Playbooks
Breakdown
Sim Pressure 3 is a Cover 3 simulated pressure look out of Dime 2-3-6 Big Dime personnel that drops five defenders into zone while sending a four man rush disguised to look like more. The diagram shows three deep thirds from the corners and safety, two underneath zone defenders sitting at the sticks (the gray zones), and a five man box with only two showing blitz arrows crashing off the edges while the rest wall off. This is a zone beater against man heavy concepts since the simulated pressure gets a rush home without tipping extra blitzers, so the primary read for the offense facing it is to attack the seams between the underneath zone droppers and the deep thirds, working from the intermediate crossers out to the flat.
Defensive Reads
Watch for offenses running quick game or hot routes designed to exploit the underneath zone voids before your linebackers settle into their drops. This beats man beater route combos like slants and stick concepts because the underneath zone defenders can sit in the throwing lanes instead of chasing receivers in man coverage. It is vulnerable to any quick game or screen game if the offense diagnoses the sim pressure pre-snap and gets the ball out before the four rushers convert pressure. Key the offensive line splits and running back alignment pre-snap since a heavy pass protection look often signals the offense expects pressure and will check into a quick throw beating this exact call. Post-snap, track your deep third defenders closely against double moves and deep comebacks since a busted deep zone rotation is the primary way this coverage gets exposed for a big play.
Usage Tips
Disguise this pre-snap by mixing it into your blitz package rotation so offenses cannot key on the two shown rushers and assume it is a standard four man rush.
Use it on early downs or second and medium when offenses are more likely to call play-action or man beater concepts, since the underneath zone droppers can sit on crossers and dig routes.
Pair this call with Edge Blitz 3 and Overload 3 Press earlier in a series so the sim pressure look blends in and the QB cannot distinguish it from your actual blitz calls based on pre-snap alignment.
Bail your underneath defenders into their zones a beat after the snap to disguise the coverage shell as man before it rotates to Cover 3, baiting the QB into throwing into a defender who is not where he expects.
Avoid calling this against heavy run personnel since the two extra rushers stepping up can be vulnerable to power runs and pulling guards if the front does not hold its gaps.
