By John Anderson

In this article, we will introduce two concepts - Blitz Engage and Peel. We will discuss the adjustment we made and why we altered our schemes to include these concepts, and how we incorporated the schemes. Finally, we will discuss adjustments to certain formations

THE CONCEPTS

The Blitz Engage concept is utilized within man coverage. It is disguised as a blitz rush into the pass protection, and is designed to swallow up the possibility of any "leakage" by attacking any releasing backs out of the backfield. The objective is to meet the running back in the gap in the pass protection that he is check-releasing through (usually an "A" or "B" gap). This concept was made famous by Buddy Ryan whom incorporated these concepts into his "46" defense while in Chicago. We use this as a potential element within our man coverage scheme. The difference is a call we make to differentiate the traditional man scheme, versus the blitz engage scheme with a huddle call.

The Peel Concept is utilized in zone coverage (either landmark zone drops or in pattern reading). The Peel concept is generally used in what we call our "Caribbean" scheme which employs zone coverage in our nickel or dime schemes. I saw this back in the early '70s in raw form by Bill Arnsparger while he was the defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins in their Super Bowl years. Arnsparger used linebacker Kim Bokamper as a hybrid pass rusher off the edge, or drop off into coverage. All I did was adjust this scheme to attack the running back, instead of the quarterback. Our adjustment to this technique was to "peel off" a defensive end from his pass rush, and adjust to coverage. The defensive end would see the running back coming from the opposite side and was in perfect position to intercept.

THE ADJUSTMENT AND WHY

We initially played a variety of fronts and coverage's, but we tried to play it straight as long as we could. But, one of the things that we experienced were that we were getting gashed by running backs coming out of the backfield by going across the back of the formation in an attempt to confuse zone coverage's. They were getting lost in the concentration of the pass protectors and pass rushers. It was devastating to our defenders to stop the offense on first and second down, only for the offense to gain big yardage on third down. We had to adjust our defensive theory somehow to stop the unusual releases and complex screens that that we were facing. Another problem we faced was that the running backs were check releasing out of the backfield after our linebackers were already giving ground as they dropped back to their landmark zone coverage responsibilities (and later our pattern reading zone coverage’s).

We adjusted our theory to attacking the screens before they happened by using this basic form of switching off, and preventing the screen from ever developing. This way, we were being pro-active, instead of having to get bodies up immediately from the secondary while we were getting gashed.

When we looked at how to adjust our defensive scheme to fit the situation, we examined both schemes. Both schemes had more advantages than disadvantages. We wanted to add a more complex look to our defensive packages while having a easy understanding of the scheme ourselves.

How We Incorporated The Schemes – "Peel" technique (Part I)

We made the determination that the Peel concept would be best used with our zone coverage package due to the fact that the running backs were getting lost in the shuffle by running their route across the backfield and into free space where our defenders were being run off by the wide receivers.

This concept does several things:

1. It allows the defensive end to use his superior position to see the play develop.
2. We are giving the quarterback something he does not see on any kind of regular basis. Thus, we are adding an element of confusion to the offense.
3. It gives the defender a much easier angle in which to pick up the receiver, instead of waiting until the ball is thrown, and having to change his angle of pursuit, and chasing down a receiver who is already in space.

Our initial "Dime" scheme was the usual four down linemen, one linebacker, and six defensive backs. When we wanted more speed on the defense, we moved the defensive ends inside to the defensive tackle positions, and substituted linebackers in at the defensive end positions. So, in essence, we have two defensive linemen, three linebackers, and six defensive backs.

Let's start with our landmark zone coverage from the Dime defense package. (This can be adapted very easily to pattern reading coverage’s).

I want to concentrate on the front four and the linebacker position. We instruct the ends and linebacker to key the single back, regardless of whether the offense lines up in a doubles or trips alignment. When we see a "high hat" (or pass blocking), we teach the edge rushers to come up field under control and watch the play develop. The strength of our pass rush has always been inside at the defensive tackle position. When we make the changes to our speed defense, it presents the offense with a lot more problems. This is because the interior linemen are not used to seeing that much speed inside.

Assignments

Defensive Tackles – Execute pass rush called. (In every pass rush, one of the defensive tackle's will be given screen/draw responsibility). Push the protection into the quarterback's lap.

Defensive Ends – Execute pass rush called, apply "Peel" technique if back comes across your face. "Trail" coverage technique. If back steps up or away, play containment to your side. Squeeze the pocket.

Linebacker – Coverage called, unless otherwise dictated by game plan. May be called upon to be incorporated into the pass rush if "Peel" is on. This concept will call for some extended practice time.

Adjustments Made To Certain Formations

Our defensive scheme was built on putting our best defenders in one-on-one situations, and then coach them up to win those match-ups. There were concerns that in implementing this scheme that the offense would try to take advantage of this by forcing us to "peel" off the defender and leave us with a three man pass rush. This would leave at least two double teams on potential pass rushers.

One of the adjustments we made versus certain formations, and tendencies, was to utilize a switch in our scheme that incorporates the lone linebacker and the edge rushers. The reason for this was to prevent teams from forcing us (from the standpoint of a particular scheme) to dictate that we only have a three man pass rush. So, we wanted that option available to us.

We anticipated this from the beginning and applied a built in safeguard against just such a situation. So, in one of our variations we applied a rule that sends the linebacker into the pass rush in the event we get a situation where either defensive end "peels off". We did this so that the offense was not dictating to us in how many we would rush.

This certainly affects our coverage scheme by taking away the inside cover man in between the hash marks. Because in reality, you cannot be strong everywhere. So, we now have our "peel" defender playing man coverage concepts with zone coverage behind them, because we do not want to give up easy passes over the middle of the field. So, now we have combination coverage in place to take away anything easy.

The answer to this problem is another variation that we know today as "match-up" zone coverage. With the match-up zone principles you can run nearly any coverage package behind this scheme.

Anytime you incorporate the linebacker into the pass rush, you need to make sure that your slot defender is more aware of the situation. He needs to keep jamming any crossing routes from coming across his face. This could change the whole dynamic of your coverage scheme, and require your safeties to be more active on in-breaking routes by the number one receivers to their side in any two deep or four deep coverage’s.

How We Incorporated The Schemes – "Blitz Engage" technique (Part II)

The Blitz Engage concept does not require a lot of extra practice time because we are using the same search concepts that were being taught to our cover people while executing their man coverage responsibilities. Now, what I mean by search concepts is that sometimes when you have a linebacker or defensive back in man coverage, they have to "sift" through all of the bodies to find the gap that their running back is trying to either defend, or to escape from. The only difference is that we are now attacking the receiver in the hole instead of just playing coverage against him.

This concept does several things:

1. It attacks the receiver coming out of the backfield and "takes him up" and keeps him from becoming an active receiver,
2. It gives the appearance to the quarterback than more rushers are coming then there actually are,
3. It takes up the receiver from becoming an active pass blocker against the actual pass rushers.

The defender only has to remember two things:

1. If the defender tries to mimic his protection responsibilities, then the defender attacks him in the hole, and continues until the play concludes. The defender must remember that this is not a pass rush, but containment on the running back. If the quarterback gets close enough, then the defender can collapse on him.
2. If the running back releases cleanly into his pass route (free releases), then he reverts to his man coverage responsibilities.

As we stated earlier, we do not want the running back to execute any kind of check down scheme against us. Most of your dangerous running backs will step up into the protection, and then find a hole to escape from. I always thought this was like a rabbit who was ducking from the wolves. The trick is to jam him up in the hole, and not allow the rabbit to use his speed and elusiveness. It didn’t matter to us whether he was coming up inside or escaping at the edge after “chipping” on our pass rusher, we wanted to keep him from escaping. If he got away, it opened up a whole litany of things that they could execute (i.e. screens, or some complex release versus zone coverage).

We take an aggressive posture. We want to attack the running back in the hole of the protection and make him become a blocker. The first point that the pass defender must realize is that he wants to make it look like a blitz, but remain in control and square up the receiver. We want to attack him as he is trying to leak out from between his offensive linemen.

We want to put the running back in a mental and physical bind. I say this because we want to put doubt into his mind as to whether he should check release into his route, or stay in and fulfill his pass protection responsibilities.

We want to attack him, and continue to attack him until one of two things happen:

1. We get a sack;
   or
2. The ball is thrown.

We do not want to allow that back to become a factor in the pass route, and beat us with his quickness. If the running back does not check down or “chip” the edge, but flares out or angles cleanly out of the backfield then we simply revert to our man coverage principles. All of our man principles will now apply.

Additional Things to Keep In Mind

• As with any type of "man" or "single" coverage, you have to be able to stop the slant route coming inside. This is the favorite route used against man coverage.
• Another aspect is that you must have players who are excellent open field tacklers. Since you will have fewer people in the secondary, we must tackle effectively.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you can take something away from this.