Overloading the Weak Side with the Zone Blitz

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One of the best features of zone blitzes is how you can create so many different looks for the defense with so few changes. The more I have worked on putting the Zone Blitz manual together than will be released in the next week, the more I find we can do.

In fact, most of the work going on now is shaving it down now from a bulky 80+ pages without including the diagrams, down to a simplified manual of 30 pages or so.So I’m taking a break from that chore to present a really simple way to give the offense fits without blowing your defensive player’s minds. These are three simple variations of the same weak side overload zone blitz, in the 4-3 Defense.Tight Over WAM 3

This is the base Zone Blitz, known as America’s Fire Zone. It is an overload stunt on the weak side. I love the look of this blitz not only in pressuring the passer from the Field, but in attacking the Zone Read play from the side the back is on, making the Quarterback reads more difficult.Weak side Overload blitz [Read more...]

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Learning to Use the Zone Blitz

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This is an excerpt from my eBook on Zone Blitzing. The book is an inexpensive, yet comprehensive look at the zone blitz and how you can use the zone blitz in your defensive scheme. It also includes diagrams of over 100 Zone Blitzes from multiple fronts.

This is a look at what the zone blitz is, and why you will want to use the zone blitz in your game plan. It is also a look at the formatting of the eBook, since I literally cut-and-pasted it! (cut me some slack, the National Championship was on!)

Want to learn more about the Zone Blitz? Buy Dominating Football Defense with the Zone Blitz!

What is the Zone Blitz?

You should have a little bit of an idea about why we want to use the Zone Blitz in our defensive scheme now. But we have not gotten in to exactly what the Zone Blitz is.

Zone Blitzes are a 5 man rush package that features a zone coverage behind them. The starting point for a zone blitz package is a blitz with four defensive linemen and a linebacker (if you are an even front) or three defensive linemen and two linebackers (for odd fronts).

Most Zone Blitz packages use a 3 under, 3 deep zone coverage behind them. This creates safety because you always have players behind the receivers to make a tackle and line up again if the offense does have success. [Read more...]

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Checking Outside Blitzes in the 3-5-3 Defense

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Looking at some different blitz calls from the 3-5-3 defense, one that can give you problems is sending the Outside Linebacker against Doubles and Trips.

Blitzing the Outside Linebacker from the 3-5-3 Defense

It is easy to run an Outside Linebacker blitz against 21 personnel formations. But what about when you start getting 10 and 11 personnel? Don’t let it limit your stunt package, just check out!You want to bring outside pressure with the Outside Linebacker blitz, but if there’s no Tight End in the game then there’s not much reason to prefer the OLB over the ILB. Both of them would be hitting C-Gap. If you run man coverage, the inside backer needs to become the force guy, but otherwise no big change.Check 3-5-3 Outside Linebacker Blitz to Inside Linebacker Blitz

Obviously, you could run Cover 3, covering with the Inside Linebacker to replace the OLB’s zone. Not as effective in pass coverage, but it isn’t bad. But if you don’t have a Tight end, what difference does it make if you bring the OLB or ILB? The gaps are filled.I love the flexibility of the 3-5-3 Defense, but in order to use your full stunt package you have to be able to bring the same pressure, somehow, no matter what the offense throws at you. [Read more...]

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3-5-3 Defense Blitzes

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A while back I wrote a post about using the 3-5-3 Defense to create fronts. My point was that we can line up in the 3-5-3 Defense, and stunt into the fronts that are best for stopping our opponent.

Over Front

To create the Over Front, we need to get two guys attacking the outside of the Tackles (or Tight End, if present). We need one guy in the weak side A-gap, and one guy in the strong side B-Gap. With the 3-5-3 Defense we can create an Over Front in a number of ways.Over from 3-5-3 DefenseWe can create the front with a couple of different blitzes. We can bring an outside linebacker or an inside linebacker to give us the 4th player attacking the front on the snap.

Creating the Over Front from the 3-5-3 Defense

There are lots of ways to make this creation, using different line movements and stunting backers.

Under FrontTo create the under front, we’ve got to bring 2 linebackers. Using a 5 man pressure from the 3-5-3 Defense means you either need to run Cover 1 behind it, or run a 3 under, 3 deep zone coverage. Either one is fine, and it depends on your kids and your preferences (and maybe your opponent). [Read more...]

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3 Types of Zone Blitzes

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When we plan to use Zone Blitzes with our football players, we need to know our intentions. What are you going to force the offense to do with your blitz?

  1. Force the passer to move out of the pocket.
  2. Contain the passer.
  3. Stop the inside run.
  4. Stop the outside run.

There aren’t a whole lot of other things you can do to an offense. To accomplish these tasks, we’ll use 3 types of Zone Blitzes (which can also be man blitzes with Cover 1 behind them).Inside Zone Blitz

If you want to stop the inside run, or force the passer out of the pocket, an inside blitz is a good choice.

Be careful though, make sure you actually want the QB out of the pocket. If you flush an athletic QB out with an inside blitz, you’ve probably got less athletic football players on the contain rush.

Inside Zone Blitz
This is a great blitz for both stopping the run and getting pressure on the passer. But notice that to one side we’ve got a Tackle on the Contain Rush.You don’t need a lot of inside blitzes. They all accomplish the task of filling up the inside gaps (or at least leaving a Linebacker to play any open gap before he drops out on pass), and are all generally weak on containing the QB. [Read more...]

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