Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Olb Blitz out of the 3-4 Cub Base 5-2 look shows five defenders crashing downhill at the snap, with the blue path showing the outside linebacker looping off the edge into an interior blitz lane. The two deep crosses on the second level and the flat defenders on the perimeter hold underneath zone responsibility while the box empties out to send extra rushers. This is a five-man pressure package designed to collapse the pocket quickly, best suited against man or zone protection schemes that cannot account for the late-arriving blitzer off the edge.
Defensive Reads
Watch the tackle to tackle box count before the snap, if the offense has extra protection stacked inside they have likely diagnosed the blitz. This beats slow developing play-action rollouts and deep drop dropback concepts since the extra rusher wins before routes fully break. Man and zone coverage tells matter less here, focus on protection schemes since this is a pressure package first. If the running back stays in to chip or block, expect the blitzing olb to be picked up, so have a contingency sack once the loop is accounted for. Shotgun spread and empty formations neutralize this blitz quickly because the shorter path to the quarterback gets erased by quick game reads and hot routes.
Usage Tips
Call this on early downs or third and medium when you expect a quick dropback game and want to disrupt rhythm passing.
Check the running back and tight end alignment pre-snap since both can be assigned to pick up the blitzing linebacker, so identify their protection responsibility before the snap.
User the looping olb yourself for the best chance to time the blitz and avoid the offensive line picking it up clean.
Mix this with Cover 1 Hole and Cover 3 Sky from the same Cub set so the offense cannot key blitz versus coverage based on pre-snap look.
Avoid calling this on third and long against shotgun spread sets since the extra blitzer creates space underneath for quick game and RPO throws.
