Burgeoning Wolverine Star: another Mattison blitz package
Another article well worth reading by Burgeoning Wolverine Star on Mattison's zone blitz packages. Here is the blitz, drawn up:
EDIT: and here's the video:
September 12th, 2012 at 10:50 AM ^
Is this nickel package a 3-3-5 under? ( Hiding behind blast wall, waiting for heads to explode)
September 12th, 2012 at 11:19 AM ^
Looks more like a 3-4 under to me.
September 12th, 2012 at 11:21 AM ^
from the personel it looks like the 3-3-5 but mattison uses the strongside linebacker as a DE in nickel packages, so in this case gordon (or ryan when he is in) is playing with his hand down so it is really a 4-2-5 as others have said
September 12th, 2012 at 11:23 AM ^
By personnel, it's a 3-3-5. But by alignment/responsibility, it's more of a 4-2-5 with the weakside end dropping into coverage.
September 12th, 2012 at 11:08 AM ^
Cam Gordon and WDE. The reason he would run this is because he knows that he is dropping Gordon into the hook zone and he's probably better than Clark/Black/etc.
September 12th, 2012 at 11:11 AM ^
Maybe I am behind on my terminology but I don't think a 4-3 Nickel exists. You have 4-2-5 in this package, assuming Avery is a CB and not a LB.
It looks to me like a standard Nickel package with Gordon as the WDE.
September 12th, 2012 at 12:04 PM ^
Mattison is very crafty, i looked at it again and I still think its a 3-3-5 under. He just disguises it by having Cam's hand down with the plan to drop him in coverage( Gordon never plays with his hand down he's a tweener lb/safety) It's not a 4-2-5, because Kovacs would need to be lined up bracketing the ILB's, with Gordon the deep safety. if it were a traditional nickel, then wouldn't Gordon and Kovacs line up with the same relative deepness? Either way, this is a confusing look/package that will apply difficult reads for a QB.
September 12th, 2012 at 1:33 PM ^
It doesn't really matter what you call it. A 3-3-5 is going to look different against trips than against a standard I-pro formation, a 4-2-5 is going to look different against trips, etc.
People get too caught up in having names for defenses.
September 12th, 2012 at 12:35 PM ^
September 12th, 2012 at 2:29 PM ^
This is good stuff, but if Roh and Black don't beat their guys, the blitz probably does not get there in time to disrupt the quarterback. It just seems that our linebackers need to be just a bit quicker and more decisive. This is what I like about James Ross when he was in there.