Zone Blitzing Out of the 4-3 Defense – Various combinations of zone blitzes and their disguises can be effective against any offense.

Zone blitzing has been around for a number of years. This scheme has evolved with the different offenses we see today. You may bring multiple backers, drop ends into coverage, play different coverages behind the blitz, and twist defensive linemen within the zone blitz, but the bottom line is that zone blitzing allows the defense to apply pressure in the run and pass game without having to play man coverage.

A major part of a successful zone blitz package is disguise. We spend a lot of time disguising our coverage. Our pre-snap look should be the same no matter what the call. Dummy counts can affect your disguise. Simulating dummy counts during practice is helpful in preparing for them. Our base alignment is shown in Diagram 1.