Breaking down the game- Football Film Study 101: 3rd down defense

Thursday, December 8, 2022

3rd down defense-load front pressures and coverages!

Using the Load Front in Passing Situations

The load front has many benefits.

1. It forces matchups and you can also run some stunts off it. You can vary your pressures with 4 and 5 man concepts and also get 1x1 matchups with the center and guard of your choice.

2. The stunt options are endless. You can incorporate the on the ball LB into your stunt game or drop him into coverage. You can run some natural picks with the walk up LB and the DE but also teams will run some 3 man games with different loopers

3. Most NFL and college teams will slide. Many teams will 4 man slide against this front, which will allow a 2x1 situation on the running back and blitz the the back. Here the Jets incorporate that against the Texans 4 man slide. If it's a center driven protection system(which means the center makes the call, not the qb, it's not easy for the QB to trump the protection call. Trump means the qb has final say.

In this article we will look at

A. 2 man games with DL

B. 2 man games with LB as pick defenders

C. 3 man games

Load front as they are showing pressure . They force a 4 man slide.

Great pressure as the safety comes clean.

Nice scheme as they get the sack on the play!

A. 2 man games

Jets vs Jags

Jets 6 man pressure with match coverage principle

Jets run a 6 man pressure (5man with the safety blitzing engaging the running back) but do a a nice job forcing a bad throw. The safety up top has the RB if he releases.

Nice design out of the load front with the match principle with the lb and safety. Meaning the CB have #1 and the safety and LB have 2/3. Love the Jets match concept

Here you get a nice pressures off the edge.

Good edge pressure with their 3 match coverage.

Good pressure as qb has little chance.

Nice design and execution.

2 man game

Vikings vs the Seahawks

Vikings force the Center and RG into a 2x2 situation. The Center doesn't come off and pressure gets home. RW makes a great throw and keeps the chains moving on 3rd and 7.

ILB and nose runs a game, The left ILB blitz engages the RB.

nice design inside and Wilson sees it and makes a great throw.

RW takes the hit but its a great pressure from the defense.

film below

2 man games

Dolphins vs Giants Cover 3 with a 4 man rush.

Here the Dolphins run a 2man game and get pressure vs the Giants on a key 3rd and 10. They force Glennon to scramble and they get 7 yards on the completion.

Nice design and simple 4 man rush from the load front.

The Giants don[t pass it off as the looper comes free.

QB makes quick decision to get rid of it.

Only 7 yard gain as he gets hit.

Vikings 2 man game

The Vikings run load front with a 2 man mug look and run a game with the LB and the Nose to the slide.

Nice design and it gets home

They are really wide on that side. The LG and LT have to go to their left

The LB has to be taken by the RB so the looper comes free.

4 man game gets home with a nice load front, mug pressure

The Colts 2 man game

Colts run a 2 man game with the LB and DT out of the load front. They drop the Left DE and get a nice pressure with the inside game. Leonard adds in and flushes Carr out of the pocket.

Nice design and game.

they bring the mike and look the center opposite.53 adds in when the RB blocks.

man free add in pressure.

Carr gets flushed.

good pressure.

2 man game with a pick

Here they run a nice 2 man game with the load front lb and the DE. The giants do them a favor and 4 man slide and free release the back. They Dolphins get an easy 2x1 on the OT. If the rb stayed in it still would have been tough to block with the LB and DE game and pick play.

This is great because the LB picks for the DE. This is a really nice game.

Good pick by the LB and the DE comes clean.

good scheme from the Dolphins

Excellent job.

At the College Level

Washington at USC

2019

Here's an example of where the screener gets the sack. The first rusher, who is essentially trying to attack that near shoulder, ends up getting the sack with a 4 man game. They drop the DT in the load front over the rt guard into coverage.

Nice design and game

Nice design and simple game as the end comes clean/

#4 Games to me is like setting a pick and roll in basketball. You are trying to get some type of advantage by getting one guy home. You want the picker to be violent when he sets that screen to get the roller home. But often when you run games, the picker is the guy that often comes free. Teach it that way. Its very similar to basketball, that when you set a screen you end up being the roller and scoring. The player that sets that violent screen can often get the sack.

B. 3 man games

Cincinatti vs SMU (college)

The nice thing about the load front is you set it away from the rb, most teams will slide to it. In college you will see 4 man slides.

SMU is no different.

3rd and 12 below.

They get the slide and run a 3 man game with the walked up LB, the DE and the off the ball LB.

The pressure gets home.

Here for the 3rd time in the game, they go load but they run it to the Giant left. They run a good 3man game with nose , right ILB and Rush DE on the right side

Titans vs Jaguars

Titans run a 4 man game with their whole d line from the load front.

Gets home as they run the 3 man game.

As you can see on the film, the rdt and rde run a late game as well. All 4 guys are involved in the game.

Good design and pressure.

Bengals 3 man games:

The Bengals run a nice 5 man game with a 3 man game on one side with a game with the mike lb and de on the other. They run it from a load front. The End and load lb do an excellent job with their game.

Bengals vs Ravens

The Ravens don't slide as the Bengals walk 2 LB's in the gap. Surprising because Hendricksen is to the defensive right so figure the O Line would slide left. The QB just barely gets it off with this nice 3 man game.

Titans

Titans run a 3 man pressure from their load look and run cover 2 hole.

The players on the left side both drop, one playing curl, the other playing the middle hole.