Zone Blitz out of the 4-3 Defense

This is a difficult blitz for an offense to pick up. It works especially well against spread/ no huddle teams. Most of the time the (S) coming off the edge has a free run. This zone blitz starts out with a two deep safety look. It is important that your defenders not show the blitz too early! As their quarterback begins his cadence, your defenders start cheating up to the line of scrimmage. Once the ball is snapped the (SS) rolls down to take away the quick throw (hot read) to the slot receiver (4) and the (FS) rolls over the top and has deep middle. The defense will play cover 3 behind the blitz.

(T): A-gap.
(T): A-gap.
(E): Slant B-gap, dip and rip through inside shoulder of the offensive tackle.
(E): Backside contain.
(S): Boundary side curl-flat zone.
(M): Middle hook zone.
(W): Align over the (4), then creep down once the QB begins his cadence. Once the ball is snapped he blitzes off the edge. He is the wide side contain player.
(SS): Rolls down and takes away the quick throw to the (4). Rolls down and has seam to flat coverage.
(FS): Deep middle 3rd coverage.
(CB): Deep 3rd coverage.
(CB): Deep 3rd coverage.

On this play diagram we put our(W) linebacker to the wide side because he is our best blitz player. He is also our best athlete at the linebacker position. You can move positions around to accommodate your team’s skill set.

(See Also) 4-4 Defense Blitz Packages