3-3-5 zone blitz w/ NT dropping?
Someone who taped the game, look around the 12/13 min mark of the 4th Q.. Michigan is lined up in a pretty standard looking 3-3-5 stack with Patterson at the nose. He drops into a short zone and Frazer, looking for the quick slant, hits him in the chest with the ball. Sounds a lot like this, from the MSP Preview Issue at p.79:
When defenses began zone-blitzing in earnest, however, the quarterback's hot reads were suddenly all wrong: instead of throwing a slant away from the man defender for a big play, the ball could land in the chest of a zone defender who had dropped from the interior or flowed from the opposite side.
However, the same article in MSP notes:
But, as previously indicated, one of the most attractive features of the 3-3-5 is the ability to use zone blitzes without having to drop a defensive lineman into coverage, unlike a traditional 4-3.
The thing is, as I sat there watching from sec. 44 with a perfect view of it, I don't remember thinking "blitz" on this play. So someone with the tape, go back and look and answer me these questions three, 'ere the other side ye see:
1. Was there a blitz on?
2. Was Patterson actually dropping into an underneath zone or did he just see a big lineman in front of him and think, "yeah, this isn't happening, maybe I'll just hang out"?
3. If no on (1) and yes on the first part of two (2), then what in Sam Hill is GERG up to? Because it's creative, and me likey.
September 6th, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^
No blitz.
It looked like patterson was prevented from rushing the QB because he was double teamed and was coached to pickup the Running back.
September 6th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
... it was a designed zone blitz, which would be genius and i would take back all the mean things I said about greg robinson. We could have a defensive rebirth if this defense can throw something at a QB that 99% of college QB's have never seen.
September 6th, 2010 at 1:10 PM ^
Are a pretty standard thing in most college defenses. almost every major D1 school has some form of a zone blitz in their defensive schemes... just because you have to drop a lineman in a base 4-3 doesn't make it any less effective, just less likely for an INT. The reason a zone blitz is easier in a 3-3-5 is because, based on the fact that you only have 3 DL on the field, you can blitz from one side and "roll" the coverage back to that side using our spur/SLB. I wouldn't expect any QB at a program like ours to not face a zone blitz in almost every game.. (see denards toss to robinson, most likely was a zone blitz)
September 6th, 2010 at 1:10 PM ^
to GERG.
September 6th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
The Zone blitz has so many different scenarios to it. Anyone can blitz, and anyone can drop into coverage. I'm sure we will see a lot of different zone blitzes this year, which is natural in a 3-3-5 look. The 3-3-5 look that we have been showing gets more speed on the field which should help us a lot more against spread teams. Chasing our offense around all spring and summer certainly has helped the speed and agility of the unit. Mike Martin looks like he has enough speed to be a freakin' linebacker. Once big Will Campbell is ready to go the line is going to be very scary. On the particular play you were talking about I didn't see a blitz, but it was an obvious passing down and was clearly a good call by GERG and co. I'm excited to see how this defense grows and evolves as the year continues.