Playbooks

Franchise Playsheet

The Manifesto

PlaysheetDefense

2Formations

3Sets

24Plays

Overview

The Manifesto is a 24 play situational playsheet built for one thing: playing the pass with six defensive backs on the field almost every snap. Dime carries 15 plays (63%) across two sets, and Nickel adds the other 9 (38%) from a single set. There is no base 4-3, no 3-4, no goal line and no dollar package to fall back on. Every call you make comes out of Big Dime 4-1-6, Dime 4-1-6 or Nickel 2-4-5, which means you are choosing a coverage first and a front second on essentially every down.

The concept list tells you exactly how the book wants to win. Cover 1, Man Coverage, Double Wr1 and Cover 0 give you the press man family, Cover 3, Cover 9 and Zone Coverage give you the deep shell you rotate to when you need to keep everything in front, and Blitz, Edge Blitz, Zero Blitz, LB Blitz and Simulated Pressure cover the entire pressure spectrum from four man sim pressure to true zero heat. With a single linebacker in both Dime personnel groups, the LB Blitz and Simulated Pressure calls are the honest answer for adding a rusher without gutting your coverage, and Zero Blitz is your obvious third and long trigger. Sample calls like 1 Double TE out of Dime and 1 Double Slot out of Nickel show the bracket and match tools that let you take away a single receiver instead of playing generic coverage.

You pick The Manifesto if you want a tight, memorized 24 play sheet instead of a sprawling book you never fully learn. Three sets total is small enough to master every blitz path, every user lane and every hot route adjustment, and the 63/38 Dime to Nickel split means your pre snap picture barely changes from call to call, which is exactly what you want when you are hiding man versus zone. What you give up is the ability to line up and stop a downhill run game with base personnel. This is a nickel and dime coordinator's sheet, not an every situation book.

Scheme Fit

The Manifesto wants a secondary first roster: at least five and ideally six coverage capable defensive backs with press, man coverage and zone coverage ratings that hold up without help, plus a single high safety with the speed and play recognition to be your user defender every snap. The Nickel 2-4-5 set rewards fast, high pursuit linebackers with block shedding, and both Dime 4-1-6 sets need a pair of edge rushers who can win one on one since the pressure concepts here send from depth rather than overload the front. Pick it if you are a user controlled man coverage player who enjoys a small, fully memorized sheet and pass heavy situational football, and skip it if you need a base defense to stop the run with structure instead of manual subs and line shifts.

Playsheet bonuses

IUnlocks the playsheet
II+5Man Coverage, Play Recall LB
III+5Man Coverage, Play RecFS & SS
IV+7Man Coverage, Pressall CBs

Every play in this playsheet (24 plays)

Dime 2-3-69 plays

Dime Rush6 plays

Nickel 2-49 plays

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Strengths

Two Dime sets covering 15 of 24 plays let you build an audible package where Cover 1, Cover 3 and Zero Blitz all show the same six defensive back shell, so opponents cannot read coverage off personnel the way they can against a book that swaps between 4-3 and Dime.
Nickel 2-4-5 as the lone Nickel set is a real front asset: four linebackers on the field gives you legitimate Edge Blitz and LB Blitz looks with disguised drop options, and you can shift the line and pinch or spread the edges without tipping which two of the four are actually coming.
Double Wr1 concepts (see 1 Double TE and 1 Double Slot) let you erase an opponent's single best route runner from Dime or Nickel, then user the remaining deep help yourself, which a pure zone heavy playsheet simply cannot offer.
Simulated Pressure paired with one linebacker Dime 4-1-6 and Big Dime 4-1-6 personnel means you can send five and still play a five under shell, the cleanest answer to quick game and RPO reads without committing to Cover 0.
Only three sets to learn makes the whole 24 play sheet memorizable, so you can install every rusher's path and every coverage hot route (flat drop, purple curl to flat, blitz a corner) and call from muscle memory late in a game.

Weaknesses

Six defensive backs on 63% of the sheet means no base or heavy personnel anywhere, so a committed inside run game, power out of 21 personnel or a QB power read will grind yards against your light box all game.
Both Dime groups are 4-1-6 with a single linebacker, which leaves the middle of the field structurally soft against play action crossers, TE seams and any dig or divide route that attacks the one hook defender.
Three sets across two formations gives an opponent very little to scout, and once they see Dime and Nickel 2-4-5 on repeat they can motion into unbalanced or trips looks knowing your only real answer is a shift or a manual sub rather than a new formation.
Heavy Cover 0 and Zero Blitz representation is a coin flip on max protect or a slide protect plus checkdown, and with no blitz beating fallback formation you are relying on user press wins rather than structure.
With Nickel at just 9 plays from one set, your short yardage and red zone answers are thin, and goal line fades or outside runs from condensed formations will force you to play situational football out of a pass first shell.

Usage Tips

Build your audible package around the two Dime 4-1-6 and Big Dime 4-1-6 sets, with Nickel 2-4-5 as the lone alternate look, and set your audibles so Cover 1, Cover 3 and a Zero Blitz sit next to each other from the same alignment.

Live in Dime on second and long and third and 5 plus, where the 15 play Dime block gives you the full Cover 1, Cover 9 and Man Coverage menu plus Zero Blitz when you need a kill shot.

Use Nickel 2-4-5 on early downs and second and medium, because the four linebacker front is the closest thing this playsheet has to run support while still keeping five in the secondary for Edge Blitz and LB Blitz calls.

Call the Double Wr1 concepts (1 Double TE, 1 Double Slot) on third down against a clear number one target, then user the free safety or the single linebacker's hook window rather than playing the bracketed side yourself.

Lean on Simulated Pressure instead of Zero Blitz against quick throwing offenses, and mix in pre snap line shifts, press and a flat hot route on the extra defensive back to keep the same Dime shell from being read as man every time.

When an opponent commits to heavy run personnel, manually sub a bigger body into the Dime slot spots and pinch the line, because this playsheet has no base formation to check into.