The Five Spoke Secondary Part III

In this segment on the Five Spoke Secondary Posts, I'll delve into the blitz strategy that one can institute using TCU's blitz scheme as a template.  Now, a lot of this IS NOT what TCU does, but IS some thing that myself and other coaches have done in the past when utilizing the 4-2-5 defense.

The Basics

To review the coverage aspects of TCU's blitz coverage scheme, simply known as Cover 0, we need to review the rules and the adaptations that TCU has in adapting their coverages to fit their blitz scheme.  The rules in TCU's Cover 0 are very simple and are as follows:

The scheme is completely based upon match ups.  Generally speaking, in college football, unless the tight end you are covering is Gronkowski, then there's no need to waste a corner here in that match up.  So, vs. closed sets (twins closed, or trips closed) then the corner to the nub side will simply "flip" over to the other side and cover the other "number one" receiver in the count.  An illustration of the count system is shown below.

Typical Count System

Count System vs. Twins Closed

Count System vs. Trips Closed

As you can see from the illustrations above, this count system is adapted to the Cover 0 scheme to keep corners covering receivers, and linebacker (LB)/safety types covering tight ends (TE's) and running backs (RB's).  One thing missing from the list of rules is the diagnosing of the position of the number two receiver.  In general, the Strong Safety (SS) and Weak Safety (WS) will have the number two receiver to their respective side, outside the tackles.  If no number two receiver outside the tackles, then they are deemed as "free".  The Free Safety (FS) will handle the number three receiver outside of the tackle box, and if there isn't a number three receiver outside the tackle box, then the FS is listed as "free".  The Read Side LB, will have the number three receiver inside the tackle box and the Away Side LB will have the number two receiver inside the tackle box to his side.

Now, as we know, somebody is blitzing, so there won't be seven defenders involved in coverage.  As is the case with  most six man pressures, there will be five guys in coverage.  The FS is generally the adjuster when it comes to blitzing in this scheme, however this isn't always the case.  There are also some calls when a defender, by alignment, does not have good leverage on who he is supposed to cover (as is the case when the SS is asked to cover an attached TE).  In this case, the SS and FS can "banjo" the TE, so long as the FS is not covering somewhere else for another blitzer (think Bullets vs. two back sets for instance).  The LB's also have some calls and rules that help them distinguish who is covering who, but for this post, I am just concerned with the fact that you know the basics.

Banjo concept

Blitz Coverage

Now that the basic rules have been established a quick review of some basic man blitzes from the 4-2-5 is listed below:

• Bullets- Both LB's blitzing.  This means all five defensive backs (DB's) will be involved in the coverage (although the coverage is not just limited to the DB's, the defensive line (DL) can also be involved by adding certain calls).
• Smokes/Lions- One or both of the outside safeties (OSS's) are blitzing.  In this case, the LB's, and the FS would be involved in coverage along with the Corners.  If tagged, a DL could also be involved.
• Dogs- An OSS and a LB are blitzing to one side of the formation.  Now, both Corners, the FS, a LB and the OSS not blitzing are part of the coverage.
• Bullets Thunder- This means an OSS, and both LB's are blitzing.  Now a DL must be added into the coverage mix along with the OSS not blitzing, the Corners and the FS.
• Mob- Here, both OSS's are blitzing (if they can by rule) and the LB's are blitzing.  The DL, the FS and the Corners are all now part of the coverage.

Again, this is just the basics.  I know TCU does this, and Boise State does that, etc., but this is just meant to be a review.  I strongly suggest going to Cripes! Get Back to Fundamentals or to Blitzology to get a better understanding of each individual blitz if you aren't familiar with them already.

For this post, I'm focusing mainly on the secondary and how it handles blitzing one of its own.  Bullets are not a major factor, because the five "cover guys" are doing just what they do best...cover.  What I'm more concerned with are when one, or both of the OSS's are involved in a blitz.  

To understand the blitz coverage, one needs to review the second post in this series about alignment.  Your blitz attack, should mirror your base defense against the offense you are facing.  To drastically alter your alignment just to blitz is to tip off exactly what you are trying to do to the offense.  When blitzing members of the secondary (mainly Dogs and Smokes) there are a variety of ways to tag the blitz as to know who and where the blitz is going to be coming from.  These tags are critical when matching the blitz up to base alignments.  Let's take a look at each series of blitzes involving a member of the secondary to  understand who this system works.

Smokes

As mentioned above, Smokes are a safety blitz, by either one or both of the OSS's.  Smokes can be tagged Wide, Short, Thunder or Lightning.  A wide call indicates that the safety to the wide side of the field will be blitzing.  A short call would be just the opposite.  Thunder indicates the safety to run strength will be blitzing, while Lightning is the opposite tag, meaning the safety away from run strength would blitz.  A Double Smoke call would indicate that both safeties are blitzing.

Coverage, when blitzing a DB has to be set up in a way that no man is left open.  One unique thing I noticed when learning this defense is that TCU rarely checks out of blitz.  If a cover guy is needed to cover instead of blitz, he covers and someone else will blitz for him.  For instance, if a Double Smoke is called vs. a 2x2 set, then one of the safeties, by rule, cannot blitz because you have a match up issue with an inside LB (ILB) covering a speedy wide receiver (WR).  This situation is where one of the safeties will make a "switch" call.  What switch does is put the DB in coverage and lets the ILB take the responsibility of blitzing.

Where the flexibility of the defense comes into play is clearly evident with the switch call.  I'll add to this even further.  I faced a very dangerous RB  in the past that was as deadly running the ball as he was catching it out of the backfield.  During that week, we changed the Smoke scheme up to where we ended up with the FS coming down into the box to cover the RB and both ILB's ran the Smoke, instead of the safeties.  This is illustrated below.

What this allowed us to do was keep a six man pressure on, and keep our best coverage options in place.  The reason we didn't simply call it Moe and Woe (in TCU terms this is Mike off Edge and Will off Edge, although I think TCU calls their ILB's Mike and Sam) was that sometimes they would line up said good RB as a slot receiver and bring in their backup.  In that case, we didn't want to switch both sides, only the side this player was on.  Again, you can see the flexibility of the defense.  Our guys were simply trained, that when this player (who wore jersey number 21) aligned in the slot, that safety covered and gave a switch call.  Everyone else simply ran Double Smoke.

If this would've been to the other side of the defense, we had our FS cover number 21, and ran the exact same look.  The reason for this is simple, despite the fact our SS is labeled as a safety is only in name.  This player, generally has been more LB than safety.  In the theme of keeping the best match ups possible, our FS was a better cover player than our SS, so we let the SS run the Smoke, and the FS would cover number 21.  My main point here is to not get caught up in what TCU does, but understand the basic concept and the dynamics of the scheme.

Dogs

As I discussed earlier, Dogs are both a Bullet and a Smoke to one side of the formation.  Dogs are similar to Smokes in that they can be called Wide and Short, as well as Strong and Weak.  One common problem with Dogs, is that of coverage.  The FS has to cover for the blitzing OSS, whereas the opposite OSS may be asked to come across the formation and handle a third receiving threat.  This was never more evident that when TCU faced Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl a few years back.  The play that sealed the game was a Dog blitz run into a Trips formation.  The problem with Dogs is if the WS doesn't get over in time to cover the number three receiver out of these formations.  I've alluded to this in other posts on TCU's blitz scheme.

In the above example, the "Frog" Dog is a Dog blitz run to the side of the offset RB (in this example it would be called Frog Dogs C in TCU terminology).  As we can see the blitz coverage rules hold up, with the FS covering for the blitzing SS and the WS handling the number two receiver outside the tackle box.  The away side LB would have the RB.  Now, the away side LB doesn't have very good leverage here, so the blitz would more than likely be tagged with something such as a "peel" call so that there would be flare control on the RB.  No matter, the basics are pretty much covered.  Against a trips set, things would shake out as follows:

Again, all of this is just the basics.  The FS covers for the blitzer, but must signal to the WS to cover the number three receiver to the read side.  The away side LB will take the RB.  Again, TCU utilizes some other calls that assist the LB that isn't blitzing in his coverage on the RB.

Where the flexibility comes into play is with something I encountered back in 2013.  I had two prototypical deep safeties.  Long, rangy, and both ball hawks.  Both were pretty good in coverage, and did a decent job of coming downhill and playing in the box when needed to.  My problem was my SS.  My SS was a young man, of tremendous heart and character, but extremely small stature, and minimal athletic ability to be labeled a "DB".  His coverage skills were poor, but he had a knack for getting to the football.  His 5'5" 165 pound frame didn't lend him well to playing inside the box, because as soon as an offensive lineman (OL), got his hands on him he was finished.  Where this young man really excelled was when we brought him off the edge, these same OL, couldn't block him.  His quickness and lateral change of direction speed in tight areas made him a nightmare to block.  To add to this, my WS was almost the complete opposite.  When he blitzed him, he was easily picked up, and quite simply put, didn't care anything at all about being blitzed.  Don't get me wrong, he was smart, and was a master at keeping the away side coverage aligned and in the proper call, but he just didn't have that knack for getting after a ball carrier, or QB when being blitzed.  What would end up happening to us, is we'd get into a blitz, and by alignment or motion, it would end up being the WS getting blitzed and not the SS.  This caused us some grief early on, until discussing the subject with a good friend, shed some light on the flexibility of the scheme.

This was pretty much my SS

What my friend and I came up with is what I later coined "Scottie" blitzes.  Since my SS's name was Scottie, I named it after him!  What a Scottie tag did was tell my SS no matter what the blitz was (Smoke or Dog) he was running the blitz.  For instance, if we wanted to bring a blitz from the boundary, the SS (Scottie) simply switched with our WS and ran the blitz.  The WS would become the safety away from the blitz and cover.  The FS would travel with Scottie and would cover the number two receiver to the side the blitz was being run to.  We had Scottie Dogs and Scottie Smokes, but all of them were consistent.  It was quite simple to teach, and even easier to execute as it actually gave the players less to  think about.  My FS, who could be absent-minded at times, simply had to follow Scottie, and cover the number two receiver outside of the tackles.  My WS, who was very intelligent simply covered the number two receiver outside the tackle box away from the blitz.  A good illustration in the differences between the two blitzes is shown below with a Frog Dog.  Normally, to a trips set with the RB set weak, the weak side LB and WS would blitz this formation and the SS and FS would cover number two and number three, respective, to the trips side.  Well, if we were running a Scottie Frog Dog, then our SS simply went to the side of the RB and blitzed, whereas the WS replaced him, covering the number two receiver into the trips side.

What this little tactic did to our blitz scheme was actually twofold.  First, it put our best blitzer doing what he did best, blitz.  It also kept him from being in coverage, where he was, quite simply put, a liability.  Secondly, this made blitzing our WS EVEN BETTER.  Yes, you read that right.  Teams would scheme us, and figure out who our blitz guy was and so we were seeing them adjust protection in the direction of "Scottie".  Well, we'd Dog or Smoke away from Scottie every now and then and those blitzes hit pay dirt over 95 percent of the time that season.  Even though we weren't sending our best blitzer, it's easy to blitz when a team doesn't think your blitzing!

Conclusion

Again, as with the other posts in this series, one can see you don't have to run the 4-2-5 verbatim to what they do in Fort Worth.  The general idea behind Gary Patterson's scheme is so much more than just being able to call "Field G Army Wide Dogs B Silver".  It's the ability to pigeon-hole your players into what fits them the best within the defense.  Had I just simply stuck to what TCU did in 2013, we wouldn't have been anywhere near as good of a defense.  If there is one thing that you should take away from these posts, it is the age-old football axiom of "Think Players, not Plays".  This used to be an offensive point of wisdom, passed from one offensive coordinator to the next, however it can also be adapted to the defensive side of the football.  Don't ask your players to be something they are not.  My Scottie, was not a DB, as he struggled with man-to-man coverage, despite us doing one-on-ones' on a daily basis.  What he could do, was be the most disruptive little "fly-in-the-ointment" when we blitzed him.  Flip that around and the same could be said for our WS.  He wasn't going to do well if we blitzed him, yet, he was very solid in coverage.  Again, adapting the scheme to fit your players is the common theme or thread that needs to be taken away from these posts.  Hopefully I was able get you to understand that in just three posts!

Duece

Mailbag Volume 3

Continuing with the mailbag theme, I'll go over a few of the emails I got over my vacation.  I actually have had a lot of questions about Saban's "Mable" adaptation to Cover 3 versus 3x1 formations (follow the link for Brophy's original post).  I'll start there.

Saban's Mable Adaptation to Cover 3
I don't get all the fuss over this coverage adaptation, because it's nothing really ground breaking here.  I think the major problem is folks wrapping their head around what Saban asks his linebackers (LB's) to do in the coverage, but since there are several of my readers having trouble with this concept, I'm going to break it down piece by piece for you and position by position.

Strong Corner
Typical Cover 3 corner, he will play by his normal divider rule and read rule as "old school" "Country Cover 3" corners would do.  You can do many things with him such as press and bail (giving the illusion of Man Free), or align him deep splitting the number one and number two receivers.  What matters here is, this player is playing a traditional deep 1/3 technique.

Strong Safety (RV)
The Strong Safety (SS) will be the flat dropper and will drop off the number two receiver.  If two is outside he'll jump it.  If two goes in, then he'll look to relate to the number one receiver.  Again, standard flat player stuff for Cover 3.

Strong LB (by passing strength)
The OLB to the pass strength will do the exact same thing as the SS, but reading the number three receiver.  Basically look at the above and change the numbers.  The LB will relate to the number two receiver once the "dust has settled".

Free Safety
Standard middle-of-the-field (MOF) safety.  This is the post player.  The free safety (FS) will read from the number three to number two receiver and will favor number three.

Weak Corner
The weak corner will play man-to-man on the weak number one receiver.  I prefer to press over here, but if that's not your gig, you can play off man if you like.  Basically, he's got to lock up on the back side in order to keep the weak quick game from killing your coverage.

Inside LB's
Now for the nuts and bolts of the coverage, the two LB's that remain in the box versus trips sets (Mike and Will in the diagram above).  These two LB's must relate off the running back (RB).  The LB that gets RB flow to him, will jump the back.  This is very important against 3x1 sets that put the RB offset to the trips.  Again, the idea is to push the coverage where it's needed, or to have, as I've said a thousand times on here, the "plus one" advantage.  In the illustration above, the defense has a four-over-three advantage on the strong side (to the trips) and a three-on-two advantage weak.  In the illustration below, where the offense has set the RB to the trips, the defense will use the leverage and reaction of the Mike to gain a five-on-four advantage if the RB were to release strong.  If the RB releases weak, then the Will LB would jump the RB.

Mike's read on the RB puts him on the weak side of the coverage initially

Now the Mike reads put him on the strong side of the coverage

The key in all of this is the reaction to the back.  A better example to look at, is when the RB is neutral, or aligned on the midline of the formation.  In the first example, the RB releases strong, so the Mike will jump this route, and the Will is now reading to the number three receiver.

Now, if the RB releases weak, the roles are simply reversed.  The Will jumps the RB and the Mike now reads the release of the number three receiver.  Again, as you can see the reads help the coverage relate to receiver distribution post-snap.

The big kicker, I think most folks have with the coverage is Saban's term "Three up is three", which basically means take number three vertical.  Now, mind you, this really isn't "man" because you have a FS playing centerfield, but the FS has to split number two and number three if they both go vertical.  The idea here is that the LB will carry the receiver if he goes vertical in order to force the quarterback (QB) to throw the ball high, allowing the FS time to get over the top of the route.  To see how this looks I'll illustrate it from the above diagrams.

So here's how the coverage would handle four verticals with the back flaring to the strong side of the coverage.  The Mike can jump the flare, while the Will takes the first crosser, and since "Three up is three" he will run with the "F" in the diagram above.  The coverage is still Cover 3, the FS has to split the two verticals in the MOF, while the strong corner will split the two outside receivers in his third.  One key is that the underneath coverage players such as the strong outside LB (OLB) can reroute these vertical routes as they get into their drops.

As you can see, the Mike now plays number three vertical and the Will relates to the RB releasing weak.  These two players, the inside LB's are what help the coverage adapt to these types of concepts front 3x1 sets.

I think one key mistake readers of Brophy's posts on Cover 3 made, and even wrote and posted about was that this was a way to play Quarters from a one-high coverage.  Make no mistake, this is NOT the case.  At the end of the day, this is still Cover 3 and has it's glaring weaknesses.  Now I have run into coaches that go above and beyond the "Saban way" and actually have their FS take the number two receiver vertical and let the ILB's handle number three vertical.  That's a stretch, especially in high school football to ask a player to do that.  Saban will admit, he's in this coverage to defend the trips side passing game, and the run, NOT to defend four verticals.  If you are a base, one-high defense, this is a good adaptation to the typical spot-drop approach, because you do have some similation of an answer to four verticals, but this is NOT in any way shape or form, similar to Quarters.  Quarters adaptations have nobody "splitting" receivers or having to read two receivers.  Quarters adaptations to 3x1 sets end up in man-to-man coverage against four verticals, which is a glaring difference in the coverages.  This is not to deter someone from using Mable, it's just that you really need to know what you're getting into before you commit to teaching it.  Hopefully this post has done just that.

Shuffling

I get a ton of questions on the shuffle technique played by my conerbacks and to be quite honest, I feel silly when I answer on how I teach it and came to teach what I've adapted to using, every since the 2007 season.  I've just never had corners that were good at backpedaling and I have even heard wide receiver (WR) coaches comment on how to beat a defensive back (DB) that was backpedaling because of (insert reason here) so much so that I gave up on the technique altogether in 2007.  What I did, was learn how basketball defenders are taught!  Yep, that simple.  I went to basketball practice and learned basically what they were teaching their defenders and adapted it to what I wanted out of my cornerbacks.

Originally I started out aligned square, as though we were a squat corner, then open on the snap, and shuffle.  Later, I moved to the angled in stance, where the corner was already turned in at a 45 degree angle.  My reasoning is simple, most DB's, when beat, it's in transition.  The transition they get beat in the most is going from the pedal to opening their hips to run with deeper routes.  Well, if this is the case, why not take this out of the equation?  So I did!  Now, I'll say one thing, the technique is difficult if you're playing a coverage that requires dividers.  For the most part, I've been a two-high safety guy, so I've had the luxury of playing outside leverage with my corners, to which I felt my technique worked just fine.  I can't speak of how to use it when a corner has to align inside the number one receiver.

Anyhow, on to the technique.  From a balanced open stance, tilted in at a 45 degree angle, on the snap, the corner begins to shuffle.  I have them, in their minds count to three.  By this time, the ball should be in the air if it is three step or quick game.  Generally, I teach to have vision on the number one receiver, but you can easily have them read the QB for the three step drop if you like.  I like adapting to routes, so I want them seeing routes and understanding how what the number one receiver does ties into what the number two receiver will be doing, but to each their own.  The actual shuffle technique is just like that of a basketball defender.  I like the feet to remain at least shoulder width apart, with the head being directly in line with the body.  The head position is important, because if the head is too far forward, or towards the line of scrimmage (LOS), then the DB will have trouble transitioning into the second phase of the technique which is the bail.  If the head is too far back, then the corner will struggle transitioning and breaking on the shorter throws.  The key here is balance, so that weight can be transitioned easily.

On short throws, that ask the corner to transition forward, I have them use a T-step technique.  It is literally common sense, because since the corner is already turned, he can easily get all of his cleat surface into the turf, making transitioning forward quite easy.  If the DB is asked to transition inside then he simply rolls forward inside toward the QB.  Again, I'm not using this for man, or where the corner is supposed to use some sort of divider rule.  I've only used it for Quarters coverage, and it works well, because in the three step quick game, the corner is simply playing his deep quarter and not getting beat deep.  I cannot speak on how it adapts to other coverages, but it works quite well with Quarters.

If the ball isn't thrown after the three count, then the DB will now transition into the bail technique.  This is nothing more than a crossover run technique.  I have always taught this with a post leg, and drive leg.  The post leg is the leg that is farthest from the LOS as the DB is turned.  In other words, if I'm the right corner, and opened inside, facing the QB, it would be my left leg.  This leg doesn't gain much ground, and is there for balance only.  The drive leg, is the leg closest to the LOS (my right leg in our example).  This leg gains the most ground as the DB works into his deep zone.  I've gotten extremely technical with it for this post, but if we were sitting at the bar, blowing the top off a few cool ones, I'd simply tell you he's running sideways.

If the DB has done his job, and has maintained his over-the-top relationship to the receiver, then he can work sideways to relate to the route as necessary.  The idea here is, that if the DB ends up inside, he's in great position to ride the receiver into the sideline, better known as the twelfth man.  If the receiver works inside of the DB, again, he can easily roll into the route and regain inside leverage due to his depth and being over-the-top.

To transition into covering the deeper routes, the technique varies by the type of cut the receiver is giving the DB.  On inside cutting routes (dig, post etc.), the corner will roll over into a traditional run.  Very difficult to explain via text, but explained quite simply it's going from running sideways to regular running.  On routes that are out breaking, the corner needs to get the hips opened and does so much like a pulling guard does when trapping.  The corner will take his near arm to the receiver and rip it open (in drills I have them overemphasize this like they were pull starting a lawnmower)to get the hips open.  Once open, they T-step and drive on the route.  I never saw many deep out cuts where I coached, so we didn't spend too much time working on these routes, but it is a skill that will need to be coached.

To be honest, I apologize for not having much on the technique, but it was really a "necessity" item.  The video below shows a pretty good example of the technique and who should be using it.  Those that know me closely, and know where I've coached will easily tell you that I've coached in some "athlete poor" areas, so I was grasping at any straw I could to get the most out of my guys.  What I found out in my experimentation is that the DB could play closer to the LOS because he's already transitioned.  Being a Cover Four/Cover Two guy, this allowed me to disguise my intentions.  The technique also helps in teaching press bail coverage techniques as well, because the only difference is that in one you shuffle, the other you don't.  See, there's more to the technique than shuffling, because you only shuffle for the quick game stuff.  After that, you've got to transition in to some sort of run, which is the crossover run, or bail technique as I mentioned above.  I've tried to break down the technique as simple as I can, but if you honestly want to see the technique in action, go to your basketball practice and watch them teach defense, and you'll get everything you need to know about the shuffle.

Sticks

I had some questions about a coverage I called "Sticks".  Like most of my stuff, it's stolen.  I have a good friend that utilizes this concept, and it's also a TCU coverage concept.  What's beautiful about the coverage adaptation is the fact that despite appearing "soft" it's really the best example of the defense forcing the offense into bad situations.

"Sticks" is a coverage adaptation for long yardage situations on third and fourth downs.  Again, it's not really anything revolutionary, but here goes.  When I tag a coverage with the term "Sticks", my DB's are going to all put their heels on the line to gain and play the coverage called.  Generally it's Quarters, but it could be any zone coverage you want them to play.  The idea here is that the defense is building a "wall" at the line to gain.  On the snap, we don't back up, we read our respective key and react in the same way that we would if aligned normally.  Any route that is thrown underneath the DB's will be broke on and tackled.  The concept is similar to that of the Two Level Defense deep safety in that by depth, the DB can see and react to anything that happens underneath of them easier than they can if they were closer to the LOS.

Where this coverage is really great is when you face an offense that is taught to run option routes based on both coverage and down and distance.  As a defensive coordinator (DC) you are forcing the offense right into the teeth of the defense in these down and distance situations.  With the defense playing so far off, the receivers are more than likely going to run something short.  Well, that's exactly what you, the DC, wants them to do.  Your defenders then rally and make the tackle.

I use the coverage tag with Cover Two, Quarters and have used a Cover Three version of it as well.  An old friend, better known as "OJW" on the Huey board, gave me a coverage they simply called "line".  Line is of the same premise except he used it on all downs and on the snap rotated players to various areas after all his deep zone defenders had aligned in a straight line.  Line and Sticks vary though in that there is no downhill rotation on the snap with Sticks.  Defenders are taught not to drop and to defend the down markers.  Sticks is also a good goal line coverage when paired with Quarters because it puts the defense where they need to be to defend the run aggressively, but still in a position to drop off and defend the pass if the need arises.

TCU using their "Sticks" concept on 3rd & 10 vs. West Virginia

In the version I use, the MLB will align at his normal depth and is still a run first defender.  He will execute whatever his normal assignment is in the coverage called.  The OLB's can deepen their alignment from the normal five yards to seven to eight yards, or even to the line to gain if need be.  The general rule here is seven to eight yards.  The OLB's are thinking pass first when they hear the tag "Sticks", but they aren't just dropping immediately to their assignment.  They still key their run/pass key (usually the OL) and will come up against the run.  The depth you play them at allows them not to have to drop off into a zone if pass shows, as they already have their depth.  In the case of using the Sticks tag, now all the OLB's need to be concerned with is the width necessary to get to their respective zone based on the coverage called.

The secondary will all align with their heels on the line to gain, still reading whatever their normal key would be if they were in their regular alignment.  The main difference is, they will not pedal nor will they drop on the snap of the ball.  The reason is, they are where they are needed already.  It is very much a Two Level Defense (2LD) concept in that it is easier for a defender to come up, than it is for them to go back.

As you can see, many zone coverages can be adapted to fit this concept.  I wouldn't recommend playing man out of this look, unless using some sort of banjo concept (which makes it so much more like zone, why not play zone anyhow) was utilized.  Man, I fear, would be too confusing, allow for too much space to be utilized by the offense and create some insane rub and pick advantages for the offense.  Anyhow, the Achilles heel to the entire coverage is your defense's ability to tackle in space and rally to the football.

Well, that's it for this edition of the mailbag.  Keep the questions flowing.  I know I'm a bit slow at getting to them, but be patient with me, remember this is just my side job!

Duece

Shout Out to OJW, Huey and Others...

Folks familiar with the Huey board will know him as the Outlaw Josey Wales (great movie by the way).  His new age name has been shortened to OJW, or as I prefer to call him OJ Dub.  Anyhow, in recent years this great man has opened his home up to complete strangers to talk about the game you can tell he dearly loves.  Most of us that go are young, in our 30's or so, while OJW has been coaching football since Moby Dick was a minnow.  He's the group historian.  He gives us perspective as we are discussing packaged plays, the read option and Wide Stinger 5 Jam Lock on the grease board.  He reminds us where this game has come from, when we pull up Hudl, there's the friendly reminder of 8mm film and film cans.  He may not know it, but for all of us in this little football clique, he gives us perspective.  He keeps us grounded and allows us to remember our roots.

The reason I'm writing this little blurb, is that there are only a handful of folks in this world that would open up their houses to complete strangers, feed them like kings and provide fellowship that makes the 12 month wait to do it again seem like an eternity.  We have fun, laugh, joke, get valuable information and add to our already growing waistlines in the process.  All of us that attend our little "mini-clinic" generally take something away from it.  What's really cool, is it's just some dudes talkin' ball.  There's no agenda, there's no "pound-my-chest my system is the shit" type attitude.  There is really good dialogue that I have truly benefited from.

The point to all this is, you don't have to pay the big bucks to go to a Glazier, or Nike clinic (although there's nothing at ALL wrong with those clinics) to learn football.  The Internet and 10 years of the Huey board has brought many coaches together who might not otherwise have known each other.  I have met these other coaches for various reasons from helping them attack the flexbone offense to needing help stopping the wing-t and needing help starting my blog.  It all ended up leading us to a small town in North Central Florida where we've started a bit of tradition of meeting every year around the holidays.  It has truly been great due to sites like Coach Huey.

I joined the Huey board around 2005.  I enjoy talking ball and his site was a way to do that.  Little did I know it was going to be like a self help seminar!  I really honed my learning of the Under front, learned LB reads, the TCU 4-2-5, helped coaches defend certain offenses, got help defending offenses, got job advice, and gave job advice.  In all, the Huey board without a doubt has made me a much better coach.  Keep up the good work my man, I know I really appreciate it.

Some others that deserve shout outs on the board, are:

1. vassdiddy- Dude knows his shit and is a damn good coach that's humble enough to ask questions and is willing to share information and experience.  Vass has given me tons of insight into the "G" defense and both Quarters and Robber coverages.  Can't tell you how many hours I've spent on the phone giving help and receiving help from this guy.  
2. gunrun (Coach Hoover)- I did not know it was possible to own as much film as this guy has!  Hoov, has been instrumental in me getting this blog up to where it's at.  He's given me so much stuff I'm not sure how I'd ever repay him.  He is an absolute technology wiz, and does some great video work as you can see when you visit his site.  Ol' boy can tear up some BBQ too!!!
3. brophy- Cripes!  He and I didn't hit it off real well, but then again, some of my best friendships have started out this way.  The main reason is we're both blunt in how we describe something and we don't under any circumstances "sugar coat" stuff.  Brophy has gathered a ton of information and much like Coach Hoover, has helped me develop this blog by giving me ideas and material to share based on what I was writing about.
4. dcohio- DC, like Brophy, is blunt and straight to the point.  His colorful language, and sayings will leave you in stitches, however this cat knows his stuff.  Like I said in a post on the Huey board, having a beer with DC is on my bucket list.
5. bigduke6- Duke has helped me with the 4-2-5 over the years, and given me many an idea for the defense at the high school level.  Again, another dude that knows his stuff, and ain't afraid to tell it like it is.
6. jgordon- J, is my Under front guru.  Guy gave me a signed copy of his book on the Under front (if you don't own this, either go buy it or jump off the top of a really tall building).  I have to say, he's the one that inspired me to write the flexbone book.  I feel though I probably let him down by not publishing it, however I'm just not into selling my stuff.  I'd rather share it with you guys to help coaches grow.  It isn't like I'm going to give anyone anything that's revolutionary or anything, just my perspective on it.  No need to pay money for that (although if somebody would like to buy me a beer at a clinic, I'll totally take that).  J has really helped me in one way or another over the years, and I really appreciate it.
7. cqmiller- This guy has given me TONS of 4-3 stuff from coverages to blitzes that have all helped me streamline the defense that I'm currently running.  I have to admit, I've probably stolen more of cq's stuff than he realizes.  This guy is another class act that's willing to share with anyone so long as they'll listen.

I'm sure there are many more, but the little "mini-clinic" got me to thinking about good people and what they mean to me, the game and this world.  I figured it was high time these folks knew what they had contributed to and how they'd helped me over the years.  Why not start off 2015 by thanking those around you that have helped you along the way.  I'm sure I've missed some, I don't know if my fingers could stand typing them all out, nor does Blogger have enough bandwidth to support a post like that.  Anyways, my start to 2015 is with a hearty "thank you".

Here's to you guys!  Good luck in 2015!

Duece

Defending 3x1 Formations Part IV

Yep, it's trips again...

Well, moving right along with the posts on Defending 3x1 sets, we will now discuss how to set the defense up against some of the more popular 3x1 passing games that are out there.  If you missed them, Part I was a general discussion on defending 3x1 offenses with Part II discussing the basic rules for game planning against 3x1 sets, and the most recent post, was on defending the typical spread run game out of 3x1 looks.  Obviously we must now move our focus over to the passing game, and how to properly set the secondary, as well as the underneath coverage to defend what it is your opponent is attempting to attack you with.  If you need to, review the set questions focused on in Part II, and review some of the other coverage posts found here.

Passing Concepts
Once you've broken down your opponent, and answered some of the questions we discussed in the second issue of the Defending 3x1 series, you can now focus on how you plan on stopping your opponent's passing game.  Obviously if your opponent has a good receiver, you will want to take him out of the equation by doubling him with some sort of high-low scheme, or a in-out scheme or a man under type scheme.  Not all teams that employ spread concepts have just one good receiver however.  Many either have two or three that are stellar, or the whole group is average and the QB spreads the ball around.  For the majority of this post, I'll focus on defending the passing scheme being utilized as a whole, instead of focusing on how to take away a team's best opponent.  The reason being, I've found that no one coach, uses their best player in the same manner, and to try to focus on just stopping a team's best player would be too general of a post.  Most of us, will all come across some of the passing concepts that I'm going to discuss.

Some of the more common schemes are the Run-N-Shoot schemes, the Air Raid schemes and the West Coast schemes.  Of course not all OC's are limited in just one scheme per-say, and may dabble in all three.  For generality, I will speak of some of the common schemes that are out there, and focus on them.

The Screen Game
The screen game is one of the number one passing concepts I see out of 3x1 sets.  Many DC's don't seem to fear the screen game, but when properly utilized and attached to a no-huddle, up-tempo system, the screen game can deliver serious damage to your defense.  Having a way to defend the screen is vital to the success of ANY defense when facing spread attacks as their number one goal is to put speed in space.  Some of the common screens are the bubble screen, the tunnel screen and the middle or, jailbreak screen.

Bubble Screen
The bubble screen had taken a bit of a backseat in many spread offenses until the advent of packaged concepts came along.  Teams had pretty much figured out the bubble, bubble-n-go etc.  However, when packaged off a run fake, this can make things a bit more "iffy" for the defense.  When looking at the bubble screen, as we all know, the idea here is to block the most dangerous threats and then out run the deep defender.  Many teams are even using the bubble as the pitch phase on the triple option.  This makes defending the bubble screen a lot tougher than it used to be.

Zone read with bubble

There are many key items to look at when setting the defense up vs. 3x1, but if your opponent utilizes the bubble as a mainstay, I'd suggest overloading to the trips side of the coverage.  Now this may mean rolling a safety down and playing a one-high look in these situations, or playing a version of TCU's Special coverage, but whatever you do, I'd over play the trips side.  First off, when coupled with the run game, the zone read can easily be defended as discussed in a previous post.  The LB's track the RB and the DE gets a two-for-one on the RB and the QB, usually giving the QB a give read.  Now, if the QB, or the OC is savvy enough to simply call the bubble, instead of having the QB read it since the OC knows the DE is sitting on the give and the QB keep, he's now made the DE a three-for-one player, because this gets the DE into pursuit quicker than if the QB were actually reading the play.  Likewise the over shift in coverage puts more defenders closer to where the offense is trying to attack.  Again, this is a big win for the defense.  I recommend rolling into a one-high shell late, or even on the snap to gain a defender with leverage on the bubble.

Since the offense now only has two receivers to the strong side of the formation to go vertical, cover 3 is a simple solution here.  You also get two defenders and only one blocker.  You can play games with this as well, having the safety roll down and play the curl defender as shown above, or have him overlap OLB/invert and play the flat player, disguising your intentions (as shown below).

Either way is a sound way of defending the bubble coupled with the zone read.  Let the front defend the inside run and QB, while the secondary converges on the bubble screen.  Remember, one thing with option football, is that when you dictate the read, you then dictate where the ball can go.  You can do this by doing just what was discussed earlier and make the QB hand the ball off.  This may not be your cup of tea, and if not, let the DE chase, and let the LB sit for the QB.  Either way you are sound in your attack of the offense.

Tunnel Screen
The tunnel screen is one that can be very difficult to defend as well.  Tunnel screens, are the exact opposite of the bubble screen in that the ball is coming from outside-in, rather than inside-out.  Most offenses that employ this tactic will also release the OL down field almost immediately, or will use a covered-uncovered principle, whereas the covered OL cut the defender and the uncovered OL attack the second and third levels of the defense immediately.  This makes the defending of the tunnel difficult as the OL attacking the second level, will cut off pursuit.  This leaves the defense vulnerable in the middle area, allowing the offense to get significant chunks of yardage if not handled properly.

From the illustration above, the tackles invite the rush up field while the guards and center climb to the second level.  The idea is to create an alley for the ball carrier to turn up in by walling off outside defenders and pinning inside defenders.  The idea here with defending this screen is to get a defender into this alley area.

Some ways to do defend this type of screen is to play an X-out concept that pits the strong side corner in man-to-man coverage on the #1 receiver in a 3x1 set (i.e. TCU's Special).  Now, the key here is that the man defender not get picked when attacking the defender.  To many, this may be too risky a scheme and can lead to big gains if not played correctly.

Another way to defend this type of play is that when expected you can utilize what I call a "stay" call.  What this call does is tag the defender and tells him to play soft.  Now I know what you are thinking, and yes, this is not the greatest call in the world, but for tunnel screens the "E Stay" call is a good one.  You can tag a player by name, position, or if you want all your DL to sit for the screen, then you simply just call "stay".  I know I've harped on it, but scouting is a tremendous tool here, and having a good idea when your opponent likes to run a screen is very critical when using the "stay" call.  The technique is quite simple, and is very similar to a zone drop by a DL, but that the DL doesn't just drop immediately.  Referring to the initial diagram of the tunnel screen above, if the end to the trips side were to be tagged on a "stay" call, then once he saw the high hat of the OT, then he would simply read the intentions of the QB, as he sits on the LOS.  Once he sees the ball thrown, then he can run to the football.  This player is unaccounted for in the blocking scheme, and you now have an unblocked defender running to the football, while you leave the offense with an OT standing there doing nothing.  The DE has good leverage on the play, because he's right in the alley the offense is trying to create.

Another good way to defend the tunnel, is again to over play the trips side of the formation by rolling your coverage there.  This gives the offense one more defender to block than they can handle.  Now again, you must utilize this with your scouting data to know when to utilize this rotation, as any four verticals type scheme or deep route combinations could be compromised.  Also, the usual with these types of schemes is to play man on the single receiver side, and as talked about earlier this could lead to math ups.

Middle Screen
The middle screen is usually a weak side screen that utilizes the "X" receiver in a trips formation.  The good thing about this type of screen, is that if you use an "X-out" concept like Solo or Mable, then you pretty much have this nipped in the bud.  Even if you are overplaying the trips side with a one high rotation, or an "X-out" concept, you should still be somewhat sound vs. middle screens.

Again, the "stay" call can work well here as well.  You can tag the strong side end, or if your opponent if proficient in both the middle and tunnel screens, you can get the entire line to sit.  One common threat to the corner chasing the screen is to send the RB on a wheel, this is why a half-field safety is not a bad option to this side.  However, if you are playing Solo or Mable and the LB's are doing their job, they should run with this defender in coverage.  Nonetheless some of us are not comfortable with that look, or don't have the athletes to match up, so utilizing the safety as over-the-top help is not a bad idea here.

Sprintout
Many trips teams get into trips for one reason.  To sprint out into the trips.  For defenses that don't adjust properly, this can be a nightmare.  One of the big "tells" for this is when the back is offset to the trips side of the formation.  The back is obviously used to set the edge in protection so therefor must be on that side of the formation.  Now, here recently I've seen pistol teams that motion the RB just before the snap, making it difficult for the offense to pick up on this tendency.

Comeback
As I've mentioned before, the comeback from trips is probably my favorite play in all of football.  It is hard on man, and hard on zone concepts, but not totally un-defendable.

As you can see, the comeback works because it gets the corner's hips turned, and has him playing with the thought of getting beat deep.  In man, or zone, by this time in the play, any coverage by the corner has pretty much become man, so having the corner solely responsible for the comeback is tough.  The corner has to honor not being beaten deep.  The idea on defending the comeback is the drop of the flat defender.  The flat defender has to work for a depth of about 10 yards to help make the window the QB has to throw the comeback in very small.  The other thing is that the curl defender (the Will in the diagram above), must expand on seeing the the rollout, and be able to control the short route to the flats.

This is how a weak side X out concept (Solo) would defend this concept.  The tough part of the coverage is the flat defender.  Too many times that guy doesn't drop on flood-type concepts and it leaves the back end of the flats open. Always remind players we can come up to make a tackle much easier than we can turn around and chase.

Gambler
Gambler is an old Run-N-Shoot (RNS) concept that can be a pain to defend as well.  Gambler has the #1 receiver taking the top off the coverage with the vertical route, while the #2 receiver runs the whip.  The #3 receiver immediately attacks the flats.  Again, what you are seeing is a high-low of the flat defender.  The flat defender has to expand with his threat, but MUST drop, while the curl defender has to realize that vs. sprintout, rarely to teams send receivers opposite the direction of the play.  Gambler is tough on schemes that defend the flats from inside-out.  The better way is to play some sort of 2-read or soft cover 2 on the outside.  Let the corner squeeze #1's route into a half-field safety, and then come off on the deeper whip route and let the curl defender immediately expand to the flat.

Another good coverage for this is the strong side X-out concept of Special.  Man the corner up on the single receiver and let the OLB/SS and FS play Quarters to #2 and #3.  Now the invert will jump the flat route, while the deep safety can stay over the top of the Whip route and has inside help from the LB who should be expanding with the sprint out action.

Another key on defending sprintout teams is the QB contain player.  Too often I see QB's roll out into good coverage and then simply tuck the football and pick up the first down with their legs.  There is nothing more frustrating than having the coverage set up correctly only to give up a first down on a scramble.  However you set up your defense to contain the QB on boots and sprints, you must rep the contain player on getting out ahead of the QB instead of going right at him.  My coaching point has always been play flat first until the QB clears the tackle box, then attack outside.  The idea is cut off the QB and make him cut back into the rush.

I generally use the middle LB in either the 4-3 or 4-2-5 to do the containing. However you choose to contain the QB is up to you.  The idea here is that you have a fail-safe in case of great coverage, so that the offense simply doesn't turn this into QB sweep and run for a first down.

Drop Back
Now we are into the heart of the trips passing game.  It seems just a few years ago trips teams really ramped up when they figured out how to run four verticals from 3x1 sets.  For years when you saw trips it was "Oh, check Cover 3", because you knew it was fixing to be speed option, sprintout or some sort of screen.  Well, these aren't the old days, and 3x1 sets with the down the field passing games have really exploded upon the high school landscape.  Let's take a look at some of these concepts and how we can defend them.

Four Verticals
Well, might as well start off with the simplest form of them all!  The first time I saw four verticals from a trips team was in the playoffs in 06'.  My thought was holy crap, they figured it out!  Now, my old stand-by check to trips was basically TCU's Roll Blue.  We would play pure zone Quarters on the trips side, and then play Quarters read on the weak side of the coverage, or we'd also play some 1/4, 1/4, 1/2 (as you can tell, I'm not a big cover 3 guy).  Anyways, the play didn't hurt us, yet caught us a bit by surprise (we were in Roll Blue at the time and the WS was doubling the single receiver down the sideline while #3 from the trips side was wide open).  Thank the lord the QB didn't see it and swung the ball out to the RB in the flat.  Anyhow, from that day on, my way of thinking changed.  Enter in the X-out concepts and being able to handle four verticals.  Four verticals can easily be handled by Cover 3 as well if you utilize some of what you can read here.  Despite the fact that this concept is easily defended, I thought it did bear at least some mentioning in this post.

Shallow Cross
Shallow Cross is a concept that really works on weak side X-out concepts.  The idea is to clear out the man side defenders and run players back into the voided side from the zone side.  Good OC's recognize X-out concepts when they see them, and this is how they exploit them.

The trick here is not so much schematics, it's simple coaching up the weakness in your coverage.  Obviously in the diagram above, if playing Solo, then the Mike and the weak corner are occupied in Man coverage.  This puts the defense at a disadvantage because now, all the zone side defenders who are taught to expand to the trips side are having to put their foot in the ground and cover back to the man side.  The way I teach this is that there are two key defenders in Solo coverage.  The weak safety and the strong side LB.  These two players are solely responsible for not allowing anything to leak back to the man side.  Obviously as a general rule, the LB will handle the shallower route and the safety will take the deeper ones.  This is built into Solo coverage, it's just the simple fact that the number one rule when facing trips, is to push the coverage to the trips side.  Offenses know this, so they work to try and attack where the defense isn't.  All you need here is to rep the basic rules and have two defenders dedicated to handling any player that tries to cross from the zone side to the man side.

Slide and Slide Wheel
This is an oldie that I've been seeing come back into favor here lately with the addition of the wheel.  Slide is very simply put a Quarters beater because it runs off the safety and leaves the corner one-on-one with the post with poor leverage.

If a team is proficient at reading coverages they may also convert the vertical by #2 into a curl, pulling the safety further away from the post-in.

Now we really see how Quarters is effected by such a route concept.  Again, the key is coaching up the underneath defenders.  The bubble is a rally-to route only.  I'd let you throw that all day if I had to make my choice.  The flat defender must drop and play over the bubble and under the post-in.  If you're playing "old school" Quarters where the flat defender plays inside #2, a reroute on #2 can help as well.  The reroute is a double edged sword though.  It keeps the flat defender from keeping leverage on the bubble, YET it allows the curl defender time to get into the throwing window for the curl route and allows the safety to almost play between both the curl and the post-in.  The better coverage, is Special here.  The corner now plays with inside leverage and will man up the post-in route, while the invert plays the corner's assignment in 2 read outside of #2 and will jump the bubble, leaving the safety in great position to play the curl route.

What I've seen a resurgence in Slide is Slide Wheel or what some call Slide Follow.  This is just where the bubble or flat route is converted into a wheel route as shown below.

The new twist on an old favorite can put your defense in a bind if you are not comfortable with your invert running with a wheel route.  Again, Quarters is in a bind here because it basically turn into man, with an invert running with the wheel and the corner playing the post with no leverage and no inside help.  Special is a better coverage to this, but you still need to have the invert run with the wheel.  

Another thought on Slide and Slide Wheel is to play what many call "3 buzz".  I choose to play it with the safety buzzing down to the flat instead of the curl like many teams do.  What happens now is you get a much more adept defender running with the wheel route.  You get a curl defender expanding and playing underneath the in cut on the post-in route and the curl being defended by the hook player expanding outside.  Now, the curl has the potential to be open because of the length of field the Will LB (in the diagram below) must cover.  You have to pick your poison here.  To me, you need an invert that can run with the wheel, this way the deeper zone guys can cover deeper routes.  The wheel is also the longest throw too, so I usually don't mind having a LB type guy run with that route because of its low completion percentage.  

Conclusion

Obviously trying to cover all that's out there would be impossible in one, two or even 10 posts.  I've touched on what I'm seeing,which is all I can really report about.  These are some of the route concepts, screens etc. that I'm seeing on a daily basis, especially now that the seven-on-seven season has heated up.  The main idea here is like anything else in defensive football.  Have two ways to defend what you are seeing.  This season, with what I have, we will be using Solo, Roll and 3 buzz to defend most 3x1 formations.  It is not perfect, but it is a plan that will defend 98% of what I'm going to see and each coverage overlaps each other by enough that all the weaknesses are covered.  

In the next post, I'm going to discuss pressuring 3x1 sets vs. both the run and the pass (mainly the pass though).  Sorry to take so long between posts, but I have a lot on my plate at this point in time.  Take care, and thanks for reading.  Enjoy the start of your summer!

Duece