In the age of NFL, college and high school offenses blurred together, defenses are at a disadvantage more than ever. Defenses have to defend unique formations while also dealing with the tempo of offenses. Defenses need to be able to line up quick, match patterns and still account for every gap in the run game. In today’s world of football, offenses are dictating to the defense and the defense is just trying to survive.
One way defenses can shift the power in their favor is by blitzing. In today’s world of RPO’s, offenses have multiple answers for the defense in one play. Defenses can’t bring all out pressure because most of them do not have the talent to cover the offense’s receivers one on one. One way to combat offenses is by using simulated pressure. By showing blitz, and then dropping out of it, you make the offense have to respect the fact that you might be blitzing by forcing them to count the defenders you bluff as blitzes in their protection. Furthermore, you can then blitz a defender that wasn’t initially counted in the protection.
In part 1 of simulated pressures, we will take a look at a few simulated pressures that play 2 deep coverages behind it, so think Cover 2. One specific coordinator who does a great job using simulated pressure is former ravens defensive coordinator, and now former Titans defensive coordinator Dean Pees. While he retired immediately after the 2019 season, Pees has made al living giving offenses fits by attacking their protections with simulated pressures. Here is an example from Week 1 of the 2019 season against the Cleveland Browns.
First, let’s see what happens before the snap from the wide and the tight copy. on third down and long, the browns line up in a 3×1 formation. The titans have 2 safeties high, but safety to the boundary is lower, which indicates that he will be dropping down.
The titans have three defenders standing up at the line of scrimmage, with another safety (#24) who is a potential blitz threat. The safety’s threat to blitz makes the offensive line slide to the right, to be able to pick up the safety if he blitzes.
Post-snap, both linebackers drop into coverage, leaving two browns o-lineman with nobody to block (#64 & #72). The Titans blitz the outside corner from the boundary, who comes late, so the running back decides to go out into his route instead of picking him up. He doesn’t pick him up because the corner was not counted in the protection.
The titans play cover 2, but rotate in a unique way. The nickel corner, who is aligned over the #2 receiver pre-snap drops back and plays a deep half to the field. and the initial field safety rotates to play the other deep half of the field to the boundary. The disguise in coverage forces the quarterback Baker Mayfield to hold the ball, allowing the titans to get the sack and the stop on third down.
The second example is from 2017 with Pees’ Ravens against the Green Bay Packers. ravens show a clear as day Cover 1 look pre-snap. They have one deep safety, with their corners pressed and aligned over each detached receiver. the Ravens also show an overload pressure look to the bottom of the screen.
After the ball is snapped, the Ravens drop out into a Cover 2 look. The nickel, who is initially playing over the #2 receiver to the top of the screen, turns and runs to play a deep half. Expecting pressure, the packers are only able to get 3 receivers into the route, with the Ravens dropping 6 defenders into coverage. From the tight shot, the ravens get an unblocked rusher, safety Eric Weddle, to pressure the quarterback.
The subtle disguises of Dean Pees are why his defenses are always among the best in the league and keep offensive coaches up late at night. While quite a few other teams run 2 deep sim pressures, such as the Houston Texans, Pees has been doing it effectively for years.
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