Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
LB Dogs 3 is a Cover 3 zone blitz out of the 46 Bear Under front that sends linebackers on delayed dog blitzes while dropping the defensive backs into a three deep, four under shell. The diagram shows both outside cornerbacks and the strong safety dropping into short zones off the line, the deep safety in the middle bailing to a deep third landmark, and the interior defenders (the two square icons and one circle) crashing downhill through the A and B gaps as blitzers. This is a zone beater disguised as pressure, so the primary read progression starts with identifying which interior gap the linebacker dogs are attacking, then working from the underneath hook zone defender out to the deep third safety to diagnose where the throwing lane opens against man or spread concepts.
Defensive Reads
Watch the offensive line splits and running back alignment pre-snap, if the back stays in to block it confirms the offense expects pressure and you should trust your dogs to win one on one against tackles. Post-snap, key the quarterback's eyes to the underneath hook zone defender, since that defender is your primary robber against slants and drags that try to beat the blitz. This play beats spread passing offenses that rely on quick game and shallow crossers, since the underneath zone defenders can jump routes while the interior rush disrupts timing. It gets exposed by RPO concepts and quick bubble screens to the perimeter, since the linebackers are already committed downhill and cannot recover to the flat. Identify if the offense audibles to max protect or empty formations, since max protect neutralizes the extra rusher and empty sets can isolate your underneath zone defenders in space against skilled route runners.
Usage Tips
Use this call on early downs or second and medium when the offense is likely to run quick game or shallow crossers, since the zone shell underneath can react fast to those routes.
Check the pre-snap defender count in the box before the snap, if the offense sees five or six defenders crowding the line they will often check into a quick pass, so mix this with LB Dogs (the non-blitz version) to keep the offense guessing.
Manually spy the running back with your user controlled defender if the offense is in a shotgun spread set, since backs leaking out of dog blitzes are the easiest answer to this pressure.
Pair this play with Cover 1 or Cover 2 Man from the same Bear Under set to disguise your coverage shell before the snap and prevent quarterbacks from diagnosing the blitz based on your defensive backs alignment.
Avoid calling this on third and long against trips or four verticals concepts, since the underneath zone defenders can get outleveraged if receivers stretch the seams before the blitz gets home.
