Since the defense is rushing most of their defensive players, once the running back gets past the line, they have a good chance of running for a big gain, or even a touchdown. Facebook Instagram Twitter. SportsLingo Goes The Extra-Inch With The Meaning Of Blitz In order for a blitz to be effective, a team must make sure that: They penetrate the offensive line and get pressure on the quarterback The remaining defensive backs and linebackers must stay with their assignments and cover the receivers and running backs to the best of their ability.
Sport The Term Is Used 1. Find out more below! A blitz is a single-down defensive play that sends five or more defensive players to the line of scrimmage to disrupt the offense. In most scenarios, the ultimate goal of the blitz is to sack the quarterback.
However, blitzes can still be effective if they disrupt play in other ways, like forcing an incomplete pass, recovering an interception, or stopping the running back at the line of scrimmage. Blitzers should strike fast and with impressive force to cause the offense to crumple, leaving the passer exposed. The play was first called a blitz by the defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Cardinals, Chuck Drulis, around The red-dog play, which coaches developed in the late s, involved rushing a linebacker to create a six-on-five man advantage against the offensive line.
Red Ettinger, a linebacker for the University of Kansas, is usually credited as the first man to run a blitz strategy in Football teams continued to refer to these plays as red-dog plays until the term blitz became more popular ten years later. A well-played blitz can overwhelm the offensive linemen, allowing a linebacker to get through and potentially sack the quarterback.
Effectively dominating an offense can have several benefits throughout the game. It can also make the quarterback insecure in the pocket, forcing him to run and throw poorly. This defensive scheme is easily customizable, and a defensive coordinator may have several unique blitz packages in their playbook for different scenarios on the field.
Some defensive players will drop back to play zone coverage in this blitz scheme, leaving a linebacker to rush forward and take their place on the line. A fire zone blitz is a standard version of this play. This blitz package involves players from the secondary, safety, or cornerback coming down to blitz. Bringing these players closer to the line of scrimmage is often confusing to the offense and may cause them to read the play improperly.
Often a blitz can be mixed up with a simple pass rush. If the defense has a simple 4 man front, they will rush 4 defenders at the start of the play. If any more players are moving toward the line of scrimmage, this is known as blitzing. Any rush with 3 or 4 players moving toward the line of scrimmage is considered a simple pass rush. Teams will often identify as a blitz for any more players that move toward the line of scrimmage.
This is often confused when a team that has a 3 down front 3 men on the line of scrimmage rushes another player at the snap toward the line of scrimmage. The team who can get to the quarterback will rarely blitz, as their standard pass rush can disrupt the quarterback on any play. Teams with a weak pass rush may need to blitz a bit more to affect the offense and quarterback. This is a common tactic among defensive coaches who have a weak pass rush.
However, a fire zone blitz changes the dynamic of the blitz. The defensive will blitz 5 players toward scrimmage and have the other 6 players play zone coverage. This blitz is known as a fire zone blitz. The most common type of coverage behind a fire zone blitz is the 3-deep, 3 under coverage, as shown in the diagram above. Teams will use a fire zone blitz to add pressure to the offense, meanwhile protecting against the deep pass by having 3 deep defenders.
These defenders are all playing zone coverage in hopes that the quarterback will make a wrong decision and intercept the football. Running a blitz in American football is a high-risk, high-reward play.
The teams that blitz often put a lot of stress on their defensive backs, requiring them to be good man-to-man defenders.
0コメント