they are breaking down the game and i just keep hearing zone blitz about 10 times as if no one has completed a pass on that D. then the pats D is old and slow. Same breakdowns over and over and then baldinger picks the pats ? . Why doesnt any show this week display how to counter these pitt schemes and stuff? **** lebeau is a great coach but these ex steelers/bengals like wilcots and rod woodson sing so many praises of the zone blitz as if brady hasnt made a pass against the steelers .
anyone here care to breakdown how this zone blitz can be picked up and be countered?
The zone blitz is just what it sounds like, a blitz with zone coverage behind it.
Since you are playing zone behind it, you can not blitz as many players as you would with man behind it, because it would be easily exploited. (The zones are too big to cover if you have less guys in coverage)
In practice, what it is designed to do is (1) disguise where the blitz is coming from, in order to get an unblocked rusher. Many times a LB will blitz and a DL will drop into coverage. (2) INITIALLY it confused QBs because they expected many behind the blitz, and would throw Ints to guys who were in positions they never expected them to be. (3) A big part of the plan is to rush the QB to throw short passes with defenders ready to come up and hit the guy because they are playing zone.
It is most effective on 3rd and long distances, because you blitz to hurry the throw, then keep the receivers in front of you to prevent the first down.
Aside from the confusion factor, it is an easy defense to complete passes on, but not an easy one to get big gains on. However, if you pick up the blitz and have time to free up crossing routes, or deep balls, you can tear it apart with big plays.
Like any other defensive call, if executed properly it is good, if not it gets shredded.
To imply the Steelers employ a zone blitz in all situation is wrong. However, I've seen analysts imply that the Patriots tendency at times, to play 1 DL, and a bunch of LB and send the house on 3rd downs is all our defense does, so take those comments with a grain of salt.
I think our offense is well-designed to play vs the zone blitz. Our WRs are both fast and quick. You cannot jam them in a zone blitz scheme, so they will be running free. Brady will have hot reads, but we will also run deeper routes to hit if the blitz is successfully picked up. Running draws vs the zone blitz is a hit or miss proposition. Basically most players are not going to end up where they start. If you run a draw, you are either running into the teeth of the blitz, or you are running into a big hole the blitz vacated.
