Swamp Bite

Description

When an opposing offense is pushing you around, sometimes you have to put away the conservative plays and just bite back. Swamp Bite is about having your defense taking their game right at the opposing offense and pushing them around, dictating play from the defensive side rather than the other way around. Against most base offensive sets this play will knock receivers off of their routes, force turnovers, create tackles for loss, fluster the quarterback into errant throws, and just create general havoc. While not quite suitable to be an every down sort of play, Swamp Bite might be just the cure you've been looking for when your defense needs to push people around instead of being pushed around.

The basic idea behind Swamp Bite is a combination of solid pressure from the blitzing linebacker and safety combined with press coverage from the outside LBs in flats zone coverage. Quick developing routes are disrupted by the OLB bumps while longer developing routes will force the QB to hold the ball for more time than he might have before the pass rush gets to him. Running plays can have a bit more success, especially with much of the LB tackling ability spread to the outside, but the blitz will force about as many tackles for loss as they will give up big runs. An offense with great pass protection and a QB with great poise in the face of pressure are the best weapons against this defense, but without both there's a chance for sacks, deflected passes and interceptions on just about every play. The timing also makes it difficult to run play action passes because the pressure comes quickly while the WR routes are disrupted, leading to more sacks than usual against play action.

Plays that cause lots of sacks and turnovers unfortunately do have a tendency of giving up their share of big plays as well. The blitz leaves holes (albeit fairly well disguised ones) in the pass coverage, so it's essential that the pressure does deliver consistently. If the QB does get time to throw the deep routes will be most likely single covered in the deep zone, and quick throws down the sidelines have a chance to burn the deep zone defenders if they are late getting into position. Good tight ends are probably the biggest threat. They aren't affected by the outside press coverage and can find favorable matchups against an inside LB in the short to middle zones. Finally, like most other Peregrine 3-4 plays Swamp Bite simply cannot matchup well against a 3 WR set.

Player Assignments

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Analysis

Pros:

• Extremely disruptive to both WRs and QBs
• Pressure combined with WR bump coverage can rush play action passes and create sacks
• Good at forcing turnovers

Cons:

• Pass defense over middle is vulnerable to good pass catching TEs covered only by zone LBs
• Deep routes will be single covered
• Not good against 3 WR pass plays