The Jaguars' Hybrid Defense and the "OTTO" LB of Gus Bradley

[Sons Of Shula]

The Jacksonville Jaguars made a transition to a new-look hybrid defense in 2013, but it's going to evolve more in 2014 and beyond, which includes more "BEAR" front looks and the introduction of the "OTTO" linebacker.

Without getting into a whole spiel breaking down the defensive scheme, it's a marriage of some defensive philosophies pulling from both the traditional 3-4 and 4-3 fronts, as well as the old 46 "Bear" made popular by Buddy Ryan and the 1985 Chicago Bears. It's a throwback defense that has been adapted to the modern game and it's (the BEAR front) something the Jaguars are going to be running more of going forward as their roster continues to take shape.

History of the BEAR defense: The "BEAR" front, or 46 defense, in it's time was an innovative front designed to put pressure on the quarterback and confuse an opposing offense. Instead of the typical 4-3 alignment which has the defensive line evenly across the offensive line, typically over gaps, the 46 defense shifts the line to the weak side (the non-tight end side of the offense) with the interior lineman "covered" by the defensive lineman. By doing this, it put stress on blocking schemes that relied on movement, pulling and trapping. It also left the weak side defensive end off-set from the offensive line (the LEO, for this discussion), giving the defensive end a one-on-one match up on the offensive tackle as well as a lane to rush down in a straight line, rather than having to work all the way around the lineman.

The 46 defense was most popular in the 1980's, particularly by Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, as it shut down a team's rushing attack and force them into passing the football and being one-dimensional. The thought behind it was that if you can control what the offense is going to do and how they're going to attack, it's easier to defend. It also removed the effectiveness of the play-action pass, which at the time was a big chunk of a lot of team's offenses, because running the ball was not effective.

The 46 also utilized man-free coverage and bump and run on the outside, because it typically sent more than four defensive players after the quarterback or in the backfield on a given play. The corners needed to be able to hold up their end on the coverage as well as the free safety being able to play center field and pick up tight ends or assist the corners over the top if necessary, similar to what Gus Bradley did with the Seahawks and Jaguars in their base Cover-3 defensive look.

The typical 46 front look has the LEO end two-yards outside the weak side offensive tackle, the weak side tackle on the outside shoulder of the weak side guard, the nose tackle over the top of the center (a zero or shaded-one technique) and the strong side defensive end on the outside shoulder of the strong side guard or over the top of the strong side offensive tackle. The "JACK" linebacker lines up on the line of scrimmage on the outside shoulder of the in-line strong side tight end. The middle linebacker will be roughly four to five yards off the line of scrimmage over the nose tackle with the weak side linebacker over the tight end for coverage.

With the defensive backs, the two outside corners will typically line up either in press (bump and run) or roughly seven yards off the line of scrimmage in man-free coverage. The strong safety will walk into the box and end up roughly five yards off the line of scrimmage over the weak side offensive tackle while the free safety will be 10 to 15 yards off the line of scrimmage over the weak side guard (centerfield, if you will).

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be introducing a new position to their defense this season called the OTTO linebacker. While I doubt that it's entirely new position to the world of football, much like the LEO is a modified/renamed ELEPHANT end, it's something in the Jaguars lexicon we'll all need to be familiar with.

"OTTO is kind of going to be on the edge, we'd like to have some pass rush ability, in a pinch he could go down in a third-down situation to blitz him off the edge," Babich (said).

"It's something that's new to us, so formulating exactly what he's gonna be. But, it's gone really well and our guys have adjusted to it and our guys are excited about it," Babich continued. "He can be strong or weak and most of the time he's going to be on the line of scrimmage, standing up."

The OTTO position sounds similar to that of the JACK linebacker in the old 46 defense, where the linebacker is up on the line of scrimmage and will either rush the passer or buzz back in coverage.

Full article here: http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2014/5/22/5741638/explaining-46-defense-jaguars-otto-linebacker

 

[fishfanmiami]

Safety playing up to stop the run ? I know what should be open :)

 

[Sons Of Shula]

Very fascinating and innovative defensive design by Bradley. I haven't seen it in play this season, as I haven't watched any Jaguar games, but my first impression is that we hold the advantage vs this defense front.

Being that we are a Spread team, the defense must obviously cover our receivers which limits the amount of defenders that can be placed in the box. In our Spread zone read blocking assignments you generally don't worry extensively about over, under, or stack fronts; our offensive lineman will simply block five playside defenders and it's essentially an easy blocking scheme granted we can ID the point (aka middle man) in this hybrid defense. Verse a 6-man front, which we will most likely be seeing against Jacksonville, the QB is responsible for the 6th man. Tannehill will read and control that defender. He will not block him by any means, because of the obvious mismatch, but he will run with the ball if the defender attacks the RB and will eventually make the defender respect him and in turn will keep him out of the play. Now if we do see the Jags over loading the box, I expect us to exploit the matchups on the outside with LB's covering WR's, bootlegs, screens and who knows... maybe a deep ball or two.

That's just my initial reaction to the basic game planing I foresee this Sunday, but I imagine those with more knowledge than myself (Hooshoops, Datruth55, among many others) can offer better insight (or maybe dash my hypothesis altogether ).

 

[ShorePhin]

I always thought the solution to the 4-6 was hit the TE with slants and seam routes forcing the Off man (OTTO, JACK) defensive player to account for him and stop taking easy routes to the RB.

 

[JTC111]

I had a chance to see Jax using this, but on paper it sounds like Wallace should have a field day if RT can get the ball to him deep.

 

[Mudder1310]

It's also the sort of defense that needs first man tackling, especially on the outside. A bubble screen could go a long way if the blocking is good or the first tackler misses.

 

[BlueFin]

Whatever Jax is doing....it hasn't worked very well for them.

Run stopping is the only respectable phase of their game...and that's middle of the road. Cleveland lost Mack and had to shuffle their line.

Hoyer sucked.

We should have little problem scoring on this team...and I doubt they score much on us.

This looks like a real mismatch......42-10.

 

[Sons Of Shula]

The problems I see us facing vs the Jags defense this week are our lack of hot reads and audibles during pre snap reads. Tannehill must be able to identify whether a blitz is coming and throw the ball to the defenders vacated spot via hot read or be able to add protection with an audible (not sure if he's been given this privilege yet). However we should also be able to make the Jags D tip their hand in their initial look with motion.

Empty spread formations will force them out of their base front but will still leave a free rusher.

There should be mismatches with our RB's vs LB's granted they are not needed for pass protection vs heavier blitzes of 6 to 7 defenders and that Miller or Thomas will be able to exploit them with their pass catching abilities.

We should also have a lot of success with slants, shallow crossing routes and throwing underneath coverages or behind the LB's. YAC will be crucial but it's something we emphasis in our offense anyways.

Screens won't be as effective as I initially thought unless misdirection is in play.

The running game could be very effective in our zone reads if T-hill can identify his keys and the lineman can correctly identify their points and blocks and get past the first level.

With their CB's playing man and the SS up in the box the deep zones will not be covered and can be taken advantage of by looking off the FS.

 

[TheWalrus]

I watched the Game Rewind version of the Jags/Browns game and only saw the Jags in a bear front one time, against short yardage. That version doesn't show every play but I plan to watch the full version tomorrow or the next day. They might have used it more than that but mostly I saw them in 4 man fronts (though not all were standard 4-3 alignment. The "Seattle" defense employs a hybrid of single and two gapping players).

The 46 was a helluva innovation in it's day but it's really not used that much these days. The game is too open to consistently put that many men in the box, and the shift toward a shorter, controlled passing game, base 3WR sets (eliminating the fullback) and athletic tight ends have pretty much killed it as a standard defense. The athletic tight end bit is particularly important, because it was one of the keys to how the Dolphins beat the Bears in that 85 Bears game. The Dolphins came out in a 3WR set but lined up Nat Moore as a tight end -- baiting the Bears to go to the 46. That left Moore in man to man coverage on Wilbur Marshall, who was a good pass rusher but stiff in coverage and unable to cover him.

If you look at the first touchdown in that game you can see what I mean. Go to 27 seconds.
[video=youtube;JfCCGZFJpO8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfCCGZFJpO8[/video]

It's a quick cut but that's Moore lined up at tight end. Marshall is #58, he looks confused by the fact that Moore actually goes into a route, sort of feigns rushing Marino while Moore breaks a tackle and runs pretty much untouched into the endzone (I'm pretty sure it was a coverage bust, but that only goes to my point). Moore ended up with 75 yards and two touchdowns (the second of which also looks like it was on Marshall's coverage) in the game. Nat Moore's alignment, combined with Dwight Stephenson's ability to take on any interior Bears player by himself, Marino's quick release, and Buddy Ryan's stubborn refusal to go to the nickel is what led the Dolphins to blow out the Bears. That last bit was the cause of a near fistfight between Ryan and Ditka at halftime.

Because of the proliferation of the passing game, most teams have gone to a 4 man front. Even teams that use a base 3-4 -- like the 49ers, for example -- tend to switch to a four man front against the pass, since the smaller linemen of a four man front are generally going to be better pass rushers. One of the interesting innovations of the Seattle defense is that they've chosen sort of a middle approach, which is to crowd the box with small players (compare that to the huge players in the Bears front).

But really what makes Seattle's defense work is the secondary, especially Earl Thomas. His ability to go sideline to sideline allows the Seattle corners to play very aggressively, and allows Kam Chancellor to play a position similar to the "rover" he played at Virginia Tech. If there's one indispensable man to Seattle's defense, it's Thomas.

The Jags don't have those kinds of players. They have Jonathan Cyprien playing Kam Chancellor's position. I like Cyprien a lot -- he's very instinctive. But he's been out for a lot of the year with a concussion. They seem to think they have something with a corner I hated coming out of college -- Dwayne Gratz. He's super aggressive in coverage but plays with zero awareness. Or at least that was my read, but he's in line with what they want from a body type and physicality perspective. Their defensive line is a good mix of veterans who are good fits for the Seattle defense (Ziggy Hood) or guys who have been in it before (Red Bryant, Chris Clemons), as well as former second round pick in Andre Branch who has three sacks this year.

But really they're missing guys. Paul Posluzny wasn't Bobby Wagner even when healthy, and now he's gone for the year. They don't have an Earl Thomas. They're really thin at linebacker (this Telvin Smith guy who's out there starting looks like he's about 210 pounds). They don't have enough "win" pass rushers.

They're a ways off still. It should be an interesting test for our offensive line. Wouldn't shock me to see Tannehill get sacked another three or four times. Then again, it never shocks me when Tannehill gets sacked.

 

[jlfin]

Wilbur Marshall, Mike Singletary, Dan Hampton, Richard Dent etc etc.
The Jags don't have the talent to run that defense.

 

[Sons Of Shula]

I watched the Game Rewind version of the Jags/Browns game and only saw the Jags in a bear front one time, against short yardage. That version doesn't show every play but I plan to watch the full version tomorrow or the next day. They might have used it more than that but mostly I saw them in 4 man fronts (though not all were standard 4-3 alignment. The "Seattle" defense employs a hybrid of single and two gapping players).

The 46 was a helluva innovation in it's day but it's really not used that much these days. The game is too open to consistently put that many men in the box, and the shift toward a shorter, controlled passing game, base 3WR sets (eliminating the fullback) and athletic tight ends have pretty much killed it as a standard defense. The athletic tight end bit is particularly important, because it was one of the keys to how the Dolphins beat the Bears in that 85 Bears game. The Dolphins came out in a 3WR set but lined up Nat Moore as a tight end -- baiting the Bears to go to the 46. That left Moore in man to man coverage on Wilbur Marshall, who was a good pass rusher but stiff in coverage and unable to cover him.

If you look at the first touchdown in that game you can see what I mean. Go to 27 seconds.
[video=youtube;JfCCGZFJpO8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfCCGZFJpO8[/video]

It's a quick cut but that's Moore lined up at tight end. Marshall is #58, he looks confused by the fact that Moore actually goes into a route, sort of feigns rushing Marino while Moore breaks a tackle and runs pretty much untouched into the endzone (I'm pretty sure it was a coverage bust, but that only goes to my point). Moore ended up with 75 yards and two touchdowns (the second of which also looks like it was on Marshall's coverage) in the game. Nat Moore's alignment, combined with Dwight Stephenson's ability to take on any interior Bears player by himself, Marino's quick release, and Buddy Ryan's stubborn refusal to go to the nickel is what led the Dolphins to blow out the Bears. That last bit was the cause of a near fistfight between Ryan and Ditka at halftime.

Because of the proliferation of the passing game, most teams have gone to a 4 man front. Even teams that use a base 3-4 -- like the 49ers, for example -- tend to switch to a four man front against the pass, since the smaller linemen of a four man front are generally going to be better pass rushers. One of the interesting innovations of the Seattle defense is that they've chosen sort of a middle approach, which is to crowd the box with small players (compare that to the huge players in the Bears front).

But really what makes Seattle's defense work is the secondary, especially Earl Thomas. His ability to go sideline to sideline allows the Seattle corners to play very aggressively, and allows Kam Chancellor to play a position similar to the "rover" he played at Virginia Tech. If there's one indispensable man to Seattle's defense, it's Thomas.

The Jags don't have those kinds of players. They have Jonathan Cyprien playing Kam Chancellor's position. I like Cyprien a lot -- he's very instinctive. But he's been out for a lot of the year with a concussion. They seem to think they have something with a corner I hated coming out of college -- Dwayne Gratz. He's super aggressive in coverage but plays with zero awareness. Or at least that was my read, but he's in line with what they want from a body type and physicality perspective. Their defensive line is a good mix of veterans who are good fits for the Seattle defense (Ziggy Hood) or guys who have been in it before (Red Bryant, Chris Clemons), as well as former second round pick in Andre Branch who has three sacks this year.

But really they're missing guys. Paul Posluzny wasn't Bobby Wagner even when healthy, and now he's gone for the year. They don't have an Earl Thomas. They're really thin at linebacker (this Telvin Smith guy who's out there starting looks like he's about 210 pounds). They don't have enough "win" pass rushers.

They're a ways off still. It should be an interesting test for our offensive line. Wouldn't shock me to see Tannehill get sacked another three or four times. Then again, it never shocks me when Tannehill gets sacked.

Great post. Thanks. And sorry for the temporary short response here, but I'm out and about for the meantime.

 

[Hayden Fox]

Gus Bradley is an excellent coach and seems to be innovative.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Gus Bradley is an excellent coach and seems to be innovative.

Jags fans don't seem to think so.

 

[Phinatic8u]

Gus is a good coach.

Having lived in Jacksonville, the fans are usually idiots. Not many knowledgeable people roaming in Jville

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Gus is a good coach.

Having lived in Jacksonville, the fans are usually idiots. Not many knowledgeable people roaming in Jville

I went on a Jags message board and it's pretty stunning how out of touch they are. They think Jacksonville is going to win by 2 scores and put like 25+ points on the board.