Sunday, April 30, 2023

Steve Spagnuolo pressure packages-Cover 2 fire zones

 ***Note*** I am now on substack, please join today with the following link and save 25%

https://coachkoufootball.substack.com/f17eeb32

 Hope coaches understand the hours that go in to the site!

Very affordable as it comes to less than $3 a month for some great content! 

Steve Spagnuolo Pressure Packages

Steve Spagnuolo runs several cover 2 fire zones and has been very effective with the blitz.This article looks at some cover 2 pressures used in the Chiefs defense.  We will take a look at how he effectively used 4 and 5 man pass rush pressures utilizing traditional and Tampa cover 2. 

He is very good at creating the free rusher, often times away from the rb. He has a good read on protection and knows how to scheme pressure! He really knows how to create a free rusher from various looks. 

He ran a few of these pressures in the super bowl and ran them throughout the 2022 season. With so much condensed and stacked formations, this technique allows you to run several different pressures but also play cover 2, a relatively safe coverage package. 

This article looks at some cover 2 pressures used in both the NFL and college football. We will take a look at effective 4 and 5 man pass rush pressures utilizing traditional and Tampa cover 2. 

Chiefs cover 2 5 man pressure vs Jaguars Playoffs 2022

Jags motion to 2x2

One of his favorite concepts is  to bring 2 lb/db off each each and drop a defensive tackle. 

You have 2 curl defenders mike and the DT that drop out to play the curl

The blitz gets home with someone in Lawrences face as he throws. 


They force the protection and back on the sam. The LT and LG are 2 slow to react and get out on that side with the DT dropping.

Nice design aa he gets a free rusher.



In the 2nd example, this is vs the 49ers early in the year. This is similar to the coverage concept above. 

Down and Distance:  The 49ers come out  in 12 personnel, wing te to the boundary and stack to the field. They motion Mccaffrey to the  twins.


With the motion the will LB creeps up to the line of scrimmage. Not sure if this was a motion check or just a call they kept. 
The will and the sam lb come on the pressure. They drop the defensive tackle to the curl on the left and the other lb to the curl on the right. 

Spags creates the free rusher scenario as the will comes clean. The guard has to respect the Dt so he can't get out and the tackle is locked on the de. The rest of the line the center, left guard and left tackle are working to the left side and handle the pressure to that side. By the time Jimmy sees it its too late.


Nice design and look from coach Spags


4th quarter game on the line

Similar type cover 2 pressure
First the cover 2 pressure.
PRESNAP-Its a cover 1 look presnap. 
They bring 4 to a side, they bring the will and nickel to the tight end side of 2x2.
They drop the strong side defensive end. The DT contain rushes.


They get great pressure with the 4 to a side blitz. The Nickel and LB both go inside and the LB comes untouched and forces an immediate throw.

They look like presnap cover 1 but rotate to cover 2 on the snap.

You can see the safety get over the top as he takes a great angle. 

Nice defense by the Chiefs. 

In the 4th example.

1st and 10

They go from cover 2 pre snap to cover 1 then back to cover 2 on the snap. Once again they get a free rusher and force a very quick throw for a short gain. Jimmy G sees it and throws into the pressure.

The weak safety creeps up to the line of scrimmage and comes on the snap. The sam drops and becomes the deep 1/2 player. 
See the safeties rotating and the timing is very good. At the snap it still looks single high.
They continue to rotate and if Jimmy G doesn't see it and throw hot it would be another sack. 

The safety comes clean as a result of the design. Another great scheme by Spagnolo and the Chiefs staff.

The ball gets out for a short gain, but a nice design by Coach Spags.

The Last one was in 2021 in the Conference championship vs the Bills.


These are 4 concepts you  can use in your cover 2 fire zone packages. Look at my post for more to come!

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

12 and 13 Personnel In The Air Raid Offense Part III - Run and Goal Line

This is the last in the blog series on using 12 and 13 Personnel in The Air Raid Offense. My previous posts covered Formations and the Quick Game, Dropback, and Play-Action passes.

Every game will present a time when you have to run the ball to win. The season at Ohio Dominican University when our quarterback threw for 5000+ yards and we had three 1000+ receivers we had to be able to run the ball in certain situations. Multiple TE's give you an advantage as the defense has an extra gap or maybe two to defend. 

Duo is an excellent play run out of multiple tight end formations. The offensive line can get double teams with vertical push. The running back can hit vertically quickly or bounce outside based on the reaction of the second level defenders. Rules for Duo Right from Early Ace are:

J:   Base block man on or outside.

LT: Base block man on our outside.

LG: Double team first D-lineman to first backside linebacker with C.

C:   Double team first D-lineman to first backside linebacker with LG.

RG: Double team first D-lineman to front side linebacker with RT.

RT:  Double team first D-lineman to first front side linebacker with RG:

Y:    Base block EOL.

FB:  Jab step play side. Receive hand-off and read first Linebacker play side. Take A-gap if open or bounce to next open hole.

QB:  Get ball deep to FB. Play pass fake.



#2



G-T Counter is an excellent play run from a multiple TE formation. The extra TE protects the pull side of the counter and sets up play-action pass possibilities as well. Rules for Counter Right are as follows:

J:   EOL

LT: Pull. Read LG block and lead up looking inside out.

LG: Pull and kick out or log EOL. Listen for alert call from TE if he is blocking 7 tech DE and lead up looking inside out.

C:    Block back for pulling LG.

RG: Double team first down lineman to the first backside LB with the RT.

RT:  Double team first down lineman to the first backside LB with the RG.

Y:    Block down on first defender inside. Alert LG if you are blocking a 7 tech DE.

FB:  Counter step away take handoff. Be under control and read blocks of the pullers.

QB: Reverse pivot, hand-off, boot fake away.


Heres the blocking 


Duo and Center can also be run from 13 Personnel. We originally used 13 Personnel as a Short Yardage and Goal Line formation but expanded out to the field.

We first used this on the Goal Line at Tri-State University (now Trine) and carried it with us to Ohio Dominican University. Both Tri-State and Ohio Dominican were in the same conference. We ran this set of plays for many years when we had the TE bodies to do so. Those opponents knew we were going to run it. The opponents could diagram and teach it as well as we could. That didn't matter.. We scored or converted many short yardage situations over the years. Our players believed in this package and executed to perfection.

Earlier in the post I mentioned the big passing season we had at Ohio Dominican. With a 5000+ passer who threw 50 touchdown passes our FB position generated 25 rushing touchdowns that season. Many of them on these goal line plays.

The package consisted of a G-scheme play to the strong side. Tight zone and Boot to the weak side.

We ran this package from a Trips-Wing formation. The first play installed was the G. Rules are as follows:

Z:   Motion in. Block first defender on the second level in the box.

TE-Wing: Block down on first defender inside. Possible double team on EOL.

RT: Block down for pulling RG.

RG: Pull and block EOL. If blocked pull up looking inside-out.

C:   Zone through he play side A gap to the second level.

RG: Full Zone 

LT: Full zone

TE: Full zone

FB: Open at hip of play side TE. Attack hip and cram hole or bounce. C will be unblocked. Beat him to the end zone if you bounce.

QB: Open playside. Get ball to FB. Boot away.




Tight zone was the counter to the G play if the defense over shifted to the TE-Wing side of the formation. It was a full zone play weak. FB would jab step play side and cram the A-gap or bounce play side B to backside A.


Boot was run away from motion to the single TE side. We pulled the backside G with the rest of the OL blocking gap down.

TE: Block EOL 1001-1002 push inside and pivot on shoot route one yard deep on the front pylon.

TE: Block EOL.

Wing; Best release possible and work across field to back pylon.

Z: Motion in. Push vertical to eight yards and work across back of end zone.

FB; Fake G block edge.

QB: Boot away. Read pulling G's block. Run and score if open. Look front pylon to back pylon to Z crossing back of end zone.





Of course you need some Air Raid concepts as well. Mesh-Wheel from 13 Personnel is as follows:




Do not hesitate to contact me regarding any information in this post or the others I did. One of the best 
quotes I ever heard regarding coaching offensive football came from my boss at Franklin College in Indiana in 1984, Red Faught. Red is a legend in the passing game and he said this, "Hang loose, go reckless, have fun, and score!"

dalercarlson1@gmail.com

Sunday, April 16, 2023

Pin and Pull Schemes Qb and RB Variations

  ***Note*** I am now on substack, please join today with the following link and save 25%

https://coachkoufootball.substack.com/f17eeb32

 Hope coaches understand the hours that go in to the site!

Very affordable as it comes to less than $3 a month for some great content! 


Pin and Pull

The pin and pull scheme is used at both the NFL and college level. Teams such as Auburn under Gus Malzhan and Noel Mazzone ran it at Auburn  and Chip Kelly runs it at UCLA. At the pro level you see teams such as The Buffalo Bills run the play with great success.

It is taken from the old Green Bay sweep. some spread sweep and some old wing T Buck Sweep rules. Some teams will run it using the standard, if uncovered you pull. Other teams will take advantage of angles and block down. Neither way is right or wrong, just teams have preferences on how they do it.. 


The premise of the play is to get a pin and angle on a defensive lineman. The lineman not pinning is the puller.  It allows offenses to take advantage of angles and utitilize offensive lineman to pull and get on the perimeter. The aiming point for the back is similar to outside zone as it is a perimeter run play. You will see teams pull 2-3 uncovered lineman in the scheme and it is an excellent play to get the ball on the edge. 

The play is very similar to the old wing T sweep in many of it's principle:

1. The front side Guard or tackle will block the alley defender. Often times he will either kick out the force defender or log the alley defender. The RB will play off his block and make his cut accordingly.

The front side rules are very simple depending  on who you ask. Some teams will take advantage of angles, If you have a down block, down block. This is true of some teams who will block down on a 3 technque with the tackle. 


Auburn blocks it this way. 


For example, if you have a 4-2 base like below. The TE has a down block and the tackle has a down block, so down block. This can involve anyone from the center out to the playside. Here's Auburn's scheme.
One thing you will notice about Auburn is they love to crack with their wide receivers and have the Guard block the corner to the front side.


Another team that makes a living on this play is Chip Kelly at UCLA. He has always been a pin and pull guru from his days with the Eagles and that continued when he worked with Noel Mazzone at UCLA. 

Here's their variation.

In the next few clips you will see the scheme vs LSU.  

What UCLA does vs the 4-2 scheme is different in the fact that they pull the tackle and center who are uncovered like many traditional teams would do. The traditional theorists would say pull the uncovered lineman.





Teams like UCLA will utilize the QB pin and pull with a lead blocker who is the rb.

They do it with the QB.


2. Here are some other. qb schemes and rules:

Uncovered lineman will pull. In this situation you get a 3 technique and a shade on the backside.

TE=block the 6i

OT=3 tech

PSG= pull first thing outside

Center=shade

BSG=pull 


BST= 5 tech

Now with an end outside, you will often get a kickout by the playside lineman. 

Here the Bills run it out of 12 personnel 


3  QB Pin and Pull:

The Bills love the pin and pull scheme. They will run it at times as a qb pin and pull.

Here they run it in the playoffs vs. The Patriots. They will often do it on 3rd and less than 3 situations. Here its from 3x1 off the fake to the RB.

Nice fake and pull the center and right guard.

Fake wide zone and pull the qb.



In this example, you get a  bear front. The Bills pull the Center and right guard and get a good down block from the tight end and wing. The backside cuts off the nose and defensive tackle. 

Due to the wide outside linebacker the Guard ends up kicking out the outside linebacker and the center turns up for the seal. 

Nice job of pulling by the center and guard. They get a hard force so ball gets turned inside.
 
 
Fake to the rb and get the center and guard to the right. Guard kicks the hard force and center sees it and leads up




Again they get the guard and center pulling. Create angles.


Here they run a similar play vs the Texans They get the nice seal and down blocks and Allen gets a huge gain off the jet action the other way. The Texans are in the under front


Here's a nice qb run for 40 plus yards.


Texas QB Pin and Pull out of empty
TE comes down and cracks the 5
WR blocks #2 
G and Tackle get on the edge
 
Texas goes empty

They run pin and pull
Create nice angles vs the odd front. Nice block,



Tennessee Pin and Pull Schemes vs Bowling Green 2021 (3 film clips are below the write ups)
1st concept
They run it with Center and left guard pulling and the right guard and Rt all blocking back.
They lead with the h back and pull the center and left guard.
Here they pull the guard and tackle and lead with the h back
Nice design.



The 2nd time they read the DE and still pull the center, right guard and right tackle.
Again nice scheme                                                         


nice kick out and lead pin and pull play.
In the last example vs Bowling green they run it with the rb
4-2 front
Right tackle and right guard block the dt and de. 
They pull the center and left guard with the left tackle cutting off the backside
They read the 5 technique 

Nice scheme and design.


 
 
They create good angles pin the de and get 2 guys around with a lead blocker


Empty Pin and Pull from the Utah offense.

Front Bear
Coverage cover 0
They bring the TE in motion and crack on the de. 
#1 wr blocks the SS
Tackle pulls and takes the CB
Nice scheme from Utah

Nice job with motion man cracking and the qb running it out of empty.



Nice job with the lineman getting on the perimeter

Nice angles and run




Ravens version of pin and pull.
They run it off jet motion out of 13 personnel
They get a nice down block vs the under front with the left guard and tackle and pull the center.

Ravens always do a great job with it.

Nice scheme.

Good blocking and down blocks.



Film with the clips above



They run it a 2nd time again for a huge gain.

Again nice angles and blocking with the reduced formation


See the angles. Te gets the good crack and they get the center on the CB by design.
Center kicks out the CB
Tackle gets to the LB



Panthers run pin and pull off of jet sweep action. Bunch formation puts bosa in a 5 technique. 
11 personnel
run jet with #3. SS goes with it and creates angles for the pin and pull the other way.Nice down blocks by
 80 and#2 







6 man Zone Pressure: 2 under 3 deep coverage NFL and College, Pitt Clemson, Syracuse and More!

 6 man Zone Pressure:  2 under 3 deep coverage NFL and College, Pitt Clemson, Syracuse and More!   6 man pressures with 2 under 3 deep cover...