Countering the BLITZ!

I am amazed when guys come to me and claim that their opponent is doing a "nano blitz"!!!

So lets clear up a few things:

- NANO BLITZ is an out dated term - its generally reffered to a blitz that sacks the qb and does not have an obvious counter to it.  

- In prior games their was a series of blitzes that were UNSTOPABLE and virtually sacked the qb instantly - they were coined "nano blitz" as that was the package many of them came in..

- its been two years since i have seen a true UNSTOPPABLE BLITZ - sure their are blitzes that create pressure fast but THEY CAN BE COUNTERED...


There are a number of players in the league that depend on the fast pressure blitz (and then in turn the threat of this blitz) as a fundamental part of their gameplan... YOU SHOULD NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY THIS!

There are numerous ways to counter a blitz (audibling backs and TEs to pass block, shifting the line etc) - but running the BLITZ COUNTER PASS can turn a possible SACK into a big offensive gain!!!

The biggest advantage to running effective BLITZ COUNTER PASSING is that it makes the defense "gun shy" - Agressive defenses who attack via the blitz look to strike fear and doubt into the offense - they want the offense to be tentative in their decision - they look to make you fear their blitz. tbhen they bluff blitzes and the offenses team rushes a pass (that they didnt need to rush) and that creates a pick!!! but you can TURN THE TABLES ON THESE DEFENSES!

An effective Blitz Counter strategy will make an agressive player second guess his blitzes - after you burn him with big gainers (when he is accustom to getting sacks) e will back off from blitzing - then you can get into your normal pass progression and pick him apart!!!

my BLITZ COUNTER strategy has THREE SIMPLE STEPS:

1) Make sure each pass play has a BLITZ FRIENDLY COUNTER  PASS (these are typical slants, pro-passes, drags etc)

2) After the snap you instantly need to read BLITZ or NO BLITZ...

3) If you read BLITZ throw to your blitz friendly receiver - if there is no blitz, continue with your normal pass progression

- You should vary who your BLITZ COUNTER receiver is - where he is on the field and what type of blitz counter route he runs (if your playing a smart defender he will anticipate this and exploit your consistency) - so vary these routes up

- Make the blitz counter pass work with your normal pass progression - (if he doesnt blitz you still need to attack the defense)

- Look to exploit weak CBs - and utilize the strengths of your WRs...
* try to throw to receivers that high ACCELERATION, RELEASE and CATCH IN TRAFFIC ratings - players with high accel and release get off the snap better when "pressed"... if a defender closes on the receiver quickly and hits him, he is more likely to hang onto the ball with high catch in traffic rating!
* avoid throwing against high press receivers with big hit power (but dont be scared to go against these guys - if you need to run it vs this type of player thats fine (in video example we run this at SHERMAN) but whenever possible its better to avoid these players
- the high press will make it more difficult for a receiver to get off the line and the high hit power will force the ball loose after a receiver is hit!


This video below gives you visual evidence - I created a play book with only 4/6 blitzes in it - then played in practice mode with that playbook in ALL MADDEN vs the SEAHAWKS... The play i call in the video is 4 VERTICALS in a 4 WR SPREAD FORMATION - no HB or TE is pass blocking and i throw to all 4 receivers,,,



If you have any question or comments post below!

The blitz counter pass can be more effective when you THROW TOWARDS THE DIRECTION THE BLITZ IS COMING FROM (aka throwing into the blitz)

The reason is simple, if a defender is blitzing he cannot be defending the pass!

The blitz counter pass is most effective when the qb holds onto the ball until the last possible second (this gives the receiver more time for their route to devop)

Inexperienced players will implement this concept and rush the pass (they read the blitz and instantly throw to blitz counter receiver) - and that's ok...

But to make this concept work to its fullest potential, you should wait in the pocket as long as you can before you throw! (The downside is he will take se big hits)

A few things you should consider when doing this:

- if your qb is injury prone thus could be dangerous...

- if your qb is fatigued then a big hit may injure him...

If there is an exceptionally fast blitz, try doing this strategy from UNDER CENTER!

When under CENTER the ball doesn't need any travel time from the CENTER to the QB - the ball is literally snapped - instant blitz read - then the ball is thrown!

This is a good example of this technique vs one of the top BLITZERS in the league (the_King_Slayer)

1) You can see on the PRESNAP that I got route the right WR to slant (he is my "blitz counter receiver")...

2) on the snap first thing I do is read BLITZ or NO BLITZ...

3) once I read BLITZ I hold into the ball as long as I can (without getting sacked) and delivery a pass to the "blitz counter receiver"

Here is the play with it's "set up":