Disguising Nickel Firezone

Nice disguised zone dog from the Tennessee Titans. The Titans are in a sub personnel with  2 DL, 3 LB, and 6 DB bodies.

The Rush:

Nickel off the edge with the two DL going up and under. The LB is working across the center to balance the pass rush. The weak side LB is the contain rusher.

The Coverage:

3 under 3 deep firezone with the safeties rotating at the snap. The weak side corner is play a tight aggressive technique on the single WR side.

The pre-snap presentation shows the Nickel as a none blitz threat. With the weak side safety down and a safety in the post the initial sight picture is there will be no roll down safety to replace the Nickel if he pressures.

The Titans do a nice job holding the pressure and rolling the safety late to the strong side seam and using the weak side safety to run out to become the post player. Having a DB body mugged up in the weak side A gap but still having the speed and athleticism to get to  the 3 drop is a big piece to making this call successful. The presence of 6 rush threats at the LOS holds the OL inside and prevents an OL from pass setting out to the Nickel off the edge. The RB does a great job in protection scanning from weak to strong to have a chance to pick up the blitz. The Nickel does an even better job winning the one on one vs. the scanning RB. Good pressure design, disguise, and execution from the Titans and defensive coordinator Dean Pees.