Applying Pressure with the Zone Blitz - Fast and Furious Football

Applying Pressure with
the Zone Blitz
Chris Ash
Defensive Coordinator
Drake University
Des Moines, Iowa
It is truly a pleasure and an honor to be
able to represent Drake University in the
AFCA Summer Manual. On behalf of our
head coach Rob Ash and our defensive
s t a ff — Defensive line coaches Roc
Bellantoni and Paul Davis, linebacker
coaches George Sypnewski and Dan
Sullivan — we appreciate the opportunity
to share some of our ideas and hope that
they can be of some benefit to you.
When a certain scheme starts to enjoy
some success, you can be assured that
many teams will soon be running some
variation of it. The zone blitz is definitely an
example of this. Virtually every football
team at the pro and college level, is running
some form of zone blitz. At Drake,
zone blitzes have become a vital and very
successful component of our defensive
package. This article will briefly discuss
why we run zone blitzes and examine a few
of our favorite ones.
Before getting into our zone blitz
schemes, I would first like to share our
defensive philosophy. There are 10 important
points to our philosophy.
Drake Defensive Philosophy
1. The best defensive teams are great
because of their ability to stop the run first.
We want to put the offense in predictable
situations.
2. To stop the run, we must put the best
11 defensive players on the field.
3. We want to be known for being relentless.
When the ball is snapped, we are
going to have 11 players flying as hard as
they can to the football.
4. Look complicated, but be simple with
technique, alignment and assignment. This
simplicity will lead to aggressiveness.
5. Pressure and attack the offense. To
do that we must be able to:
A. Stem our fronts.
B. Disguise our coverages.
C. Blitz the quarterback.
6. Stress “three-and-out” series and getting
off the field quickly. Most big plays happen
when the defense is tired.
7. We must control the sudden change
situation. Do not give up a touchdown in a
sudden change situation.
8. Create turnovers. Force takeaways
through emphasis.
9. We want to develop a “win every play”
mentality. If the defense loses one play, we
may lose the game.
10. Play with excitement, enthusiasm,
effort, and enjoy playing the game.
• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •
What is a Zone Blitz
The term zone blitz refers to bringing an
extra rusher and playing some form of zone
coverage behind it. At Drake, we have a
number of different ways to get an extra
rusher. One way is to simply vacate an
underneath zone by bringing one of our
linebackers and not drop anyone. Some of
our zone blitzes require us to bring two
linebackers and drop one defensive lineman.
We also have zone blitzes that bring
two linebackers and drop two defensive
linemen.
Why Do We Run Zone Blitzes
In being an attacking pressure defense,
we use a variety of five and six-man pressures,
playing man free and straight man
behind them. If we do not blitz, we often
show blitz and play different combinations of
man and zone coverages. We think by running
zone blitzes, that we combine some of
the best elements of both, blitz and zone
concepts, while at the same time creating
confusion and indecision for the offense.
By showing the same pre-snap look and
changing up between man and zone pressure,
it makes it tough for the quarterback
to get any kind of a pre-snap read at the
line of scrimmage. We give a pressure look
with man coverage as much as possible.
When we run a zone blitz, the defender is
falling off and passing the receiver to
another defender. This creates confusion
and makes it difficult for the quarterback to
decide where he is going to throw the ball.
We will play with our corners up in the face
of the wide receivers, and play either press
man or bail them to a deep third to further
add to the confusion.
Along with confusion for the quarterback,
zone blitzes add confusion for the
o ffensive line as well. Keeping off e n s i v e
linemen on their heels by guessing whether
their man is going to rush or drop leads
them to play tentatively. Once we get the
o ffensive linemen to play in a passive
mode, we feel it really benefits our normal
four-man pass rush.
With our philosophy of being an attacking
pressure defense, we rely heavily on
our secondary’s ability to play man coverage.
Even though this has been good to us,
it does put a lot of pressure on the defensive
backs. The zone blitz gives us a safe
and effective way to still put pressure on
the quarterback, but remove some of the
stress put on the defensive backs when
playing man coverage.

We use pressure to try to dictate and
limit what an offense can do. By being able
to create confusion, we hopefully can force
an offense to commit a significant amount
of practice time to preparation for our wide
variety of man and zone blitzes. This takes
practice time away from things that they
want to do offensively.
Once you have success putting pressure
on the quarterback, offenses start going to
maximum protection. They will keep their
backs and potentially their tight end in for
extra pass protection. Now, instead of getting
four or five receivers out into pass patterns,
we will start to see more two and three-man
routes. By using zone blitzes, we can put
pressure on the quarterback, plus have maximum
coverage versus limited receivers.
Another thing that we have discovered
about zone blitzes is that our players have
fun running them. Our linebackers are
always wanting to blitz, and our defensive
linemen dream about having the opportunity
to get an interception or getting a big hit
on a receiver while in pass coverage. Zone
blitzes give us something that our players
really enjoy doing and have a lot of fun
preparing to run each week.
How Do We Run Zone Blitzes
We base our zone blitzes out of our 4-3
and eagle fronts. We have the ability to get
an extra rusher by bringing one or two linebackers
and dropping one or two defensive
linemen, depending on the blitz.
Diagram 1: 4-3 Front
dropping a safety into the underneath hole
area. As a change-up, we will run zone
blitzes from a two-deep look.
Diagram 3: Cover Three Strong
Diagram 4: Cover Three Weak
Diagram 5: Three-Robber
Diagram 6: Two-Deep
Diagram 7: Eagle Storm Cover Three
check for run first. On his drop, he reads
from No. 2 to No. 1. He is a seam to flat
dropper.
Sam: Blitzes D gap. Is a contain player.
Mike: Blitzes strong side B gap.
Scrapes tight off of the bandit going inside
to the A gap.
Will: Key is No. 3. Is a B gap player with
run at him. Plays strong A gap with run
away. He is the hole player vs. pass.
Rover: Drops seam to flat strong. He
reads No. 2 to No. 1.
Free: Rotates to the deep middle third.
Corner: Bail to deep outside third.
The next blitz we will look at is run out of
our eagle G front and we call it eagle G
flush. In this blitz, we are going to bring our
Mike and Will linebackers and drop our
weak side defensive end. Behind our flush
blitz we will drop our free safety into the
underneath hole and play our three-robber
coverage.
Diagram 8: Eagle G Flush
Three Robber
Diagram 2: Eagle Front
Behind our zone blitzes, we will primarily
play some form of three-deep. We can
roll to cover three strong, cover three weak,
or play what we call three robber, which is
The first blitz we will look at is run out of
our eagle front and called eagle storm. In
eagle storm, we will blitz our Sam and Mike
linebackers and drop our weak side defensive
end. Behind it, we will play cover three
to the strong side of the formation.
Responsibilities
Bandit: Rip inside and attack the
guard’s outside shoulder. We want him to
take the A gap by crushing the guard inside
and then working vertically upfield.
Nose: Cross face on the center into the
weak A gap.
Tackle: Contain player.
E n d : Attack the offensive tackle to
• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •
Responsibilities
Bandit: Contain player.
Nose: Cross face of the guard into the
strong B gap.
Tackle: Contain player.
E n d : Attack the offensive tackle to
check for run first. On drop, read from No.
2 to No. 1. He is a seam-to-flat dropper.
Sam: Attack the tight end to check for
run first. On his drop, he will read from No.
2 to No. 1. He is a seam to flat dropper.
Mike: Blitz weak A gap. Come tight
behind the Will blitzing.
Will: Blitz strong A gap.
Rover: Rotate to the deep middle third.
Free: Drop into the underneath hole.

Corner: Bail to deep outside third.
The third and final zone blitz we will look
at is called stack whip. It is run out of our
stack front. In this blitz we will bring our Wi l l
and Mike linebackers and drop our strong
side defensive end. Behind it we will roll
Cover 3 to the weak side of the formation.
Diagram 9: Stack Whip Cover Three
Responsibilities
Bandit: Attack the tight end to check for
run first. On the drop, he will read No. 2 to
No. 1. He is a seam to flat player.
Tackle: Contain player.
Nose: Cross face of center into strong A
gap.
End: Rip inside and attack the guard’s
outside shoulder. We want him to take the
A gap by crushing the guard inside and
then working vertically upfield.
Sam: Hole player. Read No. 3. Run to,
play B gap.
Mike: Blitz weak B gap. Scrape tight off
of the defensive end going into the A gap.
Will: Blitz C gap. Contain player.
Rover: Rotate to the deep middle third.
The Drake defense held it’s opponents to less than 300 yards in total offense
last season and was a big reason for the Bulldogs earning their second Pioneer
Football League championship.
Free: Drop and become a seam to flat
player weak. Read No. 2 to No. 1.
Corner: Bail to deep outside third.
We have had some success with our pressure
package by incorporating the zone blitz.
Last season, we had a total of 36 sacks and
18 interceptions in 10 games. We believe in
the aggressive, attacking style of defense. Our
players and coaches believe in our system
and are committed to preparing it each week.
Again, on behalf of our head coach Rob
Ash and the rest of the Drake University
football program, we would like to thank the
A F C Afor the opportunity to contribute to this
y e a r’s Summer Manual. I would also like to
thank all of those coaches who, through the
years, have helped us grow in this profession.
We hope this article can be of some
benefit to your program, and wish you the
best of luck in the 1999 season.
NCAA Position
on Gambling
The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering. Sports wagering has
the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the welfare
of student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community. Sports wagering
demeans the competition and competitors alike by a message that is contrary to the
purposes and meaning of ‘sport.’ Sports competition should be appreciated for the
inherent benefits related to participation of student-athletes, coaches and institutions
in fair contests, not the amount of money wagered on the outcome of the competition.
For those reasons, the NCAA membership has adopted specific rules prohibiting athletics
department staff members and student-athletes from engaging in gambling activities
as they relate to intercollegiate or professional sporting events.
• AFCA Summer Manual — 1999 •