Footbal terminology help thread

I think this thread will be a good idea. Post football terms you don't understand and more knowledgeable members can provide answers. I hate to admit, I have watched football for over 40 years, played in High School and college (Linebacker), play Madden regularly and still don't understand all the defenses and how they work. I was an honor roll student in the classroom and "special ed" on the football field. So for starters could someone explain "zone blitz".

I still dont know what the f**k this means

the pitt tight end who ate jason pierre paul's lunch
http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/thread.php?num=141237&highlight=lunch

zone blitz just means that your DB's and LB's are in a zone and one of them blitzes.

here's a madden pic to illustrate. You'll notice everyone is dropping back into zone coverage while the MLB's blitz the qb.



[ Edited by SybErkRimInAL on Aug 3, 2010 at 10:36:53 ]

Originally posted by SybErkRimInAL:
zone blitz just means that your DB's and LB's are in a zone and one of them blitzes.

Yes, but which one blitzes and why?

Originally posted by BobS:

Originally posted by SybErkRimInAL:
zone blitz just means that your DB's and LB's are in a zone and one of them blitzes.

Yes, but which one blitzes and why?

depends. Any of them can blitz. It's up to the DC to decide who blitzes.

Originally posted by BobS:
I think this thread will be a good idea. Post football terms you don't understand and more knowledgeable members can provide answers. I hate to admit, I have watched football for over 40 years, played in High School and college (Linebacker), play Madden regularly and still don't understand all the defenses and how they work. I was an honor roll student in the classroom and "special ed" on the football field. So for starters could someone explain "zone blitz".

There are several variations of the zone blitz, but the basic tactic is to drop a pass rusher into coverage and blitz a player the offense expects to play coverage. It doesn't have to be a DE dropping & a LB blitzing. In a 3-4 it can be an OLB dropping & a safety blitz, etc, etc.

The idea is to confuse the OL and get the type of pressure on the QB usually associated with bringing an extra pass rusher while still rushing 4 players. That way you don't have to weaken your coverage on the backside and can still force an early/errant throw by the QB.

When you rush an extra guy (ie "blitz"), you are typically forced to play man coverage due to the numbers. A "zone blitz" allows you to keep enough players back to still play zone coverage.

Originally posted by Overkill:

Originally posted by BobS:
I think this thread will be a good idea. Post football terms you don't understand and more knowledgeable members can provide answers. I hate to admit, I have watched football for over 40 years, played in High School and college (Linebacker), play Madden regularly and still don't understand all the defenses and how they work. I was an honor roll student in the classroom and "special ed" on the football field. So for starters could someone explain "zone blitz".

There are several variations of the zone blitz, but the basic tactic is to drop a pass rusher into coverage and blitz a player the offense expects to play coverage. It doesn't have to be a DE dropping & a LB blitzing. In a 3-4 it can be an OLB dropping & a safety blitz, etc, etc.

The idea is to confuse the OL and get the type of pressure on the QB usually associated with bringing an extra pass rusher while still rushing 4 players. That way you don't have to weaken your coverage on the backside and can still force an early/errant throw by the QB.

When you rush an extra guy (ie "blitz"), you are typically forced to play man coverage due to the numbers. A "zone blitz" allows you to keep enough players back to still play zone coverage.

Great idea for a thread.

My question is about "Zone Dog". My understanding (limited) is that a zone dog is a type of zone blitz which calls for the DT to be the one dropping into coverage. Is that right?

Originally posted by ghostrider:

Originally posted by Overkill:

Originally posted by BobS:
I think this thread will be a good idea. Post football terms you don't understand and more knowledgeable members can provide answers. I hate to admit, I have watched football for over 40 years, played in High School and college (Linebacker), play Madden regularly and still don't understand all the defenses and how they work. I was an honor roll student in the classroom and "special ed" on the football field. So for starters could someone explain "zone blitz".

There are several variations of the zone blitz, but the basic tactic is to drop a pass rusher into coverage and blitz a player the offense expects to play coverage. It doesn't have to be a DE dropping & a LB blitzing. In a 3-4 it can be an OLB dropping & a safety blitz, etc, etc.

The idea is to confuse the OL and get the type of pressure on the QB usually associated with bringing an extra pass rusher while still rushing 4 players. That way you don't have to weaken your coverage on the backside and can still force an early/errant throw by the QB.

When you rush an extra guy (ie "blitz"), you are typically forced to play man coverage due to the numbers. A "zone blitz" allows you to keep enough players back to still play zone coverage.

Great idea for a thread.

My question is about "Zone Dog". My understanding (limited) is that a zone dog is a type of zone blitz which calls for the DT to be the one dropping into coverage. Is that right?

I was under the assumption that ANY zone blitz is when a DL drops into coverage of the open space resulting from the LB/DB blitzing.

It's all to confuse the QB for a split second. The QB usually "Hot Reads" the open space from the blitzing LB but must adjust when he sees that the DL has covered that area. This results in the QB taking slightly longer to make his read which gives the DL or possible 2nd blitzer more time to get to the QB.

I know Dog has a specific significance but am not exactly sure as to what as one defense may have a different name for it than another.

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by ghostrider:

Originally posted by Overkill:

Originally posted by BobS:
I think this thread will be a good idea. Post football terms you don't understand and more knowledgeable members can provide answers. I hate to admit, I have watched football for over 40 years, played in High School and college (Linebacker), play Madden regularly and still don't understand all the defenses and how they work. I was an honor roll student in the classroom and "special ed" on the football field. So for starters could someone explain "zone blitz".

There are several variations of the zone blitz, but the basic tactic is to drop a pass rusher into coverage and blitz a player the offense expects to play coverage. It doesn't have to be a DE dropping & a LB blitzing. In a 3-4 it can be an OLB dropping & a safety blitz, etc, etc.

The idea is to confuse the OL and get the type of pressure on the QB usually associated with bringing an extra pass rusher while still rushing 4 players. That way you don't have to weaken your coverage on the backside and can still force an early/errant throw by the QB.

When you rush an extra guy (ie "blitz"), you are typically forced to play man coverage due to the numbers. A "zone blitz" allows you to keep enough players back to still play zone coverage.

Great idea for a thread.

My question is about "Zone Dog". My understanding (limited) is that a zone dog is a type of zone blitz which calls for the DT to be the one dropping into coverage. Is that right?

I was under the assumption that ANY zone blitz is when a DL drops into coverage of the open space resulting from the LB/DB blitzing.

It's all to confuse the QB for a split second. The QB usually "Hot Reads" the open space from the blitzing LB but must adjust when he sees that the DL has covered that area. This results in the QB taking slightly longer to make his read which gives the DL or possible 2nd blitzer more time to get to the QB.

I know Dog has a specific significance but am not exactly sure as to what as one defense may have a different name for it than another.

The zone dog and zone blitz might just be interchangeable terms but I thought, and I could be wrong, a zone blitz is any DL (DT or DE) dropping into coverage with a LB blitzing and a zone dog is a DT (and not a DE) dropping into coverage with a LB blitzing?

not all zone blitzes involve a DL dropping back. Basic meaning is that the coverage is zone, not man to man. Depending on the DC, they could have a s**t ton of different names, who falls back, who blitzes, etc... As far as "Dogs" goes, that's usually referring to the OLB's.

Originally posted by SybErkRimInAL:
not all zone blitzes involve a DL dropping back. Basic meaning is that the coverage is zone, not man to man. Depending on the DC, they could have a s**t ton of different names, who falls back, who blitzes, etc... As far as "Dogs" goes, that's usually referring to the OLB's.

Cool thanks.

Originally posted by ghostrider:

Originally posted by Overkill:

Originally posted by BobS:
I think this thread will be a good idea. Post football terms you don't understand and more knowledgeable members can provide answers. I hate to admit, I have watched football for over 40 years, played in High School and college (Linebacker), play Madden regularly and still don't understand all the defenses and how they work. I was an honor roll student in the classroom and "special ed" on the football field. So for starters could someone explain "zone blitz".

There are several variations of the zone blitz, but the basic tactic is to drop a pass rusher into coverage and blitz a player the offense expects to play coverage. It doesn't have to be a DE dropping & a LB blitzing. In a 3-4 it can be an OLB dropping & a safety blitz, etc, etc.

The idea is to confuse the OL and get the type of pressure on the QB usually associated with bringing an extra pass rusher while still rushing 4 players. That way you don't have to weaken your coverage on the backside and can still force an early/errant throw by the QB.

When you rush an extra guy (ie "blitz"), you are typically forced to play man coverage due to the numbers. A "zone blitz" allows you to keep enough players back to still play zone coverage.

Great idea for a thread.

My question is about "Zone Dog". My understanding (limited) is that a zone dog is a type of zone blitz which calls for the DT to be the one dropping into coverage. Is that right?

Different teams use different terminology, so different blitzes could both carry the term "Zone Dog" on different teams.

In my experience, "Dog" is usually a reference to a Safety, so I don't think the term is tied to a DT dropping necessarily. Most of the times I've heard "Zone Dog" it involves a middle blitz by one Safety (usually the SS).

In a 3-4 it can mean one MLB blitzes next to the Safety, while both OLB's drop into coverage. In a 4-3, somebody on the line usually drops into coverage. That could mean a DT drops or one DT could stunt outside while a DE drops.

The idea is still the same - to confuse the interior OL enough to let one of the blitzers get through.

Each different blitz is targeted at a different gap. Again (in my experience), "Zone Dog" refers to the targeted gap being an "A" gap and something like "Fire" refers to the targeted gap being a "B" gap. But somebody else may have learned completely different terms for blitzes targeting those gaps, even if the general idea is always the same.

While we are at it, what is a Tampa-2?

Is there a Tampta 1?

Originally posted by SolRebe1:
While we are at it, what is a Tampa-2?

Is there a Tampta 1?

Tampa 2 was a defense the bucs used back when Tony Dungy was the coach. He basically stole the defensive scheme of the old Pittsburgh steelers and renamed it. I'm assuming the 2 stands for cover 2?

Originally posted by SybErkRimInAL:

Originally posted by SolRebe1:
While we are at it, what is a Tampa-2?

Is there a Tampta 1?

Tampa 2 was a defense the bucs used back when Tony Dungy was the coach. He basically stole the defensive scheme of the old Pittsburgh steelers and renamed it. I'm assuming the 2 stands for cover 2?

Yea, just the Cover 2 Defense in Tampa. Hence, Tampa 2.