Ride the Lightning: Preseason Week 3

    

Before we get started, I wanted to give a brief explanation about the origin of this article. Recently, I had been tossing around the idea of a semi-regular article series breaking down some aspect of each week's defensive performance. I had also been wanting to explore a blitz that the Packers called against the Bills during the final preseason game. A few days ago, these concepts coalesced into what you see before you. With the "Ride the Lightning" series, I'm planning to take a look at the different blitzes that the Packers run throughout the season. Ideally, I'd like to do this almost every week, but that may depend on what blitzes the Packers run each week, how interesting those playcalls are, and how much time I have between college and work.

    As for the name? That came to me almost immediately after I had the idea for the article series. "Blitz" is German for "lightning," and as an avid Metallica fan, the association with their fantastic album "Ride the Lightning" quickly followed. It's also a very cool name for an article series.

    Now that we've covered the idea behind this article, let's take a look at the blitz called by Joe Barry during the fourth quarter of the Packers' preseason matchup against the Bills. The pressure call ended up in a sack split between Isaiah McDuffie and Delontae Scott, but the call's success may have been due just as much to the offense's pass protection as to the individual performance of any specific defensive player.

    First, let's set the stage a little bit. The Packers are lined up in a very obvious Cover 1 look out of Nickel personnel. Innis Gaines is in the deep middle of the field, and the rest of the defensive backs are lined up in man coverage looks on the receiving threats. The Bills are in a 3x1 formation with the QB in shotgun.

    This next shot is the picture as the ball is snapped. The edge rushers are occupying extremely wide alignments (one is so wide that he ends up out of the frame). One DL is a 2i technique on the inside shoulder of the left guard, and the other is lined up as a 3-technique on the outside shoulder of the right guard. Isaiah McDuffie is creeping up towards the weakside B gap.

    As these screenshots show, the Packers are in a very obvious blitz look; with the Cover 1 alignment, one of the inside linebackers will be left without a man coverage responsibility. Unless he drops into a zone as a Rat player, he is most likely going to be bringing pressure. So, if the coming blitz is so apparent, why does it succeed? 

Part 1: The Protection

    The first key to the blitz's success is the pass protection movement of the offensive line. The line is in "half-slide" protection on this particular snap, which involves one side of the offensive line sliding outward while the other side stays in man protection. In this instance, the 4 OL on the right are in the slide, and the LT is in man protection against Delontae Scott. Usually, the goal is for the OL to slide towards the pressure. However, on this snap the offensive line executes the slide the opposite way, leaving a huge hole open to the B-gap blitz. It's hard to say whether Jake Fromm changed the protection call to a strongside slide at the line, or if the slide was part of the play-call provided by the offensive staff. Regardless, the result is a disaster for the offense.

    Adding on to the offense's protection woes, the RB appears to completely botch his pass protection assignment. In half-slide protection, the back is usually tasked with assisting the man-protection side of the OL - in this case, the offense's left. The pass-protecting back is often given a "Dual" read (also called a "2-read"). He has to watch two possible blitz threats (these are generally identified by the quarterback), read where pressure is coming from, and come up to engage with the blitzer. If both threats come, the back has to choose the most dangerous - usually the one closest to the center, since an interior threat has a shorter path to the QB - and block him.

    Instead of reading the possible blitz threat from McDuffie, the RB immediately jumps outside to chip Delontae Scott, who is coming off the edge. You can see the exact moment he realizes his mistake and tries to redirect back inside. He's too late to get to McDuffie, who has a clear path to the QB.

    

Part 2: The Blitz

    The blitz design executed by the defense here is interesting. It appears to be a 5-man pressure designed to attack the backside B-gap, but turns into a 6-man pressure as Ray Wilborn (57) brings a delayed blitz (more on that in a moment). The interior defensive lineman are running a NUT (nose-tackle) stunt; the 2i technique slams inside, attacking the center and drawing the left guard back inside as well, while the 3-tech attempts to loop around to the B gap. Both edge players take rush lanes along the outside shoulders of the tackles.  

    As the defensive linemen stunt, McDuffie blitzes right through the middle of the B gap with Wilborn a few steps behind. I believe the blitz from Wilborn is an example of a "green dog" blitz, a specific type of pressure which involves a linebacker in man coverage on a running back converting to a blitzer if he sees the RB stay in to pass protect. If you watch Wilborn's eyes as he starts to accelerate, you can see him glance at the back to verify that he isn't moving out on a route. Once he sees that the RB is in pass protection, he attacks the B gap right behind McDuffie.

Part 3: The Result

    The combination of the offensive line's slide, the defensive line's stunt, and Delontae Scott's outside bull-rush leaves the B gap wide open for the blitzing linebackers. Even if the running back had keyed the pressure correctly and stayed in the B gap to block McDuffie, Wilborn was crashing down hard on his heels.  With the Bills receivers covered, the QB has nowhere to go. He attempts to dodge Mcduffie, but isn't quick enough to escape the combined efforts of McDuffie and Scott.