Wave Zone Blitz

Description

While this play looks (and feels) like a bit of a hodge-podge of all sorts of different techniques rolled into a single play, that's really the idea. As the name Wave Zone Blitz implies, this play is a zone blitz, bringing heavy pressure from the linebacking corps while dropping two of the three defensive linemen into short zone coverages. The idea is to create confusion and force the quarterback to make a throw before he's ready, thinking to exploit a blitz that's really not as heavy as it will appear at first glance. The most likely types of hot reads the QB will look to, quick slants (the short post style, not my right off the line slants), outs and hitches, are all pretty well covered by an assortment of flats, curl and hook zone coverages.

While this play should cause confusion and force the occasional turnover, it relies heavily on being well disguised and not letting the opposing QB catch on to the assignments. Run this play too often and you can expect to get burned. This is especially the case if your opponent likes to use their tight end (when lined up on the right side in a typical formation) because the seam up the right hash marks is essentially undefended. One remedy is to do some freelancing with the strong safety, but be careful about taking players too far out of position. Wave Zone Blitz can also be a bit hit or miss in some situations. Runs up the middle can either be stuffed by the blitz or gash big gains through the zone. The players do a good job staying at home with their spread zone assignments, but runs that start in close before bouncing outside can trap defenders in pursuit. Make sure to practice against a lot of different types of offensive plays to learn as many of these little ideosyncracies as possible before taking it into real action.

One last warning, this play does require some pretty good personnel in a few key positions to be really effective and cut down on risks. Good blitzing LBs are very helpful, although they don't all have to excellent. Defensive ends who can run are a big plus, which most often are going to be found on natural 4-3 teams because true 3-4 defenses tend to rely on their OLBs to provide the speedy edge rush. The most important positions are really the free safety and left (defensive side) cornerback. Because this play uses straight zone coverage each of these players will be asked to single cover deep. They start in pretty good positions to do so and get enough help underneath that they shouldn't need to bite on the shorter routes, but if the pass protection holds against the blitz they will be required to make plays on the ball downfield.

Player Assignments

See the Madden Playbook Guide for a description of these symbols.

Analysis

Pros:

• Good lateral coverage successful at chasing down quick developing tosses and sweeps
• Strong pass coverage down both sidelines
• Spread zone assignments protect against misdirection plays like WR end around runs

Cons:

• Very vulnerable up right inside seam to TE streaks, WR posts and deep ins, and play action passes over middle
• Counters and other slower developing run plays off tackle or to outside can suck in and trap DEs and OLBs
• Soft coverage late in left flats
• Inconsistent against runs up middle, allowing occasional big gains