Class Is In Session: The Zone Blitz

[pbmax]

Alright, it will be another busy offseason for the Rats, as we need to learn all about the 3-4 and the Zone Blitz. Three offseasons ago we conquered the Zone Blocking System (ZBS, ©2006 PackerRats). This offseason we will acquire just enough information to be dangerous about one version of our new defense and its Zone Blitz Package (ZBP, ©2009 PackerRats)

Today: why Zone Blitz doesn't mean exactly what John Madden has been telling you it means. After reading these articles, you should be able to answer:

1. Which coach is generally given credit for devising the zone blitz we know today?
2. What offense was the Zone Blitz designed to stop? (Hint: Buddy Ryan loved this offense :P )
3. Prior to the early 1990's, what was the most common coverage played behind a blitz?
4. What were the two most common versions of that coverage when blitzing?
5. What is the difference between an exchange/switch and a blitz?
6. Can you blitz by rushing four?
7. When is a 3-3 zone (6 defenders total) a conservative pass defense?
8. In the last article, there is a role for Al Harris mentioned. Can you identify it?

What Killed This Offense? (Answer is our topic)

Football 101: The zone blitz

Fire Zone Blitzes

[Waldo]

There is no reason that Al couldn't play man. It actually increases the coverage odds for the other defenders and places whoever Al is covering into full time double coverage if a quick toss is not the play.

If a 3-3 Cloud Coverage is called with the CB opposite of Al the deep CB, and Al is in BnR, the underneath three don't necessarily need to cover all the way across, they can cheat away from Al as Al is likely covering the far zone occupant, and the cloud takes care the big play if they get a guy out there that the underneath guys can't get. If the blitz is successful in locking 1 extra protector in the backfield, that leaves 4 guys in pass patterns, 1 covered by Al in man, the other 3 covered by 6 zone defenders.

A single man coverage guy is actually a vital part of Philly's zone blitz. It makes the odds better for everybody else and generally puts the best WR (or second best) of the opponents in near total double coverage, and not covered by lineman or LB's, as would occur in pure zone coverage.

The blindside is actually the best place for this. If the usual coverage would be 4-3 cloud, and instead 3-3 cloud with the blindside CB in man is called with a cheat toward 4-3 positions, Al man covers the initial occupant of that 4th zone. The likelihood that that specific zone is gone back to is quite low, the blindside shallow side of the field is rarely ever where the QB's outlets are to be found. If the shallow blidside zone is not used shortly after the snap, it is the zone on the field most likely to be vacant. If not, the likely occupant is a FB or RB, a matchup that isn't bad for the zone defender in the excessively large zone created by the cheat.

[Guiness]

wow - the Run and Shoot. Warren Moon running it in Houston, formerly of the Edmonton Eskimos is probably the biggest reason I started to watch the NFL.

edit: The Run and Shoot is the answer to #2

[KYPack]

There is no reason that Al couldn't play man. It actually increases the coverage odds for the other defenders and places whoever Al is covering into full time double coverage if a quick toss is not the play.

If a 3-3 Cloud Coverage is called with the CB opposite of Al the deep CB, and Al is in BnR, the underneath three don't necessarily need to cover all the way across, they can cheat away from Al as Al is likely covering the far zone occupant, and the cloud takes care the big play if they get a guy out there that the underneath guys can't get. If the blitz is successful in locking 1 extra protector in the backfield, that leaves 4 guys in pass patterns, 1 covered by Al in man, the other 3 covered by 6 zone defenders.

A single man coverage guy is actually a vital part of Philly's zone blitz. It makes the odds better for everybody else and generally puts the best WR (or second best) of the opponents in near total double coverage, and not covered by lineman or LB's, as would occur in pure zone coverage.

The blindside is actually the best place for this. If the usual coverage would be 4-3 cloud, and instead 3-3 cloud with the blindside CB in man is called with a cheat toward 4-3 positions, Al man covers the initial occupant of that 4th zone. The likelihood that that specific zone is gone back to is quite low, the blindside shallow side of the field is rarely ever where the QB's outlets are to be found. If the shallow blidside zone is not used shortly after the snap, it is the zone on the field most likely to be vacant. If not, the likely occupant is a FB or RB, a matchup that isn't bad for the zone defender in the excessively large zone created by the cheat.

I don't know about that shit, Waldo.

The big thing some zone blitz DC's do is show a cb in press cover, then blitz him. There just isn't a lot of man cover in any zone blitz schemes.

Real minor point here, but if the 3 deep guys are safties or 2 safties and a corner, it's called Cloud. 2 corners and a S is Sky.

"A single man coverage guy is actually a vital part of Philly's zone blitz. It makes the odds better for everybody else and generally puts the best WR (or second best) of the opponents in near total double coverage, and not covered by lineman or LB's, as would occur in pure zone coverage."

If you are singled up in any of these coverages, it's a big time weakness.

All your points about Harris playing man and the rest of the D scheming around that?

No way.

There is no percentage in doing it and your description of the scheme in nonsensenscial to me, anyway.

They run that 3-3 deep coverage when they send 5 in a fire zone. They play zone deep and zone shallow, the deep 3 in thirds, the underneath guys in several different covers. The whole idea is to cover snug and front as many recievers as you can. Hopefully, the blitz gets home and you've got a sack or a funky pass, etc.

You ain't got time to "Cheat away from Al" or whatever it is you are trying to get at.

[highlander]

There is no reason that Al couldn't play man. It actually increases the coverage odds for the other defenders and places whoever Al is covering into full time double coverage if a quick toss is not the play.

If a 3-3 Cloud Coverage is called with the CB opposite of Al the deep CB, and Al is in BnR, the underneath three don't necessarily need to cover all the way across, they can cheat away from Al as Al is likely covering the far zone occupant, and the cloud takes care the big play if they get a guy out there that the underneath guys can't get. If the blitz is successful in locking 1 extra protector in the backfield, that leaves 4 guys in pass patterns, 1 covered by Al in man, the other 3 covered by 6 zone defenders.

A single man coverage guy is actually a vital part of Philly's zone blitz. It makes the odds better for everybody else and generally puts the best WR (or second best) of the opponents in near total double coverage, and not covered by lineman or LB's, as would occur in pure zone coverage.

The blindside is actually the best place for this. If the usual coverage would be 4-3 cloud, and instead 3-3 cloud with the blindside CB in man is called with a cheat toward 4-3 positions, Al man covers the initial occupant of that 4th zone. The likelihood that that specific zone is gone back to is quite low, the blindside shallow side of the field is rarely ever where the QB's outlets are to be found. If the shallow blidside zone is not used shortly after the snap, it is the zone on the field most likely to be vacant. If not, the likely occupant is a FB or RB, a matchup that isn't bad for the zone defender in the excessively large zone created by the cheat.

I dont post much on this site I have read your post and you know your stuff. I value your post far mor ethan many here. Good job and keep posting

[bobblehead]

You don't have to know "your stuff" to realize that Al Harris can be used in pretty much any scheme. Those who think otherwise are people who simply think if you don't intercept passes you are a bad CB.

When Al was the nickel back in Philly what defense did they run?? When Al came to Green Bay did we press every play?

Al Harris is an NFL corner. He is BEST at manning up at the line, but he is certainly capable of playing in the zone blitz.

[Guiness]

There is no reason that Al couldn't play man. It actually increases the coverage odds for the other defenders and places whoever Al is covering into full time double coverage if a quick toss is not the play.

If a 3-3 Cloud Coverage is called with the CB opposite of Al the deep CB, and Al is in BnR, the underneath three don't necessarily need to cover all the way across, they can cheat away from Al as Al is likely covering the far zone occupant, and the cloud takes care the big play if they get a guy out there that the underneath guys can't get. If the blitz is successful in locking 1 extra protector in the backfield, that leaves 4 guys in pass patterns, 1 covered by Al in man, the other 3 covered by 6 zone defenders.

A single man coverage guy is actually a vital part of Philly's zone blitz. It makes the odds better for everybody else and generally puts the best WR (or second best) of the opponents in near total double coverage, and not covered by lineman or LB's, as would occur in pure zone coverage.

The blindside is actually the best place for this. If the usual coverage would be 4-3 cloud, and instead 3-3 cloud with the blindside CB in man is called with a cheat toward 4-3 positions, Al man covers the initial occupant of that 4th zone. The likelihood that that specific zone is gone back to is quite low, the blindside shallow side of the field is rarely ever where the QB's outlets are to be found. If the shallow blidside zone is not used shortly after the snap, it is the zone on the field most likely to be vacant. If not, the likely occupant is a FB or RB, a matchup that isn't bad for the zone defender in the excessively large zone created by the cheat.

I don't know about that shit, Waldo.

The big thing some zone blitz DC's do is show a cb in press cover, then blitz him. There just isn't a lot of man cover in any zone blitz schemes.

Real minor point here, but if the 3 deep guys are safties or 2 safties and a corner, it's called Cloud. 2 corners and a S is Sky.

"A single man coverage guy is actually a vital part of Philly's zone blitz. It makes the odds better for everybody else and generally puts the best WR (or second best) of the opponents in near total double coverage, and not covered by lineman or LB's, as would occur in pure zone coverage."

If you are singled up in any of these coverages, it's a big time weakness.

All your points about Harris playing man and the rest of the D scheming around that?

No way.

There is no percentage in doing it and your description of the scheme in nonsensenscial to me, anyway.

They run that 3-3 deep coverage when they send 5 in a fire zone. They play zone deep and zone shallow, the deep 3 in thirds, the underneath guys in several different covers. The whole idea is to cover snug and front as many recievers as you can. Hopefully, the blitz gets home and you've got a sack or a funky pass, etc.

You ain't got time to "Cheat away from Al" or whatever it is you are trying to get at.

I think what Waldo is saying almost seems like a '10+1' scheme, where you'd use Al man on the WR on his side of the field - but with help deep from the 'cloud'. If this worked, it would make things better for the rest of the D, because they would have one less offensive weapon to worry about.

If you are singled up in any of these coverages, it's a big time weakness.

I've never noticed this sort of thing (of course, I was never looking for it) but it's interesting. If the CB singling up takes the WR out of the game (as Al can do) is it a weakness? Is it too difficult to cover the field with 10 zones, as opposed to 11 (cause Al doesn't have a zone to worry about)? Does Philly really run a hybrid system like this???


The question is what happens if his man runs through his zone. I didn't know Philly used this type of a scheme, and haven't seen enough of them to know how they react. Does he follow the receiver deep, or hand him off, and look for someone else coming into the zone? Waldo seems to be saying he stays in his zone, but that it's unlikely anything happens there...

This doesn't change the fact that the few times I've seen Al in a zone scheme, he seemed to be lost. His closing speed is not great, and that hurts him.

[KYPack]

There is no reason that Al couldn't play man. It actually increases the coverage odds for the other defenders and places whoever Al is covering into full time double coverage if a quick toss is not the play.

If a 3-3 Cloud Coverage is called with the CB opposite of Al the deep CB, and Al is in BnR, the underneath three don't necessarily need to cover all the way across, they can cheat away from Al as Al is likely covering the far zone occupant, and the cloud takes care the big play if they get a guy out there that the underneath guys can't get. If the blitz is successful in locking 1 extra protector in the backfield, that leaves 4 guys in pass patterns, 1 covered by Al in man, the other 3 covered by 6 zone defenders.

A single man coverage guy is actually a vital part of Philly's zone blitz. It makes the odds better for everybody else and generally puts the best WR (or second best) of the opponents in near total double coverage, and not covered by lineman or LB's, as would occur in pure zone coverage.

The blindside is actually the best place for this. If the usual coverage would be 4-3 cloud, and instead 3-3 cloud with the blindside CB in man is called with a cheat toward 4-3 positions, Al man covers the initial occupant of that 4th zone. The likelihood that that specific zone is gone back to is quite low, the blindside shallow side of the field is rarely ever where the QB's outlets are to be found. If the shallow blidside zone is not used shortly after the snap, it is the zone on the field most likely to be vacant. If not, the likely occupant is a FB or RB, a matchup that isn't bad for the zone defender in the excessively large zone created by the cheat.

I don't know about that shit, Waldo.

The big thing some zone blitz DC's do is show a cb in press cover, then blitz him. There just isn't a lot of man cover in any zone blitz schemes.

Real minor point here, but if the 3 deep guys are safties or 2 safties and a corner, it's called Cloud. 2 corners and a S is Sky.

"A single man coverage guy is actually a vital part of Philly's zone blitz. It makes the odds better for everybody else and generally puts the best WR (or second best) of the opponents in near total double coverage, and not covered by lineman or LB's, as would occur in pure zone coverage."

If you are singled up in any of these coverages, it's a big time weakness.

All your points about Harris playing man and the rest of the D scheming around that?

No way.

There is no percentage in doing it and your description of the scheme in nonsensenscial to me, anyway.

They run that 3-3 deep coverage when they send 5 in a fire zone. They play zone deep and zone shallow, the deep 3 in thirds, the underneath guys in several different covers. The whole idea is to cover snug and front as many recievers as you can. Hopefully, the blitz gets home and you've got a sack or a funky pass, etc.

You ain't got time to "Cheat away from Al" or whatever it is you are trying to get at.

I think what Waldo is saying almost seems like a '10+1' scheme, where you'd use Al man on the WR on his side of the field - but with help deep from the 'cloud'. If this worked, it would make things better for the rest of the D, because they would have one less offensive weapon to worry about.

If you are singled up in any of these coverages, it's a big time weakness.

I've never noticed this sort of thing (of course, I was never looking for it) but it's interesting. If the CB singling up takes the WR out of the game (as Al can do) is it a weakness? Is it too difficult to cover the field with 10 zones, as opposed to 11 (cause Al doesn't have a zone to worry about)? Does Philly really run a hybrid system like this???


The question is what happens if his man runs through his zone. I didn't know Philly used this type of a scheme, and haven't seen enough of them to know how they react. Does he follow the receiver deep, or hand him off, and look for someone else coming into the zone? Waldo seems to be saying he stays in his zone, but that it's unlikely anything happens there...

This doesn't change the fact that the few times I've seen Al in a zone scheme, he seemed to be lost. His closing speed is not great, and that hurts him.

Well, I see what ya mean Guiness.
But no, I think that idea is bogus
I totally disagree with the idea that you would alter the defense so one guy is a lone bone playing man to man, while the rest of the D cobbles some kind of Zone cover behind the blitz.

That said, in a fire zone, you are usually sending 5. That leaves 6 to cover the O receivers. Aggressive OC's may send out 4,5 receivers to counter the blitz. Obviously one or more receivers is singled up for the offense. The defense assigns coverage by matchup rules in some cases. The easy one to understand is the 3-3. Most of the underneath guys cover in their zone and release to their deep help. The deep guys in Sky or Cloud match-up with the receiver and run with him, no release.

A good bit of the time, the deep guys are 2 corners and a safety. the 2 corners roll from their shallow positions and play deep thirds. There ain't no place for Ol Al to "take one guy out of the offense" or be 10 + 1 or whatever.

Also, Philly blitzes and runs some zone blitz, but Johnson runs very little 3-4. He's a 4-3 guy

I like Al as a player, but this new system and his playing style ain't a good fit.

[pbmax]

OK, the answer to Question 1 is Bob Davie. Many of you, if you are like me, have no direct connection to Notre Dame except for ND72. I know Bob Davie because he was their D coordinator for Lou Holtz and then the HC himself. His tenure was not all that Notre Dame had hoped for. His public reputation is usually dominated by this failure.

But as a D coordinator for Texas A&M, Bob Davie was a defensive innovator, a real X and O guy. And he faced a real problem, very much like DCs faced in the last decade with the Spread Offense. This offense he faced, if talent levels were close to equal, seemed unstoppable. One observer said for 20 years no one had blitzed this offense successfully, despite always committing 4 receivers to pass routes and being unable to protect with more than 5 or 6.

[KYPack]

OK PB

#3 is man D. A tight man fronting the receivers.

That was LeBeau and Capers big innovation. They played zone behind therir blitz schemes, a radical new step at the time.

[Waldo]

There is no reason that Al couldn't play man. It actually increases the coverage odds for the other defenders and places whoever Al is covering into full time double coverage if a quick toss is not the play.

If a 3-3 Cloud Coverage is called with the CB opposite of Al the deep CB, and Al is in BnR, the underneath three don't necessarily need to cover all the way across, they can cheat away from Al as Al is likely covering the far zone occupant, and the cloud takes care the big play if they get a guy out there that the underneath guys can't get. If the blitz is successful in locking 1 extra protector in the backfield, that leaves 4 guys in pass patterns, 1 covered by Al in man, the other 3 covered by 6 zone defenders.

A single man coverage guy is actually a vital part of Philly's zone blitz. It makes the odds better for everybody else and generally puts the best WR (or second best) of the opponents in near total double coverage, and not covered by lineman or LB's, as would occur in pure zone coverage.

The blindside is actually the best place for this. If the usual coverage would be 4-3 cloud, and instead 3-3 cloud with the blindside CB in man is called with a cheat toward 4-3 positions, Al man covers the initial occupant of that 4th zone. The likelihood that that specific zone is gone back to is quite low, the blindside shallow side of the field is rarely ever where the QB's outlets are to be found. If the shallow blidside zone is not used shortly after the snap, it is the zone on the field most likely to be vacant. If not, the likely occupant is a FB or RB, a matchup that isn't bad for the zone defender in the excessively large zone created by the cheat.

I don't know about that shit, Waldo.

The big thing some zone blitz DC's do is show a cb in press cover, then blitz him. There just isn't a lot of man cover in any zone blitz schemes.

Real minor point here, but if the 3 deep guys are safties or 2 safties and a corner, it's called Cloud. 2 corners and a S is Sky.

"A single man coverage guy is actually a vital part of Philly's zone blitz. It makes the odds better for everybody else and generally puts the best WR (or second best) of the opponents in near total double coverage, and not covered by lineman or LB's, as would occur in pure zone coverage."

If you are singled up in any of these coverages, it's a big time weakness.

All your points about Harris playing man and the rest of the D scheming around that?

No way.

There is no percentage in doing it and your description of the scheme in nonsensenscial to me, anyway.

They run that 3-3 deep coverage when they send 5 in a fire zone. They play zone deep and zone shallow, the deep 3 in thirds, the underneath guys in several different covers. The whole idea is to cover snug and front as many recievers as you can. Hopefully, the blitz gets home and you've got a sack or a funky pass, etc.

You ain't got time to "Cheat away from Al" or whatever it is you are trying to get at.

Here is an explanation/diagram of some of Philly's zone blitzes from elsewhere. Notice that Lito is almost always in man to man, Samuel is almost always in zone:

http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=238262

[KYPack]

Waldo.

That's great, that's fine, but we aren't gonna play Jim Johnson's scheme.

His is a 4-3 based defense.

We are going to Capers system. A 3-4 with fire zone concepts in their blitzing. When we do fire zone, many times both CB's roll back into the Cloud or Sky cover to be the back line in the 3-3 coverage. The other 5 boys are storming the QB. There is MUCH less press technique used by the corners in this system.

Al's man skills come into play when he will be singled up on receivers, but Al has as big an adjustment as any player on our D. Now he loses much of his ability to play press technique. they do play some of that in fire zone, mainly to set up the fire blitzes with the weak corner and the WOLB.

Don't show me examples with Lto Sheppard in 'em. that's not what we are talking about here. Bring up all the examples of Pittsburgh or Balt corners. That's a fire zone D. Philadelphia is a totally different animal.

[pbmax]

OK PB

#3 is man D. A tight man fronting the receivers.

That was LeBeau and Capers big innovation. They played zone behind therir blitz schemes, a radical new step at the time.

KYPack is right. Back in the day, a blitz meant you would see man coverage in the secondary. When the Run and Shoot would send four WRs into the pattern, it seemed to make sense to pressure the QB when he could only be blocked by 6 (OL + one RB). Davie got there first in college at A&M. He was DC from 89-93, but I can't tell you what year he employed this scheme. Capers, LeBeau and Cowher did it in Pittsburgh when they could not generate pressure in traditional ways early in 92.

But the Run and Shoot ran a rollout (or half rollout) with the RB blocking the non-playside outside rusher. If the defense blitzed, the RB would break off the block after a count of 1 and take a screen pass and run unmolested through the secondary in man to man, because they had counted him as a blocker and did not cover him. To keep RBs from scoring TDs on screens, defenses had to adjust by covering the RB. So one offensive player was occupying two defenders (blocking outside rusher and man covering him). This eliminated the numerical advantage the defense had (offense always has ten from which to block and the ballcarrier, defense has 11) and reduced the advantage of a blitz. The Run and Shoot could protect with six and reasonably expect the defense to rush with a maximum of 6, so no overload blitzes.

Davie ran a 3-4, and rushed both OLBs, so depending on alignment, he could have one bad matchup for the offense (RB on perhaps their best pass rusher) and an unblocked blitzer. He could then drop off combinations of D lineman or LBs into coverage, meaning he could always have at least six in coverage and as many as 8. The threat of pass rush from the interior players keep blockers inside, the OLB occupied the RB and then defenders dropped into zones. The five big blockers were often blocking air.

[Waldo]

You're the one that said I was full of crap when I said Philly's zone blitz scheme (which is nothing more than a 4-3 incarnation of what Pit runs) uses combo man/zone. Capers has called the combo coverage before when he had a good man to man corner, hell Sanders called it last year.

It is is a workable coverage that is used by teams in the league. There is absolutely no necessity to running pure man or pure zone coverage. Mixing the two types together makes the QB's reads that much more difficult.

You have to realize that Capers is NOT a rigid scheme guy. He is known as one of, if the best, defensive minds at adapting scheme to his players and designing scheme around what he's got. That is by far his greatest strength as a coordinator. He is also known to be good at gameplanning. His primary weakness is in-game adjustments, he is not good at adapting scheme on the fly during a game.

[pbmax]

Here is an explanation/diagram of some of Philly's zone blitzes from elsewhere. Notice that Lito is almost always in man to man, Samuel is almost always in zone:
http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB...c.php?t=238262

That looks like a specialty defense, like what we played against TO and Dallas. The problem with that defense is that there are big holes in the zones as the safety might have to abandon his zone to double, the Mike has to play deep and short middle zone. Just like the Cowboys found all the other receivers against us, Welker (as the description maintained) killed the Eagles.

This looks like a defense of last resort, not an everyday scheme.