of the field. However, pass offenses don't quite work that way and if you chart plays you'll see they tend to work from the TE over. This forces other adjustments unless the offenses are designed to attack that area with the extra defender underneath.
The next adjustment you'll often see them make is an Umbrella-look, which might appear as a 2/4-deep to the QB in presnap reads. The weakside CB will roll over, standing opposite the FS in a 2-deep style coverage, but with the Strongside CB coming up a little, and the SS matched across from a WR, it could also fool the QB into thinking all 4 will drop back deep. Spaziani will call for rolling coverages after the snap to trick the offense into a presnap adjustment from this look, disguising the true coverage.
A simple strongside roll will drop that SS, umbrella-CB (taking the deep middle), and FS into 3-deep, with the other players taking the underneath zones. The other CB can either play soft or bump & cover the flat zone underneath.
On the hash, it would be better to roll weak, saturating the zones that the offense will try to attack and disrupting the patterns. You want to bump with the SS and not allow them to attack the seams through the slot, and that means the Split-end will be forced to read 2 or 3-deep and adjust. The major weakness is the front-side out, and you can really nail BC with that play if they are rolling weak.
Note that with only 3 guys definitely coming at the QB, you have alot of flexibiliity in the fronts you show with this defense, and you can technically blitz from anywhere and not really be losing anything. In this figure you see the OLB/Dog stunting, then he comes on the blitz, and that is easily changed to the other Dog or a LB.
A standard 3-deep from a 4-3 set would be no different in coverage than a 3-5-3 blitzing one of the underneath backers. If you ever blitz out of it, then from that point onwards the offense doesnt know where the blitz could come from. Its solid against the run because its a Gap-8 (33 Stack) scheme, so all the guys have particular gap responsibilities to control.
In the base defense the nose will have one "A" gap and the MLB will have the other "A" gap, depending on the blocking scheme.
The outside linebackers will have the "B" gap to their side. The tackles will have the "C" gap to their side. The SS's will be responsible for the "D" gap to their side. Versus the run, the front eight play their gap responsibilities. Versus the veer, MLB and F/S play Dive, QB, to Pitch.
Of course there are no ends to the adjustments made to the fronts based on personnel and plays the offense are good at, but this is intended just as an introduction and primer to one of BC's better defenses. They don't play the 3-5-3 often, but you will see it against Clemson in definite passing situations.
If you ask most defensive coordinators what type of offense they like to face the least, you'll get one of two answers, either the Airraid of Mike Leach, or a triple option (veer) team. Lets be clear, the option is as old as football and will always be here. Florida's whole offense is essentially option, but based in shotgun and spread formations. RichRod's offense was a spread option and we know how well that worked for us with Woody Dantzler, so anyone who will tell you the option is dead or outdated is really an idiot who doesnt pay attention to football.
The Flexbone is derived from Fisher DeBerry's comment, "We need to become more flexible in the Bone..." DeBerry was talking about adding passing concepts to his normal Wishbone offense, and the flex is essentially the first true "spread option." The whole purpose of flexing the TE out was to create a horizontal stretch to the defense (Flexing essentially means the TE is lined up offset within 2 yards of the OT, and standing him up). Clemson puts WRs and TEs in flex positions frequently, yet we never really throw to the TE (the tragedy of Ben Hall).
In GT's Flex, those flexed TEs, or Splitbacks (also called Wingbacks or Halfbacks) are usually recruited RBs with enough speed to get around the corner on a sweep/end-around and yet still catch a pass over the middle. There's nothing mystical or gimmicky about it, Johnson just puts people in a position to win with sound principles. Has misdirection been abandoned in pass-happy offenses? Do we not ever use lead blockers or run traps and counter plays in a spread? What about double-teaming DL and LBs on a HB power play?
But how does one defend against any option team, particularly the Flex? If the opponent has a smart coach like Johnson, you're doing well to hold them under 4.0 per carry, because he knows how to make adjustments to what you're showing them. However, there are basic tenets to stopping the triple-option and Wing-T/Flex that we can go through.
-Take away something: The Dive or the Pitch, but preferably the Dive. -Control the LOS: You must control the operating space of the QB and dive backs in the middle. -Get the LBs into the running lanes: The DTs cannot be knocked backwards and the LBs must fill the lanes and be free to move. -Discipline: Defenders must know how to recognize blocking schemes, and not worry about his teammate's job, only his. -Lack of Stunting. You dont want to get caught in alot of stunts or play too many tricks up front, because you'll just open a hole for a Dive.
Of all those things, the most important is stopping the FB Dive, it sets up the entire option offense, no matter whether you use a Flex or a Wishbone or the "I" formation.
The key to defending the veer here is the dive...if the DE gets sucked in or if your DT's lose ground, you may as well pack your shit up and go home, cause you are going to give up 10 yards. Its a direct-attack play that forces your DL get off their blocks, and the LB/S to choose whether to come up and make a play or wait for the pitch. In a true option, the QB has a choice on every play whether to run the Dive, by watching the defensive end. If he sees the End stand pat, he gives the Dive. If the End collapses inside, the QB takes it himself around the corner with a pitch man behind him.
What is missed when people talk about the Bone is the play of the interior linemen. The Dive is all set up from the Center and Guard play. Generally they will be doing the same thing. If the Center blocks down, so will the Guards (but one might pull for the Trap). If he charges upfield to take out Mike, the Guard will try to follow. If Mike is knocked out of the play by a block, you can expect to get a minimum of 4 a carry.
If you bring everyone into the box, to stop the interior rush, then you are setup for the Keep:
Its relatively simple in concept, but the GT offense uses misdirection and motion to confuse the secondary and LBs, less so than an I-formation offense that would normally run directly at you with more lead-blocking plays. If one S/OLB's key is the splitback/wingback to his side, then when he runs across the LOS, he must immediately go to his next key or follow. Also with everyone up in the box, you are setup for the pitch play:
In the pitch play above, you see the Miami safety was keyed on the Wing, and cheated closer and closer, and once he broke to the other side, he had to follow because he was the only key once the safety read run, but he was so close that he got blocked out when he crossed midfield. The LBs, worried about the Dive play, all came up to stop it, but the QB keeps the ball and reads the OLB.
Since the DE had come inside (one of his keys is still the OT/TE) to stop the Dive, the OLB was out there alone, with his normal assignment being the pitch man and not the QB. He turns inwards and blocks the alley for the QB, forcing the pitch, except that the CB has been knocked out by the WR and the play gains 40yds.
So how do you teach a defense to stop this kind of offense? Primarily it comes down to discipline and good fundamental defense, with the key player being the DE. A good defense may simply have so much speed that they are always near the ball pretty quickly, and they tackle well enough so that they make plays. That doesn't mean the players are always in the correct positions, just that they manage to recover quicker than the offensive back can take advantage of it, and they swarm to the ball to make up for any bad tackling. The Flex is different from the Wishbone mainly in that it has those two TE/WB players (who may just be RBs that can catch) set outside, but the coverages run against both are usually Cover 1 Man or rotated zone because you still must keep enough players close to the LOS.
Something that many people do not realize about teams that run this offense is that it is very confusing to figure out who has the ball. You begin each play with three running backs and a QB. There is often a great deal of motion, with players "criss-crossing" in the middle of plays (this constant motion and excessive number of ball handlers makes a a defense that is not fundamentally sound easily susceptible to any sort of counter play--specifically an inside handoff).
Here is a basic rundown of what most coaches will teach in defending the Flex, or any other triple option offense. It is primarily the same run keys (and sky/cloud calls) for any defensive back, so their specific assignment duties wouldn't change much week-to-week from a pro-style team to an option, except that they may be told to cheat up more than usual.
Defensive End
The DE is critical here with the veer to maintain containment on the fullback while acting as the "force" man should the QB fake the dive. The End must be more athletic than the man in front of him to slow down the veer, be thankful we have D. Bowers and Ricky Sapp. The End must be the force, making the QB take more time than he wishes and most importantly make him pitch the ball.
Against the double-wingback set the End has a difficult assignment, but its best to play either an anchor or loop technique to keep it simple. The Ends are primarily responsible for forcing the Pitch. They play for time, and wait for help from the inside, because the option will force them to make a choice on who to tackle. They must be aggressive. Against a veer/pitch play, the End gets his inside hip into the hole and rotates his feet towards the sidelines, and doesnt jump on the dive back unless he's coming directly to him with the ball.
On the snap, using the Anchor, he'll charge the TE to give him a shiver, helping the LB thats scraping across behind him. All the while he's keying the FB first, and if he goes away or up the middle, he backs upfield waiting for a counter sweep or a bootleg. He has to do this even if the Wing is trying to block him. If the FB comes toward the end, he flattens out to prepare for his block (on a power sweep play, or the Guard's block on the belly play) but keeps his feet parallel to the line.
If he's playing a Loop, after the snap he charges upfield in the TE/WB seam and reacts the same way to the FB key as before. If they try a bootleg, he's supposed to be there waiting.
Against an arc play, where the TE across him will try to come upfield and block the SS, he has to stand pat with his outside foot back. He has to feel for his help, and then come down the line to make the play. Against a Load play, where the Dive back will come off-tackle or off TE (the TE/WB will usually block inside), the End attacks the load blocker and forces the QB to go around him, then tries to get off the block and make a play.
Defensive Tackle
Tackles key the Diveback and the QB. They must be taught to get off blocks and not be moved from the LOS, and simply be aggressive against anything they see.
Linebackers
You want to keep the LBs within 4 yards of the ball, so that they can read on the move and react effectively. Because of the misdirection, LBs have a hard time keying one back or the ball, which is why this offense is difficult to defend. Instead, they are told to key the Guards and react from that.
If the G blocks inside on the NT over the Center, the LB has to step in to the OT for the trap play, keeping his outside arm on him. If the Guard base blocks (i.e., straight up on the DT across from him), the LB looks for the ball and plays an assigned gap (usually A/B). If the flow of the play is away, they are taught to rip through the Guard's block with their outside forearm, aiming for the A-gap on the opposite side. If the Guard pulls, the near LB pull with him.
Secondary You will either see more Cover 1 or a rotated cover 3 zone against this offensive scheme, and this (rotated zone) is what Clemson primarily used last year in Death Valley. This year I expect GT to use more misdirection and pass a bit more because more teams will stack the box against them after what they did to Miami last season. Whether Kevin Steele will use more zone against GT or stick to his Cover 1, I'm not sure. Like I said, the Corners are usually out wide because the slot man is not on the field between the Wing/TE and the Flanker in the Flex, so they can be on an island by themselves.
In a rotated coverage, the secondary might key the FB to determine the rotation. This would help them cover the counter pass, or a fake keeper pass. As the two safeties rotate, they read the blocks of the Wing for run, and if they ever show blocking for a counter, they stop rotating and play run support. Otherwise, the secondary keys the ball, which places the responsibility of the counter pass on the OLBs.
Finally, the defense cannot be lulled to sleep. A good offense can run simple plays like the dive, toss sweep, iso, and off-tackle all afternoon and can do this with relatively little motion (often shifting a wing to a split back or i-formation look). If you were watching the Clemson-GT game last year, you saw them consistently get 3.5-4 per carry against us, and by simply running the same play over and over again. It only takes 3 runs of 3.3x yards to get a 1st. Methodical operation of this offense has a tendency to get the defense complacent and lackadaisical, allowing the offense to run a misdirection play or for the QB to pull the ball on what looks like a FB dive. Defensive inattention allows the offense to go from 3-4 yds repeatedly with the dive, iso, or offtackle rushing play to picking up a huge chunk of yardage because defenders are out of position and anticipate the 3-4 yd play.
An addendum, for the R&S concepts from the flexbone, is here.
First thing to get straight in your head is that a zone blitz is not what is called anytime you see a Defensive linemen drop into coverage. In reality, a DE may have a seam/flat responsibility on pass plays even when a blitz is not called. Also, just because you see the down 4 linemen rush on a play doesnt mean that a zone blitz wasn't called.
A zone blitz just means that you called a blitz, and you're playing zone coverage behind it, as opposed to man/man. Thats all it is.
The primary zone coverage behind a blitz is Cover 3 and most DCs will play what is called a "3-3", which just means Cover 3-3 under. Only 3 guys are playing the underneath zones, as opposed to the usual 4. You rarely call a zone blitz with Cover 2 behind it, because the lack of another underneath defender creates an extra seam in the defense somewhere that is easier to exploit should your LB not get to the QB fast enough. In fact, in Saban's playbook, there are only a couple of these, and those are from Nickel coverage (usually the Nickel CB blitz).
SmartFootball has two articles up on one type of zone blitz: the Fire Zone 3. Here the term "fire" essentially means that the MLB is stunting on his blitz, but in some coaches' terminologies it can mean that the blitz comes from the weakside seam area. His analysis and the links therein are for the strongside (SMACK=Sam and Mike) fire zone 3. The play from the Saban playbook is the same, and the DE is the guy with seam/flat responsibilties.
In these terms, "Field" means the wide side of the field, as opposed to boundary (see hash marks on figure). The field side is 'usually' the strong side, and most teams, when they throw, will do it to that side. In that case, the blitz is coming right at the QB's face. The defenders have different responsibilities (than what is in the figure) if this is called and a run play happens. First, seeing their relationship to the sidelines, the "UNDER" front is called by MIKE.
The terms on the figure indicate what the linemen are doing from alignment and technique. In the pro-set (2 RB-TE-2WR, called 2-1-2) example, here is what is happening:
The weakside DE is looking for run-first, and is playing a 6 technique, slanted at the outside hip of the LT. Once he reads pass, he drops to the flat. If run, he crashes inside. The idea is that he is to pick up any RB safety valve that runs out that side, or help on the X (split-end) if he stays short. Understandably, he could be in a major mismatch, but recall that the QB doesnt expect him to be there. If the TE is to his side, his key changes and he jams him at the line before releasing.
The weak/boundary DT is supposed to run a specific stunt to the B-gap on the LTs inside hip, and the other DT runs across the Center's face to hit the A gap on the boundary side.
The other DE, upon reading pass, jams up the B-gap, trying to hold the blockers up and keep the LBs free.
SAM, lined up in a 9 technique, blitzes off the edge. If they decide to roll out a slot WR, he wont blitz and is assigned to that slotman at the line. His coverage responsibility in that case is split with the SS playing zone on that side.
MIKE blitzes as well. If the ball goes away, the closest A-gap is his to cover because the DE is supposed to jam up the B-gap in either run or pass.
WILL is playing Stack in the pro-set case, playing hook zone on pass plays. In the event that a slot WR is sent out, and Sam is unable to blitz, WILL takes over his duty and blitzes off the edge. The CBs and FS are backed up into normal Cover 3.
There are various further coverage and run play adjustments (sky call to the boundary, for example) based on the formation and field/boundary shifts of them, but basically you wouldnt check out of this blitz unless they went to a 4-wide situation when you'd have a big matchup problem.
Here is a video of GT running the exact blitz above against us. Watch the backside DE backup into wall/flat, which you probably wouldnt see if you watched this play live, unless you were paying attention.
A quick alteration is to flip the zones covered by the WILL and that DE, its the same coverage otherwise.
I've had trouble finding illustrative videos, but here is one with a SMACK blitz. When you watch it you'll see MIKE and SAM blitz, but watch it twice and on the 2nd attempt you notice them rotating their coverage deep into a Cover 3, with the SS playing the curl/flat and the CB on the strong side backing up deep. On the weakside, you'll see the DE backing up to play zone. The play in the video corresponds to the one above.
You could just as easily flip this to the weakside, where it would be called a WHAM blitz, where WHAM=Will and Mike.
In the play above, the DE on the weakside (Ricky Sapp) executes a long cut, which just means he's supposed to slide to the A-gap. Thats not easy for him to do because the OT and OG will try to pick him up, but all this movement is supposed to do is to get them watching him, and open lanes up for the LBs. The NG cuts across the Center and into the other A-gap. The other DT executes a "slam", meaning he runs right at the hip of the strongside TE. If the QB manages to get away from the blitzing LBs, his job is just contain him and make the tackle.
The strongside DE (Bowers) would watch his key (RB to the ball) and wait for run first before dropping back into his zone. The QB does not expect him to be in that zone, once he reads that the Mike is blitzing.
Field Frisco is another alteration on the same idea, where the SS blitzes instead of SAM.
How is this effective? The defense aligns such that the QB will read a Cover 1 or Cover 2 initially before the snap. If he picks out that one LB is blitzing, he'll just think "Man coverage on somebody in that spot" which might make him think the whole coverage is Cover 1 (man-free). After the snap, the defense slides back into Cover 3.
Well the OT's job is the most intuitive one: block the DE across from him. Its a wasted assignment on the DE because he's trying to run across the LOS, not at the OT, and by bringing the LB or SS, the running back is forced to stay in and not release into a pass route.
From a Nickel personnel grouping, here is a pretty good explanation of a MIKE+SS zone blitz.
So this is essentially the type of zone blitz you will see Clemson run this year, its the most common form, used from the NFL to high school because its the safest. You can also have called key blitzes that will play the normal man/man or Cover 1 behind them that you usually think of when you hear the term blitz, I'll try to get to those soon.
This will be the most common coverage Clemson plays this year, its versatile because you can blitz easily and not change assignments of everyone, particularly depending on what a LB's key is (which RB he watches, for example) he can blitz any formation from any front call. In other terminologies you'll hear it called "Man-free" or Cover 1 Man. Its something that VK never ran much of, but Saban/Steele have always used wherever they've been.
Cover 1 as a term by itself means only one thing: one deep safety playing zone, who is responsible as deep help across the whole field on any deep route. The most common variation, used by essentially everyone from high school to NFL, is called "Robber." Smartfootball has already given a good primer on this type of defense, but I'm going to rehash most of it here.
What does "robber" mean? Well essentially there is one man who isn't matched up man/man on someone over the middle, and he backs up and plays a zone coverage (around 10 yards deep) meant to 'rob' any crossing routes that spread teams like to use (think Jacoby Ford's or Kelly's usual quick slant inside, or a TE over the middle) or against a mobile QB where the Robber is also a Spy. In other terminologies, its called a "floater", or, as in Saban's playbook, a "Rat."
The advantage of this defense is that its pretty simple as a base, everybody plays man coverage, and the LB or S who isnt matched up on a RB or slot man generally plays the Robber, with the FS playing deep. Whomever gets assigned as a possible robber on any defensive play call though, must be able to read screen plays, pass, and be good against the run.
The basic Cover 1 Matchup is depicted here:
There are a lot of adjustments and calls made after recognizing the formation by MIKE and the FS, which are depicted in the figure, but that need not be described here. The front itself can easily be changed (under/over, etc) and is done after recognizing the formation, as always. The key of the linebackers (who they watch after the snap) doesn't have to change either, except that they play man in pass reads.
The responsibility of SAM and WILL, in this Cover 1 call against the Pro set, is man/man on the RB who breaks to his side. Occasionally they'll be asked to adjust to slot receivers if another DB isnt on the field, but primarily that will be handled by the two safeties. The SS is matched up on a TE, and tries to funnel him inside to the LBs, one of whom will be the Robber. The corners can jam their WRs and try to funnel them outside to the boundary. In the most basic alignment shown in the figure, MIKE or SAM ends up being the Robber.
Now for some specifics for Cover 1 Matchup: SAM is watching the RB to his side, and if he blocks or breaks to the other side, and the TE releases, SAM must back up and becomes the Robber. MIKE would take that RB if he breaks to the strong side. If they send out a 3rd WR, he has to pick up the TE man/man. Notice in the figure that W and S are flipped because of the front call, but it could be the other way and usually it is.
WILL is playing just like SAM, whichever RB breaks to his side, he covers. If a RB comes out in the slot, WILL stays on him. He would play the Robber if the RBs break to flood the other side of the field with recievers (like if the HB runs up the opposite A-gap towards MIKE, and the FB ran to SAM).
MIKE is the one who needs to be the smartest usually. He's got to wait to see what the RBs do before he picks anyone up. If they run towards him, he tries to funnel them towards either OLB who is free playing Robber, but a majority of the time he is the Robber. For this you would need someone like Maye, who is fast, pretty good in coverage, and can tackle.
The SS is matched up on the TE, and funnels him inside, towards Robber. If a 3rd WR is sent out, he would pick that guy up himself, or, depending on the call, the FS would pick up the slotman and the SS would play the deep zone. Generally if the slot is close to the Strong Tackle, SS would matchup, and FS would play deep. If the TE or slot motions to the weak side, FS has to pick him up man/man and SS plays deep. If the TE blocks, then he is designated the Robber, because that nearly always means that RBs are coming out on a pass pattern to tie up the LBs.
FS has the easiest job from an assignment standpoint, he's there to stop any post route first, and then help deep on deeper plays to prevent the home run. A slot WR sent outside would mean he switches Cover 1 with the SS. Corners are matched up man/man on their WRs.
A small adjustment is Cover 1 Buck, where the SS is playing close to the LOS for run-support, and SAM always has the TE: Here, either the SS or WILL picks up a RB to their side, and MIKE only if the RB comes over the middle. Whomever is free ends up being the Robber. If a slot WR comes out wide late, SS and FS flip assignments, like above.
Watch this video and you'll clearly see the LB, #30, playing robber after the snap. Everyone else is matched up man/man, and the FS is playing deep.
The object of the defense is to show a different front and make the QB make a read that is different from the actual defense being played. Cover 1 Robber generally shows a Cover 2 look, with the FS being lined up about 12-15 yards deep from the Weakside OT, and the SS about 8-10 yards off the outside shoulder of the TE or slot man. The man assigned to be the robber on each call is changed based on what the offense shows, giving you multiple options from the same basic look.
Note in these films, meant to showcase particular offensive plays, that the defense hides their look til just before the snap, but you can clearly see them playing Robber afterwards. Green Bay just beats it.
Again, here, but they had the FS playing deeper, and it appears the SS is the one playing Robber.
So thats a basic explanation of Robber, but like any coverage scheme where you can play man or zone, there are tons of adjustments you can make based on gameplan for that opponent or simply formations.
(img courtesy of SF)
