Playbooks
Sim Pressure 3 is a three man sim pressure package out of the 3-3 Over Jack Nickel front that drops eight into a Cover 3 shell behind a four man rush look. The defense shows pressure at the line but only sends an extra rusher off a delayed path while a linebacker or edge defender bails into a underneath zone, creating confusion for the quarterback's protection calls and hot route reads. Primary read for the defense is the flow of the running back out of the backfield: if he releases into the vacated zone, the sim pressure defender who dropped must find him immediately, otherwise the deep thirds and underneath zones hold their landmarks against the dropback pass.
Watch for the offense sliding protection toward the shown pressure side, which tells you the quarterback is expecting the blitz and will look to hot route the opposite side. Key the running back's release path immediately after the snap since he is the most common zone beater target against this concept. Identify trips or bunch formations pre-snap because they can overload the underneath zone the dropping defender is responsible for. This sim pressure gets exposed by quick game concepts like slants and stick routes thrown before the delayed rusher affects the pocket, so user a linebacker to jump underneath crossing routes if you suspect quick game. Cover 3 shells beat vertical shots down the middle but leave the flats vulnerable if the corners bite on double moves, so keep outside leverage on wide receivers stemming toward the sideline.
Show pressure at the line pre-snap by sending a defender to the edge before the snap to bait the quarterback into a quick throw read that will not be there once the zone drops. Use this against offenses that rely on max protect or check releases because the disguised drop punishes backs and tight ends who sit in the shallow zone. Pair this with Edge Blitz 3 and FS Will Blitz 0 in the same set so the offense cannot key on your pressure tells from formation alone. Call this on third and medium or third and long when quarterbacks are more likely to hold the ball for a deep shot, since the delayed pressure gets home late and the Cover 3 shell erases explosive plays over the top. Spy the running back manually with the dropping defender if you are worried about user contain issues, since the AI can be late getting depth on the drop.