Transcription
Well, welcome to another edition of Gruden's Glossery. You know, all we're trying to do here is get everybody on the same page so we can speak the same language. So, when we're watching a game, we're going to say, "Hey, that's double A's. That's a loan front. We're all on the same page." And it's harder to do than people think.
But today, we're going to talk about blitz recognition. You know, when you break the huddle and you're the quarterback, there has to be a standard operating procedure. What are you looking at? Well, it starts with the front. The front seven, the down linemen, the linebackers, and where are those two safeties? Recognize the front. And what we have to do is recognize fronts that are not blitz active. When you see certain defenses, you can just say, "Hey, Mike 52, we're good." There's no threat of blitz when you recognize certain fronts. And that's a good piece of information that you can echo to everybody. Point out the mic and say, "Hey, we're good. We're good." That means the play we have called is a play we're running.
But when you start studying the NFL and different types of blitzes, it all starts with front recognition. So, what we're going to do today is point out some of the basic pressure fronts that everybody has to recognize, get on the same page with, because once you see them, you can anticipate certain blitzes. And when you see certain pressure fronts, you unlock a certain term here or there to help fix the protection or the issue that we're faced with. Knock on a grease board if you're with me. It's very important that the offensive line, the running backs, the tight ends, the receivers, everybody's on the same page. So, hey, we're good. We're good. We're running the play that's called. The receivers are running the route that's called. We're taking the normal footwork and we're executing the pass play that we have dialed up.
But if there's a problem, okay, we recognize one of these blitz pressure fronts, we got to stop the train and add a term here or there. Very important that everybody knows who to block. We're going to teach them how to block, but they got to know who to block. So recognition is the key to making that happen. Front recognition, pressure recognition is probably the most important thing there is in protecting your quarterback and having a good pass offense. Do we need to make an audible? Do we need to stay with the protection it's called? Do we need a run audible? All of these things start entering your mind as you recognize each individual look.
So, if you're a young coach or a young fan, let's start to familiarize ourselves with the basic pressure looks that are around today. We won't give them all to you, but we're going to give you 12 or 13 that you can lock in on. And when you recognize one of these looks, start accumulating knowledge. What would you do if you knew this pressure was coming? What would you do if you knew that pressure was coming? Can you recognize it? What are you gonna do? What are you gonna say? How can you turn up your execution?
Okay, the very first blitz is one we call an allout blitz. It's zero coverage. And I was taught this by coach Mike Colgrren about a strike look. You know, normal defenses, you have two safeties back there or you have a single safety. It's either a single safety or a split safety look. But anytime that safety man gets out of the middle and gets into what I call a strike position where he's in position to cover the tight end or he comes down in a position to blitz, that means there's nobody back here. It's zero coverage. It's an allout blitz. It's a strike. Look, there's nobody home. You have to see this. And this will involve an audible of some kind. Could be a quick screen, could be a maximum protection. You're gonna have to do something or your quarterback's going down. They're bringing one more than you have to protect. There is no safety. He's in a strike look to blitz or a strike looks to cover the tight end so the other safety can blitz. So all out pressure is the number one pressure we always start teaching from day one. The safety gets out of the middle. He's in a strike look and it's pretty easy to see there ain't nobody back here. Everybody's up near the line of scrimmage and that safety's covering down. It's zero blitz. What are you going to do when they come for you? That's what I used to ask our quarterbacks. You want to look forward to an allout blitz. It's man coverage with nobody deep. All out. If you have no plan, your quarterback will go down hard and go down hard fast.
The second one we have to talk about is a corner blitz. And we refer to this as a cat. And it's very important for your wide receivers when they're standing out here by themselves. If they ever sense a corner blitzing and because they see a safety coming over here to cover down, watch the cat. We got to make sure that the tackles hear it, the backs hear it, and the quarterbacks hear it. It might involve a wide departure sight adjustment. We might be able to make a colt call and pick it up, but you have to see the cat. Somebody's got to yell, "Watch the what?" >> Cat. >> Watch the cat. And usually it happens on the short side of the field, particularly to the left side, because that's the blind side of a right-handed quarterback. But if you don't get a cat call and you don't make any communication, your quarterback could get hit hard. Yes.
The next one is a strong safety blitz. And we call this a stinger. This comes from the tight end side. So we ask the tight end to make what call if he sees this safety hovering around in blitz position? >> Stinger. >> Stinger. Because if there is a strong safety blitz, the tackle needs to hear that call because the defensive end will cross the tackle's face to make room for the strong safety to blitz. So the front is going to move. The three technique will spike to the inside. The defensive end will spike into the inside and here comes the strong safety off the edge. So, it's not just for the running back to hear the call or the quarterback or the tight end to hear it. We need these tackles and playside guards to anticipate movement when they get the stinger call.
The nickel blitz is called the nail. A lot of times defenses line up in a cover two look and right on the snap of the ball that nickel will come off the edge and the safety will come down to cover the flat and they might rotate to a three deep zone. So if you're the slot receiver and you just feel that rotation coming, you feel this guy could be blitzing. What call could he make to the tackle? >> Nail. >> Watch the nail. And where do you think this end is going to go? >> Inside. >> Where do you think this defensive tackle is going to go? We must anticipate movement. So you got cats, stingers, and nails. And what do you think a fox is? >> Free safety. >> It's a free safety coming off the weak side. So here it is. You got a free safety over there. What could the X say? Hey, watch the what? >> Fox. >> Watch the fox. And if you're the left tackle, you see him. He hears the fox call. Where do you think the end is going to go? >> Inside. >> He's going to go inside. So it's that anticipation of movement. It's the communication that helps us pick up cats, stingers, nails, and foxes. That's pretty easy. Yes.
Now, those are singular dogs. And we showed you an allout blitz called all out with the free safety and a strike strike look. Yes. >> Yep. >> Here is a jam front. Very common in the NFL where they put a big defensive lineman covering the center, head up on the center. They got another defensive lineman on the guard and there's another one on the other guard and they have two defenders could be ends or linebackers out here on the tackles. Everybody's jammed up. Everybody's covered. We refer to this as what? >> Jam. >> Jam. And normally it forces offensive linemen to make a 5 call. The tight end's out in his route. 5 means five on five with no help. Usually, we associate man-to-man coverage with the jam front. And a lot of times, they'll stunt. The lineman won't just rush straight ahead. They'll stunt this front. And sometimes they'll bring one of these inside linebackers. Sometimes they drop both ends and bring an inside backer. There's a lot of variables, but when we see jam, we say 5. You guys with me? And we covered that in our protection glossery a couple weeks ago.
Now, what's the difference between jam and backer jam? Well, the difference is the man covering the center is not a defensive lineman. They have a defensive tackle on one guard, they have a defensive tackle on the other guard, two defensive ends are lined up on the offensive tackles, but now they cover the center with a linebacker. So that's why we call it backer jam because now there are some looks where we could let the back go in and block that guy that's covering the center because he's a linebacker. You guys with me? Y. >> So the protection could be 5. We could stay five on five with no help. Or we could ringo it. We could lie in it. We could put the center right or left and let the back pick that guy up if we're in the gun. But it's a different look and it involves different pieces of protection from your toolbox. You guys with me? >> Yep. >> Now, double A's. If you like the Denver Broncos or you like the Houston Texans, you're going to see a lot of double A's. You have a standard nickel front, two three techniques, two defensive tackles on the outside shoulder of the guards, two wide defensive ends. You got a fourman rush. But now they put both of their linebackers in the A gaps on the line of scrimmage. The A gap is between the guard and the center on both sides. You with me? Sometimes they just drop out of here. Sometimes they'll cross dog these guys. Sometimes they come straight ahead. But you have to recognize double what >> you got to recognize it. It involves extensive preparation and not a lot of teams are doing a very good job of it based on what we have seen. There's a lot of variables other than just the double A's. There could be a Nickelback over here that could blitz. They could put the free safety down like Denver does with Hufanga. You guys with me? Y >> and they present multiple problems. Everybody that wants to throw the ball to high level must study double A's for 20 minutes a day before they go to bed.
Last couple looks now. Don't go to sleep. We're talking about load fronts. Now, a load front is where they take three down linemen and put them on one side of the center. There's a defensive tackle, there's another defensive tackle, and there's a defensive end on one side of the center. And on the other side is the lone defensive end all by himself. We call this a what front? >> A load front. It's a load right or a load left based on where the three down linemen line up. Yes. And 90% of the time to the load side, you're going to see a line stunt. These guys might both start outside. He might come inside. They might start inside, he might go outside. Normally in these load fronts, the defensive lineman stunt and it's really hard on an offensive line that doesn't practice picking up stunts in pads live. You guys with me? >> Yep. >> And then we already talked about double A's, right? Well, let's talk about double trouble. Double trouble is a load front. Three down linemen on one side of the center. Yes, >> there's your one defensive end. But now they take the two linebacker defenders and they don't put them both in the A gaps. They put one in the A gap and one in the B gap away from the load side. This involves a extensive amount of preparation because if you step the center guard and tackle to the load side, ask yourself this, who blocks these two guys? You got to have great communication with the guard in the back. Yes. >> Y >> this is not a load front. This is load double trouble. You guys dig it? >> You don't know if they're going to load it right or load it left. You don't know if they're going to use double trouble or not. But once you recognize this, if you have a squeeze double call or whatever term you're using against this front, the back hears it, the line hears it, everybody confidently zooms in on their pickups. And there's nothing better than knocking these guys asses off with great pickup. I love it. You guys like this? Love it.
These last couple looks, we're going to call this one a predator. And this is one of the most common blitzes in football. Philadelphia Eagle defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. I call him the founder of this blitz. Most teams rush the four known defensive lineman, don't they? They got a fourman rush with two tackles and two ends, blah blah blah. Well, let's just say you're chipping this guy all the time. You're chipping them, chipping and chipping and chipping them and you're double teaming this guy all the time. Well, now what happens is some defensive coordinators, they're smart guys. Instead of seeing this guy get his ass chipped off, let's drop him and let's loop the tackle to contain. Let's cross face with another tackle and let's bring the inside linebacker. It's still a fourman rush. We can still play three deep, four under, or two deep, five under. We're just replacing rushers and we don't know who it is, but it's a predator blitzing. It might be this backer. It might be that backer and they drop this end. You feel me? But you got to do a great job reading their body language. Is this guy sniffling around? Maybe we go Mike right. Is this guy screwing around? Maybe we go Mike left because we think he's the predator. But when you run these predators, it's very important that you don't get bit by one of these guys. It's going around the league like crazy. If I said to you, "Hey guys, we're going to have a 12play period today on nothing but Predators." What do you think the running back is looking for? He's looking for one of these inside linebackers. The center is trying to figure out which way to go, which of these guys is coming. Maybe we can improve our commune of what. How about that? Wouldn't that be something instead of sending some freaking text message? Let's get ready for the predator.
And then the fourman overloads. They've always been around the NFL and they're always going to be around the NFL and they are a problem. They start off in a four down, two linebacker common look, but they're going to bring four defenders to one side and drop the opposite defensive end. They might play three deep, three under fire zone coverage. Might be a palms coverage, two deep and four under, but they're going to bring four weak away from the strength or four strong to the strength. And then the last one is you need to get on a napkin while you're at the restaurant. Tell your wife you need 20 minutes. Put a nose tackle on the center. A lot of these defenses that don't have a really good deep defensive line, they put a defensive tackle on the center head up. They put two defensive ends on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle. That's a three down look, right? And they'll put in three linebackers, sometimes two linebackers. It could be a 33 nickel, it could be a 32 dime, but it always starts off the same. There's a guy head up on the center and there's two defensive ends on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle. You guys with me? Yep. >> And they're gonna bring some kind of three down overload. They might bring three guys on this side. They might bring three guys on this side, but they're going to overload you and force you to borrow the opposite guard to slide that way with the back. Are you guys with me? You got to start studying three down overloads. Don't let it sneak up on you. Hell, you could be playing in Madrid on Monday night, fly home and have to fly to San Diego and play on Thursday night. And if you haven't done work on your threeown overloads in the preseason during your walkthroughs, you're going to be sorry.
So, there you have allout blitzes. Cats, nails, stingers, foxes, predators, jam, backer jam, four weak, four strong, predators, three down overloads. It's like the 12 days of Christmas. Get yourself a book and start studying. And if you get bored, come down to Florida, look me up. We'll get to work on these things.
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So, everybody understand what protection you have called. Most of our protections, the tight end had a free release. We only had six blockers. So, with that being said, the center is uncovered. The running back's in the back field. We had to get everybody on the same page. Which way is he going? Which way is he going? What's the look? Well, if we saw an uncovered center and we sensed an overload coming to the weak side, obviously we would want to set the center to the side of the overload. So, there's some communication that needs to take place. Hey, lucky 52. Lucky, lucky. An el something to get the center to go to the left. So now our center, our guard, and our tackle could block the three most dangerous rushers on that side of the formation. And now the back is in a position to pick up that fourth rusher as they rotate to the middle of the field. A lot of these guys on the back side are no longer a threat, but we have to do a great job of communicating the lucky Ringo call of the center, making sure the back and the center are on the same page. And a lot of times in these overloads, the front is moving to create gaps for these blitzers to blitz. But they could bring four weak away from the strength. They could bring four strong to the strength of the formation. And now we got to swing the protection this way. And the back's got to come underneath the center to get to his assignment. Recognition. Communication leads us to high levels of execution.