(New) What They Do Smash Concept: Part III

In Part II of the Smash Concept series we discussed how offenses adjusted to the smothering principles of the Cover 2 that took away the short throws to the WRs in the smash concept.  That adjustment involved running #1 on the corner route and taking #2 and running him to the flat.  Once this began to have success,  the next move was on the defense and it led to the formation of a Cover 2 adjustment called Tampa 2.

Just to reflect on what offenses started to do with their smash concept,  I have included the play design below that started to attack the weak areas of Cover 2 and put defenses in a bind

This route combination put the cornerback in a bind because his job is to jump any route by #2 to the flat.  Meanwhile,  the WR lined up in front of him went inside and then back outside behind him.  Safeties who were taught to get depth on the hash were often slow getting to the corner route and offenses were getting chunk yards off of those completions.

To adjust to this concept and others similar to it,  defenses made a tweak that was brought to prominence by Tony Dungy’s Tampa Bay Buccaneer defenses known as the Tampa 2 (see diagram below).  In the Tampa 2,  safeties weaved off of the hash relatively quickly after the snap to guard against the deep routes by #1 including the corner route that was having success.  To compensate for what would then be a massive opening in the middle of the field,  the middle linebacker would “run the middle” to take away any line drive throws to the post area of the football field.

There’s no doubt the Tampa 2 defense was a killer for offenses.  The Buccaneer defenses under Dungy,  compiled four fierce pass rushers and turned them loose on quarterbacks while the back seven corralled WRs into small windows that quarterbacks were not too eager to throw to.  The result was a lot of QBs taking hits early in games which led to easy interceptions later in games as they no longer wished to take the abuse.

A solution to this problem was needed and offenses eventually found it.  Enter the diverse running back.  Back in the day,  running backs toted the ball for 30 carries a game and their involvement with the passing game came via catching the occasional screen or swing pass.  Most RBs weren’t built to do much else.  Only the San Francisco 49ers in the 80’s used their RBs heavily in their passing games.  However,  the way they used RBs in the passing game would have a limited effect against the Tampa and Cover 2 defenses being run.

The St. Louis Rams in the 2000’s discovered that pairing a versatile RB with nice route runners could do wonders to beat the Tampa 2 defenses that were becoming popular.  After acquiring Marshall Faulk from the Indianapolis Colts,  the Rams unleashed Falk out of the backfield and upon linebacking crews that were ill equipped to deal with him.  Most notably,  middle linebackers tasked with running the middle of the field,  suddenly had to slow their roll because RBs were coming through and around the line of scrimmage to catch short passes.  Backs like Faulk would take those short passes and turn them into a highlight reel to the end zone.

Below is a diagram of how offenses were using their RBs to attack the principles of Tampa 2 in conjunction with their Smash Concept.

The use of the back started to have more and more success vs. the Tampa 2.  When defenses tried to counter with nickel and dime personnel,  the offenses would run the football against a soft front seven.  Another way to exploit the defense was by either moving the RB out to WR or replacing the RB with a WR and having a 5 wide WR set.

These adjustments, over time,  pushed the Tampa 2 and 4-3 Cover 2 defenses out of favor as defenses had to go back to mixing coverages more and running less Cover 2.  As the offenses continued moving to spread out the field with 5 wide receivers,  coverages like Cover 4 became more popular and eventually turned into the primary coverages for teams like the Miami Dolphins in the mid to late 2000’s.  While Miami did not enjoy a ton of overall success,  their defenses were quite formidable during this era due in large part to their quarters coverage principles.

There you have it,  a breakdown of the Smash Concept and how it affected defenses with it’s adjustments over the years.  If you have any questions about this post or the member’s area,  feel free to reach me via email at: cwilson@alleyesdbcamp.com

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alleyesdbcamp

Owner at All Eyes DB Camp

Chad Wilson is the founder of All Eyes DB Camp and a former standout defensive back for the Miami Hurricanes. After an elite collegiate career, Wilson spent a season with the Seattle Seahawks before transitioning into coaching. A 3-time Florida state champion defensive coordinator, he has spent over 20 years developing the "All Eyes" blueprint that has produced NFL All-Pros and stars like Xavien Howard, Patrick Surtain II, Tyson Campbell, Minkah Fitzpatrick and more. His coaching system is proven at the highest levels—his own sons, Quincy and Marco Wilson, both excelled as starters in the SEC before being drafted into the NFL.

Chad is the author of "101 DB Tips"—The Ultimate DB Reference Guide. You can find more information on the manual and how to order your copy in the sidebar and footer of this page.

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