Thread: Matt Bowen on the Bears Defensive Strategies................

Bears can turn back 'flood' in red zone

Defense must force Eagles underneath coverage in front of goal line
Matt Bowen Scouting the Bears 5:08 p.m. CDT, November 5, 2011


Open up Andy Reid's playbook and you will find multiple inside breaking routes that work back to the middle of the field. That makes for short, compact throws for quarterback Michael Vick that challenge the discipline of zone coverage. On Monday night, the Bears will see Reid's "Hi-Lo" concepts inside the red zone to target their Cover-2 defense.

In this diagram, the Eagles have regular personnel (two wide receivers, one tight end, two running backs) on the field against the Bears' base 4-3 front with their two-deep shell in the secondary. The Eagles will send four receivers strong in the "Hi-Lo Triple-In Flood" to work the underneath coverage.

Positional breakdown

Cover-2 in red zone

Cover-2 (three deep, five under) becomes "Red 2" inside of the 10-yard line. Both CBs, Charles Tillman and Tim Jennings, will play with a "soft squat" technique (no-jam, sink hard at the snap) to create a five-deep, two-under shell to protect the goal line. The aim is to force the ball underneath, restrict throwing lanes and take away any targets in the end zone.

Formation, pre-snap movement

The Eagles want to create a "bunch" formation (three receivers close together). With the fullback (F) aligned in a "Strong I," they will send wide receiver DeSean Jackson (Z) on short, divide-motion to the core of the formation. Now the Eagles have three receivers (Z,Y,F) aligned in a bunch that will allow a free release at the line of scrimmage and the option of running underneath crossing routes.

Route scheme

"Hi-Lo Triple-In Flood" is a concept Reid has been running for more than a decade — out of multiple alignments. Here, with regular personnel on the field, tight end Brent Celek (Y) will run the intermediate dig route (square-in) with Jackson (Z) on the underneath crosser. The fullback (F) stems his release to the flat and breaks back on the "angle" route with the tailback, LeSean McCoy (R), running the "swing" concept (or "flood"). Based on the formation alignment, the Eagles have just created a four-strong look to overload the Bears' Cover-2 defense.

Defense strategy

The Bears will try to take away the route concepts from a deep to short perspective. Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher (M) will mirror the inside vertical release of Celek and drive back to take away the dig route. Weak-side linebacker Lance Briggs (W) will drop and react to Jackson on the underneath crosser with strong-side linebacker Nick Roach (S) accounting for the fullback on the angle route. They want to force the ball to go to McCoy on the swing route and rally to make the tackle in the open field.

Don't forget about Vick

With any route concept the Eagles use inside of the red zone, there still exists the possibility of Vick breaking containment and running. Both defensive ends, Julius Peppers (RE) and Israel Idonije (LE) must rush with contain principles and force Vick to stay in the pocket. If the Bears allow the unique Vick to escape the pocket, the coverage will break down.

Special contributor Matt Bowen, who played at Glenbard West and Iowa, spent seven seasons in the NFL as a strong safety. You also can find his work at nationalfootballpost.com.

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