Super Blitz; Nickel Strong Sugar 3 Seam

This is an awesome blitz out of my favorite defensive formation this season, Nickel Strong. It can be found in a couple of playbooks, but I run it out of Cover 2 and the Detroit Lions usually. It is the Sugar 3 Seam. And it is my favorite play in the game.

Before I go on, remember: everything I am posting here is completely legal to use in this league. I don't know, nor would I ever post, "nano" blitzes or anything that is, for lack of a better word, cheating. This play can easily be negated by slide protection or blocking.

This is an awesome play. It is versatile and offers decent coverage downfield. More importantly, this blitz will get two pass rushers off the edge as it sends 6 guys...essentially it is an overload, where you are going to be rushing more than they're blocking with. Just like any play that rushes 6 defenders, you are going to be weak in your secondary. The pass rush should make up for it as the player probably won't know what hit him until he is sandwiched between your DE and your safety.

Nickel Strong Sugar 3 Seam


This play only needs 2-3 adjustments, depending on how much pressure you want to send.

Before each you want to:
Base align (Up on d-pad, right on d-pad). This will line the players up as they look in the image, instead of lining up based on the offense. This will assure even if your opponent lines up with some wide guys your defenders aren't spread around covering them.
Shift linebackers right(Right bumper, then right on d-pad) This will put the right linebacker on the outside which is key to him coming around the defensive line.

After this adjustments the play should look like this:


You can run this if you want as is. It will send 5 guys in, and sometimes that nickelback can sneak in around a slower, dumber line. But if you make one small adjustment, you are guaranteed to get two pass rushers in unless they leave guys home to block.

Take the LE [5] and blitz him (X then down on right joystick). You now have 6 guys rushing in, and both the nickelback [2] and the LB [4] have really good angles to rush the quarterback. Hell, sometimes they'll need to block 2 just to keep them out, especially if you have speedy guys rushing.

The players in coverage you can adjust as you need. You are going to be very weak in the flats, as well as to slants. But if you send this once or twice and you think your opponent is going to catch on to it, switch up the zones to hopefully catch them off guard. Two adjustments I like to make are to put the CBs [6,1] in flat zones to catch them when they think they're safe throwing short. Also I will put everyone in yellow zones [1 8 7 6]. This leaves you weak to lobbed streaks, but with how effective the blitz is, and as long as you're using this play sparingly, they should be sacked before they can see this weakness.

So to recap, the adjustments for what I think is the nastiest blitz in the game:

Base align
SHift LB right
Blitz the LE

Try it out against the computer, in practice mode, or the next game. It will really frustrate your opponent how fast the players can get around the edge. Just remember that it can be easily stopped by blocking extra guys.

Let me know what you think