Yes I know, I’ve already posted another scheme based around Pittsburgh’s iconic defense but Chuck Noll’s Steel Curtain and Dick LeBeau’s Blitzburgh are day and night different and it would be hard to argue either doesn’t deserve a scheme page here.

In fact, between these two defensive schemes nearly every player’s style is covered. If you’re the “bend don’t break” style of player the Steel Curtain is for you, and if you like high-octane pressure defense then this Blitzburgh scheme is going to leave you giddy.

The beauty in this scheme is that unlike the Steel Curtain scheme which depends on having a lot of players of specific types in key positions, this scheme centers around just the linebackers. Of course you want the best players possible in all positions, but this scheme is one that is designed to make good players look like great players.

That was true in real life and it’s also true when the scheme is applied in Maximum Football too.

The core philosophy that Bill Cowher, Dom Capers, and Dick LeBeau worked from in the early 1990’s when offenses were spreading the field and transitioning to a more pass-heavy style of football was “safe pressure and chaos”. Of course, it was controlled chaos, but the idea was simple, keep the pressure dialed up and confuse offenses and quarterbacks into making bad decisions and throws; but do it safely.

By “safe pressure” that meant not blitzing with man coverage behind it, which leaves the defense vulnerable to big plays if just a single defender takes a bad step, but rather blitzing with zone coverage behind it, with defenders keeping everything in front of them so that even when the quarterback does complete a pass defenders are swarming to him from all around. Blitz without risk of giving up big plays.

And by “chaos” it meant never let your opponent key in on who is blitzing. Linebackers, safeties, nicklebacks, and even cornerbacks might be coming on every single play.

The Blitzburgh philosophy had modest beginnings in 1992 when Coach Cowher hired Dom Capers as Defensive Coordinator, Marvin Lewis as the Linebackers coach, and Dick LeBeau as the Defensive Backs coach, but it wasn’t really unleashed until 1994 when Capers left to become Head Coach of the Carolina Panthers and Dick LeBeau was promoted to Defensive Coordinator.

The zone blitzing idea had really come from LeBeau’s mind, based on experience from his playing days with the Lions when out of boredom because their opponent hadn’t thrown in his direction all game, LeBeau’s teammate Night-Train Lane told him before a play “cover my guy, I’m gonna blitz the quarterback”.

That planted a seed with LeBeau which took root and many years later grew into LeBeau’s Fire Zone defense, Blitzburgh.

The core of this scheme is fairly simple, rush 5 defenders nearly every play with a Cover 3 shell (A 3-3 shell with 3 deep and 3 underneath zones) behind them, then clamp down in the red zone by sending 5 or even 6 rushers playing Man coverage behind them. The idea being in the red zone there’s less “down field” area so less chance for a blown coverage to hurt you. At times, even dropping linemen into underneath zones while rushing an extra linebacker or safety in their place. Again, it’s controlled chaos.

You’ll have 3 deep zones and 3 underneath zones of coverage with a 5 man rush providing high pressure on the quarterback to get rid of the ball fast. Since your 5 rushers can be anybody, coming from anywhere on the field, the chance for a quarterback to make a bad throw or pick a bad hot read off the snap goes way up, leading to lots of broken plays and opportunities for interceptions.

IMPORTANT: This is not intended as a cheese tactic that exploits game glitches in any way. This isn’t about manipulating or disengaging blockers at all or any of that toxic nonsense that goes on in “some” online games. It’s simply a high-pressure defense that will test and maybe frustrate your opponents using the base plays and hot routing provided in the game, with none of it designed to do anything other than what it does in real life, which is to confuse and overload blocking schemes. If you use glitches or tactics to manipulate offensive blocking, shame on you!

Personnel matching in Maximum Football for running the Blitzburgh defense:
NT (DT#1): You want a big body run stopper here. Running the 3-4 formation invites opponents to try running up the middle so this player needs to anchor the line against the run.
DE (DE #1 & #2): Agile pass rushers. Now and then these players will be dropping off the snap to cover an underneath zone, so agility and being athletic is a plus, but most of the time they’re going to be speed rushing the quarterback so being pass rusher archetypes is preferred.

MLB #1 & both OLB’s: Balanced archetypes work best, but Coverage archetypes are ok too. Basically these 3 players will always be either pass rushing or dropping into coverage. Typically Balanced archetype players will have fair numbers for both zone coverage and block shedding so makes that the best choice. Speed is the key here, speed for pass rushing and speed for covering lots of grass in those underneath zones.
MLB #2: Run Stopper archetype. This is your Nose Tackle’s support against the run up the middle and when not stopping the run he’ll usually be rushing the quarterback as well so the abilities of the Run Stopper archetype is the best fit here, with the best block shedding rating you can get as a bonus. A Balanced archetype can work too, and even benefit as sometimes this player will be in coverage too, but I’d highly suggest avoiding the Coverage archetype in this one spot just because most of his time will be spent stuffing the run or rushing the passer.

Safeties: Speed. The archetype doesn’t matter here as long as they have fair zone coverage numbers and are fast. Most of their time is going to be spent covering a third of the field deep so you want them to be skilled in zone coverage and have the speed to close on receivers when the ball is in the air.
Cornerbacks: Zone Coverage or Balanced archetypes with speed. Same as the safeties above they’ll spend most of their time in coverage with a third of the field to protect so being skilled in zone coverage and having high speed is what you want. That speed will also help on plays where you send a CB on the blitz too.

Defensive Playbook to use:
The 3-4 Zone Defesne playbook has the perfect mix of plays for this scheme.

Favorite plays: (recommended to add to favorites at game start)
3-4 base and 3-3 Nickel formations:

Cover 2 Zone Blitz Weak: This play is already a Fire Zone Blitz as-is, but it’s got a Cover 2 shell over the top, so the one adjustment needed here is to put your MLB (NB if in 3-3 Nickel formation) who’s on a Hook zone into a Deep Zone giving you the desired 3 deep and 3 underneath coverage.

Cover 3 Shift Zone:

• Setup #1: Blitz the safety who’s on a Flat zone coverage in the 3-4 base formation, in the 3-3 Nickel formation blitz the same safety and the OLB on the same side. This is an overload fire blitz in both formations bringing the linebacker on the rush, hopefully occupying the blocker while the speedy safety comes in behind him untouched.
• Setup #2: Blitz either middle linebacker in the 3-4 base, and blitz any 2 linebackers in the 3-3 Nickel formation.
• Setup #3: Blitz the OLB who’s in a Flat zone coverage in the 3-4 base formation, or blitz the NB and the opposite side OLB in the 3-3 Nickel formation. This is a “bookends” blitz bringing the pressure from the outsides.
• NOTE: It’s situational of course, but typically you want to always shade your coverage to the outside with all of these blitzes.

Cover 2 Zone Blitz Strong: Like the Cover 2 Zone Blitz Weak above, this play works as-is but you need to put the MLB (NB if in 3-3 Nickel formation) who’s in a Hook zone into a Deep Zone to get the 3-3 coverage look.

Cover 3 Slide:

• Setup #1: Blitz the CB that is in the Flat Zone coverage (or on the Nickleback side if in the 3-3 Nickel formation).
• Setup #2: Blitz either middle linebacker.
• Setup #3: Blitz strong side OLB in the 3-4 base formation, or blitz the NB in the 3-3 Nickel formation and put the NB side linebacker on a Deep Zone assignment.
• NOTE: It’s situational of course, but typically you want to always shade your coverage to the outside with all of these blitzes.

Cover 0 Loop Blitz (RED ZONE ONLY): This is a 6 man blitz leaving 5 men in Man-to-Man coverages. You can run it as-is sometimes, but the preferred way to run it is to put one of the blitzing LB’s (generally the weak/NB side LB) onto a Deep Zone coverage assignment, giving it a Cover 1 look that protects the middle of the field while still bringing a 5 man rush on the passer.

Cover 1 Combo Drop Blitz: Run it as-is. This is a 4 Man coverage blitz that targets the run, meaning it’s going to leave 1 guy (typically the RB) uncovered if he runs a route. It’s a risk/reward defense that’s very strong against the run in the red zone and when your opponent does pass, thankfully gets to the quarterback quickly. Still, it is vulnerable to quick routes to the RB in passing plays, however does have zone coverage underneath to minimize the damage when your opponent strikes fast.

Concepts for the scheme:

All downs:
This is a very basic scheme with the core concept being “send 5 pass rushers every play, from everywhere”. The zone coverages defend against giving up the big plays that Man coverage is susceptible to while also defending the run well.

Now and again throw your opponent off by not blitzing by running either the Cover 3 Shift Zone or the Cover 3 Slide and taking the rushing linebacker off his rush by either controlling him yourself or putting him into a Hook zone, meaning you’ll only be rushing 3 linemen for the play and giving yourself 5 in underneath coverage with 3 over the top. Optionally you can put that rushing linebacker into a Deep Zone instead, turning your coverage into a 4-4 shell (4 deep and 4 underneath). Turning the blitz off for a play, especially in 3rd/4th and long situations to blanket the field when your opponent is expecting you to be blitzing can throw their timing off from the snap and lead to interception opportunities.

In the red zone switch to the 2 Man coverage plays, there’s less field and chance to give up a big play in coverage here and both of the plays are strong against the run.

2 Minute Drills and Prevent Situations:
This is situational depending on the score and game circumstances, but in general the same plays work well but it’s fine to blitz less, dropping blitzers into extra zone coverage as long as your front 3 linemen can still provide a fair rush and contain the quarterback.

Final Thoughts:

This is a fun scheme to run, especially if you’re the impatient type and want to fluster opponents who never know where the pressure will be coming from. It’s also good when facing players with mobile quarterbacks if you keep steady pressure on the outside.

A strong opponent can stay in the pocket and dink-n-dunk your underneath zones down the field with quick passes to hot reads, but you’ll clamp down on that in the red zone when you switch to the man coverages making this a very frustrating defense to play against.

Let me know how well you do with it if you implement it in your game!

This video from the Steelers tells the story of this scheme and it’s a fun watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq4N2QMvf_8