Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Fz 3 Sky is a zone blitz out of the Big Quarter 3-1-7 personnel that brings a five man pressure package while dropping into a Cover 3 shell behind it. The diagram shows both outside cornerbacks and the deep safety splitting the field into thirds, with the underneath zone defenders (the two purple hook/curl zones and the flat defenders marked by squares) squeezing the short and intermediate routes. Two edge rushers (the X's with red arrows) crash off the corners while the interior defenders funnel to their zone drops, so the primary read for the defense is jumping the shallow crossers and flat routes before the pressure forces a quick throw.
Defensive Reads
Read the quarterback's eyes immediately after the snap since the underneath zone defenders are sitting on shallow crossers and flat routes that this call is designed to jump. Watch for hot route sight adjustments on slot receivers, as they often try to settle in the void behind the crashing edge rushers. Key the running back's release since check downs into the flat are the first outlet against this five man pressure and the sky technique defender is there to close that window. If the offense audibles into max protect or empties out with extra blockers, expect the interior rushers to get picked up and consider this call gets less push versus heavy protection schemes. Man beater route combos with deep comebacks or corner routes can stress the deep thirds if the corners bite on double moves, so watch cornerback leverage before the snap for signs of an aggressive jump technique.
Usage Tips
Call this on third and medium to third and long when you expect the offense to attack with quick game or shallow crossers against zone blitz pressure.
Check the offensive formation pre-snap for stacked or bunch receivers to the flat side since the sky safety technique adds an extra flat defender on that side.
Use pre-snap adjustments to widen the underneath zone defenders if you see trips or spread sets that overload one side of the field.
Pair this call with Cover 3 Spy or Cover 2 Spy earlier in a series so quarterbacks cannot key on the same pressure look every down.
Mix in Overload 3 in the same down and distance to disguise where the extra rusher is coming from and keep the QB guessing on protection identification.
