Football Coverages and Pressures vs. Empty formations- Steelers, Bills, Ravens, Dolphins more!

 Defending Empty Formations

Empty formations are all over the league.Some teams use it like the Chiefs to dictate coverage: When teams walk a ss or lb out on the rb or te who is flexed, it is a clear indication it is man coverage. Some teams won't disguise and check the coverage when they motion that man back in. 

Then there are  of course the plays team will run out of empty.  Some defensive teams check to empty other teams run the coverage called in the huddle. Not sure what each teams philosophy is but here's a look at some variations of what teams have shown.

The biggest flaw is that many teams make it easy on teams from a protection standpoint.  In the NFl you don't see many teams playing or showing cover 0 to it. 

That being said you need to ask yourself these questions as a defensive coordinator:

1. What route concepts will they run?

2. Will those route concepts be progression based and universal or man/zone beaters built in. Meaning if you get man I will go here with the ball and if I get zone coverage will I go here with the ball.

3. What will they do when they feel cover 0 is coming. Do they have an answer for cover 0 and can you possible disguise, get them to check cover 0 and maybe change the coverage post snap and get some rat defenders underneath. Bluff one way and drop to the site of where they are throwing hot.

4. Will they run the qb if they get the look they want. Example, 3x1 motion to empty and we run the lb out. Will they run the qb draw. Those type of questions.

Here are some coverages and ways team play it at the NFl and College Level:

For example:

Cover 3

When you align  a safety at 15 yards you basically are telling the offense it's a 5 man rush. It makes their protection calls rather simple because they just have to make a right or left  call.

The Titans used the concept 2x vs the Jaguars. They get an interception. The Titans engage their 2 ILB and then drop them into the hook. It's successful as Lawrence doesn't see the Rat defender and gets a nice pick.

Cover 3

Nice design as they drop 2 players out.

Still have a safety MOF

2nd and 11 

Wisconsin Defense

cover 2 presnap- cover 3

They go with an odd look, show cover 2 but convert it to a cover 3 with a spy defender on the running qb Justin Fields. Starts cover 2 pre snap

They roll to a cover 3 look with the safety taking away the middle of the field vs the tight end.

Everything is covered by the left cb and the middle safety. The Mike is spying Fields. The right cb is a flat defender but has nothing so he keeps dropping.

Fields tries to throw the fade incomplete to his right on the out and up.

Cover 3

Here you see a cover 3 look, the SS at 18 and the fs at 6 yards. Pretty clear indicator you are getting cover 3/1 pre snap. Post snap becomes 3 and the Texans hit the choice route by #3 for a 44 yard touchdown. He runs past the hook defender to the void( he could have broken it in or run a whip back outside) is my guess but they hit it based on the easy read and progression.

Cover 3 concept

Clip below:

 Rams ball 3rd and 13

Dolphins go cover 3

At half time the Rams make an adjustment in empty. they check release the tight end and rb. Here another double mug look but the Dolphins go cover 3

Rams are tentative, leads to a Dolphins sack as the mug look, sim pressure gives the Rams headaches

But the single high look should give away they are probably going to bail on 3rd and 13

Mug pressure looks but they bail

You see the lbs bail and they play zone, great disguise.

Cover 3 from a mug look

Bengals vs Eagles

Bengals go empty with a te in 11 personnel.

Eagles go double mug a gap looks showing pressure and cover o. They  get a protection call which tells the left tackle to come down and puts the te with the de 1x1. The Eagles bail and play cover 3.

They force the Favorable matchup  with de on the tight end and the Eagles win it. 

Another mug look as they show zero presnap

On the snap they rotate to cover                                                                                                                             

They get the protection that they want.

They just rush 4 

Cover 3 5 Man Pressures 

Penn State overload cover 3 (4 to a side). Penn State brings 4 and plays 3 under 3 deep cover 3. DE drops to the flat weakside. Ohio State reads man pre snap and tries to work to the boundary.

They guess Ohio State is throwing hot off the  right side of their offense. 

Fields is throwing hot off the right side. They get the free rusher and do a nice job on the sim pressure look

Good pressure as they get home

Bills vs Chargers

bring the Mike 5 man pressure cover 3

Bills show pressure and dictate the pass call moving the center to the left. The olb bails and they bring the mike thru the b gap. He comes clean and they knock down. Great design by The Bills.

Force the protection one way by showing and bring the other LB

Force the protection one way and bring the pressure the other way.

Simulated pressure Steelers

Steelers Defense vs Ravens

3rd and long

Pressure: Sim 4 man pressure with a blitzing lb

1st time they bring the will, the 2nd time they bring the mike. Drop the opposite de to hook.

Coverage: cover 3

The Steelers ran this pressure 2x. the first was an

Steelers interception on 3rd and 6

Get good pressure as they drop the DE

LB reads it but Lamar comes off it and hits the dig late, intercepted.

 the 2nd time they run it  was a sack with a nonsense 15 yard penalty that kept the drive going.

They run the pressure again, show one side and bring pressure the other.

                 

 Here are some clips                                                        

Cover 2 

When you align 2 safeties at 12-14 yards. You may get some kind of 1 high look from the 2 high with either 2 man lurk or cover 3 but again, the protection should be sorted out. Heres an example of cover 2 pre snap and post snap. It seems like everyone likes this concept with a stick option up top or the hitch at the curl defender with the slant bender behind it. Easy 10 yard completion for the Texans.

Falcons

4 man sim pressure cover 2

2nd and 10 The Falcons are in nickel, They are showing with the 2 ilb but bring the nickel off the edge.

The dime lb and ss to the field bail and play hook and deep 1/2 

                                    The nickel to the boundary comes and they play cover 2

                                    As you can see the Falcons go cover 2

Bear Cover 2

Titans show cover 1 pre snap but on the snap play cover 2. Nice disguise as the Bengals have to go big on big and account for the OLB in protection and end up getting home with the mike getting home clean. Nice design and excellent execution.

They get the tackles to step outside which opens things up inside.

95 comes clean from depth 

LB goes untouched as the guard steps to the 58 in protection and 77 is playing off 54 in protection

Nice Design.

Man to Man Conepts

COVER 1 

5 man pressures

Let's take a look:
Man Free:
The Bears run a man free stunt in 2019 with Fangio as the dc
The odd front occupies the center and creates an advantage  with the sam coming off the edge.

They run a game and get a 3x2 advantage to the strong side. Nice design and sack

Get the free rusher 

nose creates the 3x3 on the left side 

They cause as matchup issue and get the extra rusher

Here the Bills run a cover 1 pressure vs the Jets

The Jets see it throw to the flat but the quick pressure on White causes an errant throw.

5 man pressure with man free. Sam coming off the edge. Mike has the rb man to man. TE played by the other lb.

Here's a clip of the below:

Man free #2 

Ravens vs Steelers
Ravens bring 5 with a nice edge pressure and play man free. Wink gets into his exotic look with 5 players standing up and brings the nickel sam off the edge. 

They get the free rusher with alignment, They play the TE man with the OLB 

Nice design by Wink Martindale

Eagles defense

 They show on one side  and go on the other. They get the Bengals to account for the lb on one side and send the slot up the middle on the other side. Nice design. Burrow sees it and makes nice play for an 8 yard gain

Cover o rat principles as they do get a de in the throwing lane opposite the direction he was looking. 

COVER 0 with and without mug looks

What you don't see enough of at the pro level is showing cover 0 and playing from there. If you show cover 0, with some mug pressure looks you will force the following:

1. They may bring the TE in and make it a 6 man protection to help vs cover 0. 

2. They will throw hot and you may be able to get them by moving from a cover 0 look to some kind of zone/man free concept.

3. They may full slide it and that could free up one of the defensive ends if you mug it and that may free up a defensive end in pressure and then you can get cute and drop a defensive lineman or LB back into coverage.

Here the Dolphins go double b gap look showing cover 0 ?Why double B, you force a slide protection and the end comes free.  They ran this pressure the first 2 times in the Ram game. One incomplete, one interception.

COVER 0 RAT

After 2  times of running the double b mug look with 6 man pressure, still man but  they drop 2 men into the passing lanes and get a pick.  Again its a cover 0 look but the double mug, you will often get an alert route with the slant/out combo or someone running a slant. They get it and get the pick based on the pressure.  

                  Its a Simulated 6 man pressure with 2 rat defenders and they get the interception. You can play cover 0 if you are bringing pressure as to they won't have time to get the ball out.

Rams Drop def lineman and LB as Rats

                        

Def Lineman gets the interception

After 2  times of running the double b mug look with 6 man pressure, still man but  they drop 2 men into the passing lanes and get a pick. Lets explain 

Here they run a slant and the Dolphins send 6 man pressure, straight man to man 

                 

  The Rams try to hit the quick slant 

  So the next time, they show the same look and drop 2 players underneath. 

Its a Simulated 6 man pressure with 2 rat defenders

The  Dolphins get smart and drop two players anticipating the short throw. Nice design and change up.

Film Below

                        

 Double Mug , send 6 straight cover 0

Dolphins get the sack, fumble and 78 yard td for touchdown(clip below)

Below are 3 empty clips with cover 0

                                                        Its a 4 -2 double mug , blitz b, cover 0

Cover O DE RAT

 Here's a sim pressure by NC A and T vs Duke.

Cover 0 on the outside but they drop the 2 de to help on inside breaking routes.

They send the 2 ILB to cause issues inside. The right inside lb comes clean. It's a 4 man pressure with man coverage with 2 inside rat defenders. They get home on the pressure.

Combination Coverages

You can also play combo coverage vs empty

Combo coverage(part zone, part man) 

Falcons bring 4 and drop the de. They play 4 over 3 to the trips side with man on the backside. Do a nice job dictating the coverage and getting the free hit by the LB. 

Ravens Combo vs Steelers

1st and 10

The Ravens D show cover 1 or 3 presnap. Turns out to be combo coverage, cover 3 to the  3wr side and man free to the bottom of the screen

Ben works the man beater side.

                    

 Rams ball 3rd and 13

Dolphins go cover 3

At half time the Rams make an adjustment in empty. they check release the tight end and rb. Here another double mug look but the Dolphins go cover 3

Rams are tentative, leads to a Dolphins sack as the mug look, sim pressure gives the Rams headaches

But the single high look should give away they are probably going to bail on 3rd and 13

5 man pressure man free no rats underneath(rat is just someone playing underneath)

The last thing the Dolphins did was play single high man free vs Empty out of nickel.

They brought 5 man pressures and mixed it up with the pressure. Rams were 1/2 vs it in the first half for 17 yards. 

                                 Both situations were 3rd and long . 3rd and 9 and 3rd and 10

This was the coverage they ran on both empties. 2nd time they run a game out of 3-2  dime.

Here is another big play,

Double Mug , send 6 straight cover 0

Dolphins get the sack, fumble and 78 yard td for touchdown(clip below)

See Footage below 

Bonus footage 

Below are 3 empty clips with cover 0

                                                        Its a 4 -2 double mug , blitz b, cover 0

        

The Steelers vs Ravens.

The Steelers are tough because they are in empty as much as any team. The Ravens tried many different defenses against the Steelers.

First Half 3 snaps of empty , 2nd Half the Steeler ran 21 snaps of empty after they realized they couldn't really run the ball against the Ravens

Coverage chart for the 24 snaps:

vs  4 man rush  Man free.    2/4 14 yards  (1 pass int penalty)

vs 5 man rush man free   5/6 for 37 yards

vs 4 man rush cover 3.     3/6 for 40

vs 4 man cover 2/2man/2trap  7/7 for 71 yards 2 tds 

Falcons

4 man sim pressure cover 2

2nd and 10 The Falcons are in nickel, They are showing with the 2 ilb but bring the nickel off the edge.

The dime lb and ss to the field bail and play hook and deep 1/2 

                                    The nickel to the boundary comes and they play cover 2

                                    As you can see the Falcons go cover 2

Heres a 5 man pressure the Jets brought vs the Rams .They do it from their 3-2 dime look.

They bring 2 off the edge and the lb gets free and causes a fumble with a big hit on Goff. They do a nice job in man free downfield.

College Game:
Notre Dame Defense vs clemson. goes cover 0

Notre dame sends 6 goes man and pressure gets home.

Risky but effective:

Great way to handle empty and bring pressure.

New Update:

Bengals vs Eagles

Bengals go empty with a te in 11 personnel.

Eagles go double mug a gap looks showing pressure and cover o. They  get a protection call which tells the left tackle to come down and puts the te with the de 1x1. The Eagles bail and play cover 3.

They force the Favorable matchup  with de on the tight end and the Eagles win it. 

The next time 1st and 15 vs empty

 They show on one side  and go on the other. They get the Bengals to account for the lb on one side and send the slot up the middle on the other side. Nice design. Burrow sees it and makes nice play for an 8 yard gain

These are some ways teams play empty. I hope you enjoyed this analysis.

Bonus Clips vs Empty

Other Resources

Coach Pat Fox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqZVLalMpfA&t=825s

Coach Aaron Brady empty checks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GnXckMoYvg

Coach Mac 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUpJoPZKHeM

Coach Ryan Swingle-Cornell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uro-Z-wc-54&t=2303s