Breaking Half Slide Protection

One tired and true plan to beat half slide protection is to cover up all the OL. Half slide is half slide (zone) and half man technique. The rules of half slide protection define which OL are sliding and those who are in man. Often the rule is the first uncovered OL starts the slide. If you cover all the OL up you naturally break the slide by forcing all the OL to be in man. Got them in man now what? Twisting pass rushers is one good way to attack OL in man protection. Virginia Tech is rushing 5 from an odd front dime personnel.

The Rush:
Ends contain
The LB's and Nose work a 3 man twist game

The Coverage:
Cover 1

The OL identifies the twist and works to pass it all off. Out of 5 games of 1 on 1 VT was expecting to win at least one. In this case both the ILBs in the pressure use speed and athleticism to win their match-ups. Good stuff from Bud Foster and the Hokies. This pressure is very similar to a pressure Georgia ran which was featured previously. 

This pressure shows up on film for many defenses. This type of concept also shows up in the '85 Bears playbook from Buddy Ryan. 

Buddy Ryan was building bear front concepts in multiple ways. Out of the 4-3, blitz the Mike and twist with the two DTs and you have the same bear front stunt. Virginia Tech was instead using two ILBs and a Nose to build the Bear front. This blitz concept isn't new but it is still highly effective.