The 33 Stack

Quarantine has definitely given time to experiment and learn about different styles of defense. One of the most interesting defenses to me is the 33 stack. What I like about it is the ability to bring multiple disguised blitzes and the two built-in overhang force players. Not having to worry about having one of your box players to be your force allows you to get creative in your fronts, stunts, and blitzes. I am not an expert on the 3-3, but I wanted to do some research and share some of my ideas.

I think cover 1 and 0 pairs best with the 3-3 defense. I feel like this allows you to stay ultra-aggressive with your box players. I have diagramed how I would run cover 1 out of the 33 below. I love cover 1 because it combines the best of the zone, having at least one high safety, with the best of man, being able to walk up your DBs, and being aggressive with them. I also like the simplicity of cover 1, you know your assignment and there is no changing it, as opposed to other over-complicated zone coverage schemes. My corners have #1s, my strong safety and spur will cover #2s. I would assign one of my OLB to a #3 out of the backfield, peel if he is even, or lock him down if he is to your side. The coverage overrides the blitz, so if I have a blitz on and #3 goes, then we have to peel to him. In the case that a team comes out in or motions into a trips look we are locked down. I would not do the traditional roll like usual single-high safety teams, we would just have our guy run with him. If #3 motions out to make empty then the LB has to come out and cover him. You could also easily run cover 0, there is no extra help over top, but it allows you to add another man to the box that has no pass responsibilities.


One of the big things that I like about the 3-3 is the two built-in force players against the run. Because of the spur and the strong being the force, it opens up different things for the box. You alleviate a lot of the things that slow down the aggressiveness of d-linemen. Having the two outside forces allows you to be ultra-aggressive with stunts and blitzes. All twists, which are my favorite, and other stunts are on because of the line not having to be force players. They still have to be gap sound, especially with only 3 down guys. The nose will be the only down guy who is responsible for two gaps, all other box players will be single gap players to cover the 6-7 gaps. All blitzes are on for the linebackers, except for the peels that I mentioned before. Stunts can be paired with blitzes, the d-line and linebackers should always relate to one another. So, for example, if I call a twist to where my nose goes B gap and my tackle goes A gap, I can send the will off the edge to get more weak side pressure. I can also send the Mike strong side A hopes that the center sets strong to the weak side A to pick up the twist, I would also have the tackle strong side take the B gap to hopefully pull the guard over some to open up the A gap, I diagrammed this below. Things can get really dynamic in the box when you have two built-in force players.


The last thing that I want to mention that I really like about the 3-3, especially out of cover 1 is switches. I feel like switches allow the defense to be even more dynamic with pressures and hit the offense where they do not expect it. Offenses have calls for picking up pressures from the box, but it changes when that pressure is coming from outside of the box. It is a tall order to ask a tackle to pick up a blitzing DB. Anything that the defense can do to mess up the normal rules of the offense and makes them second guess is a win for us. It is not hard to run switches if you have hybrid type OLBs. The easiest switch pressure to run is to assign the OLB to the #2 and have the spur or strong blitz off of the edge. If you have a hybrid type player he should be able to run with the #2, the QB will hopefully not have a lot of time due to the pressure. Other switches, like sending the corner and putting the spur on #1 and the will on #2.

The 3-3 is new to me, but I really like it as a base defense. The most important thing to me is being sure that we are covering our gaps and being solid against the run. I love how aggressive the defense allows teams to be with its box players if they have athletic enough kids of course. I am FAR from an expert, so, 3-3 coaches, if you have any resources, tips, or criticisms let me know. I am in this to learn and get better!

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