Playbooks
Breakdown
Fz 2 Deep is a zone blitz out of the Quarter formation Big Quarter 3-1-7 personnel that sends a five man pressure look while dropping into a two deep, five under fire zone shell. The two deep safeties sit as the only deep defenders splitting the field, while the underneath defenders on both sides drop into short and intermediate zone landmarks to take away hooks and curls, with the two edge rushers on the strong side (marked by the red arrows) crashing off the corners. This is a zone beater blitz package designed to disguise pressure while still keeping two deep defenders over the top, so the primary read is getting immediate pressure home before the quarterback can find soft spots between the underneath zone droppers and the two deep safeties.
Defensive Reads
Watch for offenses attacking the seams between the two deep safeties since that is the natural void in this Cover 2 style shell. If the quarterback checks down quickly to a flat or shallow drag route, trust your underneath zone defenders to close since those areas are covered by design. Man beater concepts like drag and dig combos can exploit late rotation if your fire zone blitz timing is off, so confirm your pass rush lanes are set before the snap. Pre-snap, key the offensive line splits and running back alignment to anticipate max protection looks that could pick up the blitz and leave your underneath defenders overextended. Post-snap, if you see the quarterback escape the pocket on rollouts, transition your zone spy or contain rusher to cut off the throwing lane instead of chasing straight upfield.
Usage Tips
Disguise this call by showing a two high shell pre-snap so the offense cannot immediately diagnose the fire zone blitz underneath.
Use this on third and medium to third and long situations where quarterbacks are more likely to hold the ball and give your rushers time to affect the pocket.
Bait the quarterback into throwing to the flats or shallow curls since those zones are manned but often get read as open against a perceived blitz.
Combine this with Fz 3 Sky and Overload 3 in the same set to keep offenses guessing between two deep and three deep zone blitz shells with different pressure angles.
User the middle underneath defender to rob crossing routes and drag concepts that quarterbacks lean on to beat zone blitz pressure.
