Ride the Lightning: Week 3

    

    Hey everyone! My "Ride the Lightning" blitz-analysis series is back after a few weeks' hiatus. In the first article in the series, I took a look at a blitz the Packers ran in their exhibition match against the Buffalo Bills. Since then, the Packers have had a bit of an up-and-down start to the regular season. After getting curb-stomped by the New Orleans Saints in Week 1, they were able to bounce back with a win against the Lions in Week 2. Green Bay extended their nascent winning streak in Week 3 with a thrilling last-second victory against the San Francisco 49ers.

   

    An important key to the Packers' victory was their ability to get pressure on defense. The first few weeks were lackluster in this department, but against the 49ers Green Bay was finally able to get to the quarterback on a fairly regular basis, racking up 4 sacks and 11 QB hits. Although an excellent game from Kenny Clark, Preston Smith, and Rashan Gary was certainly a key factor to this jump in production, DC Joe Barry also had some success dialing up a number of blitzes and simulated pressure looks. We're going to take a look at one such defensive call here.

    The Situation

    Green Bay held a slim lead, 24 -21, as the game dipped under the 13 minute mark in the fourth quarter. After receiving the GB kickoff and advancing it to the SF 19, the 49ers absorbed a 0-yard sack from Preston Smith on 1st & 10. Now in 2nd & 10, the 49ers line up in 11p with Garoppolo in shotgun and the receivers in a 3x1 formation. The Packers counter by deploying their Nickel personnel. Jaire Alexander, Eric Stokes, and Chandon Sullivan are the CBs, while Darnell Savage and Adrian Amos man the safety positions. De'Vondre Campbell and Oren Burks are the ILBs, and Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry, Rashan Gary, and Preston Smith comprise the DL.

    

    The Coverage

    Any good pressure call starts with the back end of the defense. The Packers are clearly expecting a pass, and deploy their personnel accordingly. As mentioned, the 49ers are in a condensed 3x1 formation, with Mohamed Sanu Sr. (6), Deebo Samuel (19) and George Kittle (85) on the three-receiver side. Brandon Aiyuk (11) is lined up as the weakside receiver, and Trey Sermon (28) is in the backfield. Right before the snap, Sanu motions across the formation, essentially creating a 2x2 formation, then heads upfield on a Go route. Deebo runs a Curl, and Aiyuk runs a "Dover" route (similar to a deep Dig route). Kittle stays in to help pass-block, and Sermon chips Gary before moving out into the flat. 

   

    The Packers are running Whip Fire Zone, a versatile pressure call that has been in use for years, especially amongst the various branches of the Vic Fangio coaching tree. Whip FZ is an excellent way to isolate pass-rushers in advantageous situations while still maintaining coverage integrity in the secondary. The call usually involves sending the weakside ILB on a rush while dropping the opposite DE into coverage. We'll get into the details of the front mechanics in a little bit, but first we'll cover the assignments of the secondary and how these were executed. 

    

   Whip FZ coverage plays out very similarly to Cover 3 Match. The strong safety (Amos) is playing the middle 1/3 of the field. The two outside CBs are in match coverage against the outside (#1) receivers. Usually this means that each CB carries the receiver all over the field if he runs a route deep or out to the sideline, but are in deep 1/3 zones if the receiver runs a shallow inside route. The WRs run vertically here, so the CBs have to follow them wherever they go - for all intents and purposes, they are in man coverage. 

    

     The slot CB (Sullivan) and the weak safety (Savage, at least at first) play seam/flat on the #2 receivers (those just inside the #1s); they will take #2 on vertical or out-breaking routes. Normally, the weak safety would spin down closer to the line of scrimmage, but the #2 receiver stems vertically right away on this play. If the safety doesn't stay on the roof, then the receiver could run right past him. The dropping ILB (Campbell) and dropping edge rusher (Preston) are responsible for shallow inside routes across the formation.   

    

    The defense has to adjust presnap to Sanu's motion, and does so in an interesting way. We might expect them to bump Jaire out onto Sanu, since Sanu becomes the outside receiver once the motion is complete; instead, Savage walks over to the outside, keeping Jaire over Aiyuk. Essentially, Jaire becomes the weak safety and Savage ends up as the outside match player.

    So, how does the coverage work out? First, Savage backpedals, carrying Sanu deep on the Go route along the sideline. Jaire has his hips turned inside as he tracks Aiyuk's vertical stem, possibly anticipating the in-breaking route. Amos, coming over to help on Aiyuk, is getting ready to carry the route down the field. However, Amos does an excellent job flipping his hips to maintain leverage on the route once Aiyuk makes his break. Stokes maintains good coverage on the other outside receiver, staying under control to avoid overshooting the Curl. Underneath, Campbell, Smith, and Sullivan initially have no one to cover until Kittle comes out on a delayed flat route. 

    The coverage is well executed; no one is open until late in the play when the RB heads into the flat. Unfortunately for the 49ers, Jimmy Garoppolo comes under pressure and can't make it back to the flat throw. 

    

    I'm not sure why Savage bumped outside to match the Sanu motion instead of Jaire. It may be a byproduct of how the Packers wanted to handle their individual matchups. They may have felt more comfortable having Jaire against Aiyuk's skillset in this situation. Whatever the reasoning behind them, the coverage decisions made by the defense worked out favorably here.

    The Front

    As I mentioned, Whip FZ entails sending one of the ILBs on a rush - in this case, Oren Burks - and dropping one of the edge players into coverage. Doing this creates an overload on one side of the offensive line, while keeping 7 players in coverage. The ILB on the weak side (against 3x1) or on the side of the RB (against 2x2) will be the one rushing, while the opposite ILB and edge rusher will drop. Though Sanu's motion changes the pass coverage a bit, it does not change which linebacker is rushing, since the back stays in one place. 

    

    The edge rusher to the call (Gary) has to carry his rush along the outside of the tackle while keeping contain. Usually, the two DTs - in this case, Clark and Lowry - are tasked with pulling the protection away from the inside linebacker. The DT away from the call (Lowry) has to cross to the outside, replace the dropping edge player, and play contain. Often, the DT to the call (Clark) has to cross the center to attack the opposite A gap; ideally, he will draw the guard along with him, leaving the weak B gap open to the ILB. However, here it looks like Kenny decided to attack the RG instead. It's possible that Barry and the defensive coaching staff gave him some leeway on how to attack the protection. This isn't a big deal; Whip FZ is a flexible call. Depending on the situation and the offensive protection scheme, the DE, ILB, or DT to the call can each benefit from the overload. Burks reads Clark's path and adjusts, attacking the weak A gap. 

    The Packers have now gotten into a situation where Dean Lowry is attracting the attention of 3 blockers at once, including the 49ers' best offensive lineman in LT Trent Williams. This leaves one-on-ones for Clark, Burks, and Gary (once he gets past the RB chip).

    Each of the three weakside rushers end up finding success. Burks does a nice job using a stutter-step on the center then ripping through the block attempt. Clark hits the guard with a long-arm move, followed by a club-and-rip to get free. Once these two force Garoppolo off of his spot, Gary shows good awareness to avoid overrunning the play, disengaging from his blocker and working back to clean up the sack. Some credit is also due to Lowry, who is able to hold the edge and prevent Garoppolo from escaping to the left.

    Following the sack, the Packers were in a good position to get off the field. Unfortunately, a ridiculously soft DPI called against Stokes on 3rd & 14 would end up extending the drive and leading to a 49ers touchdown.

    Although Barry called a number of blitzes and simulated pressure looks against San Francisco, this might be my favorite. Getting three one-on-ones on the right side of the line while forcing the offense to essentially waste two blockers on the other side is a recipe for success, especially when the second- and third-level defenders can cover as well as they did. Whip FZ can be a very effective pressure call, and I think it's a good bet that we will see Barry utilize it in future games. Brandon Staley, Barry's former employer, used it on multiple occasions with the Rams last year.

    Note: I owe much of the info that I conveyed about the Whip Fire Zone concept and its applications to Coach Chris Vasseur and his outstanding video breakdown. You can watch it here. I HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you're interested in defensive schemes. Coach Vass is one of the best defensive teachers out there, no matter what level of football knowledge that you're operating at.