Pitt Panthers Coach Pat Narduzzi Defense Scheme: fronts, coverages, pressures and more

 Pat Narduzzi is one of the best college coaches in the country. Someone I admire and have a tremendous amount of respect for. He is one of the best defensive coaches in college football and has been both at Michigan State as defensive coordinator and at Pitt as Head Coach.

Coach Narduzzi runs a 4-2-5 defense with press quarters as the base coverage. Press quarters is an agressive zone concept with man principles. It allows 9 players to play the run, while having cornerbacks on the outside in man coverage using press bail technique unless your WR goes inside at less than 5 yards. 

Your safeties are aggressive run defenders who key #2. If they read run fill. If they read pass, play off #2. If # 2 goes vertical at more than 8 yards, you play #2 man for man. 

They also can give a solo call vs 3x1 alerting the corner to the 1 wr side he is locking on #1. We go over that in more detail below. 

Here's a few variations of the base coverage and how Pitt will align:

VS 2x2 formations

You will see the following coverage:   CB are 1 yard off and will bail while maintaining outside leverage. Some will argue it makes it easy to run slants but you have the Sam and the Will both being aggressive flat defenders. This makes it harder to complete those quick slants vs the defense. 

The safeties are at 10 and keying #2 and reading his release. Depending on the call the Safety will fill C or D gap vs run or alley to the 2 wr side. If #2 goes vertical at more than 8 yards he becomes the responsibility of the Safety. It becomes a match up man situation.

VS 3x1 Formations

Their are a few  adjustments vs 3x1. 

Weak CB-Is now locked on the #1 WR. Expect no help

FS- Now he reads #3 and has to play #3 if he goes vertical

SS-Will split #2 and #3 by alignment but his read doesn't change

Sam- will split the difference between #1 and #2

Strengths of the defense

1. Solid vs the run because you have 9 players in the box

2. Aggressive and by alignment makes it tough to throw the quick game, short screens and free access throws.

3. Simplifies things for your CB. Expect fades an sideline routes vs the coverage as that is what most teams will run. In football, that is a low percentage throw so your CB's are well adapted to those type of throws. Understand that teams will try to hit #1 vertically quite often so expect that throw often.

4. Sam LB's are aggressive to the flat, no curl responsibility, Double Robber to both sides.

Weaknesses of the coverage that  teams will try to expose

1. Teams will try to run the post/dig concept in college but it's not the NFL and a very difficult pass to throw and get time to throw. At the NFL level, you don't see as much of the coverage because teams can make that throw on a consistent basis. 

2. Route combinations where #2 (either a slot or RB) will run a wheel. Probably the toughest route to defend in the defense. Very hard to defend. Thus, why you don't see the coverage as much at the NFL Level where QB's can make those throws consistently

3. The 6-8 yard out route by #2 as the Safety has to really drive on that route. (see below)

4. If they have better matchups on the outside they will throw some fades throughout the game. But as discussed earlier, if you are playing this coverage, you are confident in your corners ability. If they can't cover don't play press quarters.

1st play of the game vs Louisville, they run the fade concept to #1 off play action

Teams will always try to test you with a fade concept.

Your CB have to be able to cover.

Nice job as they get the fade up top and the comeback to the bottom of the screen. 

Good defense

5. Toss crack or just crack block  in the run game, You will get a 2 for 1 on the outside when they crack because the CB will at times hang on the WR initially. here you see it vs Notre Dame. They get a 2 for 1 and a nice 10 yard game on the toss crack.

Notre Dame cracks from the condensed look and the DB gets drawn inside. 

Nice scheme offensively.

These are just a few of the issues. Like any defense their are a few weaknesses, but overall I love the press quarters concept.

Coverage Cover 4 examples

Here are some examples vs 2x2 coverages vs BC in 2020

vs 3x1

vs Louisville you can see the solo concept to the single wr side with press quarters everywhere else.The safety reads #3. Louisville tries to divide the 2 safeties but is unsuccessful with the concept.3 verts with a shallow are difficult vs this coverage.

vs 3x1 you will give a solo call to the 1 wr side at times(depending on what you get)

cb locks as he gets no other threat his way.

3x1 defense vs Notre Dame

Here are some Clips vs BC where they play some press quarters vs BC

Here's another clip of them playing it vs. Louisville.

vs condensed

Some teams will check out and maybe go to cover 2 but here Narduzzi stays with the cover 4 call vs 2x2. They have it played nicely but the safety jumps the 5 yard out on the bottom. If he played it right they would have had great double coverage on both vertical routes. 

cb playing press bail on the perimeter

good defense except for the safety

They also can play some cover 3 as shown below when they fool Notre Dame into an interception. They show quarters pre snap and rotate.

Base front alignment and run fits

Pitt will be in a 4-2-5 on early downs. They prefer this personnel grouping vs 11 personnel or 10 personnel. Here is the basic alignnment vs Notre Dame. 4-2-5 vs 11 and 10 is the norm. Where they set that front depends on the tight end and RB.

Here it is vs Louisville. They line up in 4-2-5 front again with the sam to the field.

Run game movements

You will see Pitt move on early downs and at times  have 2 LBs at times be responsible for both the A and B gaps to their side. Here they are moving away from the strength and playing the run with 2 LBs in the same gap. They can move without blitzing or do it as part of their 2 under 3 deep package. Below they are in their 2 under 3 deep blitz scheme. 

In the example below they are in their 4-2-5 vs Notre Dame. They are moving and you can see how disciplined they are playing their gaps. Notre Dame tries to run power and they blow it up.

As discussed They are a 4-2-5 base but will align in some 4-3 vs 12/21 personnel. Here you can see 4-3 vs BC when BC is is 12 personnel. 

Here's the 4-3 vs Louisville when Louisville went 21 personnel

2 under 3 deep pressure package

Coach Narduzzi loves to bring pressure utilizing a 2 under 3 deep philosophy Here is my other post with in depth coverage on the concept:  2 under 3 deep article

Most coordinators won't dare bring 6 and play a 5 man zone coverage but Narduzzi uses the package several times throughout the game.  This is a staple in his defensive package.

  1. The advantage in  this is in the disguise. You aren't showing cover 0 where you have to move your safeties over vs 3-1 and tell the whole world you are coming. The element of surprise is key. 

 2. You also can really bring pressure and use this as a good 2nd/3rd and long defense. Why sit back and play cover 4 when you can bring 6 play the seams and rally to the short stuff. How many teams throw hot in these situations so this is a great call.

 3.  These blitzes and coverages can be out of 3-2 , 4-2 and any other fronts. You can bring any 6 man pressure you want.

2nd and 9

Pressure double edge with both outside LB

Result: Throw hot to RB -2 yard loss

Here's the beauty of it: Sometimes the coverage may not be perfect but the pressure often can cause a bad throw and incompletion.  Here's a perfect example as Lousville calls good route beaters but the pressure gets home before the QB can get set and throw the football. He is forced to throw early and incomplete.

2nd and 10

Louisville goes condensed and Narduzzi brings the boundary corner and will LB

Pat Narduzzi, 2 under 3 deep

The Pitt Panthers run some very good 6 man pressures vs Delaware. They bring the cb and will on the first snap and run their 2 under 3 deep. You can see some of the other clips in the Delaware game. You will see other clips with different blitzes but the first one is shown below. 

Please  understand every 6 man pressure has 2 underneath defenders and a 3 deep secondary. Clips below.

They run a nice 2 under 3 deep vs Notre Dame in 2019 but the LB doesn't get his head to the right gap and it's a 6 yard gain. They have a slant away from the strength with a sam and mike blitzing the a and b gap. If they blitz the right gap, its a minimal gain. Nice design but a small mistake by the LB leads to a 6 yard gain 

3rd Down Defense

On 3rd down you will often see them run their odd package. In the package they can run a multiple of pressures and coverages. The nice thing about it is they sub out 1 d lineman for a LB/DB and they can run all of their coverage concepts. 

They have played man free, 2 man, some cover 3. a little cover 2 and other concepts in the film I have seen.

In 2021 they were very good in this category, holding teams to 33% efficiency on 3rd down conversions. 

In 2020 they were 35% so they have done a good job in this category.

Here are some examples of the odd front discussed above.

Front odd 3-3 

They disguise only send 4 and play cover 3 on the snap. Excellent disguise look causes confusion and they get the stop.

In the example below, you see cover 2 man with The LBs adding in late

3rd down package film to go with the concepts discussed above

I hope you enjoyed this article and defensive study on Coach Pat Narduzzi and his defense over the years. He is one of my favorite coordinators to study and I enjoy watching his defense play.

Here are some other resources:

2 under 3 deep Narduzzi

http://www.blitzology.com/2020/07/2-under-3-deep-overload-pressure.html

press quarters 4-3 defense

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X68WXhv27R8

Narduzzi and the aggressive cover 4

https://www.shakinthesouthland.com/2021/10/21/22736260/narduzzi-and-the-aggressive-cover-4

Narduzzi Defense Philosophy

https://grantland.com/the-triangle/michigan-state-oregon-pat-narduzzi-defense-breakdown/

Narduzzi Cover 4 principles

Press cover 4 foundation

Vic Fangio's successful Broncos Defense Schemes and coverages

Vic Fangio is one of the best defensive coordinators in the league. Over 20 great years He is known throughout the league for adapting his scheme to the talent given him and putting players in position to be successful. Not known as a big blitzer, he is known for his multiple looks and really taking away what other teams do best. He'll change his looks and keep offenses on it's toes. If he has the DB's you will see some man concepts, if he doesn't have the horses  to play cover 1, he will play more zone. He won't try to stick a square plug in a round hole!

He plays much of the standard coverages you will see on Sunday. 

Some pass zone defense concepts you will often see:
1.Cover 3 variations (weak, strong)

2. True quarters

3. 1/4, 1/4 , 1/2 both strong and weak (also, 2 to the star wr and 1/4 opposite is a call)

4. Cover 2

5. Tampa 2

Here's some of the things about his defense:

1. They Eliminate the big play 

2. They Rally to the ball 

3. Communication in the secondary - they pass off routes better than anyone 

4. They Disguise better than anyone- 2 safety look presnap to some single high and cover 3 coverages

5. They try to take advantage of pass rush matchups with Miller and Chubb in the past.

  Here are some of the defenses Vic Fangio will play. He loves to play variations of 3 on early downs, some 1/4, 1/4 half  with some man free hole concepts from a 2 high look. He really has a very solid scheme. Thus, they had the #2 defense in points allowed in 2021 at 18.9.  That's playing within a very tough division with some very good quarterbacks.

On early downs

On early downs you'll see different coverages but often will see some cover 3, with much of it being 3 weak or strong based on formation. He also likes to disguise with his safeties. His safeties are interchangeable which makes the scheme successful.

You will also see a ton of 4-2 fronts with often a shade look. They use the strong safety as the C gap player in the run game. They will often go to a  4-2 vs 11 personnel, and at times vs 12 personnel, depending on what they think of your run game and who you're weapons are in the passing game.

You will also see their tite 3-4 front against teams when they get 21/12. Both of these fronts he has used over the years.

Here you see a 4-2 nickel look vs 12 in the Jets game. Safety rotates late to the 3x1 side. Again, the Broncos can bring either safety down to help in the run game.

vs the Chargers

Chargers come out in 12 with the  tight end  to the boundary in a 2x2 set. The Broncos go 3 weak and do a nice job vs the run. 

 The Jets come out in 12 personnel with 2 tight ends and 1 wr to the same side. The Broncos run cover 3 to the 2 tight end side to get the extra run defender there.

   Here's another example of how they disguise and show a 2 high look and move the safety down late. 

The Bengals come out in 11 personnel 2x2, the Broncos run 3 weak, the safety comes down to the curl  away from the 2 wr. 

3-4 front vs 12 and 21

They will also play some 3-4 fronts vs 12/13 and 21 personnel. They played it against the Lions, probably because of the lack of threats in the passing game. They will play some 3-4 and bring an extra lb in depending on the opponent.

Lions in 22 personnel. 2 backs and 2 tight ends

Lions go 12, 2 tight ends and 2 wr, the Broncos go 3-4

vs Bunch Man principles

Broncos

The Broncs show a 2 high look but the coverage is man free with the Safety to the side of the bunch diving down to help on crossers. They used it a few times vs the Jets in week 3 as show below. 2 clips are attached

On 3rd and 6 the Jets run the concept again. The Broncos switch the coverage and how they sort the bunch route out.

Nice scheme on defending bunch!

vs the Chargers

They play man free and run the safety hole concept away from the 3x1. They play man to man with the skill players and dive the hole player the other way. They force Herbert to take the fade route on the outside with #1

Combo coverage vs 3x1

Another thing you will see from Fangio is combination coverage, part man part zone. He does it with different coverages on the front side of the combination coverage.

Vs. The Chiefs they run different variations of it. In the first example they play cover 2.

In the next example, they play man on the backside but run a variation of 1/4 coverage with the sam carrying #2 vertical. Nice design with what looks like the mike matching the RB to the flat.

The RB opens late but Mahomes is forced to scramble.

Here are the 2 examples of the coverages discussed above:

Vs the Chargers

They play zone to  the field and man to man on #1. The LB do a great job delivering routes to each other taking away the shallow crossing routes.  They are playing a hole concept with the safety and he takes away the over route. Great scheme.

Fire Zones

Vic will run some fire zones occasionally on early downs to stop the run with a cover 3 rotation. Here are a few clips of that.

2nd and 5 vs The Chargers

2nd and 2 vs the Raiders

On 3rd down,  the Broncos were ranked 28th. Which is rather surprising considering their points against. 

They don't really get too exotic on 3rd down with their fronts and pressures. You don't see too many mug looks or 3-2 fronts.  They are more traditional.

A large amount of 4 man pressures with some zone and man schemes where you see the safety dropping down to rob the hole. 

3rd and 7-10

2 sample coverage on 3rd and 7-10

You' ll see some man free hole in these situations.

The other coverage is some combo where they play man to the 1 WR side and zone to the trips side. Here you see the safety looking to play the hole in search of any deep crossing route.

The 2 coverages from above

3rd and 4-6 

Below is a man free coverage vs condensed where the safety drops to 5 yards to help on the crossing routes. Fangio will drop him shallow vs condensed  and to 8 yards vs more spread sets depending on the situation.

3rd and 3 

Man free with a hole safety

In the next example they drop the safety to the strong side. He does a nice job taking away the routes to the inside but the CB loses the matchup with the TE across the field.

1/4 1/4 1/2 coverage

Here's a few clips from his play book, He will play some 1/4, 1/4 half vs certain sets.  and they will do it vs different sets and formations. They played it often in years past and 

These are just some of the concepts you will see from Vic Fangio. He is an outstanding coordinator and excellent football coach.

Here are some other resources:

Man Free Blitzes

http://www.blitzology.com/search/label/Vic%20Fangio

Tale of the Tape

https://www.milehighreport.com/2019/5/29/18640212/broncos-vic-fangios-coverages

Vic Fangio Philosophy:

https://matchquarters.substack.com/p/the-fangio-philosophy-pt-1?s=r