Vertical Pass Rush Part 2

By Denauld Brown

Have you seen the movie A Few Good Men? There is the famous court scene exchange between Col. Nathan R. Jessep (Jack Nicholson) and Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise). Jessep: You want answers? Kaffee: I want the truth Jessep: You cant handle the truth Jessep:Son, we live in a world that has walls and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whos gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg ? You dont want the truth because deep down in places you dont talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. If you dont recognize that quote you should feel slighted to say the least. Defense is about building walls. These walls need to be defended by well-trained players who understand offense. Situational football has a very important place but not in this topic of vertical pass rush. Formations define the true intent of a play caller. They are the back bone of this topic of vertical pass rush that will lead into a later dialog about what a true 4-3 single gapping defense really is. There are two games that we play of defense. We are forced to play pre -snap football. Why? Offense will always have control of the snap and the varying counts that come with. We are slaves to that pre-snap control. No complaint here. However it is the key reasons that adding the term vertical to pass rush is not just to denote going straight. As promised I am going to discuss converting a rush post snaps. As a quick recap, I emphasized the presnap visual images that give a rusher a greater anticipation of the ball with a few general expectation based on the offensive linemans demeanor. In Part 1 hand placement regulates the amount of steps necessary for a quality pass rush that will require split a second decision convert the outside rush. Hand placement also determines the conversion point from either speed to power or power to speed with the ability to secure the pocket with very little chance of losing contain. I have made the conscious choice to train rushers on hand placement in relationship to the football. Proximity to the football eliminates the possibility of benefiting from the internal clock same as the quarterback. So I teach steps as the natural time limit to when the ball will be thrown and that is the counterpart to when a conversion should take place.

The offense has many objectives. Everyone is different. Circling the defense with perimeter plays seems to be somewhat universal in play selection and call sequences. It is difficult to train defensive linemen. The closer you get to the line of scrimmage the faster the game gets. The collective unit goal in a vertical pass rushing defense is to slow the game down in their head pre-snap so that they fast. However that requires a vast amount of information that needs to be eliminated in a short amount of time. I call that a scan for the defense line. I verbalize it as a snap shot for the entire defense. The Keep it simple stupid coaches should stop reading now. Tendencies are just tendencies. I have a tendency to spill barbeque sauce when I wear white. So I stop wearing white when I eat all foods with sauce. But trust me I still eat barbeque. The closer a player gets to the line of scrimmage the faster he has to play but certainly the quicker he must eliminate. The offense will align, motion, shift any every way they want to. You have all seen those offensive playbooks I am talking about. But I do think that by offense mid standards they are necessary. I am a defense minded coach but I have never taught a defensive player to run a play. On defense we plan for offensive schemes so I hand out plan books. One defensive concept, several built in variables, with every formation and scenario that can be played out. Why? Defense is not complicated but offenses are. The more complex offense is post snap the more the savvy you need to be pre-snap and dictating in the name of the game. Linemen are not dumb! They need to be in tune with the entire defense the same as the secondary. Understanding formations puts everyone at an equal intellectual plane. Everyone can see them and its all about the snap shot. So I teach rushers to scan the formation for one player. MO. Mo will always be #3. But we just call him MO because he is the true middle of all the eligible offensive players. Second, they are the only defenders on the field he can align outside the tackle box but still be considered part of the box. Why? I sure many will disagree but I consider depth the determinate of who in in the box and not width. If you talk to some Air Raid (not very many out there) coaches and hybrid spread guys they will likely agree.

Just ask yourself this question. Is an extended #2 eligible in the backfield just because he is 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage? Now trust me I am still discussing pass rush. Vertical pass rush is matching the vertical passing game of offense with the vertical pass rush of defense By scanning for MO we can take the next step to eliminating scenarios rather than using the percentage of tendencies. Its all about the snap shot for the rusher. So is it a balanced or unbalanced offensive set? That is the question your players will need to ask. Personnel groups confuse defense linemen. A tight end is the guy who on the line of scrimmage next to the tackle. If he steps off I really have no idea who he is and I cannot be concerned because his intent to block me certainly can change By making them aware that every possible blocking threat or ball carrier will always come from inside out it is almost like they had an epiphany. Compare it puberty. They feel different but dont really know what to do these new feelings. He will fell awkward and self-conscious but once he realizes everyone goes through it then he can develop a true sense of himself. Coverage should not be so complex. I am a typical defensive line coach who only speakswhen spoken to. But in the grand scheme the secondary has too much time to think about those darn right psycho route combination we love to defend. So the monkey see and the more you want to do. So as a defensive coordinator I spend the majority of the time finding ways to save time for the secondary rather than buy time. Foundationally quarters coverage is a great pass rushing coverage. Some coverages are better than others but no doubt that for todays game is a safe base defense. I will discuss that topic more when I dive head first into How to really tie your front in with your coverage. Ball is snapped! Now what? Now comes the decision making process. Decisions, decisions, decisions, determine success not destiny. Incentivizing a unit that gets to high percentage pass rush situations is the key to an aggressive rushing unit. If they lose contain so be it. What cover were you playing with it? Dont beat your players up for losing contain. Abstinence before marriage is the only way. However if you are no longer a virgin you will be forgiven. If you continue take unnecessary risk then at least use the right coverage when you rush passer.

Decision Speed: You must make the offensive lineman move his inside foot. There is a point of no return is a rush. That point will be glaringly obvious when you begin to evaluate and critique each rush. One the offensive lineman sets there two things players needs to process when coming out of his stance. Am I covered up or did he over set me? You have to order this way to maintain a speed first philosophy. There needs to be a slight bit of anticipation to the situation. With the elimination by MO, and all the pre-snap stuff you have gotten a close to knowing when snap. So anticipation is a mo ment in time and not necessarily a skill. But the more skill you have then the better you will be. An offensive lineman covers you up when his inside foot does not cross your inside vision. In other words you are essential blocked pre-snap and you need tomove the lineman into space. This is especially true for offensive guards. Certainly I have covered a lot and not so much at the same time. The last part of this vertical pass rush series will be Part 3. I will cover Vertical Pass-Rush concepts, such as
how to design blitzes, and stunts based on-hand placement.