Playbooks
Breakdown
3 Rat Zone is a Cover 3 zone blitz look out of the Quarter formation's Over Load set with Big Quarter 1-3-7 personnel on the field. The diagram shows both outside linebackers or DBs from the purple deep zones dropping down and crashing inward toward the middle of the field as underneath rat defenders, while three deep defenders rotate into deep thirds to protect over the top. Six defenders are stacked at the line showing blitz or press look before dropping to their zone rat responsibilities, making the primary read progression a search for the seam and flat areas vacated by the crashing rat defenders before the deep thirds close down on any vertical shots.
Defensive Reads
Pre-snap, check if the offense is in a formation with heavy shallow crossers or drag concepts since those routes get walled off by the rat defenders sitting in the underneath zones Watch for the offense to attack the deep thirds with double moves or go routes if they diagnose zone coverage, since the three deep defenders are spaced evenly and can be stressed vertically with good route timing Post-snap, key the rat defenders as they crash down from the purple deep zone alignment, they are responsible for eliminating shallow and intermediate crossing routes so any late-breaking option route can slip through if the user does not react quickly This play struggles against quick out-cuts to the flat right at the snap before the rats fully rotate down, so be ready to user a flat defender if the offense hot routes a receiver outside Beware of four verticals or clear-out concepts designed to occupy all three deep defenders, since with only three deep zones any well-timed post or seam route can find a soft spot if the deep defenders bite on double moves
Usage Tips
Use this on early downs when you expect the offense to run play-action or attack the middle of the field, since the rat defenders clog the shallow crossers and drag routes that usually beat zone
Show this look after running Heavy 1 Rat or Heavy 3 Zone earlier in the series so the offense sees a similar pre-snap picture but gets a different underneath rotation, keeping the quarterback guessing on where the rats are coming from
User the crashing rat defender closest to the strength of the formation to jump any quick game routes over the middle, then trust your deep thirds to handle verticals
Call this on third and medium to third and long when the offense likes to work in-cuts or drag concepts, since the rat drops are designed to sit right in those throwing lanes
Disguise this play by mixing in Cover 0 Blitz from the same set pre-snap so the six-man stack look does not tip whether you are bringing pressure or dropping into this zone rat scheme
