Playbooks
In 12 playbooks
Breakdown
SS Zone Blitz out of Dollar Sugar 3-2 sends the strong safety on a downhill blitz off the slot alongside the interior rush, bringing five total defenders to pressure the quarterback while dropping into a zone shell behind it. The three deep defenders bracket the field with vertical zone drops, and both slot corners sink into underneath zone drops to the flats, creating a Cover 3 style shell behind the pressure. This is a zone blitz designed to disguise five man pressure while still holding a three deep, two underneath zone look, making it a strong zone beater against teams that hold protection and try to identify blitzers late. Primary read progression starts with the field safety in the deep middle, then works to the underneath flat defenders to see if the offense is attacking the vacated seams or flats behind the blitz.
Defensive Reads
Watch for the offense sliding protection toward the strong safety pre-snap, which tells you they have identified the blitz and you may want to check to a different call. This zone blitz shuts down slow developing man beater concepts and levels routes that rely on the quarterback holding the ball, since the extra rusher collapses the pocket before those routes finish breaking. It is vulnerable to hot route adjustments that put a receiver in the flat vacated by the blitzing safety, so key on any receiver breaking outside quickly after the snap. Post-snap, track the underneath zone droppers to make sure they are not both influenced by the same crossing route, which can open a soft spot in the shallow zone. Against RPOs, the blitz can be a liability if the offense reads the box count correctly and pulls the ball for a quick run behind the vacated strong safety alignment.
Usage Tips
Use pre-snap motion or a hard count to bait the quarterback into thinking he has a clean pocket before the SS blitz hits, since the disguise is the whole point of this call. Call this on third and medium to third and long when the offense is likely to hold protection and let routes develop, because the extra rusher forces quicker decisions. Pair this with Cover 3 Sky or Cover 2 Drop from the same set so your pre-snap alignment looks identical, then vary between the standard zone drop and this blitz to keep quarterbacks guessing. If you see a max protect scheme with six or seven blockers, consider hot routing your zone droppers deeper since the blitz will likely get picked up and you want coverage integrity in the intermediate zones. Spy or user the strong safety yourself on the blitz if you have confidence reading the quarterback's eyes, since a user controlled blitzer here can bait a throw and jump the route.
