Dave Aranda Ron Roberts Baylor Football Defense Pressure Package

 Dave Aranda-The innovator of 4 man simulated pressures

Dave Aranda is well known throughout the college ranks for his simulated pressure package. This is a package that involves bringing a LB as a 4th rusher and dropping a defensive lineman into coverage. It's a term used to bring a 2nd level defender yet drop a defensive lineman to replace him at the next level. The nice thing about it is you can bring the defender and still have all your coverage responsibilities taken care of with 7 players playing zone concepts on the back end.

They run a ton of split field concepts with the pressures and have various coverage checks, which I don't have all the answers to but if you study them you will see several variations and concepts in which they check coverages with what looks like different tags depending on formation. 

Coach Aranda will utilize simulated pressure concepts both when playing zone and also in man free situations. In man situations he will use the DE to cover a running back or play a zone underneath while everyone else is in man.

He will also run some what is called creeper pressures. A creeper or what I call a show pressure is basically a mug look with either 2 or 1 LB showing pressure. From here, you will get some type of pressure with a LB or Safety that isn't aligned on the line of scrimmage. 

That is really the major difference between a creeper and simulated pressure. Coach Hoover gives a good breakdown here. 

Let's look at some of the concepts as he runs them from both his tite front and 4-2 package:

Tite Front:

Baylor plays it a few ways:
One is standard with 2 4i's with Pitre to the field.

Adjustment #1

They can adjust either side and play an eagle look as demonstrated below on the right hand side.

Adjustment #2 

Bear  Adjustment

vs. Oklahoma State, Baylor played some snaps of Bear front.

 Also, they can play a base 4-2-5 and run their pressures out of this look. Often they play it with  3 technique and a shade NG.

4-2 front

4-2

Part 1 Zone Coverage Concepts

Coach Aranda will play a ton of zone coverages with simulated pressures. They will bring 4 rushers drop a defensive end into coverage quite often. Coach Aranda wants to be solid on the back end so this system has been effective. You will rarely see a flat out cover 0 pressure from Coach Aranda.

Zone 4 man Simulated Pressures with zone coverage:

Front:4-2

The first one we will look at is a cover 2, 4 man pressure.  

The DE to the boundary drops and plays the curl as the will LB plays the middle hook.

The Mike is on the pressure to the field.

Mike blitzes de usually drops opposite. 

De drops to the weakside opposite the pressure.

Here are 2 clips of the coverage below:

They run the same coverage vs Kansas. 
Front 4-2. Bring the sam and play the de to the boundary as a curl defender. The LB's play it with mike pushing to the curl and will pushing to the hook.

Sam blitzes de drops opposite to the flat. 

You can see the mike pushing to the curl and the will pushing to the hook.

Another 4 man pressure with a safe cover 2 behind it. 

Front:Tite Front

Blitz #2 is brining the sam linebacker and dropping the defensive end to the boundary.

The coverage is a cover 3. If they run the ball, then the DE will play the run. 

They run this from their tight front as that's what Aranda likes to run vs 12 personnel formations.

Sam comes the OLB drops opposite. 

The OLB forces the give and then comes underneath.

Nice job of forcing the give as the c gap player then ripping underneath to make the play.

Here is a 2nd version of the blitz vs Iowa State. They guess right and the DE is there to make the play in the flat.

Front:4-2 show

Vs. Kansas State-they bring the same Sam pressure concept and play cover 3 on a few occasions.

2nd and 15, Mike showing so technically a mug/creeper pressure. But the 2nd example they bring the sam from depth without showing. 

Here comes the sam off the edge and they drop the De opposite. 

Front:4-2

scenario #2 

They bring the sam from depth and play cover 3. 

The same blitz in the diagram below. Bring the sam and drop a de. 

They play cover 3 and run the sim pressure. 

Nice design and safe blitz concept.

creeper/mug pressure concepts

Front:4-2 nickel

CB Sim Pressure

Creeper and mug pressures are when the defense shows pressure and brings some type of blitz with the show look. Baylor is excellent at this concept.

One of their favorite pressures is bringing the boundary CB.

3rd and 9 Vs Iowa State, they brought the boundary cb and play cover 2..They bring the cb to the b gap and play cover 2 with the defensive end to the field dropping into coverage.

The same concept but with a game. 4 man sim edge pressure but again 7 guys in coverage.

They get a 3 man snag concept

In the next situation, they bring the boundary CB but play cover 3 on 2nd and 10. They have 2 curl defenders and the DE drops to the flat. The De is in good position but misses the tackle on what should have been a short gain. 

Another 4 man concept with the CB. Still a 4 man pressure.

CB comes off the hash ad gets decent pressure.

Both clips are in the videos below:

One last blitz with the CB.

They get 12 personnel with an Ace formation. 2 tight ends on the ball. They bring the CB to the boundary and would be cover 3 if they throw the ball. The cb comes unblocked and makes a nice play on the handoff.

Another blitz to the boundary with the CB

CB makes the tackle on the play.

Nice design and concept.

Man to Man coverage concepts:

Sim pressures with man coverage:

Baylor will also run some of these presssure concepts with man coverage.

Here is an interception vs Kansas State.

They bring the mike LB and play man free with the DE as a rat defender. He disrupts the crossing route here which leads to the interception.

They send the mike and drop both DE into rat coverage. 

good rat principle on the te. The DE is a rat defender with 2 safeties free.

RB stays in to block.

Good defense by Aranda. 

These are just some of the simulated and mug pressure concepts you will see from Dave Aranda at Baylor that has been a huge part of his success.

LSU vs Miami 2018

While at LSU he ran some of the same concepts 

Vs Empty 

He’s in a tite front and brings the mike. 

They play man free with the de/olb as rat defenders.Mike comes clean on the pressure. 

They go tite front and bring the cb to the boundary. They go 3 under 3 deep and get the interception. Miami anticipates man coverage and gets baited into the throw. 

Other Resources about Coach Aranda' Defense:

blitzology notes-tite front, split coverages and more.

http://www.blitzology.com/search/label/Dave%20Aranda

Aranda 2 read  https://throwdeeppublishing.com/blogs/news/one-coverage-that-solves-a-ton-of-problems

https://throwdeeppublishing.com/blogs/news/the-bay-and-the-bayou-justin-wilcox-and-dave-aranda-s-defenses

https://www.andthevalleyshook.com/2018/3/21/17134160/lsu-football-2018-film-room-dave-aranda-defense

https://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2021/11/11/22771405/oklahoma-sooners-football-baylor-bears-defense-dave-aranda-jalen-pitre-siaki-ika-matt-rhule

Aranda Youtube video on defending the spread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sWXmFi430o

Aranda vs Oklahoma Offense Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ_okR73kzA

Football Defense Fire Zone pressures at the NFL & college level

NFL and COLLEGE FIRE ZONE CONCEPTS

NFL Fire Zones are a concept that have been around for a long time. This was prevelent back when some great coordinators like Dick Lebeau made them very popular. Sean Mcdermott, Todd Bowles, Leslie Frazier have been running them for years. 

Here is a great article talking about some of the foundations of the fire zone.  The Steelers made it famous under Dick Lebeau and Keith Butler used to run more when he first started but now is more a man free fire zone team. 

https://steelersdepot.com/2016/01/steelers-film-room-keith-butlers-fire-zones/

Fire zones can be run several ways.

Traditional blitzes-Sending a lb or safety and playing 3 under 3 deep or cover 2 behind it. You can also play some roll stuff depending on personnel groupings.

Creepers- These are blitzes where you send a linebacker from depth and drop a defensive end

Sim pressures- These are pressures where you will walk the lb up into the gaps and then run a variety of blitzes from there.  At times dropping a defensive end into coverage in the process. 

Coach Hoover  and Ron Roberts do a great job explaining this in the link below:

sim vs creeper pressures

But here are some examples of some of the fire zones you will see in college and the NFL and college level

Titans 2nd and 9 vs the Steelers

They bring a traditional sam off the edge and roll to cover 3. This is a common concept as teams can bring the sam or will lb and just roll the secondary the other way.

Nice same off the edge pressure

Looks like 3 because of the cb drop.

Cover 3

USC VS Washington DC Todd Orlando

1st and 10

USC on defense Runs  a 2 off the edge fire zone from their 3-4 defense.

RB has to make a decision as he is outnumbered

Odd cross dog 

cover 3

USC drops the middle safety to the middle of the field

plays an aggressive cover 3 match concept.

Nice 3 under 3 deep with the Safety playing the hook

Safety gets the hook nice scif technique

Bills cover 3 rotation

3rd and 8

Bills vs Chargers.

Leslie Frazier against the rookie Justin Herbert. 

They show 3 strong but run the pressure and the coverage becomes 3 weak. 5 man pressure with the mike in a game with the defensive end. Nice design as the weak safety takes away the dig by #1 and can rally late to the back. The Mike does a nice job rocking back into coverage and taking away the bender by Allen. The rush gets home and disrupts Herbert enough to hit his arm as he throws. 

 

3rd and 9 Falcons Defense vs the Panthers offense. 

The Falcons go double mug and bring the safety off the edge. They roll to cover 3 opposite of where they aligned. 

Double mug creates a free rusher.

rb doesnt work back in protection

RB steps up the lb bails and safety comes clean from the mug look.

Nice scheme and design

No place for qb to go as the rush happens too fast.

Here is the video with the clip above.

Here the panthers versus The Cardinals from a 3 safety look. 

Washington University

Creeper-4 man pressure with cover 3

4-2 front

First the coverage

They run a nice stunt (considered a creeper in todays terminology) 

Mike blitzes the A gap

The DT goes b but will contain rush  and the de takes 2 steps upfield and loops tight for the sack. Nice stunt by Washington.  

Here's a few of Jimmy Lake's Washington fire zone pressures.

Panthers vs Cardinals

2nd and 1

 They bring a double a gap cross dog and drop the weak end opposite 3x1.  The weak side defensive end drops and plays the curl/flat.

Arizona Cardinals Fire Zone

On 2nd and 17 the Cardinals run America's favorite blitz 

Sam and mike lb,drop the de  and play cover 3 behind it. 

They play the weak safety as a curl read 3 defender and give up the playside flat. 

The Panthers have a screen called. 

In the Super Bowl, 3rd and 8, Bowles runs a 3 under 3 deep from a 3 safety high look. He drops the safety down to play the middle hook and brings a nice 5 man pressure with a game between the lb and de. 

Nice design

The Pitt Panthers are a team in college that likes to run 3 under 3 deep fire zone principles.

In the situation below the ball is on the hash.
Pitt runs a corner fire or cowboy vs Notre Dame and it catches them off guard.

They end up getting great pressure and the qb panics and they get the sack.

Nice design by Pat Narduzzi.

Penn State defense cover 3 strong

Sam comes but sniffs out the screen.

No place to go with the ball in the nice 5 man pressure.

Good discipline and nice game upfront

Sam's there for the screen

COVER 2/4 Variations

The Ravens vs the Browns

4/2read

week 1 3rd and 10

Pressure 4 man fire zone

3-4 personnel

The Ravens bring some 4 man fire zones vs the Browns. They rush 4 to the boundary with the nose being contain. They drop the def lineman in cover 4 and he gets in the throwing lane. 

Excellent work by the defensive end and a nice design by the Ravens. 

The Chiefs.

Here are a few fire zones from Steve Spagnola.

2nd and 8 vs the Bills in the AFC Championship

Personnel: Nickel 4-2

Blitz: Double edge

Coverage: Cover 2

Here's Notre Dame 5 man pressure vs 11 personnel on 1st and 10

Play under front and bring the sam and ss off the edge. Drop the weakside end to the flat.

   

Nice job getting two off the edge

1st and 10 

Patriots vs the Titans

Titans run a c-6 which just means cover 4 to the formation strength and cover 2 to the boundary. They buzz the olb and buzz it well.

Nice scheme with the pressures, DE drops and Sam comes giving only a 4 man pressure

Pressure gets home 42 coverage behind it.

Nice1/4 1/4 half pressure scheme!

Utah Scalley,

Here's a simple cover 2 pressure by Coach Scalley at Utah. An excellent job with the blitz and pass rush 5 man game. They run a nice cross dog with a line stunt inside.

These are just some fire zone pressures. It is a good concept to have in your playbook.  I will be adding to 

this post in the next few weeks.