Nickel Package: Matching Speed with Speed

Designing a Nickel package to combat the elusiveness of the spread offense
by: Mike Kuchar
Senior Writer, American Football Monthly
© More from this issue

          
With the continued advancement of spread offenses saturating the game of football, it becomes almost a necessity for defenses to match speed with speed by employing some type of nickel package in their scheme. It seems like not too long ago, coaches were fixated on putting their best eleven defenders in the game, regardless of the type of personnel that they were up against. Rarely was there any two-platoon system where players were subbed on and off the field defensively, like they were offensively. But, now it just seems fair to be able to get your quicker athletes on the field just in order to defend those wide open sets that offenses are producing to score points.

Nickel Personnel

As most of us know, utilizing the Nickel scheme means bringing one defensive back into the game in replacement for a defensive lineman or linebacker. Typically, a coach would look for their third best corner, or a hybrid safety with the ability to cover someone in the open field. When Steve Szabo, now the defensive coordinator at Colgate, was spending his time working on the defensive side of the ball at Michigan the last four years, he would refer to his Nickel package as ‘sub.’ “We would always use sub to match up against spread teams,” said Szabo, who spent twelve years in the National Football League. “The difference was when we had our nickel package in years ago in the NFL it was mainly used on third and long or second and long purposes. Now with the advent of the spread offense, as a coordinator you need to be prepared to use your sub personnel on any down or distance. Teams can run four to five wide at you on any particular snap.”

Most teams employ their nickel, or five defensive back personnel, on run downs and against spread sets. In years past, Szabo would use it coupled with a cover two scheme and against a typical spread formation (See Diagram 1). Here, the nickel back replaces a strong side linebacker in a 4-3 scheme and is responsible for covering the number two receiver man-to-man. The weak side outside linebacker plays the tight end while the corners play the number one receiver man-to-man. Both inside linebackers will “box” or combo the single back in the backfield, depending on which way the back declares. If he runs a route towards the Mike, he takes him with the Will becoming an extra low hole type player. If the back runs away from the tight end, the Will picks him up and the Mike becomes the low hole player. Both safeties remain hash players, giving a cover two-type principle. Not only is this type of man package effective because of the two safety help over the top, you are able to lock one of your corners on the inside slot receivers who are usually possession-type pass catchers--the Wes Welkers of the world.

Diagram 1: Nickel vs. 11 Personnel

Nickel Fire Zone Coverage

Playing some type of zone coverage is also a possibility in the nickel package. Many teams will employ some of their zone blitz schemes and integrate it into their nickel defense. For example a look at the structure of a typical field zone blitz (See Diagram 2) shows how the nickel back can be used in pressure circumstances. He simply lines up to the wide side of the field and comes off the edge on a zone blitz. The end spikes in the A gap with the Mike LB coming through the B gap. The strong safety plays the flat vacated by the nickel defender while the Will linebacker does the same to the boundary.

Diagram 2: Nickel Open Blitz

Both corners and the free safety play a cover three principle behind it. It is a useful change-up to teams that just like to run man out of their nickel package, and provides for a terrific answer to teams with field tendencies.

Steve Specht, head coach at St. Xavier high school in Ohio, once utilized a 50-slant and angle defense, but has since switched to an odd front because of all the spread schemes he faced. “We just knew we had to make some changes in how we did things if we wanted to be successful in defending the spread offense,” said Specht. “Offenses started to take out the tight end and replace him with a receiver that can run 4.6 in the 40 yard dash. We felt that it was unfair for us to ask a linebacker type to cover a slot receiver. So we shifted and changed the things we did.”

One of the problems that confronted Specht and his staff was the typical two-by-two formation and the variations of plays that teams would run out of it. As previously mentioned, he thought it was a mismatch for his outside linebackers to defend that slot receiver in space. So, Specht went to more of a three-deep package using a nickel defender. “A two-by-two formation presents a different kind of problem, which causes us to make different adjustments,” said Specht. “Teams get into the double width set to run four verticals and take advantage of the middle-deep defender. What we do is run a 3-match principle that tells the strong and weak safeties that they must match up with any vertical pattern run by the number two receivers. The nickel back (A) helps out in the seam.”

The 3-match call only applies to the safeties where everyone else plays a basic fire zone coverage as they do in “3-Match/Sam Iowa” (See Diagram 3). Specht tags all fire-zone blitzes with state names. Iowa is an inside and outside linebacker blitz. In Sam Iowa, the Sam is tagged as the blitzer so he comes right off the defensive end’s hip into the B gap. The strong safety goes to the middle while the weak side safety does the same thing. He is the seam defender reading number two to number three. The Will linebacker comes to the middle while the Jet comes off the edge to the field. Specht’s ‘Adjuster,’ or nickel player, plays the seam vacated by the Jet blitz.

Diagram 3: 3-Match/Sam Iowa

Defending Trips in a Nickel situation

Sure, the double width formation could cause problems, but because it is a balanced formation, it is easy to adjust to. Another concern is trips or 3x1 formations. Since many spread teams faction on a steady dose of trips in their package, it is only fitting that defenses should prepare for it. Specht still uses his adjuster as the nickel back and he replaces the blitzing Jet backer. It’s a concept that he calls ‘sling coverage’ (See Diagram 4). “The Jet still blitzes and the adjuster replaces the Jet. The difference is the strong safety cannot play center field anymore because they are cheating three to a side. Therefore if the number two receiver is displaced, the strong safety ‘slings’ the coverage and becomes the seam player to the strong side. We’ll still run the blitz. Now the adjuster is the hole defender over the number three receiver. The weak side safety becomes the middle third player and the Will linebacker is the backside seam defender.

Diagram 4: ‘Sling’ vs. Trips

“The blitz will stay intact, and we don’t have to check out of anything,” says Specht. “Our players know this from the first day of practice. It becomes second nature to them. Motion adjustments apply the same way. If the offense motions from a 2x2 set into a three-by-one set the safeties move and yell ‘sling, sling, sling.’”

According to Specht, regardless of what nickel package you are going to implement, there are certain definitive’s that you must consider when playing trips coverage. “The first thing we look at is the backside isolation. Every spread team in the country wants to work to the single receiver. He is the playmaker. He is the receiver that is big, physical and can get deep in a hurry. The offense puts him to the backside and waits to see how you will play him. If the split end is the ‘go-to’ player, I want the QB to know I have him double covered by some means. There are a few ways to do it. I can either play loose with the corner and have the Will come underneath everything or I can play press with the corner and have the safety come over the top of everything. Or we can play man to man with everybody locked up and bring six or seven defenders at the QB.” Guess it depends on who has the chalk last.

---

WHAT IF?
Q1. What if you want to disguise some of your nickel zone pressures? How would you do it?

Specht has a safety adjustment that he calls ‘bluff.’ In this adjustment, the weak and strong safeties drop into the box. It gives the QB the illusion of a blitz. Specht can either bring one and drop one or bring both. It can be a confusing call for the QB.

Q2. What if you face a team that checks their plays at the line of scrimmage based on your coverage? Will you still run a nickel package?

Most coaches will agree that a nickel package is best against a spread team, but it can be employed against various offenses just to get speed on the field. Specht runs an odd front, so basically he eliminates an extra defensive lineman by replacing him with a nickel player. In most 4-3 schemes, the Nickel players replace the Sam or strong side linebacker who is usually the weaker of the three linebackers in terms of coverage responsibilities.

NEW BOOK!

Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach