Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 17 playbooks
Breakdown
Saw Blitz 1 is a Cover 1 man blitz out of the Penny 3-3-5 Big Nickel 5-1-5 personnel. Five defenders show up on the line with hard downhill blitz angles converging toward the interior gaps, while the deep safety rotates to a single high shell with man coverage locked underneath across the outside receivers and slot defenders. This is a defensive pressure package designed to overload the box and force a hot throw or sack before the quarterback can climb the pocket, so the primary read is identifying the interior gap the blitz is attacking and using your user defender to spy or rob the shallow crossing route while the deep safety erases any go ball over the top.
Defensive Reads
Presnap, look at the running back alignment and protection numbers, if the offense only has five blockers this blitz wins immediately against any six or seven man route concept. Watch the deep safety depth at the snap, if he is sprinting to the opposite hash from a true single high alignment the offense likely called a play action shot play designed to hit behind the blitz. Post snap, key the running back release, if he leaks out to the flat instead of blocking that is the built in hot route beater against this exact blitz and your user defender needs to squat on that route. This look dominates against inside zone runs and quick game concepts because the interior gaps get flooded instantly, but it is vulnerable to draw plays that let the rushers fly upfield past the mesh point. If the offense trips receivers to one side, check for natural pick concepts at the snap, since your man defenders can get rubbed off unless you pass off assignments through the traffic.
Usage Tips
Call this on obvious passing downs like second or third and long when the offense is likely to max protect or run a five man protection that cannot account for all five rushers.
Pre snap, check the offensive formation for trips or bunch sets that could create natural rub routes against your man defenders, and be ready to bump a defender over if you see a stack alignment.
User the middle linebacker or the extra blitzer coming off the edge to disguise which gap you are actually attacking, since a static pre snap look tips off savvy quarterbacks to hot route sight adjusts.
Pair this with Cover 1 Robber or Cover 1 Hole earlier in a series so the offense sees the same deep safety alignment and cannot key blitz versus coverage based on presnap shell alone.
Avoid calling this against empty backfield or four verticals concepts since the single high safety has no help if your man defenders lose leverage against speed at the top of the route.
