Bring Pressure To The Protection Back
Spread offenses are pretty toothless if they cannot generate a passing game. This is why good defensive coordinators spend a lot of time breaking down a spread offense’s protections. One of the first things you want to get a bead on is which way is the center turning. That can help you scheme up a lot of things. The one we want to focus on today is bringing pressure to the protection back.
When you understand that the center is almost always working away from the protection back, you are in business. This gives you a green light to install a BTF (Blitz To Formation). BTF’s can get complicated if you try to get the perfect pressure to every formation. We don’t recommend that for high school or youth coaches.
Related: Solve Linebacker Conflict of Assignment Problems
However, what we are proposing today is that your defense makes the BTF based on where the protection back lines up. Once you know the center is working away from the back the rest is simple. If you call an over front to the back, you are going to get several advantages. First, the center is going to be sliding away from your pressure. He will be working to double the A gap defensive lineman with the guard.
When this happens you know that the pressure side guard and tackle are going to fan for the defensive tackle and end to that side. What does this leave you? Unless the guard squeezes down, you have a linebacker one on one vs the back in the A gap. This pressure to the protection back is a sack waiting to happen.
Even if it does not result in a sack, their quarterback has a lot of noise happening right in their face. Bat downs and tipped passes for an interception are good things too. So take a quick look at this short video, as we show you how to take two called pressures and combine them. This pressure to the protection back is easier to dial up than you might think.