Playbooks
Breakdown
Bench Blitz 3 is a Cover 3 zone blitz out of the Nickel 2-4 Odd front designed to bring five man pressure while still rolling a three deep, zone under shell behind it. Both outside cornerbacks sink into deep thirds while the deep safety rotates to the middle third, and the slot corner drops into an underneath zone to the flat. Up front the diagram shows blitzing linebackers and a defensive lineman spiking through the interior gaps with the two outside rushers looping off the edges, creating a five man pressure look with three underneath zone defenders and three deep defenders covering behind it.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, identify if the offense is in a spread formation with three or more receivers to one side, which can overload the underneath zone droppers against this five man pressure look. Watch the running back and tight end alignment since check release routes into the vacated blitz lanes are the primary way offenses beat this call. Post-snap, key the interior lineman and linebacker blitz timing, if the quarterback recognizes the pressure early and gets rid of the ball quickly on a hot route, the underneath zone defenders need to react fast to short crossers. This play beats teams that hold blocks and try to go deep since the three deep zone defenders have help over the top, but it is vulnerable to quick game and screens that attack the space vacated by the blitzing defenders before they get home. Look for offensive linemen sliding protection toward the strength of the blitz, which tells you the quarterback has identified the pressure and will look to attack the opposite side.
Usage Tips
Call this on early downs or third and medium when you expect play action or a dropback pass, since the underneath zone defenders can be baited by run action but the deep thirds stay disciplined behind the blitz. Check the offensive formation pre-snap for stacked or bunch sets that could create natural rubs against your zone droppers, and consider hot routing your slot zone defender to the flat if you see a lot of quick game or bubble screens attacking the perimeter. Use this play in a sequence after showing Cover 3 Sky or Cover 3 Cloud so the quarterback sees a similar shell pre-snap but gets hit with extra pressure instead of the expected coverage rotation. Mix in Pinch 0 or Sam Mike 1 from the same set to keep the pressure picture unpredictable while still threatening five man rushes. Avoid calling this on obvious passing downs against quick game teams since the underneath zone can be stressed by fast developing hitches and slants before the pressure arrives.
