Playbooks

SS Dog 3

Dime·1-4 Dbl Mug·Big Dime 3-2-6

Diagram coming soon

Quick Reference

FormationDime

Set1-4 Dbl Mug

Personnel

Big Dime 3-2-62 EDGEDT2 MIKE3 CBFS2 SS

In 21 playbooks

Bills DefenseDefense Broncos DefenseDefense Cardinals DefenseDefense Chargers DefenseDefense Colts DefenseDefense Multiple D DefenseDefense Packers DefenseDefense Redskins DefenseDefense Seahawks DefenseDefense Steelers DefenseDefense Vikings DefenseDefense NFL Live Bills DefenseDefense

Breakdown

SS Dog 3 out of the 1-4 Dbl Mug set in Dime is a strong safety blitz married to a three deep zone shell behind it, giving you five man pressure with Cover 3 principles on the back end. The strong safety fires off the edge or through an interior mug gap as an extra rusher while the three deep defenders (typically the corners and free safety) split the field into thirds and the underneath zone defenders wall off shallow crossers and flat routes. Your primary read as the defense is to identify the blitz path pre-snap using the mug alignment to disguise the rush lane, then trust the three deep zone to erase any vertical shots while the pressure forces a quick decision from the quarterback.

Defensive Reads

Pre-snap, identify if the offense is sliding protection toward the mug alignment, since that tells you whether your blitzer will get a free run or have to beat a chip block. Watch the running back's alignment and depth, if he is in max protect expect him to scan for the free rusher and adjust your rush lane through the opposite side mug gap. Post-snap, key the quarterback's eyes immediately since the three deep zone behind the blitz is vulnerable to any receiver who settles in the deep middle hole before the safety can rotate over. This play beats teams that rely on slow developing play action rollouts or deep drop concepts, since the extra rusher collapses the pocket before routes fully break. It gets exposed by hot route adjustments into quick slants or hitches against the underneath zone defenders, so user a linebacker in the shallow zone if you suspect the offense will hot route into a quick game beater. Avoid calling this against heavy RPO teams who read the box count, since the mug alignment can tip your blitz intent and get exploited by a quick bubble screen or run read to the vacated side.

Usage Tips

Show the double mug look pre-snap and disguise which linebacker or safety is actually rushing by having both defenders creep up before the snap so the offense cannot identify the free rusher.

User the strong safety blitzer on the snap to time up the rush with the quarterback drop, this gives you control over the exact gap he shoots and lets you adjust on the fly if you see a hot route or check release from the running back.

This play is best called on early downs or in obvious passing situations where the offense expects a standard drop back concept, since the extra rusher can blow up play action fakes and RPO reads before the mesh point develops.

Pair SS Dog 3 with Cover 1 Hole or Cover 3 Sky in your play calling sequence to keep the same pre-snap picture while varying whether you bring five or drop eight, this keeps quarterbacks guessing on the blitz tell.

Against teams that love quick game and hot routes, mix in SS Mid Blitz 3 or SS Tex Sim 2 from this same set since they share a similar pre-snap disguise but attack different gaps, forcing the quarterback to respect every blitz look equally.