The Carolina Panthers like to dictate the game with their
tenacious defense. The Panthers made it to the NFC Championship
game with their Zone Blitz defense.
The basic alignment of the zone blitz is a normal 4 -3 look.
The three linebackers start to creep up to the line of scrimmage
as the quarterback looks over the field. The offensive linemen
see seven players ready to rush the quarterback. There are only
five offensive linemen to block for the quarterback. This gives
the defense an advantage because the offense does not know which
players are going to blitz. As the two linebackers blitz in the
middle, the two tackles drop into pass coverage. They cover the
same area the linebackers would.
Back to plays.
Back to Defense.