Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Dbl Safety Blitz brings both safeties off the edge and through the interior gap, stacking five total rushers with three down linemen crashing straight downhill and the two safeties adding extra heat off the corners. This is a pressure package, not a coverage shell, designed to collapse the pocket before the offensive line can get set. The defense is left in a light shell behind the blitz, so the primary read for the defense is simply winning fast: crash the pocket and force a bad throw before the quarback can find the leverage voids left by the vacated safeties.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check safety depth on the offense. If both safeties are deep and the box is light, this blitz has a clean runway to the quarterback. Watch for the running back staying in to chip or pick up the blitz. If he releases outside on a route instead, your interior rush lane opens up immediately. Post-snap, key the tackles' first step. If they immediately turn to pass block outside, your edge safety pressure will win quickly off the corner. This blitz gets exposed by quick game concepts like slants and stick routes that get the ball out in under two seconds, so avoid it versus offenses that live in rhythm passing. Play action rollouts can also hurt this call since the blitzers overrun the mesh point, so key the offensive line for run blocking steps before committing the safeties.
Usage Tips
Call this on early downs or short yardage when the offense is likely to sit in the pocket rather than run, since your coverage behind the blitz is thin and a running quarterback can hurt you.
Check the offensive personnel pre-snap. If you see max protect or extra blockers stay in, consider checking to a coverage play like Cover 3 Sky or Cover 1 Robber Press instead since this blitz will get picked up easily.
User the closest safety to the ball to disguise the blitz look, then flash him late to bait the quarterback into a quick throw before delivering the free rusher.
Pair this with Cover 4 Palms or Cover 6 Willie earlier in a series so the offense cannot key off your safety alignment, then dial up Dbl Safety Blitz on third and medium to catch them off guard.
Avoid calling this against spread empty formations that isolate your blitzing safeties in space, since a quick out or slant beats the blitz before it develops.
