Commanders Scheme Breakdown: The 5-1 Defensive Front

Breaking down the Commanders’ 5-1 defensive front, how it was used last year and what we might see from it going into this season.

One of the storylines of Washington Commanders training camp so far has been the dominance of the defense, especially the defensive line. The starting unit of Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Chase Young and Montez Sweat have reportedly been giving the starting offensive line a lot of issues which has at times meant the starting offense has had to play the second team defense in order to get their work in. 

One of the defensive packages that appears to be causing the most issues is the “Cinco” package, where the defense uses five defensive lineman, five defensive backs and just one linebacker in between them. This can also be referred to as a 5-1-5 package. The Commanders are deep along the defensive line and in the secondary while being a bit light at linebacker, so it makes sense that they would look to use this package. It’s one we saw them use regularly last season, in fact, but it appears to be for a different purpose this year. So how was the Cinco package used last year and what changes might we see from it this year? Let’s take a closer look. 

Last year, the Commanders used this Cinco package in games where they were struggling against the run, particularly against teams with a tendency towards zone style runs. With a more traditional 4-2-5 (four defensive lineman, two linebackers, five defensive backs) nickel package, zone runs can be very effective as the offensive line is able to generate double teams up front and get lineman to work up to the second level to block the linebackers. 

This is a good example of the issues that the Commanders sometimes had with their base nickel package when defending the run. The Lions call an inside zone run here against Washington’s 4-2 front. With only four defensive lineman, the Lions are able to generate multiple double teams up front. The right tackle and right guard combine to double up on Daron Payne while the center and left guard do the same to Jonathan Allen. The double teams help slow down the big threats of Allen and Payne initially, before a lineman from each double team then peels off and works up to the second level to pick up a linebacker. 

This results in a big hole right up the heart of the defense. Allen and Payne do their best to try and squeeze their blockers inside to try and close the hole, but they can’t quite get there in time. That means the defense is relying on the linebackers to make a play, but because of the alignment of the front, the Lions were able to get blockers up to both of them and take them out of the play. 

So to stop those double teams occurring up front, the Commanders subbed out a linebacker for an extra defensive lineman, giving them five defensive lineman up front.

As you can see from this clip, with five defensive lineman up on the line of scrimmage, it's much harder for the offensive line to generate those double teams up front. On top of that, it also becomes much harder for the lineman to get out and climb up to the second level to pick up linebackers and safeties in the box. From this clip we can see how the offensive line are all pinned to the line of scrimmage with the five defensive lineman preventing them from generating double teams or climbing up to the second level. This causes the offense two big issues. The first is that the likes of Payne and Allen get one-on-one matchups which is incredibly hard to block. The second is that the second level defenders are able to roam freely. 

As this play develops we can see how the Falcons are working a zone run to their right, but it's almost destined to fail before the ball is even snapped. John Ridgeway occupies the center, going under his block which forces him to turn and try to seal him off on the back side. Daron Payne works one-on-one against the right guard and holds his gap while James Smith-Williams holds the edge against the right tackle. This allows Kam Curl to work completely unaccounted for and he mirrors the running back’s path, meeting him in the backfield for a loss. 

This package was particularly effective as a response to teams running lots of zone scheme runs. However, it did have a few issues defending gap scheme runs. Zone scheme runs are about creating double teams and moving defenders horizontally to open vertical running lanes. Gap scheme runs are different. They focus on pinning defenders inside and pulling blockers to different parts of the line in order to create extra gaps. This requires linebackers to read and react quickly in order to fill the newly created gaps. When you have multiple linebackers, this is manageable, but when you’re running a 5-1 front with just one linebacker, it can become an issue.