RetReat
A linebacker in zone coverage retreats in one of two popular ways. Either can be effective as long as the linebacker understands the purpose and limitations of each.
What is the purpose of this retreat? Once the defense recognizes pass, they want depth, with vision on the quarterback, and need to be at the desired coverage angle. Let’s examine the two popular forms of retreat and how they compare in reaching the goals of an effective drop.
Crossover
With the crossover the linebacker opens his hips on a pass key at the prescribed angle and crosses his inside leg over the outside leg as he gains depth. The athlete keeps his head on a swivel, so he has a view of the passer and the receiving threats.
Darrick Brownlow, the three-time All–Big Ten linebacker, said, “When I drop on pass, I keep my inside eye on the quarterback and my outside eye on the receiver.” Few of us have that kind of eye control, but the thought is on target. We want to gain depth while observing both the thrower and receiver.
The crossover allows the linebacker to run fast while seeing the necessary zone codes to interpret his path. It also permits the athlete to gain width easily by simply leading his outside foot
at the proper angle (see figure 6.1). The advantage of the crossover is that the defender can retreat quickly and maintain vision of the passing game. The disadvantage is that if the ball is thrown while the defender is crossing over, he can intercept it only if it is thrown in the direction of his flow. He cannot play balls thrown to his inside or in front of him when he is in a full-speed retreat to the outside.
Backpedal
The backpedal is executed by running backward with hips and shoulders parallel to the line of scrimmage. It is most efficient when the body is bent at the knees, hips, and ankles with the shoulders leaning forward over the toes. Most linebackers lean backward when backpedaling, which creates an awk- ward movement with less potential to change direction.
The backpedal gives excellent vision on the quarterback and allows a three- way break (left, right, or forward) on any thrown ball. The disadvantage is that it does not cover as much ground as the crossover and doesn’t expand (gain width) easily.
TE B1
45°
B2
E6103/Tepper/fig6.1/482690/alw/r1-pulled
FiguRe 6.1 Crossover angles are deter-
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Pull-uP
No matter how a linebacker retreats, it is my firm opinion that when the quar- terback stops his drop and sets to throw, the linebacker must pull up. Pulling up means to be square to the offensive line in a bent football position, focused on the quarterback and ready to break on the first indication of the throw. This pull-up position gives the defender the necessary base for the three-way break.
Any movement in a crossover or backpedal retreat after the quarterback sets up constitutes drift. A linebacker who is drifting cannot make a play on a throw unless the quarterback throws it in the direction of his drift. Drift eliminates the three-way break, and thus the coach
and player must eliminate drift. Figure 6.2 shows two linebackers who retreated on the threat of pass. B1 squared up when the quarterback stopped to throw. He will read the quarterback for his three-way break. B2 is still moving when the quarter- back sets up. Because he is drifting, he will not be able to break effectively on an inside or underneath throw.
Is drift ever permissible? Yes! We teach three specific times when it’s okay to drift.
• On third down and more than
15, we teach linebackers to leave the huddle calling “drift” to remind the undercoverage not to pull up with the quarterback. They cross over for depth, and when the quarterback sets up, they square up and drift in a backpedal. They do this to force the quarterback to throw the ball underneath them. But linebackers never drift deeper than the first-down marker (the “sticks”).
• As a rule, we teach our inside linebackers to drift when they get a drag route coming toward them. For most teams the drag is part of a high-low route, and we want to defend the deeper part of that route in the drop. Figure 6.3 shows one of football’s productive routes. The quarterback keys the linebacker (B1). If the linebacker jumps the drag, the quarterback throws over him to the wide receiver’s square-in. When the linebacker sees drag, he should drift to force the shorter throw to the tight end, which can be defended by an outside linebacker (B2).
• The third drift situation occurs with less than 30 seconds remaining in one of the halves. When the opponent cannot score with a completion of a shorter route, we tag the term deep to the coverage (e.g., cover 4 deep). This again alerts the undercoverage that when the quarterback sets, they are to continue to backpedal, getting under the intermediate routes. This forces the quarterback to throw too deep or to throw a dump-off to a short receiver who cannot advance the ball far enough in the time remaining (see figure 6.4).
FiguRe 6.2 B1 pulls up on QB and can
break to a, b, or c. B2 drifts in direction d only.
B1 B2 QB a b c d E6103/Tepper/fig6.2/482691/alw/r1-pulled
74 Drift E6103/Tepper/fig6.3/482692/alw/r1-pulled SS B B B
Drift Drift Drift
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FiguRe 6.3 B1 drifts on TE’s drag under SE’s square-in pattern.
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