Playoff Preview: Buccaneers pressure packages

Previewing the Bucs pressure packages ahead of the Commanders playoff matchup against Tampa Bay

Having previewed the Buccaneers offense the past few days, breaking down their run game and their passing game, it’s time to turn attention to the Bucs defense. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is known for being one of the most aggressive defensive coordinators in the NFL with how much he blitzes. They won’t always blitz on first down, but as soon as an offense gets behind the chains, all bets are off and just about any player could join the rush at any given time.

The biggest question facing the Commanders offense in this game is how they can handle the Bucs pressure packages. Staying ahead of the chains can help but we’ve seen the offense have some poor runs and penalties that get them backed up, which is when the Bucs will go into attack mode. Being able to identify and pick up the various blitz schemes the Bucs will throw at them will go a long way to determining the outcome of the game. So what kind of blitzes can the Commanders expect from Tampa Bay? The short answer is anything and everything, but let’s take a closer look at a few examples.

Here we have an example of a fire zone blitz from the Bucs. Offenses are often taught to associate blitzes with man coverage behind it, and the Bucs certainly do plenty of that, but a nice change up that the Bucs will mix in are these fire zones. Fire zones are a five-man blitz with six defenders dropping into zone coverage behind it. The five rushers can come from anywhere and the six zone defenders can come from anywhere, but typically the coverage defenders drop into a three-deep, three-under zone scheme.

That’s what we see from the Bucs here, but the advantage of these schemes is that every role is interchangeable, making it tough to diagnose pre-snap. On this occasion, the Bucs have a safety and linebacker blitz while the other linebacker and a defensive end drop off into coverage. You can see the three-deep, three-under zone coverage while still getting an overload blitz to the left side of the offense. From the end zone replay angle, you can see how hard this is for the offense to pick up. The defensive tackles stunt to occupy specific blockers and open up lanes for the blitzers coming behind them.

The running back and left guard get their assignments mixed up in the chaos of the blitz. The back initially steps up to match the linebacker inside while the guard fans out to the blitzing safety. But as the play develops, the guard realizes it’s a safety outside and a linebacker inside, so he tries to work back inside to pick up the linebacker while the back then adjusts off him to get the safety. In the end, neither are able to sustain blocks and both the linebacker and safety get through for a sack.

Part of what makes the Bucs blitz packages so difficult is that it’s not just about having the bodies to pick them up, but it’s managing the stunts they add on top of the extra rushers.

This play against the Chargers is a great example of how effective the Bucs stunts are when added to their blitz packages. The Bucs are rushing five here, with the linebacker joining the rush while the edge defender drops back into coverage to replace the linebacker. The Bucs know that with a linebacker blitzing, the offense will typically respond by having the running back stay in to pass protect, so they look to throw a stunt in to make that even harder for the protection scheme.

The blitzing linebacker could just charge into the A gap at the snap and force the running back to pick him up, but instead he charges into the shoulder of the right guard. The back is focused purely on the linebacker and trying to block him, not thinking about the possibility of a stunt. So when the linebacker crashes into the guard, the back continues trying to block him. That enables a defensive lineman to loop around the linebacker and work inside. He bursts through the line of scrimmage freely and closes quickly on the quarterback for a big pressure that causes him to miss his throw.

So not only will the Bucs commit extra bodies to the rush, they will add in layers of stunts to mess with various pass protection rules and make things even harder on the pass protection unit. If you have a weak link, you can bet they will target it. So the Commanders will need all five offensive lineman at their best, but also all the running backs to be on top of their game with pass protection.

One trend I did notice when studying the Bucs was they loved to check into blitzes against empty sets. Many teams like to motion to an empty formation to spread out the defense and try and force them into a basic look, making things easier for the quarterback. The Commanders like to do this a lot. But the Bucs refuse to be dictated to in that manner, so often when a team motions to empty, they will check into a blitz instead.