Blitzing with Controlled Abandonment

The Origin The roots of the zone blitz trace back nearly 25 years ago, when defensive guru Bill Arnsparger was calling the shots for the Miami Dolphins no-name defense in the early 1980’s. Like a mad football scientist, Arnsparger spent countless hours trying to drum up schemes to get to the quarterback without sacrificing holes in the secondary or having the long ball beat one of his cornerbacks in man coverage. He finally stumbled upon the zone blitz concept after moving stud defensive end Kim Bokamper to outside linebacker in his 4-3 scheme. In order to take advantage of his speed and quickness, Arnsbarger would call the coverage to his side and drop him in the hook area reading the QB while the next two adjacent linebackers would come steaming off the edge. With the additional five man rush and Bokamper’s ability to knock down passes, the Dolphins defensive tradition started to