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Man Blitz Packages

How Tarleton State Implements and Utilizes Effective Man Blitz Concepts
by: Mike Kuchar
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Developing an effective man blitz package takes a lot of creativity and a ton of repetition. Sure, it may all look easy on the whiteboard, diagramming stunts and blitzes at will. But what’s most important is fitting the scheme to your personnel. Aside from putting your best players in a position to make plays, your players have to know “how” to blitz, and not just when to blitz. Coming at the quarterback with full reckless abandonment usually results in missed tackles or knockdowns, especially when facing today’s athletic quarterbacks.

Darian Dulin, the defensive coordinator at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, TX has learned these concepts over time and he shared some of his thoughts on developing man blitzes with American Football Monthly. Since taking over coordinator duties in 2005, the Texan defense ranked second in the Lone Star Conference in scoring defense, allowing a mere 18.5 points per game. The Texan’s defense is based off a shade 4-3 scheme, in a cover two shell (See Diagram 1) but has the ability to adjust and shift into ten different coverage’s by the snap of the ball. But regardless of how many coverages they could play, locking people up and bringing heat is what Dulin loves to do best.

Diagram 1

Why Man Pressures?

Generally, there are two schools of thought on sending pressure – one is more conservative in nature, zone blitzing with five playing zone coverage underneath while the other is to bring up to seven defenders and play strict man coverage with no help over the top (cover zero). While most teams will sacrifice speed for safety and play some type of zone behind a blitz to prevent the long gain, Dulin prefers getting to the QB quicker. Dulin does have a zone blitz package in the Tarleton playbook, but when it comes to making a play – he goes straight for the jugular.

“We do more man blitz concepts than zone because it sets a certain mentality. We’re not going to sit back and let the offense dictate the pace of the game. We like the versatility of it. You can run a man pressure on first and ten when you are expecting them to run the ball right at you because you are getting gaps covered up front. But we really like to use these man blitzes when we think they are going to throw it. We think we can gang up on them and outnumber them to a protection side and get after them pretty well,” says Dulin.

A common misconception about bringing man pressure is that you need to have the athletes at cornerback and safety to be able to play it. Yes, when playing man coverage with no help in the middle of the field you do leave your cornerbacks and safeties on an island. But in actuality, you don’t need speed demons at corner to be able to cover. Tarleton State teaches what Dulin calls a motor/mirror technique. It’s more of a loose man concept with corners 5-7 yards off their receiver, using what Dulin calls horizontal and vertical alignment. Their horizontal alignment is on the inside shade of the receiver, while their vertical alignment is directly in proportion to how tall the receiver is. If the receiver is a bit smaller, D-backs need to drop their hips to match height, just to work on leveraging their opponent.

On the snap of the ball, corners will buzz their feet in order to prevent getting stiff legged. The rapid movement of their feet helps to not get overextended, thus opening their hips up too soon. Once the WR decides to make their initial move, the corner works a mirror technique, duplicating any outside or inside release while staying on the upfield shoulder. The bend but don’t break concept is simple – if anything, allow for a short gain, and rally for the tackle. “I don’t like guys getting up in people’s face to play jam man coverage,” says Dulin. “Everybody thinks that they are a press corner, but in reality not many people are. So we need to make adjustments based on our personnel.”

When to Call Man Pressures

Like most blitz schemes, man blitz schemes are most effective when catching the offense off-guard. Ideally, Dulin likes to play base defense early, holding the offense to three to five yards on first and second as much as possible. “When we feel like we have an advantage when they’re in a situation where they have to throw it or got to run it and we have every gap covered, we’ll run our zero blitzes,” says Dulin. Dulin believes that running a man blitz should be a reward for players because secondary players have the opportunity to do something they don’t usually do – go after the QB. “We sell our guys on that we’re going to play base defense and win. So that when we come after them we’re basically telling them that we’re giving them an opportunity to do something they may not do that often, so take advantage of it. When you get that opportunity, make something happen.”

This is quite a different philosophy that some coaches use when they decide to “blitz out of desperation” because they’ve let up consecutive long yardage plays. “You can get too blitz happy when kids are just running around trying to make things happen. They’re going upfield recklessly. A lot of times you’re playing into the offensive strengths, especially zone teams. The kids get to the point where they’re saying ‘man, we have to do something every play just to survive.’ Football is still about putting a guys hand in the dirt and whiping the guy in front of him,” says Dulin.

Dulin doesn’t believe in certain down and distance situations to bring pressure because you tend to develop predictability in your tendencies. So he relies on instinct and the flow of the game that impel him to bring a blitz. Often times, it’s used as a changeup in baseball, a way to break up the monotony of the rhythm that an offense may develop. “The first quarter I like to be pretty basic in that I know what they are going to do, especially with coordinators that have been around a long time in the league. After we feel like we know what they’re doing, we’ll start bringing stuff at them,” says Dulin. “I don’t want them to feel comfortable. I like to give them something different before halftime that we’ve never run before. In the second half, I open up the whole playbook at them. Unless, of course we’re winning, then I’ll stay pretty vanilla.”

“To me, there is one essential rule when bringing man pressures. I’m going to get two- on-one somewhere. If the back is involved in the protection that is where we’re going. If they are a man team, we will try to cross them up on the line of scrimmage. Eventually someone has to block two guys, and that’s where you create problems for the offense.” Three of Tarleton State’s best problem causes for offenses in the Lone Star Conference are labeled below, Shade Commache Peel, Shade Geronimo Peel and Custer’s Blitz Red.

Types of Man Pressures

Dulin’s favorite man blitz is Shade Commanche Peel (See Diagram 2). It is a seven man, all out pressure. Dulin likes it mainly in play action downs like second and medium (4-6 yds) where the QB may take some time to set up. Not only does the play-action fake buy time for the secondary to stay on their assignment, but it gives the D-line extra time to get to the QB. The blitz is perfect for teams that slide their protection leaving a running back to block an edge by himself- he’ll have to account for two players which almost always ends up as a sack.

Diagram 2

The blitz highlights two rushers coming off the front side in the defensive end and the free safety. The tackle takes a quick 45 degree step and crosses the guard’s face into the A gap. The nose blows right into his gap, while the weak side end (Hammer) sticks into the B gap. The Mike LB’s aiming point is the outside hip of the stunting defensive tackle, as he is a B gap penetrator while the Will LB comes off the opposite edge. The key to the blitz is the Sam LB who locks the tight end to allow a free release by the safety. “We are going to slam, hold and grab the tight end which will allow the free safety to come free off the edge. If the tight end blocks, the Sam keeps coming and he becomes our eight rusher,” says Dulin. “The ‘peel’ call tells both D gap rushers, the Will and the free safety, if a back flairs out their way, they run with him man-to-man.” The key to the peel technique is that the farthest outside rusher aims for the QB’s upfield shoulder, while the underneath outside rusher aims for his hip. The corners play their motor/mirror technique on the number one receivers while the strong safety (Raider) finds and locks on number two.

On Shade Geronimo Peel (See Diagram 3), both ends become the D gap, “peel” rushers. It is generally a six man pressure involving the defensive line and both outside linebackers (Sam and Will). The tackle crosses face again into the A gap while the Sam LB comes directly off his hip into the B gap. The nose again shoots hard through the A gap while the Will LB takes the backside B gap on the other side. Again, the corners lock on number one while the free safety and the Raider play number two in a motor/mirror technique. The Mike LB accounts for the remaining back.

Diagram 3

In its simplest form, an all out man pressure can be effective without any stunting or slanting up front. Such is the case in Tarleton’s State’s Custer’s Blitz Red (Diagrams 4 and 5), the most vanilla, but yet productive man pressure scheme in Dulin’s defensive playbook. It is a six man pressure with every gap accounted for. The D-line is in what Dulin calls “Jet” mode, which is called mainly on definite passing situations. On the snap, they fire off directly into the gap that they line up in. The Mike and Will backers come through the B and A gaps, respectively. In a traditional pro set, the Sam locks on the tight end, the corners are on the wide receivers and the Free Safety and Raider are in what Dulin calls a “banjo” combination on the backs, depending on which way they depart.

Diagram 4
Diagram 5

Repping the Blitz

According to Dulin, no matter what man pressure scheme you come up with, and the possibilities are endless, you need to teach your kids how to blitz. Tarleton has a blitz period every Monday through Thursday during the week for twenty minutes. They first work on garbage pails so that players understand the concept, then they’ll use the scout team with cards. They’ll hold live blitz periods with the offense for 15 minutes on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s during game week so by Friday it’s just a dry run at a walk-through pace.

“Sometimes you just have to tear it loose,” says Dulin. “You can’t be cautious about bringing cover zero, man pressure. For a QB to withstand that type of pressure, he has to have a lot of guts because he’s going to get hit. It’s hard for a QB at any level to hang in there and make a throw under that type of heat.”





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