Attacking Vertical Set Pass Protection

Vertical Set Pass Protection (VSPP) is a pass protection scheme that has really taken hold in the spread community.  Defenses were turned on their ear's a few years back when the spread exploded on the scene, and to combat this, the defenses have put speed on the field in places speed has never been!  Most notable at defensive end (DE).  The DE, in pass defense, is every bit as important as any defensive back you have.  The DE can make or break any pass offense, and in some cases, depending on the player, can even take over the game!  One way offenses have dealt with the DE is by putting him in conflict with his reads and reactions (for more on this conflict go here on Coach Hoover's site) to slow this defender down in his quest for the quarterback (QB).  The poor offensive tackle (OT) who's job it is to deter this DE from attacking the QB is at a disadvantage due to lack of athleticism, and the fact the OT has to block this defender in the one thing offensive linemen (OL) hate...space!  Introduce the concept of VSPP! 

To the untrained eye, VSPP doesn't look all that much different from traditional pass protection, however upon a closer look you will see the subtle differences.  In VSPP, the OL will retreat in a backpedal-style fashion, similar to the technique of a defensive back.  The goal here is to lose as much ground, while staying square before making contact with the defender.  All five OL, want to stay on the same vertical plane if possible.  Most coaches teach an "inside-out" step system where the OL will step back first with their inside foot, followed by the outside foot.  Most would look at this and think "uhh...bullrush...duh", but we're not finished yet, so be patient.  Once the OL is at the depth their coach requires (I've heard 5 steps from some coaches and 4 steps from others, so I'm leaving that ambiguous), they take what some call a post step, or "anchor" technique.  This is achieved by the OL dropping their butts and getting back in to your standard "flat back" pass protection posture.  The largest benefit, by far, of VSPP, is the one most coaches miss, the lack of leverage by the defensive linemen (DL) once they reach the point of attack (POA).  A DL in his crouched stance, can stay low and explosive when attacking traditional on the line of scrimmage (LOS) pass protection, however when their target retreats, the tendency is for the DL to run more upright, thereby losing all of their leverage and their "oomph" they had when coming off the LOS.  So in effect, the offense has taken the explosiveness out of the DL by moving their target further away from them.  The other benefit to VSPP, is the fact that stunts, and twists are relatively negated because the OL has time to see all of this happening in front of them as they retreat.  The obvious goals of VSPP are to keep the OL on the same vertical plane, and eliminate gap openings by the OL turning their shoulders.  Now, let's see what some of the experts have done to combat this new pass protection scheme.

One of the first people I talked to was on the Huey board (if you don't have an account, go here, and get one, you really are missing out if you don't have an account) was coachbdud (for more info. check out his blog here).  He had some insight to VSPP as that is what he taught his OL.  He's a firm believer in the scheme, but he did mention a few weaknesses and these are (and I quote):

• Personnel: Take out your big run stuffers (unless they are also your best rushers), 300 lb kids just never make it to our OL and eventually stop rushing at all.
• RB in protection: most are 6 man protection teams, RB has to fit in somewhere, you need to find out who he is responsible for in protection and attack him, he should be a weaker blocker than the 5 OL.
• Get offs: Work your DL getting upfield all week, first thing is you have to get to us before you can defeat us. You can work get offs with you as the coach in front of them backpedaling and they have to beat you to a certain point, get them chasing up the field.
• Stunts: When you work stunts/twists, practice them 4 yards or so up the field, most twist at the LOS and that's perfect for us because we can see it and sort it out. Get upfield first, then twist.



No, not this type of twist...



My take from talking to coachbdud is, work your DL getting off the ball and getting upfield.  He did offer some more tips and these are:

• Some kids have a problem vertical setting then dropping anchor, if they have a kid like this put your best guy on him and have him race to him and bull rush.
• I think the most important thing to consider is that vertical sets end up being the same as in other protection in terms of assignment and technique once engaged, the only thing that is different is we try to establish a new LOS 4-5 yards deep into backfield. Do what you might normally do against a man pass pro, only now do it 4-5 yards deep. You have to mirror their retreat by getting upfield.

Were we talking about  mirroring something?

This is great advice, and from what I would call the "horses mouth"!  coachbdud is a very vocal advocate of VSPP on the Huey board, and rightly so, that's what he teaches his OL to do.  Very good stuff!

Now let's look at attacking VSPP through the eyes of a defensive coach.  I had talked with currier58 on the Huey board as well, as he had posted some very good looking video (that I will share) on his defense attacking VSPP.  I basically have him an interview over the Internet, and here is a transcript of what we discussed:

1)      Do you teach the DL any differently during game week when facing VSPP, or do you just remind them of the type of protection you are facing and go from there?

We do not completely change our approach vs a vertical set pass pro. We do emphasize how deep the OL will get in the backfield throughout our individual time. One drill that I think helped us was to have guys match up 1 on 1 with some space in between them. The DL reacts to a ball being snapped and the OL backpedals as fast as he can. The DL has to try to tag the OL as quickly as possible. This drill helps guys get the feel of closing the distance before they ever think about using a move.

2) What technique, if any, changes for the DL vs. VSPP?

We didn’t try to change our technique, but we did spend more practice time on the Pull-Slide Progression and IN-Out moves. The pull slide is a technique I got from Pete Jenkins (see video below) This pass rush technique is very effective vs vertical setters because they are taught to always try to keep their shoulders square to the LOS.

The In-Out moves are effective whenever the Tackles are man-to-man on the DEs. Most OL coaches pound it into their player’s heads not to get beat inside. It is especially important for vertical setters to attack inside moves because of the angle to the QB the rusher will have.

One of the biggest weaknesses to look for in vertical setting OL is dipping their head when taking on a bull rush or inside counter. When players do this, they are especially susceptible to In-Out moves.

  
3) What stunts do you use to attack VSPP, and why?

We did not change what stunts we ran against VSPP, but it is important to get the DL to understand that they need to penetrate the OL with their stunts. It doesn’t do any good to run stunts against VSPP if everything is happening in front of the OL.

My favorite stunt against VSPP is a 3 man twist. If we are running this stunt on the right side: the RDE gets vertical then counters into B gap, the R-DT attacks the Center as he would on a NT stunt and finishes on the opposite side of the center, the L-DT holds the guard on his side up for a second and then loops out to C gap on the right side. This stunt gives the OL the illusion of an inside twist, which will force the guard on the right side to set inside to stop penetration and pick up the looping DT. This opens up the B gap window for the countering DE.

Another thing we did was stand up our best pass rusher, and move him to the best matchup we found through film-study. In the clip (see video below) we wanted to attack their left guard. We went with a 3-4 look and had #54 1-on-1 pass rush their weakest link.

4) What blitzes do you use to attack VSPP, and why?

In both of the 3-4 blitzes we ran, we tried to get a penetrator and then a guy looping in behind. We tried to do this to get the OL to commit to the penetrator and then get the looper through the crease created when the O-lineman turns his shoulders. This concept was the most successful when we used the Nose as the penetrator. This made the center attack him on the LOS, which allowed us to get the Center/Guards on different levels. I have diagrammed both of those looks below.

Here is video of what currier58 is explaining in the interview above:

Very noteworthy information for all you defensive line coaches out there.  To recap, basically, get your DL upfield.  Work any stunts you want, but work them only after you have made contact with the OL.  Prepare your DL for this new pass pro by having them work their stunts upfield and work on getting off the football.  This is still the game of football, and VSPP is no "magic bullet", find matchups and exploit them, look for bad technique and attack it.  Now, after talking with numerous other coaches and reading some publications on the subject, here's my take on things (oh boy, here we go).



Ok, so maybe these guys did have magic bullets!




My Take on Attacking VSPP

I'll give you my take on it, and most will probably think I'm nuts.  Obviously this depends totally on game plan, what type of team you are facing, etc.  For this article, we will talk about a team that is an obvious "pass first" team, and the threat of the run has been reduced to a myriad of screens and simple draws.  My take is to fight fire with fire.  I'm going to drop 8 and 9 defenders and force that QB to throw the ball in tight windows and be super accurate.  I might even play a 3 deep man under concept as well.  Again, I'm simply brainstorming here, but to me, pressure is going to come from me in a different element...mental, not physical.  Most high school QB's are used to getting the ball out of their hands pretty quickly.  The longer you make them hold it, the more nervous they get, so I would work the coverage end of the defense first.  My base pass rush scheme would involve a 3 man rush, and probably using dime personnel, however it doesn't matter as long as the back 8 can play the pass.  You can easily switch up which three are coming or can simply rush the 3 that are on the LOS, the possibilities are endless.  I think there are some important factors to keep in mind here though, and these are:

1. Contain- No matter what you do, make sure you have defenders assigned to contain the QB.  Some youngsters when flustered will scramble or roll out.  No need to make your defense cover for a long time only to give up a big play because somebody left coverage, or all eyes weren't on the QB and he scrambles for a big gain.  Best way to do this, in my opinion, rush and work your pass rush from the outside-in.  Collapse whatever pocket they have from the outside-in, using whatever methods you so choose, but be sure to squeeze and constrict those inside running lanes all the while maintaining an outside arm free policy with contain rushers.
2. Spy a good running QB- You can do this rushing two, three, or four defenders, just have a way to dedicate which one is to spy for the QB.  This defender should mirror the QB's actions, as well as being in the QB's vision at all times.  This defender should always maintain inside leverage on the QB's position on the field, as the contain players will always maintain outside leverage.  This defender should be one of your better open field tacklers.  I've done this with DE's, linebackers (LB's) and even have used extra safeties to play this spy position.  No matter, this cat needs to be fairly athletic to be able to play the "spy" position.
3. Mix things up- Every good DC knows this, but don't just constantly drop 7, 8, or 9 defenders, get after it and mix things up.  Use the blitzes/stunts shown on here and then bluff and drop off 8 guys in coverage.  Use a 3 man stunt, and drop 8 in coverage.  The key here is not just attacking the pass protection, but attacking the entire scheme.  This can be attacking the QB's thought process, route disruption, as well as attacking the pass protection.

Most DC's when they think of pressuring the passing game, they simply dial up blitzes and stunts, but I think you need to get inside the QB's head.  Do it with blitzes, both zone and man (if possible) as well as bluffs.  Both the OL and the QB will suffer from mixing things up, especially if you bring 6 one down, then drop 9!  These sorts of "change-ups" will keep the offense off balance, and not allow them to gain rhythm in their attack. 




Mix it up!


I hope this was informative, and by all means, check out coachbdud's blog, or get in touch with him on the Huey board.  The same goes for currier58, these guys have a wealth of knowledge and are eager to help, hit em' up and see what you can find out.

Ok, I PROMISE, next post is my Scream and Splatter stuff!!!!

Duece

The 4-2-5 vs. Flexbone

The one topic not talked about much is the 4-2 and the way it defends the flexbone.  I have some insight into the way TCU does it, and some insight in to the way I did it this past season and at other places I've been.  I want to share with you these methods, as it appears good ol' option football isn't going anywhere for a while!

TCU
What I can gather from my research on TCU, is that they will remain in a 2 high look vs. flexbone teams, which purely makes sense, due to the fact that the offense presents 4 vertical threats out of the basic double slot formation.  Georgia Tech. has shown the ability to have a very prolific passing game from their flexbone, so I do agree with Patterson's philosophy on keeping an even shell coverage.  Let's see how they defend it and then move on to the way I would suggest you defend the offense at the high school level.

TCU, simply put, kicks the front to mirror the famous Over front of the Miami 4-3.  The linebackers (LB's) will slide opposite of the read side (which is exactly what Patterson teaches vs. your standard 2x2 sets, you can go here to see more about how TCU handles 2x2 formations) giving them the traditional look of the Over front.  This allows them to keep 7 in the box, while having a 2 high shell with safety support behind it.  The free safety (FS) still aligns inside of the #2 receiver and plays traditional robber coverage (what TCU calls cover 2).  The kicker here is the alignment of the FS, it allows him, on motion, to attack both sides of the offense, being what I call the "plus one" player.  On motion by the slots, which simply turns a 2x2 set, to a 2x1 set, the FS will change the read side on the move.  This is very important, as it allows you to have 2 players on the option QB,  a MUST when playing against this type of option offense.

The read side is exactly the way it would be vs. a standard 2x2 set.  To the read side, against your typical inside veer (ISV) play,  the SS is the curl/flat/swing deep of 3 player, and will take pitch on option, as he's the force player.  The FS will rob the #2 receiver, and will play quarterback (QB) to pitch.  The read side LB, will play dive to inside 1/2 of QB, with the defensive end acting on his block down, step down (BDSD) rules.  No big deal here right?  Right!  The other thing Patterson will do with the front is he will keep a 3 technique to the field most of the time.  The B gap lineman makes life a little more difficult on triple option teams.  Patterson will also play slant games with the line based on field and bench tendencies (which I will not go in to for this post). 



2 Blue vs. Flexbone



The away side is in Blue coverage.  Now, Patterson can also play a coverage he calls "25" (said two five) where the read side plays robber (their cover 2) and the away side plays 5 (squat 1/2's, corner force).  Most of the time, they are going to play 2 blue, to keep safety force.  Anyhow, the weak safety (WS) will align 10-12 off #2 and will play his normal blue reads of 2 (to see these reads go here).  The WS is the force player to the away side and will play the pitch.  The away side LB is playing outside 1/2 of QB to pitch, and the read side LB, on option flow to the away side, will play dive to inside 1/2 of QB (if this sounds familiar I already went over how the 4-3 defends the option here).  That's basically it! 



ISV Strong



ISV to the away side does not change much, the away side LB will take outside 1/2 of QB to pitch, the read side LB will go dive to inside 1/2 of QB, and the WS rolls down to take the pitch.  The FS then rotates over and will execute his robber technique to the "new" read side, which changed because of the motion by the slot.  The FS will play outside 1/2 of QB to pitch.  The SS will slow play the cutback and look for counter iso, GT counter or counter option coming back his way.


ISV Weak

 All of this information is great, but to be honest, how useful is it to convert to high school football?  Some of the college schemes adapt very well to high school, and some do not.  With that being said, I want to share with you another method of defending the flexbone offense from the 4-2-5.  Please, I'm not knocking TCU, by all means, their success speaks for itself, I just wanted to post something I did last season that had good success against the flexbone.
Background
Several years back, we used to play a wishbone team that ran the triple option, and they ran it good.  We were a 4-3 team, running Quarters coverage back then, and they used to get the best of us for some reason.   Sadly, they didn't usually have better athletes than us, for some reason we struggled at making their QB indecisive (which is key when facing good triple option QB's).  My defensive coordinator (DC) at the time, kept begging me to get into a 4-4 look and play robber coverage.  Well, I was against, but after getting tagged 2 years in a row by the same team, I felt we needed a change.  His front, moved the Sam and Mike in the 4-3 to 30 techniques over the guards.  The Will LB moved to 3x3 outside the weak slot, and the SS did the exact same.  The FS would play over the center of the formation, and would rotate based on action (he keyed the QB).  The corners were essentially in man coverage, except if the #1 receiver went inside.  Again, we were not facing flexbone, but wishbone.  Anyhow, our base reads for the ISV were that the DE took the dive, the ILB would take dive to inside 1/2 of QB, and the outside linebackers (OLB's) would take pitch, while the FS filled the alley and played the outside 1/2 of the QB.  The first way we switched things up, was to send the ILB straight to the dive, almost like an auto blitz.  The DE sat for the QB and the OLB took the pitch.  The second adjustment we made, was to send the DE directly up field for the pitch, the ILB still had the dive, and the OLB slammed down the line of scrimmage (LOS) for the QB.

In the game we played against them, we ran the first set of reads (our base reads) for the first quarter.  We did very well however we did give up 1 big run by the QB that had them up by 6.  In the second quarter, we switched to the second set of reads, and all hell broke loose!  We force 2 turnovers on back to back possessions, and scored off both of them to take a 14-6 halftime lead!  In the second half, we switched to the third set of reads, and blew their minds, we force 2 more turnovers and scored of both of those to lead 28-6!  We ended up winning the game by the final of 42-6 and they had less than 150 yards of total offense.  After that night, I swore I would always give my defense at least 2 sets of reads to defend the triple option.


8 Man Front Defends the Option
So, how did I do this past season, facing 2 flexbone teams out of the 4-2-5?  Well, here's what we did!  For the most part, we set the front to the field, putting the 3 technique to the field, making ISV somewhat tougher to run.  We utilized our "Ted" stunts along the line (for more about these stunts go here) to help discourage midline and QB follow.  The LB's aligned the same as we had before, both in 30 techniques over the guards (I treat the Flexbone as a 2 back offense, because of the motion so I do not slide my LB's).  The two outisde safeties (which are named Spur and Whip) aligned 3x3 off the near slot.  We put our FS over the center 10 yards off the ball.  The corners played 8x2-4 yards INSIDE the #1 receiver and were deep 1/2 players.  That was our basic alignment to the offense.




"3 Robber"


The Base Reads
The base reads did not change for our front.  The DE's would still execute the "Ted" reads and play the dive on ISV.  The LB's would play dive to inside 1/2 of QB.  The outside safeties (OSS's) would slow play the pitch.  It's very important that these players do not over commit to the pitch too early, as it will not allow enough time for the FS to get his reads.  The FS, would key motion, and then slide over to inside leverage on the #2 receiver on the side that motion was GOING to.  The reasoning for this, is that once this offense motions, it's basically a pro set.  I know many critics will argue, but it is going to be very difficult for the slot that motioned to run down the seam, after he's motioned into the backfield (I've never seen it).  So, we were basically back to a 4-4 robber concept.  The FS keyed the #2 receiver and if he blocked down inside, he filled the alley and played outside 1/2 of QB to pitch.  The safety away from the action was critical in defending the counter game employed by most flexbone teams in our area (GT counter and counter iso).  He was to stack the DE to this side and look for boot/reverse/cutback (counter is included in his cutback reads).  The crux of the defense is the FS's ability to get to either side of the offense, to allow your defense to be "plus one" against the triple option.

Vs. Inside Veer

The reasoning behind the coverage is simple, I liked the ability to switch up our front 8's responsibilities (which you will see later) and still have a middle of the field safety (MOF) that play the QB or pitch to either side of the formation.  I also have not seen a high school flexbone team that could pass their way out of a wet paper bag, so the 4 vertical threat did not concern me.  For those that it does, by all means, play 2 Blue, and have a great day, as it's a VERY sound method of playing the flexbone.  However, if you look, 4 verticals out of the flexbone, is a slight misnomer, in that the 2 inside vertical threats are so close to the FS.  Even if they work to the hash, they can be collisioned enough by the OSS's and LB's that their routes are altered.  Most of the time this rerouting allows time for your pass rush to pressure an offensive line not used to pass blocking.  All of these things add up to wins for the defense. 

We call our coverage "3 Robber" as that is exactly what it is.  In my defense, any coverage tagged with a number is a 1-high safety coverage, that is NOT split field.  The reason we double name the coverage is that if the offense does not motion, then we play standard cover 3 (what some would call "country cover 3") which is basically all you need to defend the flexbone.  If the offense motions, then we simply slide the FS over to the side motion is going to, and play robber coverage.  My robber coverage is an automatic "sky" structure on the away side of the coverage.  Since I called the coverage by number, both OSS's know they are in "low" (inverted) alignments.  I will play the OSS's anywhere from 5x5 to 3x3 (the latter being more common) off the near slot.  I do this differently than TCU for 2 major reasons.  First, our run fits are consistent, no matter what, both OSS's are "fitting" identical to the other.  During game week you are not going to have much time to work two different fits (even though they are similar), so these cuts down on some learning, AND this scheme means you can plug any OSS in at either position.  Secondly, it is easier to play the "switch" game with option assignments from this look than from the way TCU does it.

3 Robber pass reads vs. motion



3 Robber vs. 4 Verticals

 Switching Assignments
When facing good option teams, it is critical that the defense be able to switch their assignments to keep the offense on it's toes.  So introduce my three stunts against this offense, Switch, Sift, and Slice.  Each of these three change which defender takes what assignment against the triple option.  Now a word of caution, I have these in my arsenal, however I usually go into a game with a base way of defending the triple option, and one major chageup is all.  Three are a bit much for high school kids, however I have gotten away with playing with two extra stunts in some cases.  Let's take a closer look at these!

Switch
Switch is exactly as the name implies, two defenders are "switching" assignments.  In my defense it is the FS, and the OSS to the side the ball is being run to.  All the other defenders react in the same manner, however the OSS to the side the ball is being run, will come down inside and play outside 1/2 of QB to pitch.  The FS will overlap the OSS and rally to the pitch.  This is a good stunt to run if your FS is having trouble getting to his normal assignment, or getting "cloudy" reads from the slot that is load blocking down inside.  The OSS is taught "quick to the line of scrimmage (LOS), then settle and feather".  This gives the QB the illusion of some sort of outside blitz, but allows the OSS to maintain leverage on both the QB and the pitch. 

Switch

Sift
Sift is a stunt that I commonly used against read option teams (to see how I run it vs. spread run teams, go here) with excellent success.  Against the triple option, this involves the LB and the DE to the side the ball is being run.  The DE, will mash the offensive tackle (OT) down inside on a veer release, however he will "squat" on the LOS once the OT is at his inside hip and play up field for the QB.  The LB to the side of action will come hard down off the hip of the offensive guard (OG) and play the dive.  The FS and OSS to the run action side will execute their base assignments vs. the triple option.  This has been good to me against teams that like to run the point mesh method, or "no mesh, mesh" method of reading the triple option (for more information on this technique read these posts, or go here).  This creates a "cloudy" read for the QB, which usually results in a pull read, leaving the QB running right into the hands of the DE. 

Sift

Slice
Slice is an aggressive stunt that is extremely effective against option teams that either do not pitch the ball much, or are not adept in the pitch phase of the triple option.  This stunt involves the DE to the side the ball is being run, blowing up field after jamming the OT.  The DE will disrupt the pitch after a quick shiver is applied to the OT.  The LB to the action side, will still slam down off the hip of the OG to his side, just as he did in the "Sift" stunt.  The OSS, however, will come screaming down the LOS in order to force a hard and quick pitch by the unsuspecting QB.  The FS will overlap this stunt, and will take pitch all the way. 



Slice

Now, I usually take two of these into a game with me on game week.  Three, in my opinion, is too much for the high schooler to memorize in 1 week.  I have even done this with just 1 stunt in my game plan.  No matter, you need to be able to have a way to "switch up" the reads or an option team will eventually pick at your perimeter run support and find a way to outflank you.




Looks like 1 too many stunts...


Let's Review
Whichever way you choose to play this offense, the key player is the "plus one" player.  The defense must always have a sound way for getting the extra defender across the midline of the formation to help in playing the option.  This is done in robber coverage with the FS.  He has to be able to react to motion, and move to the new read side and play the QB.  If you do not have 2 players on the QB, you will not have success against this offense.  I hope this helps, and keep checking back here for more.  Please, keep hitting me up on the emails and comments, let me know what you need and I'll keep digging to find it.




"We're gonna keep digging..."


Duece

Psyche!

Ok, so I got bored and decided to post BEFORE Memorial Day.  Actually...I ran outta beer!  Enjoy!

Also, special thanks to those men and women who have served and are serving our country.  Thanks for making this the best place on Earth to live and live free!

Go USA!

Duece