Tampa Bay 3-High Structure: SB 2020 Season (vs KC)

KEY POINTS

Against a team looking to push routes deep down the field, a 3-high structure can provide great value. Tampa Bay saw good success with this against KC in the Super Bowl. See more details on a 3-high defense here.

• It removes middle field open / closed reads presnap (from 2high and 1high looks respectively)
• Adds flexibility in coverages. Particularly in top-down rotations.
• Can align potential deep defenders at a better depth to stay over any deep routes from a speedy receiver. 

Tampa played five snaps of 3-deep presnap looks. 

• Two snaps of a 1-deep, 5 under STICKS coverage..
• Two snaps of a boundary rotation cover 3.
• One snap of straight cover 3.

• Outcomes: 1 Int, 2 Inc, 2 checkdowns allowed.

Note TB played a bunch of 3-deep prevent calls at the end of the game, which we are not including here. 

FILM

If you are not able to see the film here while on a phone, either open the page in "desktop mode" or open it on a computer.

1st Quarter, 11:34, 3&8 - STICKS (1-deep 5-under)

    Boundary and Middle safety drop to hook/hole at sticks. Here we can see all 5 underneath defenders within 2yds of the 1st down marker. Nobody matches either vertical route up the middle. Compare this to the next play.

1st Quarter, 5:22, 3&11 - STICKS (1-deep 5-under Dbl outside blitz)

    Here we see a great sample of the flexibility of a 3-high look. BCB and Sam (Ni) blitz both edges and are replaced in coverage by the outside safeties, while mugged backers drop out into the hooks at the marker. In coverage, note both corners playing top-down on the possible outside verticals, to make sure the single deep safety is not outnumbered as he was the prior clip. 

2nd Quarter, 2:00, 1&10 - Straight C3

    While not a standard 3-high look with the outside CB as 3rd high defender, it ends up playing like a standard 3-high with the Sam (Ni) here replacing the CB as flat defender. Pausing halfway into the play, you can see the distributions of the 3-deep 4-under. 

3rd Quarter, 6:30, 3&13 - C3 Boundary Rotation

    Boundary and Middle safety are dropping, while both CBs are taking deep 3rds from a backpedal on snap.  With no vertical, a CB will continue to zone off to his deep 3rd to make sure he takes away any deep crosses. Boundary corner #24 here s pulled down a bit by the hunt route of #87, while #10 is running the deep cross behind him. #24 manages to get back and make a great play on the ball to cause a turnover.

4th Quarter, 6:22, 2&10 - C3 Boundary Rotation

 

   Same rotations as prior clip. While not targeted, KC does run another deep cross aimed behind the boundary corner. 

Iowa State: 3-High Safety Defensive Structure - Introduction, Aligning, and Coverage Calls

A handful of college programs over the last couple years have been  implementing a 3-high structure as an additional tool in the toolbox alongside zero, 1-high, and 2-high shells. Iowa state has been one of the early adopters, running a 3-high structure regularly alongside their 3-4 Hybrid Nickel. 

KEY POINTS

• Core Rules

• 3-down front.
• Mike/Will in the box typically. Sam coverdown often.

• Goals of the Structure

• Encourage run with a light box read. Stop run with aggressive middle safety (H) and overhang fits.
• Stop the RPO with overhangs.
• Prevent deep shots with pre-snap look. 3-Deep takes away MOFC/MOFO read pre-snap.
• Match gap creation across the formation with fits from deep safeties.
• Utilize multiplicity in 8th coverage man. Rotating coverages, blitzing into a 7-drop coverage, inverting coverages. 

• Alignments

• Safeties typically 8-10yds off the LOS.
• ILBs typically 2-3yds off heels of DL, over A or B gaps.
• Sam is pretty much always coverdown or apexed outside box.
• 0tech nose in most fronts.

• Run Fitting

• 3-down line are added on to by inside backers, with the playside backer becoming functionally a 3tech in the run. 
• Box players are spilling to the run-fitting safety.
• In run, the missing backer is replaced in the fit by the H (or BS, by formation). Safety fits to the playside edge generally. Misdirection can cause problems for these fits at times. 
• Against Y-Off, Sniffer, and FB sets, H and BS are able to match gap creation across the formation from depth.

• Pass Rushing

• Base rush is 3-down slanting to a side aiming to spill the QB out of the pocket in a single direction
• Mike will often add-on to the rush on a delay, shadowing QB to the spill side. 
• Other common call is to have DL rush central gaps looking to break the pocket inside-out, with Mike playing same role as above. 

• Multiplicity

• With a 3-down front and 3-high safeties, Iowa St. can call a drop-8 coverage on every snap. 
• This allows any of the 8 droppers to blitz, and maintain the integrity of a standard drop-7 coverage distribution.
• From 3-high, Iowa St. calls rotations and inversions of their coverages often. Corners, safeties, and overhangs will exchange assignments frequently. C1/C2/C3, Tampa, Quarters, and mixed calls are all on the table. 

ALIGNING and COVERING 

Depending on formation, Iowa State will play both split field coverage calls as well as full-field calls. 

3 RECEIVER SIDES

TRIO (3 split)

1. Cover 0. Man across the board, with BS/Sam sharing RPO rules. To the QB eyes hangs in coverage (Sam), and to the QB backside inserts to fit the run (BS).

2. Essentially a poach call, but the 3rd safety plays the role of poacher from an alignment to the strength, instead of from the backside in a 2-high shell. H takes the vertical of #3 while the #1 and #2 are covered with a 3-over-2 quarters call. 

3. Cover 1. H & SS man up to let backers play aggressively. Still trying to encourage short passes with depth of alignments. 

4. Tampa 2. Underneath defenders collision receivers before zone turning and gaining some depth. 

5. Cover 3 Boundary Rotation. H is hanging in the hole closing the seam, and driving down on ball thrown. Field CB is midpointing verticals of #1 and #2. 

6. Cover 2 H-man. One of the unique features of a 3-high is the ability to erase a man from the coverage, and still maintain drop-7 coverage distribution. H eliminates the #3 from the zone coverage, and Iowa State ends up with balanced 3-over-2 coverage to both sides. 

TREY (TE attached)

• Iowa State aligns 3-over-2 to the split-out WRs, with a safety and a backer stacked 1-2yds inside the #2. 
• Backer is either hanging to take away RPO, or folding into run fit. This depends on QB eyes to him/away from him, and backfield action. 
• The middle safety (H) is likely to be put man/man on the TE, fitting run on TE block. 

Rarely see Trey formations in the film I have access to. Both examples have QB eyes to the Sam. Sam is hanging and defending RPO before triggering to run play. 

2 RECEIVER SIDES

SLOT (2 split receivers)

• Iowa State makes a point to end the distribution with a 3-over-2. One of the main benefits of having 8 possible defenders in coverage is you can align/end the coverage with a numbers advantage look as long as you use the right RPO rules. 

1. Cover 2 Invert (Tamp2 Invert), mirrored. Safety pushes out to #1 right now, middle safety pushes to the seam/curl, mike drops to the hole, and CB bails fast to midpoint #1 and #2. 

2. Tampa 2. Mirrored. Starts as a drop-8 rush-3, with the mike spying the QB and blitzing on a delay.

3. Cover 3 Boundary Rotation. 

PRO/HBK (TE/HBK and split receiver)

• Safety and Corner play similar to how they play over a single-WR side (next section). The main difference is a backer or the H (middle safety) alignment depending on TE location. 

1. Corner run support (cloud). 3-over-2. Full-field call is C3 with the 3-high all dropping.  

2. Safety overhanging/run support (sky). Inversion of the previous technique. 

3. Against tight set "wing" looks, Iowa State aligns 4-high by bumping a cornerback to depth. Coverage is 4-man 4-under, with the unders playing run-first and the H/SS following TE/FB on gap-creation across the line from depth (pulls/kick-outs). 

SINGLE WR SIDE

• Pre-snap look always puts 2-over-1.
• Safety to the single side typically aligns 6-10yds deep, apexed between WR and EMOL. 
• Corner alignment is flexible, typically matching the technique and split rules in relation to the safety.
• When safety is 6yds deep, CB typically 5yds deep aligned inside eye. 
• When safety is 8-10yds deep, CB may align outside / press. 
• Nearly always playing aggressive to the run on single-sides.

1. Corner blitz. Safety will take #1 vertical or zone off unders.  

2. Safety blitz. Coverage call here is Cover 2 with the middle safety pushing over from the strongside to the backside deep-half, and the BCB collision #1 to the outside and sinking under the vertical. 

3. CLOUD call. CB is force and playing fast to the run. Can aggressively collision #1 while reading backfield action. Safety is taking all of #1. 

4. SKY (or invert) call. Safety is reading backfield action and triggering fast to the run. Corner takes all of #1. Must stay on top of all #1 routes. 

NUB SIDE (TE only)

• Depending on opposing team / expected run schemes, the edge/force player can be swapped between CB and Safety. 
• One player will align LOS, 1yd outside TE and fight any reach block and trying to keep outside arm free, maintaining the edge and forcing runner inside no matter what. 
• Second player will align 6-7yds deep, head-up on TE, fitting the last inside gap before the edge on run. 
• No film of pass plays from Nub sides / coverages.