Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Mid Blitz out of Double Mug Nickel shows all six defenders at the line dropping straight down at the snap, indicating a five or six man pressure package with the two Mugged linebackers and additional rushers attacking through the interior gaps while the secondary rolls into a shell behind it. The four X marks off the ball represent defenders spinning into zone coverage to protect against the pass, giving this the look of a zone blitz rather than a pure man pressure call. Blocking on this play is irrelevant since it is a defensive play, and the primary read progression for the defense is to time the interior blitz to collapse the pocket while the underneath zone defenders eyes the quarterback's initial read to jump any hot throws.
Defensive Reads
Watch for the offense sliding protection toward the strength of the Double Mug look, which tells you the quarterback has identified the blitz and you should consider a hot swap. This call is most effective against man beater concepts like drags and crossers since the interior rush disrupts the quarterback's launch point before those routes clear the linebackers. It struggles against quick game concepts such as slants and hitches since the ball comes out before the pressure arrives, so avoid calling this on obvious quick throw downs. Post-snap, key the running back's release out of the backfield since checkdowns are the primary answer to this blitz and your shallow zone defenders need to account for that leak. If the offense shows empty backfield pre-snap, expect max protect or a quick game answer, which means you may want to check to Nickel Dog 3 Buzz instead for better coverage integrity.
Usage Tips
Call this out of Double Mug when you see the offense in a shotgun spread set showing empty or three step drop tendencies since the interior pressure gets home fast against slower protection schemes.
Use pre-snap motion recognition to confirm the offense is not running a hot route into the vacated middle zone before you commit both mug linebackers.
Pair this with Cover 1 Hole or Nickel Sim 2 in your play-calling sequence so the offense cannot key blitz versus coverage based on your pre-snap alignment.
Best used on third and medium to third and long when the offense needs a chunk play over the middle since the interior rush disrupts timing routes before they develop.
Manually spy the middle of the field with your user defender if the CPU AI zone drops are too shallow, since this covers up crossers that beat the blitz."
