Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Cover 1 LB Blitz brings a five man pressure look out of the 3-3 Load Dbl Mug front, sending both mugged linebackers and an edge rusher downhill while the deep safety sits alone over the top in single high man coverage. The five underneath defenders shown crashing the box confirm this is a pure pressure call with man coverage locked on the outside receivers and the deep third defender providing help over the top. This is a blitz beater killer against teams that sit in shells, and it is designed to win with speed rushers and man coverage on the perimeter rather than disguised zone drops, so the primary read is getting after the quarterback fast before hot routes or check downs beat the blitz.
Defensive Reads
Check the offensive formation presnap for max protect or extra blockers in the backfield since that neutralizes the numbers advantage this blitz is designed to create Look at the single deep safety alignment presnap, if he cheats to one side the offense may be alerting you to a hot route beater on that side Post snap key on whether the running back stays in to block or leaks out for a check down, since the underneath defenders are locked in man and will not automatically account for a late release Watch for quick game concepts like slants and stick routes that beat man coverage before the pressure arrives, this blitz is vulnerable to a fast three step passing game This call gets shut down hard by screens and RPO run keepers since the linebackers are committed to the rush the moment the ball is snapped
Usage Tips
Use this on early downs or third and medium when you have a pre-snap read that the offense is in a drop back passing set with no extra protection called
Diagnose empty or spread formations before the snap since a five man blitz with one deep safety leaves you exposed if the offense has a hot route ready against the blitz
Pair this with Cover 3 Sky or Blitz Loop 0 from the same set so the offense cannot key on your mugged linebacker alignment presnap
User the middle linebacker or the free rusher off the mug look to disguise which gap the pressure comes from and force a bad protection call
Avoid calling this into empty backfield sets against a mobile quarterback since the single high safety has no help if a rusher gets picked off and the quarterback escapes the pocket
Save this for money downs when you have scouted the opponent tendencies to throw underneath, since the aggressive pressure is designed to disrupt timing before routes develop
