Question - how to counter the zone blitz?

[UK_Pat37]

Firstly, the zone Blitz was first created in the early '70s by the Miami Dolphins' D Coordinator Bill Arnsparger. If any of you ahve read the book 'Blood, Sweat and Chalk' by Tim Layden you will know he goes into massive detail about it...LeBeau picked it up int he early '80s and really refined it with the Steelers in the early '90s. He often gets the credit for inventing the Fire Zone...the original concept was invented elsewhere however and it was Lebeau who really brought the idea into the modern game after taking it on as his own.

The theory, Bill Arnsparger said, was that he could rush five guys and cover with six whilst disguising who would be covering what area and who would be coming from where. It would confuse the Offensive Line as to where the pressure was coming from, and also confuse the QB as to where the empty slot would be. You see teams disguise it by shading their players up in the box.

I don't know how much I agree with the premise....

I get what you are saying. But you are using the phrase "zone blitz." I think I know why, but it's really an "overload blitz." That's the phrase I'd stick to. The zone blitz concept kind of works the same way as an overload; its a blitz, but the D will drop back one defener thus leaving an offensive lineman blocking air. Thus, you've created a favorable numbers mismatch.

If you drew a line down the center of the offensive line, often you see 3 OLs on one side, and two OLs + 1 TE on the other side. Balt, on obvious pass downs, will simply try to send more pass rushers than there are blockers to one side. To counter this, they'll drop off defenders on the non-blitz side -- thus leaving the OL blocking nothing but air if they can't adjust.

But in the downfield coverage? They really aren't a zone team. I've always got the impression of Balt, just like the Jets, as being a man coverage team. Blitzing, in general, is far more suited for man coverage. Every team will mix in zone, sure. But Balt is more man-to-man than anything. Now, that certainly doesn't mean they do know how to disguise it. You'll often see LBs crowd the LOS, and you cannot be certain who, say, picking up the TE or blitzing. Or you'll see the safety line up 5-10 yards behind the defender covering the slot, and it'll make you wonder if it's indicative of a corner blitz -- but if that corner blitzes, you'll see the safety in man. It's stuff like that. But it's still man coverage, mostly. Pittsburgh, will mostly stick to a 3-deep zone scheme, and they'll try to funnel routes inside to were they have underneath zone defenders. When they do zone bliz; it's mostly out of far more "base" looks. It's not as overtly agressive looking because it really goes hand-in-hand with running a 3-4.

You effectively have to overload for an effective zone blitz but, ultimately, an overload blitz is different from a zone blitz. You see both examples from the Ravens who, other than the Steelers, have really defined Zone Blitzing over the last 10 years.

The idea of zone blitzing is you confuse the O Line, and generally leave someone not blocking the guy he's expected to, then expecting him to match up on a blitzing corner, safety or OLB...someone much more athletic than he is.

One common example could be you overload the weak side of the offensive line, shading the safety up before the snap, you drop the strong side DE (in a 9-tech) out into coverage and slant the rest of the D Line down into his void. By doing so, you're leaving an offensive lineman on the opposite side blocking air...then you bring two more rushers, usually a safety and OLB on the weak side and, by slanting the D Line, you're hoping you've left either a mismatch or, if the O Line isn't disciplined enough, a void for one of your blitzing LBs/Safeties to run through.

By doing this you have to hope that the timing is perfect; when the Guard bites down on the slanting DE, the Tackle should kick out and take on one of the blitzers while the faster of the two should attack the B Gap which, in theory, is left wide open. 9 times out of 10 the Guard crashes down, so Faulk/Green-Ellis are going to get a lot of pass protection responsibilities! If you don't time it, the zone blitz is almost useless.

How do you stop it you ask? There really is no other way but for the Linemen to identify it, and stay disciplined to their assignments. There are disadvantages on the defensive side; two being that you can run away from the zone blitz in a zone blocking scheme and have huge success against it, or the second being you have a mismatch with the D Lineman dropping off (more often than not into the hook/curls but sometimes the flats depending on the coverage and who's blitzing). What it ultimately comes down to is if Brady can recognise where the pressure is coming from and who's dropping into the voids and where. It's important to identify it so he knows where to go with the football.

The RBs will stay in to pass protect a lot this weekend, with potentially some check options for them to check into a route if the blitz is picked up by the O Line.

The Ravens run zone blitzes better than any other team with the personnel they have on defense...and they time the blitzes to perfection, which is important when zone blitzing. Patriots fans with memories of that Kansas City game back in 2008 better be prepared to hold your breath on a few occasions...they love sending Pollard through and he has a fair few sacks for a safety on the season!

They had a lot of success with this form of blitz against the 49ers when they got to Smith 9 (!) times. In part that'#s because this works so well against bigger O Lines...the Pats have some athletic players and one of the better pass protection lines around, so it's hard to imagine them getting anywhere near that kind of production this weekend!

The Ravens do run more zone than people think. They'll mix it up, and will overload every now and then with their corner in man coverage. But I think you underestimate just how much they like to do this.

 

[BlitzFritz]

this is really helpful, and directly addresses my original question!

the Ravens Zone Blitz, designed to confuse the OLine. And makes it VERY HARD for a blocker on the strong side to pick up a blitzer on the weakside.

sounds like you can counter with:
- keeping a RB in to block (Kevin Faulk?)
- run, draw
- identify receiver mismatch for quick pass
- go to no huddle.

does no huddle really provide an antidote?

thanks for all the info guys

-- FRITZ

Firstly, the zone Blitz was first created in the early '70s by the Miami Dolphins' D Coordinator Bill Arnsparger. If any of you ahve read the book 'Blood, Sweat and Chalk' by Tim Layden you will know he goes into massive detail about it...LeBeau picked it up int he early '80s and really refined it with the Steelers in the early '90s. He often gets the credit for inventing the Fire Zone...the original concept was invented elsewhere however and it was Lebeau who really brought the idea into the modern game after taking it on as his own.

The theory, Bill Arnsparger said, was that he could rush five guys and cover with six whilst disguising who would be covering what area and who would be coming from where. It would confuse the Offensive Line as to where the pressure was coming from, and also confuse the QB as to where the empty slot would be. You see teams disguise it by shading their players up in the box.



You effectively have to overload for an effective zone blitz but, ultimately, an overload blitz is different from a zone blitz. You see both examples from the Ravens who, other than the Steelers, have really defined Zone Blitzing over the last 10 years.

The idea of zone blitzing is you confuse the O Line, and generally leave someone not blocking the guy he's expected to, then expecting him to match up on a blitzing corner, safety or OLB...someone much more athletic than he is.

One common example could be you overload the weak side of the offensive line, shading the safety up before the snap, you drop the strong side DE (in a 9-tech) out into coverage and slant the rest of the D Line down into his void. By doing so, you're leaving an offensive lineman on the opposite side blocking air...then you bring two more rushers, usually a safety and OLB on the weak side and, by slanting the D Line, you're hoping you've left either a mismatch or, if the O Line isn't disciplined enough, a void for one of your blitzing LBs/Safeties to run through.

By doing this you have to hope that the timing is perfect; when the Guard bites down on the slanting DE, the Tackle should kick out and take on one of the blitzers while the faster of the two should attack the B Gap which, in theory, is left wide open. 9 times out of 10 the Guard crashes down, so Faulk/Green-Ellis are going to get a lot of pass protection responsibilities! If you don't time it, the zone blitz is almost useless.

How do you stop it you ask? There really is no other way but for the Linemen to identify it, and stay disciplined to their assignments. There are disadvantages on the defensive side; two being that you can run away from the zone blitz in a zone blocking scheme and have huge success against it, or the second being you have a mismatch with the D Lineman dropping off (more often than not into the hook/curls but sometimes the flats depending on the coverage and who's blitzing). What it ultimately comes down to is if Brady can recognise where the pressure is coming from and who's dropping into the voids and where. It's important to identify it so he knows where to go with the football.

The RBs will stay in to pass protect a lot this weekend, with potentially some check options for them to check into a route if the blitz is picked up by the O Line.

The Ravens run zone blitzes better than any other team with the personnel they have on defense...and they time the blitzes to perfection, which is important when zone blitzing. Patriots fans with memories of that Kansas City game back in 2008 better be prepared to hold your breath on a few occasions...they love sending Pollard through and he has a fair few sacks for a safety on the season!

They had a lot of success with this form of blitz against the 49ers when they got to Smith 9 (!) times. In part that'#s because this works so well against bigger O Lines...the Pats have some athletic players and one of the better pass protection lines around, so it's hard to imagine them getting anywhere near that kind of production this weekend!

The Ravens do run more zone than people think. They'll mix it up, and will overload every now and then with their corner in man coverage. But I think you underestimate just how much they like to do this.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Nice explanation. Yes, the zone blitz causes confusion by sending an extra overload attacker and then dropping back a guy in coverage that the QB didn't expect to be there. So one of two things may happen. The extra pressure causes the QB to throw the ball early, and if he didn't read the scheme correctly he will throw to the area he thought was open but was actually an area that a zone defender dropped back into. This can result in interceptions. So the danger of the zone blitz is causing turnovers just as much as disrupting timing or generating sacks.

But here is the other scenario. Let's say you have a savvy QB, such as Brady, he reads the defense correctly and adjusts protections pre-snap. The ball is snapped and the OL make the adjustment. NOW, whenever you move defenders out of base protection you create gaps in your coverage. Brady correctly identifies the weaknesses. The extra attacker is picked up by the OL due to the line adjustment, and he fires a laser for a completion right into the weakness generated by the zone blitz defensive set.

As you can see it is a chess match. But when you have a cerebral QB like Brady, the advantage still goes to the offense because A) the offense knows what it is they want to do and B) the QB reads the defense, adjusts the line, and exploits mismatches he identifies in the defense.

What it boils down to is execution and reads. The Pats OL must block well and give Brady time to throw. Brady must read the defense well and adjust protections accordingly, and attack the defense's weakness. And the Baltimore defense? It must do its best to DISGUISE its intentions until the last split second in an effort to confuse Brady and the OL and to pressure, disrupt, and hit Brady as often as possible to get him out of his comfort zone. When Brady is in control and the offense goes in rhythm, there's very little defenses can do to counter especially with the weapons that Brady has at his disposal.

I don't know how much I agree with the premise....

I get what you are saying. But you are using the phrase "zone blitz." I think I know why, but it's really an "overload blitz." That's the phrase I'd stick to. The zone blitz concept kind of works the same way as an overload; its a blitz, but the D will drop back one defener thus leaving an offensive lineman blocking air. Thus, you've created a favorable numbers mismatch.

If you drew a line down the center of the offensive line, often you see 3 OLs on one side, and two OLs + 1 TE on the other side. Balt, on obvious pass downs, will simply try to send more pass rushers than there are blockers to one side. To counter this, they'll drop off defenders on the non-blitz side -- thus leaving the OL blocking nothing but air if they can't adjust.

 

[Ring 6]

The thing that concerns me the most about this game is the Ravens use of the zone blitz to disguise pressure and confuse the OLine. IIRC, this has been employed by the Jets and Clowns (under the Rat and Rob Ryan) as well, and it has been pretty effective. I also think the G-Men used this at times in the game that shall not be mentioned.

What is the best antidote? Is the no-huddle the way to go, and if so, why does that work? (does the D not have time to call plays too?)

Looking for some insight from our resident football geniuses (as well as some general chatter) on this important topic.

Thanks! (Can't wait til Sunday, can't really concentrate at work....) :rocker:

-- FRITZ

The zone blitz concept aside from confusion is based on the objective of timing the rush and coverage, ie taking away the hot read. The key to beating it is picking it up, and then yuo can torch the zone.

 

[NinjaZX6R]

Remember people, there are two types of zone blitz.

Blitz from one side and cover the other and bringing in 5-7 players while the rest are in a zone coverage, mostly protecting the deep field.

 

[BlitzFritz]

FWIW I saw ManJudas on the ESPN-hype channel, breaking down plays where the Ravens used the zone blitz to mess Brady up. His main point is that the Ravens have the personnel to do this.

He also said, its the only way to beat Brady -- disguise what you are doing.

T-37 hours and counting....

-- FRITZ

 

[patfanken]

Thanks a lot UK, that was a great breakdown. Certainly saved me a lot of time. Also that was a nice pick up regarding the history of the zone blitz. When I read Shock's excellent post mentioning Labeau as the originator, something in the back of my mind said, "that's not right", but I couldn't remember who. Thanks again for the reminder.

Required reading for this post should be the thread where Bedard and Tim Fox break down a Brady pick from the Ravens 2010 game. What you will learn there is that the reason Brady always identifies the "Mike" LB is to give info to the OL as to how they are going to set up their pass blocking, which usually means stepping to the right or left gap depend on where the Mike is.

The problem the Ravens presented in that example is that there WAS no mike. And when Brady looked up the Ravens were aligned to blitz from one side or another, and he has no indication which side would come. Its a great clip.

Now that we know as well as we can in this format, WHAT zone blitzes and overload blitzes are, lets get back and isolate on how to defeat them. Several have been mentioned within posts. Lets just focus on them here.

1. Run away from them - Zone blitzes create soft areas to run at. Overloads, by definition put extra guys to one side, which, of course weakens the other. This is all well and good if its 3rd and 5, but its a less attractive option if its 3rd and 8 or more.

2. Hit the hot receiver - That's what everyone says, yet sometimes I wonder if people really understand what it means. First it requires that the QB recognize the defense and what the defense is trying to do. This is very hard because the defense is trying equally hard to keep that info from the QB presnap. This is the reason offenses shift and motion. Its a way to get a defense to tell you something about their coverage.

When you play an offense like the Pats, this is what you try to do, because not only does the QB have to decipher your coverage, so do the receivers. So even if the QB guesses right, there's a chance the receiver won't. In other words you get 2 bites of the apple to foul up the play. That's the reason I wonder if offense would be better off having the receiver run the called route regardless of the D, and make up in precise execution what you'd lose in trying to get in the ideal scheme. But I digress. That's a topic for another thread...in the off season.

So if Brady can recognize what's coming he can redirect the blocking and defeat the Biltz that way, and if he doesn't until after the snap he will have 2 quick reads to go to. Hence the term "hot receiver" And he has to hope the receivers also see the coverage after the snap and cut off their routes and run blitz patterns. Very hard to do after the snap and why its seems so hard for some very good WRs to "get it".

That's about all you can do. In summery, you have to recognize and run away from it, or throw to someone in the area vacated by the blitzer. Sometimes you will beat it, but sometimes you won't. So you have to do 2 things - when you beat it, beat it big. Make it so painful that they won't want to do it again. A 5 yd completion is a win for the defense. Secondly, when it beats you, minimize the loss - throw it away, or eat it. You can't turn it over.

Other less obvious things you can do is go to long snap counts. It will often tell you a lot when defensive players try to anticipate the count. Plus you can get a few offsides as a bonus.

The no huddle can be some help in increasing the difficulty to communicate for the defense, as well as limit their personnel moves. But no huddle is not necessarily, hurry up, so there is time for the defense to recover

OK, I'm done - you have to leave something for the next guy - hope it helped

 

[Ring 6]

Seriously!

How bad has our screen game gotten? Brady has been picked off, like, 3 times in 3 years on screens; most notably in the 2010 playoff game against the Jets. Schobel has one in 09 too. I think the Browns in 2010 had another.

And with Weis, this team had one of the best screen attack you'll ever see. Hopefully McD can restore it.

One Int a year means the entire screen game isn't working? Really?

 

[Shockt327]

One Int a year means the entire screen game isn't working? Really?

Nitpicking one example of an observation means the full extent of that observation isn't valid? Really?

...and yeah, throwing one INT a year on a screen, three years in a row, is indeed a lot. That shouldn't happen. At all.

 

[Patspsycho]

Nitpicking one example of an observation means the full extent of that observation isn't valid? Really?

...and yeah, throwing one INT a year on a screen, three years in a row, is indeed a lot. That shouldn't happen. At all.

That INT in the Jets game had nothing to do with the screen call and everything to do with Brady's poise on that snap. He let the ball sail.