4. Beating the Defenses

THE ZONE  DEFENSE

As a means of frustrating the passer, the zone defense has become a perfectionist's dream within the last few years. From a defensive standpoint, to make the zone a success you must be able to rush the passer with four men. This is not easily done in the National Football League, except by the Colts who use a 4-3 zone approximately 70 per cent of the time.

And as noted previously, the main reason it is successful for the Colts is because of that man Marchetti. He is so tremendously strong and quick that he can put pressure on the passer, forcing him to throw wayward balls, and thereby making the zone defense easier for the linebackers and defensive backs. To illustrate, in 1959 the Colts' linebackers intercepted 17 passes out of a total of 40 interceptions. Without the rush on the passer, spearheaded by Marchetti, these interceptions would not have been pos­sible.

How is it possible to beat this combination of zone and rush? It is of paramount importance to furnish protection for the passer. If the de­fense uses only a four-man rush with the zone, the five interior linemen should be able to handle it. As you can see from Diagram 11, there is a seven-man pass defense with a four-man rush.

In order to combat this alignment, the offense must flood the zones not only with three fast receivers—the two ends and the flanker—but also with the two remaining backs, the halfback and the fullback. In other words, you have a five-man pass pattern against a seven-man zone defense.

If pass protection holds up, there is in reality no such thing as a zone defense. When potential receivers race through the zones, the defenders have to pick them up and cover them. Thus the defenders are forced to desert their zones.

Another way to beat the zone is to run play number passes; that is, faking a running play and then passing off the fake run. This keeps the linebackers "honest," forcing them to play close to the line of scrimmage so that they cannot filter back to their deep zones.

SPREAD SIDE  STRONG SIDE

In addition to flooding the zone, there are other ways to beat it—hook passes thrown between the cracks, slant passes to the end and flanker, and the sideline pass to the spread end. Picking on the defensive halfback who is covering the spread end should be the quarterback's first thought when encountering a zone defense. The quarterback should throw deep sideline passes, deep hooks, and quick slants as the end clears the line­backer.

Another thing the passer should do is to throw unit patterns to the strong side. The unit pattern, for the layman's benefit, involves the flanker, the tight end, the halfback, and sometimes the fullback. The strong side, of course, is the side where the flanker and the tight end are stationed.

There are some things a quarterback should not do in trying to bam­boozle the zone defense. He should not throw long. All of the receivers, however, should lengthen their pass routes to increase the areas of zone that the defenders have to cover. Nor should the quarterback keep his backs in for pass protection. It is unlikely that linebackers will blitz off the zone defense, and consequently backs are not needed for passing pro­tection.   But, they are needed to flood the zones.

MAN-TO-MAN DEFENSE

The first thing a quarterback thinks about when encountering the man-to-man rampart is to throw to the strong side. The defensive halfbacks covering the tight end and flanker must cover them all over the field, which gives the passer a 50-50 chance of completing the throw. It is recom­mended that you keep the weak-side safety man "at home" by quickly swing­ing the halfback right at him. By doing this, you can throw any strong-side pattern you have in your "ready" list.

The second thing that should be in the quarterback's mind is to pepper the spread-side end and flanker with individual pass routes. Again, I would recommend swinging the halfback quickly at the weak-side safety man so that he cannot help defend the deep middle area.

The third thing that the quarterback should keep in mind is to work to a three-man combination of patterns to the spread-end side, involving the end, the halfback, and the fullback. When doing this, it is recom­mended you keep the tight-side end in to block. If no linebacker shows, the tight end may spring downfield, thus affording another target.  .

What a quarterback must anticipate from a man-to-man coverage is blitzing by the linebackers. This leads into our next problem: the blitz and how to beat it, which is the subject of the next section.

THE BLITZ

The blitz, to the uninitiated, is derived from the World War II nomen­clature of hitting the antagonist quickly and with force at a weak point with the greatest element of surprise. In football, the sport closest to strategical warfare, this is accomplished by having at least two of the three linebackers shoot a gap in correlation with the four interior linemen.

SPREAD SIDE STRONG SIDE

Diagram  12.    Passes used against man-to-man defense.

Usually, the two outside linebackers are the ones who blitz, although sometimes the middle linebacker also blitzes. When he does, the two defensive ends draw a block from the offensive tackles. The purpose of drawing the block is to prevent the offensive tackle from picking up the linebacker crashing through.

Many methods have been used to beat the blitz. One way is to keep two backs in to pick up the linebackers in conjunction with the five in­terior linemen. A second way is to swing the two remaining backs, the halfback and the fullback, to one side and dump the ball to the second back out. Generally this creates a footrace between the fullback and the middle linebacker or the defensive end, depending on who is covering the fullback. The thinking behind this maneuver is that a fullback, un­less he is an ox, can outrace either of the two players who are covering him.

A third type of offense that we employed while with the Rams counter­acted the blitz in the following manner. As the receivers sprang from the line and noticed the linebackers blitzing, they would break off their pattern and the quarterback would hit one of the receivers immediately for a short gain. The reasoning in this situation was that a short gain was better than a loss for the quarterback. The shortcoming in this maneuver is that if the opponent blitzes most of the time, you end up with a short passing offense and nothing else. This can be fatal, especially near the end of the game with the defense leading.

The most popular method used by quarterbacks to frustrate the blitz defense today is to anticipate the maneuver by taking tips from the op­ponents as to just when they are going to use this weapon. For example, if you are playing against what is primarily a zone-defense team, and it lines up in a man-to-man defense, there is a good chance that the blitz is on.

Or, by studying movies of the opponent you are about to face, you may notice that some linebackers give their intention away by being over­anxious. Then in the game when this situation arises, you can call an audible play, or an ''automatic," on the line of scrimmage—one that you know through preparation and experience will work against a blitzing defense.

Diagram 13 shows how the defense picks up the receivers when a normal six-man rush is put on the passer. The spread-side defensive halfback covers the left end X. The inside safety man to the spread side picks up the left half (the No. 2 back) if he swings; if not, the inside safety will be free to play the ball through watching the quarterback's eyes. The other inside safety covers the tight end Y. The other outside defensive halfback covers  the flanker all  over  the  field.   The  middle  linebacker covers the fullback (the No. 3 back) man to man wherever he goes.

Diagram  13.     Pass coverage when the blitz is on.

If the defense gambles completely by shooting all three linebackers, thus constituting a seven-man rush, they will pick up the receivers in the manner shown in Diagram 14, which illustrates the defensive assignments when all three linebackers rush and have no pass coverage responsibility.

Diagram  14.    Pass coverage with a seven-man rush.

The four defensive secondary men have the same responsibility as in the six-man rush. From left to right, they pick up offensive players X, No. 2, Y, and the flanker, as they release down the field.

Inasmuch as the charging linebackers gave no pass coverage, someone must pick up the fullback or No. 3 back if he swings out of the backfield.

The defensive ends meanwhile must pick up for the middle linebacker. They draw a block from the offensive tackles, then look for the No. 3 back as they fall slightly into the flat. This is a good blitzing stratagem because it also puts the defensive ends in position for screen and draw plays if they develop.   But this maneuver will not be successful unless the defensive ends draw a block from the tackles,  thereby enabling the outside line­backers to get to the passer.

Diagram  15.    Maximum  protection  against the  blitz.

BEATING THE BLITZ.    Let us now switch to a consideration of methods to beat the blitzing defense.   Diagram 15 shows the maximum protection available against the blitz. This is accomplished by keeping both re­maining backs in to block for the quarterback. If the backs are average blockers—and certainly they should be—the blitz should not bother your passing game when you have them for protection.

Naturally, when both backs are kept in to block, only three receivers are free to go downfield against the four deep men plus the middle line­backer. The spread-side safety man is free to play the ball because the No. 2 back is blocking. Since the defensive secondary is playing man to man, each of the three offensive men must beat the man covering him by running an individual pass route that shakes the defender off. Whenever a passer has time to set up and throw against a man-to-man coverage, the offense has at least a 50-50 chance of being successful.

Another method used to combat the blitz is to have the quarterback gamble by sending out five receivers for the pass. As you will note from Diagram 16, when both backs swing to one side, one linebacker is free on the passer. The quarterback must realize this and fade to pass faster than he usually does. He dumps the ball to the fullback at the moment when the linebacker catches up to him. Assuming that the fullback gets the ball, a foot race between the fullback and the middle linebacker is on. I feel that the offense is in good shape here because the fullback is in the flat with the ball against a normally slower man.

Diagram  16.    Beating the blitz with 5 receivers out.

In this play, with five receivers out for the pass, the quarterback must be prepared to throw while off balance—a further reason why a quarter­back must have a strong arm, fast hands, and a thorough knowledge of defensive strategy. The left halfback and the fullback, when they see the linebackers blitzing, should look back at the passer as soon as they clear the line on their swings, for the quarterback might have to unload to them quickly and it wouldn't look well if they got hit in the back of the head with the ball. Although a five-man pattern offers weak protection to the quarterback, it does put the defense to the test, both physically and men­tally.

Diagram   17.    A five-man pattern and a seven-man rush.

When  encountering a seven-man  rush, with two linebackers free, as shown in the Diagram 17, a five-man pass pattern isn't recommended as a steady diet. About the only chance that a quarterback has to complete a pass when seven men are charging him is the possibility of the fullback beating the defensive end on his swing. Another possibility of getting off a pass is to coach the offensive tackles to ignore the charge of the defensive ends and to pick up the linebackers when a five-man pattern is called and the blitz shows.

Of course, if the quarterback feels that a seven-man rush is coming, he should call an "audible" signal which will change to a more suitable play. A typical play that the quarterback may call when he anticipates the heavy rush is shown in Diagram 18. Under the onslaught, the pass routes should be short.

Diagram  18.    A short  hook  pattern  against the seven-man  blitz.

The left end X and the flanker run a four-step hook, turning in to face the passer. Both must start fast so as to back the defensive halfbacks off, thus allowing time to catch the ball, spin out, and run. The tight end Y clears the charging linebacker and looks back quickly for the ball.

The quarterback retreats two or three steps, sets up, and throws to one of the three receivers. The left halfback and fullback fire out fast to pick up the linebackers as they charge.

If the defense gambles as the game progresses and tries to pick off one of these short hooks, the quarterback should have the authority to change the short hook into a hook and go pass. This could get him a cheap touch­down.   If it doesn't, it will scare the defense into playing honest again.

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