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Pressuring the Offense with Effective Front Eight

by: Fritz Rauch
Defensive Coordinator, Homestead High School (WI)
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As offenses continue to develop multiple ways to attack defenses, we've found it necessary to find a scheme that can put the pressure back on the offense. The 44G defense has provided us with the flexibility to accomplish that goal.

General Pressure Philosophy
As a coach told me: "Take the ball out of the offensive coordinator's hands; put it in the hands of a 17 year old quarterback." That is the foundational statement of our pressure philosophy: force the 17 year olds on the field to adjust and react to defensive pressure. Don't let the experienced OC get involved!

Pressure through Movement
We want to make predicting where our players will align and where they will go after the snap as difficult as possible for the offensive line and quarterback. We teach two ways to pressure the offense through movement:

1. Pre-snap Movement - We allow our defensive line and linebackers to pre-snap align where they choose, provided they are close enough to stem to their assignments (See Diagram 1). Our Mike linebacker is responsible for giving a “KICK” call that signals this movement to our assigned set (See Diagram 2). Naturally, we want to make this call as late in the snap count as possible, forcing the O to deal with 8 men moving to a different spot. Teams will combat pre-snap movement by “quick” counting us at the LOS. If the snap occurs before the "KICK" call, we coach our kids to execute their assignment from where they are. If the O consistently quick counts, we'll align in our assignment; in that case, we tell the D it's a win for us because we've eliminated pre-snap adjustments and communication for the offense.

Diagram 1.

Diagram 2

2. Post-snap Movement - We believe that we’re better able to pressure the O when we're stunting along the LOS after the snap. Our base G and Under looks (See Diagram 3), and all the line stunts that we run, follow a very simple plan: 8 men defend 8 gaps.

We play these fronts during the course of every game; however, we believe post-snap movement creates pressure for the O in several ways:

Diagram 3

A. Line stunts make us a hard target to hit. We move before the snap; we align differently; we move after the snap. One of the best ways to neutralize complex offenses is to be unpredictable. Also, by understanding how the offense wants to attack us, we can maximize the effectiveness of our stunting. These two examples illustrate how we can pressure offenses.

The “Slide" stunt (Diagram 4) is an effective way to move our defensive line toward the offense's strong side. We will game plan the use of this stunt. For example, if an opponent runs to its strong side on 3rd and medium situations, we'll call a Slide stunt. In addition, we typically call a blitz by the WHIP backer, ensuring any reverse or cutback flow would meet a hard edge player.

Diagram 4

The “Psycho” stunt (Diagram 5) is a great run or pass stunt. We use it to collapse the A and B gaps with big bodies in short yardage situations; the MIKE and MAX LBs are responsible for “getting over the top” to the C gap, forming a tight natural X with the stunting defensive end to prevent overrunning running back spill. In passing situations, the Psycho stunt is effective because the defensive ends, who for much of the game would rush the C gap edge, now have the opportunity to “come under” the OT.

Diagram 5

B. Line stunts allow us to constantly change the bubble for the offense. Against our base G1 look, teams love to run Iso or G schemes at our weak side 5T/2iT bubble. By stunting, we alter the bubble and force the offense to adjust either its blocking assignments or change its play calling. In addition, we “change” the bubble on midline and veer option plays as a way to combat those very effective offensive series.

C. All our line stunt movements repeat in our blitz game. As an example, because the responsibilities for a “Psycho” stunt are the same for any number of blitzes that come off of it, the defensive line never has to “learn the same thing twice.”

In our language, + “Color” blitzes tell two specific LBs to blitz their gap assignments. In diagrams 6A/B and 7A/B, the same line stunt runs in front of any number of blitzes but we have the ability to blitz different backers. This strategy simplifies our scheme for the kids, allowing us to pressure the offense in multiple ways.

Diagram 6A
Diagram 6B

Diagram 7A

Diagram 7B

At Homestead, we’ve found that the flexibility the 44G defense allows us to attack an offense with stunt and blitz movements from multiple places; this front 8 movement creates tremendous pressure for any offense.

WHAT IF?

Q1. What if you face a team that is successful with the Zone Read play? Would you change any parts of your defensive strategy?

Game planning personnel is key to defending the Zone Read. If a Zone Read team has a great QB, we’ll game plan for him first. For example, instead of bending with a down block and allowing the QB to read that movement and keep the ball, we have calls that “climb” the DE directly to the QB. Additionally, in order to mess with the QB give key, we will blitz the RB side inside LB to the QB and allow the DE to play his key. It’s important to keep a tight X relationship between the DE and the LB to eliminate overrunning the QB.

If a team has a great RB, then we need to adjust our game plan in several ways. First, we will stunt and/or blitz “into” the back from the far side of the formation. This will, hopefully, compress cutback lanes and force the RB to make a quick decision. Secondly, in order to limit cutbacks, we must slow down our IB pursuit, especially the RB side backer. That LB must always stay on the inside hip of the RB. Finally, we need great cutback discipline from our RB side OB (or safety if in a Cover 2 shell). This player can never over pursue the Zone Give cutback.

If both players are special, we need to work a combination of the above strategies and run to the ball.

Q2. What if your opponent is in a wide-open Shotgun with normally four WRs? Does your strategy change relative to 8 men defending 8 gaps?

The reality is that teams that spread their formations will force us out of our 8-man front. Our typical adjustment to 2 X 2 or 3 X 1 formations is to remove the WHIP LB from the box and play a 2 high safety look. We can play a variety of coverages out of that basic structure, including a Cover 4 Deep Quarters. In our Double Robber (Cover 6) coverage, we will “flat-foot” read our 2 high safeties to get them involved in the run game as quickly as possible. Finally, we slide our 3 remaining backers into a traditional 4-3 structure. In that look, the MIKE backer (aligned over the OC) will be a 2 Gap player.

Q3. What if the opposing offense is successful at neutralizing your D-line stunts? Are there any defensive adjustments you'd make to continue to put pressure on the offense?

Our first rule whenever a team has success (or attempts to confuse us through formations, motion, etc.) against our game plan is to play our base front. We’ve found our kids draw great confidence in playing what they know best. Additionally, if really pressed by an offense, we may “KICK” to our stunt assignments before the snap. For example, if we were getting stoned attempting to cross face in our PSYCHO stunt, we may KICK to two 2i and two 4i alignments as late in the snap count as possible. This would take us out of any of our “normal” pre-snap alignments, but we would still be gap sound and create pressure through pre-snap movement and a change in alignments.






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