Gus Glossary: Breaking Down the Roles at Edge Rusher--Pass Rush
The Indianapolis Colts have made a new hire at defensive coordinator, as they have agreed to terms with long time coach Gus Bradley. In this series for the site, I will be defining some important terms and roles for this defense to give you all a better understanding of them when they pop up in future articles.
This article is part two of the conversation about edge rushers, as you can check out the run defense piece by clicking this hyperlink. While we all love talking about a good run defending edge, these players make their money by getting after the quarterback.
So today, let's jump into the roles and responsibilities of the edge rushers in the passing game, while also taking a look at some stunts and twists that Gus Bradley uses to make life easier for his edges.
Alignment
Gus Bradley is the type of defensive coordinator that understands the value of having strong edge rushers. He puts his edge players into optimal positions pre-snap, and there are very few restrictions on how these players should rush the passer.
The main goal on every passing down snap is to disrupt the quarterback. Bradley does this by having his edge players out in wide-nine alignments as much as possible. For edge rushers, being out in a wide-nine is the preferred position, as it allows rushers to have plenty of space to maneuver to the outside.
Even in different fronts on passing downs, Bradley will keep his edge rushers out in wide-nine looks. This is fairly different from the past regime that the Colts' had on the defensive side of the ball, and this change should have a major impact on the edge production in 2022. Here are some examples of the edge rushers both being aligned outside despite the defensive tackles being moved around.
Overload look from the defensive tackles with both ends still out wide (Maxx Crosby is in more of a 6-technique but he's still aligned far outside the offensive tackle).
Defensive tackles are now both in 1-technique alignments on the inside, but both edge players are still out in wide-nine.
Typical base set with one 3-technique and a 1-technique at defensive tackle. Both edge players are still aligned outside as wide-nines.
Rules and Responsibilities
To properly discuss the changes in how edge rushers will be used in 2022, let's take a look at Matt Eberflus' defense. Eberflus was a bit more conservative in his approach to rushing the passer, as he liked to have his edge players perform contain rushes on a majority of snaps.
On these contain rushes, edge players had to maintain their rush lanes and hit their landmarks in order to prevent quarterbacks from escaping the pocket and scrambling. While I don't necessarily agree with this plan of attack, it did make sense for the type of defense Eberflus deployed.
His defense was built on allowing the short pass, rallying to the ball, and making stops short of the first down line. If a quarterback were to be able to scramble and break contain, that could allow for the big shot over the top. As a result, there would be a lot of empty pass rushes last season where edge rushers just got up field and stopped their momentum rather than pursued the quarterback.
Look at edge Al-Quadin Muhammad on this rush (on the right of the screen). He is in more of a 7-technique pre-snap, and he essentially buckles down on his rush right when he could have turned the corner. This was a common theme on a lot of passing plays over the years under Matt Eberflus.
Flipping the switch to Gus Bradley and it is an entirely different story. While Bradley certainly had a better group of pass rushers to work with in 2021, he helped maximize the group's potential by how he wanted them to rush.
For Bradley, his priority for his edge rushers isn't to contain the passer. He wants to line them out wide and have them create havoc in the backfield. This clip below is the perfect example.
Yannick Ngakoue (on the right) flies around the outside of his man and forces the quarterback to step up. On the other side, Maxx Crosby spins to the inside and cleans up the play for a near sack. Edge rushers are free to attack offensive tackles however they want to in this defense. This freedom, combined with having these edge rushers in more optimal positions, should lead to an uptick in production from the group in 2022.
Stunts and Twists
On top of aligning these edge rushers in wide positions to allow them to attack, Bradley also mixes in a few different stunts and twists to free up his edge players. For a Defensive Coordinator that rarely blitzes, these variations are key to keeping the pressure up on opposing offenses.
Let's look at just a few of Bradley's stunt calls from last year:
TEX Stunt
The most well-known stunt in existence is a good ole TEX. TEX is a typical tackle-end stunt where the defensive tackle's main focus is freeing up the defensive end to crash to the inside.
In this clip below, the defensive tackle performs his job perfectly, as he frees up Maxx Crosby for the sack on the play. Both players actually meet at the quarterback on this rush.
TEX/EXIT Stunt
The inverse of a TEX stunt rush is called an EXIT. EXIT is when the edge rusher's main goal is to free up the defensive tackle to loop around to the outside. One way that Bradley likes to use an EXIT stunt is by running a TEX on the other side of the line.
On this play below, Yannik Ngakoue is running an EXIT on the right side of the line with his 1-tech defensive tackle. On the other side of the line, Maxx Crosby is running a TEX stunt with his 1-tech defensive tackle. The result is pure chaos up front and the Raiders end up corroding the Steelers' offensive line with ease.
Overload Stunt
Admittedly, I couldn't find a proper name for this stunt in my research for this article. It is similar to a Pirate stunt, but it is the reverse of that call. On this stunt rush, the defensive line is overloading to one side. The two interior linemen both crash to the outside while the defensive end loops back to the interior.
The play is run almost flawlessly in this clip below, as the Raiders close in on the quarterback in a hurry.
Final Thoughts
Things are looking up for Colts' edge rushers in 2022. While Matt Eberflus was far from the only reason why the team struggled to maintain a consistent edge rush during his tenure, his style of defense certainly limited the potential on the outside. With Gus Bradley taking over, the Colts should be much more productive off of the edge going forward.
Edge rushers in this defense will be put in positions to succeed and they will be allowed to play free and aggressive off of the edge. There may be more broken contains than in year's past, but there should also be plenty more sacks and hurries in this new scheme.
Overall, this change bodes well for not only the starting defensive ends, but also for depth players like Ben Banogu and Tyquan Lewis. These young players will finally be able to attack off of the edge in this new scheme, and it wouldn't shock me if both players are able to have career-best seasons in 2022.
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