Film breakdown: The simulated pressure packages that have propelled Duke into the top 20 ahead of a showdown with Notre Dame.
. Head coach Mike Elko has described his defense as the most vanilla in the country on first and second down. It’s what Duke has done on third down — mixing up coverages and pressures — that has opposing quarterbacks confused.
The goal of simulated pressures is to rush fewer defenders while putting more pressure on the quarterback. And while Duke has produced only eight sacks so far this season, its simulated pressures have forced quarterbacks to get rid of the ball more quickly than planned and into tight coverage windows for incomplete passes.
This look presents several problems to offensive linemen, who need to quickly identify and sort protections. Elko talks about putting his best rush defenders — regardless of their position — up on the line of scrimmage with the goal of eliminating stress for pressure defenders. Quite simply, it’s easier to time the pressure by being up at the line of scrimmage instead of having their heels set at linebacker depth, where they can’t accurately time up the snap.
In most cases, that wrap rusher will be the defender aligned directly over the center. The reason is simple: He will manipulate the center into calling the slide side of protection to account for him pre-snap, but post-snap he works around to the man side to get home. Santucci and Elko pair these wrap rushes with stunts to the man side of protection — clearly an advantage for the defense.
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