NY Jets DC Jeff Ulbrich Fire Zone Concepts

 Jeff Ulbrich took over the Atlanta Falcons Defense last year after their week 5 loss to the Carolina Panthers. At that time, they let up 161 over 5 games which was a 32.2 average per game.

They let up 30 points in 4/5 games. 

Under Ulbrich their was major improvements.

He was the only Defensive Coordinator to hold Kansas City under 20 points in 2020,

 Atlanta’s defense improved from 30th in dVOA to 8th in the league when he took over.

Over the next 10 games they gave up 202 points which is only 20.2 ppg. That is a substantial improvement of 12.2 points per game over that span.

In weeks 11-14, the defense played exceptionally well, holding the Saints, Chargers and Raiders to under 250 yards passing in each game and  71 points, an average of 17.25 points again.

Once again one of the reasons is they became more zone pressure orientated and ran some excellent pressure concepts.

vs 2x2 they ran some 3 under 3 deep pressures 

Here on 3rd and 9 they run a fire zone pressure with the sam coming off the edge. They show with both ilb in the a gaps. The Panthers run some crossing routes but the pressure comes clean and they get the sack. 

3rd and 9 Falcons Defense vs the Panthers offense. 

The Falcons go double mug and bring the safety off the edge.

Here is the video with the clip above.

The Falcons did a great job vs the Chiefs.

Here on 3rd and 7 they run a fire zone and play 3 carry. The Seem/curl defender will take #2 vertical on any seem route. They bring 5 from the field and force Mahomes out of the pocket to his left.

Nice job, nice pressure and they force the quick throw. He throws an incomplete and they get the incompletion.

Mahomes tries to hit Kelce on the left but rushes the throw because of the pressure from the sam linebacker.

Here the Chiefs motion to 3x1. The Falcons show mug drop the lb and dt on the right but get what they want with the rb on the other lb. The mug look causes confusion and it gives the matchup the falcons want. Nice scheme and design.

The cb and drop dt make a great play and get out and hold them to 4 yards setting up a key 4th and 1.

Vs. 3x1 they played some combo coverage at times. 

Offense The Falcons run a shallow cross with a sit route over the middle. vs zone they are trying to stretch the curl flat defender or vs man get the ball out to #1. The back is the first read so they get him the ball.

Defense: Sam pressure combo man to the top zone to the passing strength.

Here the Falcons run a  5 man pressure with a zone combo coverage. Another aspect that Ulbrich started to do towards the 2nd half of the year.

Vs The Broncos,

they send 5 and play cover 3 or man on the outside with zone over the tight ends and rb. Interesting coverage as it appears the cb up top man turns and the cb on the bottom bails. But could be some type of combo to deal with fant inside and play man on the perimeter.

These are some of the pressures Ulbrich instituted when he took over as the Falcons DC. He is an excellent coach and an asset to the jets.