Utah Morgan Scalley Base Defense Part 1-1st and 2nd down

 Morgan Scalley runs a very effective scheme at Utah.

In his 15th year overall as a Utah assistant coach, Morgan Scalley is in his seventh season as the defensive coordinator in 2022. His best year was in 2019 as the defense was tremendous. This year they are #1 again. They are #1 in the pac 10 this year in points allowed. They have allowed 20 points per game. They won the pac 12 championship in 2021 and 2022, and his defense had a ton to do with it.

Here's some stats about his defense:

• Utah has led the Pac-12 five times in his six seasons as defensive coordinator in rushing defense (2016, '18, '19, ’20 and ‘21) —ranking third in the nation in 2019 after ranking fifth in in 2018.

• The Utes have finished in the top-three in the conference in sacks and tackles for loss three times under Scalley, leading the league in both in 2021 and 2016, while finishing the 2018 season ranked 11^th nationally and first in the Pac-12 in sacks.

• Utah has finished in the top-half of the Pac-12 in total defense five times in the past six seasons, ranking second nationally and first in the league in 2019.

• Over the past four seasons, Scalley's defense has held opponents to 15 points or fewer 20 times, third most in all of FBS.

I took a close look at his 2019 defense, breaking down a few games. Some of the schemes include some fire zone pressures and normal cover 2 as well as man free at time..

FRONTS

They bounce between their 4-2-5 and bear/odd front. They utilize both dependant on who they played and the situation they were int. 

Here they are in man coverage in the 4-2 front so you see the safeties down and alignment. But again they set the front to the side of the rb.  

The 3 technique is to the side of the back. Everyone has a primary gap based on the alignment. 

In odd, they played it 2 ways.  At times a 4i and others a 3. The LB will be to the side of the back if it's man coverage but opposite if it's zone. 

Here they are in man coverage vs Arizona, as the LB is to the side of the back and the stacked safety has #9 the h back.

zone again with the lb opposite the rb. The nose will play half man behind weakside A gap with the Mike #30 responsible for the playside a gap. 

Coverage schemes

Base Downs (1st and 2nd down)

Man Free

They are. my type of defense as they love to play press man free coverage and challenge offenses. They have had great success being a man free team on early downs. 

You will see Utah play man free  coverage vs various formations on early downs.

In the diagram below Arizona comes out in 12 personnel. They play man free with the LB's combo on the rb.(03)

They at times sprinkle in some man and bring the free safety into the box. He will play the rb man for man or get into the run fit. In the example below, they play it with their bear front.

vs Arizona 

Another example of bear cover 1 vs 11 personnel. The Safety comes down to play the h back with the Mike Lb responsible for the RB. Easy for him as he goes where the rb goes. They play press to the single side and on the #2 wr to the passing strength.

The one thing you will notice is the alignment of their db as they like to press the man on the line of scrimmage regardless of if he is the #1 or #2 wr. (see below)

Fire Zone pressures

Bear Strike Cover 3 , They send the sam to the field in the bear look and drop the olb to the boundary. They play cover 3 and slant the whole defensive front. 

Odd Pressure vs BYU

Similar concept 3 under 3 deep with a defensive lineman playing the hook. They will often have the de drop to the hook as opposed to the flat like several 3 under 3 deep teams when they blitz off the edge.

Another pressure from the bear front. They bring the cb to the bottom of the screen and the mike to the boundary vs the closed set. They get a 2x1 on the tackle as the tackle blocks the LB. In the rpo game that leaves the cb unblocked, qb does a nice job getting the throw off. 

You can  see here as the guard takes the blitzing inside linebacker the cb has a nice free run at the qb. Qb does a great job reading it and is well. coached to get the ball out. The safety does a nice job tackling the wr at 5 yards. 

Clip with it.

America's blitz

Here they run America's blitz to the field and get home except the qb Zach  Wilson avoids the rush. He does a nice job escaping a well designed pressure.

CHANGEUP

They did do some unique things when playing against Wash St who was air raid. They got away from their 4-2-5 and played a ton of odd. 

Utah run fits vs the Air Raid

In the run game, you can do a couple things. Utah liked to use the Safety as  a c gap player which makes things difficult. How do you account for him in the run game.

There are certain fits in the run game. It often depends on whether your ends are 4i  b gap players. In the example below, it looks like Utah has the de in 4i and the middle safety is responsible for c gap.

Utah run fit film

Utah

Utah runs it vs cover 2 with a 3 man rush on 1st down. Wash State is 2x2 and the back is strong. The mike opens to the side of the rb. Since it's 2x2 their is no carry so the 3rd safety just plays the deep middle hook.

The cb does a nice job getting under the post corner route so the qb checks it down to the spot route.

Here is the film with the clip

Cover 2 hole

Utah will run some cover 2 hole which is a cover 2 with a low hole and middle hole defender. It is very effective in taking away the middle of the field, dig and deep post routes. 

Utah version:

On 3rd and 15 Utah plays a soft cover 2 hole look. They use the safety in the middle of the field and take away all vertical routes and windows. They dare Washington state to check it down.

The left cb does an excellent job sinking and knowing where the sticks are. 

Here are the clips that go with it:

This is part 1 of his defensive scheme. Next up is his defense on 3rd down. Stay tuned for more!

Here's some additional clips of the game vs use last night.

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.