DEFENSIVE GUIDE

MAKING THE DEFENSE

BETTER

SUMMARY
21 Things That Every Defensive Coordinator Should Know.2

Alignments,,,,3
3x1 Formations- Defending The Open Side.,,,,.....13
Defending Thigh Bunch Formations...,,,,,,,,17
Trainning the Eyes,,,,,,,..19
Pattern Reading vs Spot Dropping,,,,,...23
Trainning The Eyes For Underneath Droppers ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,..25
Zone Coverage Technique-Reading the QB,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,27
Defending Pull Schemes,,,,30
Bracket Coverage: Part I (The Basics),,.35
Bracket Coverage Part Ii: Slot Brackets.39
Defending the Bootleg...44
Defending Trips- Disguise and Scheme..51
Cover Black.57
3 Ways To Defend Trips Formations From 1 Coverage Shell.62
5 Keys To Developing A Defensive System In Football....66
4-3 Defensive Line Every Day Football Drills.69
4-3 Defensive Line Play Skills And Reads.......73
4-2-5 Basics: Run Fits Vs. 2 Back Formations75.
Cover 1 (Man Free) Versus Action Passes..82
Cover 1 Man (Free) Technique..85
Pass Rush: Thinking About The Big Picture...91
The Science Of Pass Rush..100
Individual And Unit Pass Rush Teaching Progressions..103
Perfecting Your Pass Rush Progression....109
South Dakota States Arm-Pin Move For Pass Rush...111
11 As 1 Team Defensive Pursuit.114
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1. You dont know everything. Use your staff.

2. Make meetings informal. But have a plan.
3. The final decision is yours. (unless the headcoach doesnt like it)
4. Take the blame for failures.
5. Give players and position coaches all of the credit for success.
6. Work for a Head Coach that trusts you. It doesnt have to be blind faith.
Just trust.
7. At the end of the day, support your Head Coach. This is his time to shine.
8. Dont get into a personal war with your teams Offense or Offensive
Coordinator.
9. It is never we and them on Friday Night. Its US. The same is true all
week, expect for a few snaps at practice.
10. Service the Offense. Dont try to win practices.
11. If you dont need as much practice time, offer it for Special Teams.
12. Be a part of the discussion on when to punt. It directly effects your defense.
13. Keep film sessions brief. 15 minutes is long, 10 minutes is ideal forus. 5
minutes is perfect for the players. Offer opportunities to watch more.
Especially 1 on 1.
14. Encourage position coaches to hold the irown film sessions.
15. Tag notes in Hudl. Some kids watch everything. Theyll pass the message
along to their buddies.
16. Film each coachs drills or have them film the irown drills. Everyone can get
better. Film yours too, and watch them with the staff (if you have a position).
17. Ask your coaching staff whats working for them. They have breakthroughs
everyday.
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18. Do not neglect your scout team players. They make your offense better.
And many of them will be on your defense in the future.
19. Make sure your back-ups are ready to go. Have a plan in place for
replacing players and rotating players.
20. Clearly communicate everyones role in your defense.
21. Make sure your Head Coach knows the game plan and what you are trying
to accomplish. Be very clear. When he flips out because you tried
something and he didnt know about it I told you

ALIGNMENTS
This is part 1 of a 2-part series on alignments. The alignments I will discuss are in no means things I would
do every time. Doing the same thing every time to a particular formation is a recipe for disaster. The offense
will be able to scheme you, because they will be able to predict what you are doing. Also, you will be in a
position where the offense will predicate to you what you will be in defensively. So when looking at these
alignments, consider them a solid base alignment that can and should be adjusted to keep the offense off
balance.
In this part, I will discuss alignments versus 10 personnel. Doubles and trips variations will be the focus. In
part II I will cover spread sets that involve tight-ends and pro running formations.

BASIC PHILOSOPHY
The 4-2-5 Defense is very flexible to multiple formations. The fundamental thing to keep in mind when
aligning to various formations is common sense. The quarters coverage concept is very self-adjusting and
does not require too much movement. An important point is linebacker alignment versus 10 personnel
spread formations.
The idea behind alignment and coverages in this scheme, is to create an advantage where there is one
more defender to each side of the formation (+1 Rule). If there are two WR's to a side, the defense wants to
put 3 people in coverage to that side. The linebackers are the people for the most part that allow for this
advantage to happen.
As a rule of thumb, the linebackers should slide over to the side that is needed to create this advantage.
This usually fits into two rules.
1. Versus a 2x2 formation the backers should slide towards the away-side of the coverage.
2. Versus a 3x1 formation the backers should slide towards the trips.
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ALIGNMENT vs 2x2

Versus doubles in the middle of the field, the alignment is simple. If the call is 2-blue-solo. The read-side
would be in cover 2 (robber) and the away side is in blue coverage. I will not go into the rules of these
coverages, I have discussed this in a previous post. The linebackers slide toward the away side. In the
above diagram, the read side is arbitrarily to the left, not because of the back. The read side could just as
easily be set to the right. When the ball is in the middle of the field, other factors (devised by game-plan)
dictate which side is the read side when the ball is in the middle of the field. A particular receiver, the
quarterbacks preferred side to throw, and the opponents bench could all be factors that push one side to be
the read side over the other. The time the back plays a role, is the option. If the team is able to run the
option well, then the back is an important consideration. However, the offense can easily move the back to
the other side and or stack the back behind the QB. This is why the back should not be a dominating factor
when setting the read side.
The backers slide to the away side in order to get the mike backer closer to his coverage responsibility and
maintain effective positioning on the run. Also, the FS will be involved aggressively to the read side. This
allows the backers to slide toward the away side.
One problem with this coverage to the middle of the field is the soft cushion to the slot on the away side. If
you sit in this look the offense will attack the away side heavily. The smash, All hitch, and other quick
combinations are difficult to cover consistently from away-side blue coverage in the middle of the field. In
short, the away side is susceptible to the quick game.
Fortunately, there are a couple things that alleviate this problem. First, the ball is not in the middle of the

field often. Usually the ball is on a hash. With ball on the hash, these problems are not as significant.

Blue coverage is much more sound on the hash. The rule for setting the read side in this situation is the field.
Versus 2x2 on the hash the FS should set the read-side to the field side. Away side blue is better on the hash for
two reasons. #1 The mike is in a better position to get under both WR's, and #2 the receivers do not have as
much room to maneuver.

The other thing that alleviates coverage problems when the ball is in the middle of the field, is the ability to mix in
coverages to the away-side. The easiest adjustment to the away side is to get into man. Man coverage is
designed to take away the quick passing game. If the offense has to guess whether or not the away side
coverage is in blue or man, then they will have a harder time attacking you. They will have an even harder time if
the WS and away corner do a good job stemming their looks. The backer does not need to stem coverage
because his alignment is the same.

The backers do not have to change their alignments. The only thing that changes, is the the away-side backer
(mike) is now responsible for forcing the ball and covering the pitch on the option. Again this is not an adjustment
that you do all the time. But mixing in blue and man to away-side, when the ball is in the middle of the field, is a
solid strategy for dealing with 2x2 formations.

Another important consideration versus 2x2 sets is the splits of the WR's. There are many different variations in
their splits, too many to cover in this post. The important point is this: receivers usually alter their splits and
alignments for particular reasons. If a slot receiver aligns closer to the core of the formation, he is usually
leveraging an outside cut, conversely, if he aligns closer to the sideline, he is leveraging an inside cut. These
variations must be accounted for. Here is a common example.

When the receivers get closer to one another, they are usually going to cross somehow. In this particular variation
#1 has closed his split and # 2 has widened and deepened his. This is a common adjustment by the offense
when the defense puts a defender in outside alignment on the slot. In robber coverage the SS aligns outside the
#2 WR. However, versus this variation this would be a bad idea. The offense aligns like this to put the SS closer
to the #1 WR. This allows the #1 WR to get around and inside the SS on a slant route easily. The FS will not be in
a position to stop the completion. The play to expect here is a Bubble by #2 and a quick slant by #1.
The adjustment in a quarters concept is to adjust the coverage to leverage the most likely route combination.
Versus this variation the read side should check into blue coverage. This moves the SS inside the slot in a
position to slice the #1 WR, in this case, the slant route.

If the offense does run the bubble slant combination the coverage will be able to play it perfectly. The diagram
below shows how the defense should cover these routes.
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ALIGNMENT vs 3x1

Versus trips the alignment is simple. The backers should now slide toward the trips side. The base coverage
adjustment to trips is to play SOLO coverage. Solo allows the read side to play cover 2 on the #1 and #2 WR The
read backer and WS will be responsible for covering the #3 WR.

The backers slide to create a 4 on 3 advantage. The read-side backer is responsible for the short wall of the #3
WR. What this means is he cannot let #3 run a short crossing route. If he lets #3 get across the formation there is
going to be a problem, because there is no one on that side to pick him up. The away backer and away corner
are both in man coverage, and are not guaranteed to be there. The WS is responsible for covering the deep
vertical and post routes by the #3 WR.

Not all trips are created equal. Offenses think too! (For the most part.) Different trips variations are common place
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in today's game. Some of these variations will make x-out adjustments (like special) more effective. Versus
displaced trips alignment should look like this.

The read-side corner will man #1 (x-out), the SS and read-backer will banjo the in and out routes of #2 and #3.
The FS will be in deep 1/2 to provide deep support. The SS, FS, and read-backer are playing blue coverage on
these WR's. The away side can vary their coverage. In the above diagram I have shown man with the WS in
1/2's. You could also run a 3-way with the backers and SS.

ALIGNMENT TO EMPTY BACKFIELD

Empty backfields are not a major alignment problem either. Keeping with the idea of common sense and the +1
rule, aligning to empty is a simple process of following the rules. If a team run an empty backfield, there are only
two things they can give you. 3x2 or 4x1. The same split variation principals apply here as well. Versus a 3x2,
alignment should look like this.

The backers should stack behind their respective ends and read for the QB draw. Once they clear the draw they
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are on slice responsibility. To the read side the corner x-out's #1 so the read backer is slicing #2 and #3. This is
the same technique he would be in versus any trips with an x-out adjustment being run. This is not different. To
the away-side the backer plays the same technique that he would play versus a 2x2 set. To him it is still just two
WR's.
If the offense runs a quads set, there is only one simple variation. Because the offense has 4 WR's to a side, a
backer need to now get out of the box entirely to remain consistent with the +1 rule.

By bouncing the backer out, the defense now has a 5 on 4 advantage. The mike is now the short wall player and
the WS can run his solo technique, this time reading the #4 WR. Again the #1 WR is discounted because the
corner has him on an x-out.

SUMMARY

Again these are just some of the things you can do in split-safety coverage in the 4-2-5. The rules are simple and
allow you to leverage the formation and plays the offense is in a position to run. In the next part I will cover TE
spread formations and 2-back sets.

PRO-I SETS
Alignments to the pro I is very straight forward and allows room for flexibility and imagination. In
this part I will focus on base alignments with a few other options.

CALL: TITE-2
The front and secondary both declare the strength the same way in this alignment. The TITE call
puts the 3-tech towards the TE, the strong DE aligns in a 6. The backers align in 30 techniques.
Some people argue that the backers should align in their gaps. ie, the RB should be in a 10.
However, in the 30 alignment the RB can still defend his A-gap and is in a better position to play
outside and off-tackle plays towards the TE.
The secondary calls "read-left" and sets the SS and FS in coverage to the left. The strong safety
aligns 5-7 yards outside the TE and about a hard from the LOS. Also, the SS cocks his stance in
and places himself perpendicular to the LOS. This alignment allows him to get under routes by the
#1 WR, have a good angle to force the ball, and make it difficult for the WR to crack block him. The
last reason needs further explanation. Teams like to run outside, will get tired of the SS forcing the
ball back inside. So, they will attempt to crack him inside in order to get around the edge.
Making the crack difficult is accomplished by this alignment for a couple reasons. First, his back is
turned to the WR. The receiver cannot legally block him in the back. Second, if he does attempt to
crack block him, the crack will occur near the LOS. By making a crack happen at the first level, the
corner is free to replace the SS as the force man. If the crack occurred further from the LOS, the
corner could not replace as quickly, because he has to respect the crack and go. By attempting the
crack at the first level, the threat of the crack go is eliminated. It is difficult to fake a first level crack
and turn it into an effective go route.
The WS aligns in a postion to force the edge to his side and play the cutback on plays toward the
TE.

VS TWINS

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CALL: TITE-25
Twins is a formation where the front and secondary call the front in opposite directions. The AB is
aligned in 10 in the diagram, but he could just as easily be aligned in a 30, it makes little difference.
The SS and FS align to the twin WR's just like they would versus the spread. On the TE side the
corner is shown close to the edge playing force. The WS could just as easily be there. The
alignment each year might be different depending on the type of corners and WS you have. Below
is a diagram of TCU from this past year aligning to twins.

Versus the Full-back set strong

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Here the backs slide over and WS comes up into the nest, this call a "scoot" adjustment.
Everything else is the same as regular pro-I alignment.

FLEXBONE

Here the alignment follows the base rules. The strength in the diagram is arbitrarily to the left.
Versus the balanced front and the motion based nature of the flex-bone, the free safety will declare
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the read-side upon motion.

GOAL-LINE
The last view diagrams are an example of how TCU aligned versus Clemson principals. The
particular scheme they employ is not really special to the 4-2-5. I am showing it as a way of
understanding how the particular positions are aligned.

A safety has replaced one of the corners on the right edge. The DT's are hard A-gap player, and
the backers are cheated-up into their gaps. There are two safeties to each side aligned on the
edge and behind. The corner in the middle is adjuster who moves with any motion by the backs.
This allows the front to stay relatively focused on the play by leaving adjustments to the corner.
The next diagram shows the formation after motion.

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3X1 FORMATIONS- DEFENDING THE OPEN SIDE

In my original post on Split-Safety coverage I outlined a simple system in the 4-2-5 for handling
trips formations. The base adjustment is solo. This coverage locks the away side into solo
coverage and allows the read side to defend the trips with a variety of options. This is the preferred
way to defending the trips side of the formation. However, like any coverage, if you sit in it too long
the offense will eventually attack the open side. Solo coverage is most vulnerable to the single
receiver side. That is where special coverage comes into play.

Special is designed to create games and options on the single WR side. In this post, I will cover
some of the coverage options that can be used have to defend routes to the single WR.
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BRACKET
The first and most basic coverage to the open side would be "bracket." This coverage allows the
WS to be in a position to aggressively force the ball on the run and take away the quick and
intermediate routes of the #1 WR on pass plays.

The corner is man to man soft over #1. His rule is DGBD...Don't get beat deep. He has #1 and he
needs to be able to defend the fade, post, corner, and skinny. The WS upon reading pass needs to
work into a trail position on the WR. From this position he is man to man on any inside, outside, or
stopping route by the WR. The linebacker will have the back man to man.

During the release phase the WS must work into a trail position. Versus a comeback route the WS
should be in the proper position to take this route away.

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Also, Versus a post, the WS and corner should have the

WR on a high-low with no place for the QB to put the football.

TRAIL
Trail Coverage is the reverse of bracket. The corner will align outside and deny any outside
releases by the WR. After the initial release the corner will work in a trail position, and is
responsible for any quick, intermediate inside/outside cut bt the WR. The WS is soft man over #1
with DGBD responsibility.

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This is a great change up and can easily be mistaken for solo coverage. This will be confusing to
quarterbacks. Trail coverage on the dig route looks like this.

1/2's
The final option I will discuss will be simple 1/2's coverage. 1/2's coverages is a great change up
on the open side. It changes up the run force to that side, allows the corner to sit and have
interception chances, and keeps the backer from having to run with the running back to the flat.
The only situation where the the backer would have the back man to man is on a deep release. I
am not going to go into too much detail here, there is plenty of discussion and videos on playing
halves coverage. Brophy especially has some good resources on running this coverage versus,
multiple sets.

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DEFENDING THIGH BUNCH FORMATIONS

Bunch formations cause problems for defenses that are not prepared for them. When receivers
reduce their splits in respect to one another it usually means that some time of pick or exchange
route is about to occur. The split reduction is problematic for the defense for multiple reasons. First,
you can't run press-man on both WR's. Alignment won't allow you to. Also, to run straight man
against reduced splits is suicide. The offense will pick you off and open-up a WR to the inside or
outside. Because of this threat, defenses have to stay in pure-zone or combo-man coverage.
The blitzology blog had a recent post to deal with these types of sets. The coverage techniques
that are explained are excellent and identical to what I would do versus those particular sets.
Especially the coverage that is explained about wide bunch. In 4-2-5 terminology we call this
coverage "TRIO" and man the SS on the #2 WR and play blue coverage on the #1 and #3 WR's
with the corner and free-safety.
However, versus tight-bunch formations this coverage adjustment is not as sound. The tight-bunch
formation is displayed below:

This formation can be used to attack you with the pass just as easily as the run. The formation is
very similar to a formation with a TE and two wing backs to the same side. So the first priority to
defending this set is to align the defense in a way that prevents it from letting the ball get to
outside. If you play normal "trio" coverage versus tight-bunch formations, you are not going to have
a player in a position to force the ball inside. This concept is paramount versus this formation,
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because it is so easy for the offense to wall-off the interior players.

3-WAY COVERAGE
The adjustment of choice is "3-way". (This is a different use of the term 3-way then what I
discussed in a previous post in respect to what Buddy Ryan called 3-way ). 3-way coverage seeks
to allow for combo man principals to be in place, while at the same time establishing a force player
to leverage the ball back inside. 3-way alignment looks like this.

This alignment puts the defense in a good position to play the run or the pass.

VERSUS THE RUN

Versus the run 3-way places the SS in a position to force the ball inside. The corner is assigned
play-pass responsibility, and the FS is a flat-foot read player that plays the alley aggressively. The
backer is cheated over to help on the outside running plays. The end also solidifies the integrity of
the defense by forcing one of the bunch WR's to block him on an outside run. The defense has 4
immediate players to defend the run against the 3 WR's the offense has to block. The offense has
to leave one player unblocked on any outside running play. (The other posibilities are option (not a
big problem, because the SS is in position to play the pitch) and the chance that the OT can scoop
the backer. If this happens coverage adjustments are the least of your worries.)

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If the Z WR blocks out on the SS, then the offense is in a lose-lose situation. They have to decide
which player they want to team-off on. Either the FS or backer is going to be cut loose.

VERSUS THE PASS

Against the pass the rules are easy. SS has the first man to the flat, if no attacks it, he sinks under
the first WR outside. The Corner has the first deep route outside, he is going to pedal on the pass
and read the WR's. The FS has the first man deep inside, his technique is essentially the same as
the corners. If a deep receiver does not show in or out, then they play a "zone it" technique and
help their partner. The diagrams that follow are examples of how the coverage will work versus
various route combinations.

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3-way coverages is simple to execute because it works off other coverage principals that are part
of the 4-2-5 Defense. Other defenses can integrate this coverage into their schemes. The number
one concern with implementing this coverage, is the ability of the force player (SS). This player
needs to be strong enough to force the ball inside and agileenough to run with a wheel route.

DEFENSIVE FUNDAMENTALS: TRAINING THE EYES

When making any type of "reads" in football, it all boils down to the eyes. There needs to be
methodology to where a players eyes are supposed to be looking and how they respond to what
they see. The more clear we can be with the progression of a players eyes, their ability to diagnose
a situation, and trigger the appropriate response; the better we can all be at coaching defense.
Determining a progression for the eyes to follow coupled with a set of movements (responses) is
the key to effective defensive football. All positions on defense can involve this principal. In this
post, I will look at different positions and describe possible eye movements and progressions.

WHY THE EYES?

The #1 mistake on defense is a player having his eyes in the wrong place. No matter how well a
player is taught to shed blocks, break and intercept passes, or form tackle, it can all be for nothing
if the players eyes are in the wrong place. The various techniques we teach to our players are
intended to be used during a particular situation. Few techniques (like back pedal steps) are used
on every play. The majority of these techniques are situational. What good is squeezing a down
block on a pass play? Or dropping to the flat on a run play? Neither of these techniques would be
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good because they are inappropriate for the situation.

What tells a player the appropriate technique for a particular situation? Some type of visual cue.
Players execute their techniques more effectively when they begin to make the connection of a
visual cue with the desired technique to execute at a faster rate. The single most important point to
training the eyes, is it will allow a player to execute their various techniques in the appropriate
situations at a fast rate. This type of mental/physical conditioning process is what allows players to
play fast, and the key to consistent execution come game time.
In this post, I will look at 3 different positions and describe possible eye movements and
progressions.

1. MIDDLE FIELD COVERAGE-FREE SAFETY

Run: Alley Player Inside Out
Pass: Middle 1/3
I have discussed part of this technique already, but I will begin here with initial pre-snap eye keys.
Player should align in the middle of the field and then get his eyes on the center or most visible
offensive linemen. At the snap the FS should get into a backpedal and read the center for run/pass.
Eyes on Run Plays : If the linemen attacks aggressively forward, the safety should immediately get
his eyes in the backfield to diagnose the direction of the run flow. Upon identifying the flow, he
should Plant, point, and drive towards the ball carrier on an inside out path. On his pursuit he
should keep his eyes on the ball carriers inside hip and maintain vision on a path that has the ball
carrier inside and in front of him.
Eyes on Pass Plays: When the linemen key works backward (indicating a pass) The FS should
maintain his backpedal and immediately get his eyes on the QB's non-throwing arm. He is looking
for the long-arm of the QB. Upon Reading the long-arm the FS must intercept the pass with his
eyes. This means he needs to locate the place on the field he needs to break to in order to make a
play at the pass. Upon locating this position he should take a straight line to this spot. While in
pursuit he should swivel his eye's from his aiming point back to the ball.
---- This is a simple progression of eyes that will keep the Safety in proper position. Must busts that
the free safety makes will be one of two things. A. The player did not have his eyes on the proper
place. B. A misread will prevent the player from executing the proper technique.

2. PRESS-MAN-- CORNER
After aligning properly inside, the corner will put his eyes on the inside hip of the WR. The corner is
a dedicate pass player and will only play the run if #1 he FEELS the WR trying to block him (a
good WR will run him off, so I don't plan for this too often) or he hears his FS or coach yell "Run,
Run." Baring those non visual exceptions the corner will have eyes on the inside hip initially. He
has 4 different techniques to execute in man coverage.
- Release
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-Jam
-In-phase
-Out-of-Phase
The release phase begins with initial steps by the WR. During this phase the corner will use slide
steps to move vertically and replace steps to move laterally. These steps are used to keep in the
proper inside relationship with the WR. The corner is keying the hip because it is a true read for
him. The WR's feet, chest, and head are all more misleading than the inside hip. What he is
looking for from the hip, is for it to commit. When the hip commits the corner is now in the jam
phase. When the hip commits it turns and breaks a 45 Degree barrier. Upon reading a commitment
of the hip, the corner gets his eyes on the near number (pec) of the WR and jams it with his off
hand while opening his hips. The opening of the hips and off-hand jam are designed to keep the
corner on top of the WR.
For example, we will assume the WR releases outside. Once the initial jam is done, the corner
must assess his position on the WR. Can he see the near number of the WR or not? If he can, he
is in-phase, and his eyes will focus on the WR's eyes with his peripheral vision on the V of the
WR's neck. If the WR's eyes turn to look for the ball, the corner turns to play the ball as well. If his
eyes and V of the neck turn back, then the ball is under-thrown. The corner needs to basketball
block the WR from coming to the ball while making a play on it himself.
If the corner cannot see the near number after the jam phase, then he is out of phase. His eyes will
not leave the WR until the whistle. He will key the WR hands. If the hand move to catch the ball,
then the corner will wait for a "1000-1" count then rake the WR's hands.
----------- Mistakes like opening the hips the wrong way, wrong hand on the jam, getting beat off the
line, and allowing an easy catch are all problems that start with the eyes. Corners get beat inside
on slants when their eyes migrate up to the WR's chest. Many catches are made when a corner is
out-of phase with a WR and then peeks back to find the ball. These techniques are not very
effective if the eyes are undisciplined.

3. DEFENSIVE END IN A LOOSE 5 TECHNIQUE

C-Gap Player
Technique: Squeeze on down-blocks, does not get reached, Spills the ball on pulling plays,
Outside contain on pass.
After he aligns outside the offensive tackle the end will key the feet of the offensive linemen. He is
trying to identify which foot the linemen will step with.
If the linemen steps with his inside foot, he is trying to down or scoop block another defender. Upon
reading this the d-end should step laterally with his inside foot and squeeze the down-block. While
squeezing down the line his eyes should peak down the line for any pulling lineman. If a pull is
coming he must attack the inside shoulder of the linemen with his outside arm. If he does not see a
puller, he gets his eyes on the backfield, he will take the running back on any read option.
If the linemen steps with his outside foot the end will step with his outside foot. He continue to read
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the feet for the second step. Is the lineman's feet working backward, toward, or around you. These
cues will alert the end to what type of block he is facing. If the feet are working backward it is a
pass block, this tells the end to get up-field and rush the passer. If the feet work toward him, he is
getting a drive block, he must stay low and hold his ground. Now his eyes flash to the backfield to
locate the ball carrier. He will remain in his C-Gap until the ball commits away from it. Finally, if the
feet are working to get around him, he is facing a reach block. He must work his hips around the
blocker and hold his gap integrity.
--------------Again eyes here are crucial. Defensive ends who run up-field on down-blocks are a
major problem for 4 man fronts. This problem opens up huge running lanes for counters and
options. This problem is a lack of focus with the eyes. When I see this on film, the d-end usually
has his eyes on the backfield and can't see the down-block. Another error is a slow-pass rush. This
is a problem that coaches who over-emphasize the need to attack the linemen. Some ends will be
so focused on attacking the linemen that they take to long to recognize that it is a pass play. By the
time he knows it the QB has had time to settle in the pocket and begin his throwing motion.

CONCLUSION
These are just 3 quick examples. Every position and technique in defensive football begins with
reads. The key to good reads are the eyes. If you focus on the eyes of your players you will see a
dramatic improvement. The eyes are the link that we have from reads to techniques. The better we
are at coaching this process and emphasizing it to our players, the better our team's overall
performances will be.

PATTERN READING VS SPOT DROPPING

This is a debate I deal with on a regular basis. What type of zone coverage is more effective for
high school athletes. Most (if not all) colleges employ some form of pattern-match coverage.
However, many high school coaches believe that this type of coverage is difficult for high school
athletes to preform. In this post I will explore the pro's and con's of each.

SPOT DROPPING DEFINED

Spot dropping is just what it sounds like. On a pass read, pass defenders begin to drop back
toward landmarks on the field. Terms like "Top of the numbers" "hash" , and "middle of the field"
are used as horizontal markers. Then a depth is usually assigned. For example, a hook to curl
linebacker could have a landmark 12-14 yards deep.
While on their landmark and in the process of dropping there, players have their head on a "swivel"
reading the QB's eyes while they get to their landmark. In this scheme coaches emphasize two
24

main things:
1. Break on the Ball
2. Gain depth
Pros

Simple to teach

Simple to execute

More eyes are on the ball

Better pursuit

Poor throws can easily be intercepted

Cons

Defenders can be stuck covering grass

There are many windows in the defense

Requires a better than average pass rush

A proficient passing team can slice you apart

Very susceptible to Intermediate routes.

PATTERN MATCHING DEFINED

Rather than take your drop to a spot and wait for receivers to arrive, pattern-match coverage
involves taking coverage to the most dangerous threat a defender recognizes in his zone. In this
coverage defenders are taught to key certain receivers when they read pass. Usually, it is the #2
WR to their side. From the receivers action, they can diagnose whom the most likely threat to their
zone is.
After a certain point, pattern-match coverage turns into man coverage. The aim of this coverage is
to get the best of both worlds. Zone offers defenders the advantage of having their eyes in the
backfield playing the run before the have to commit to the pass. On the other hand, man coverage
puts defenders in the dark as far as the run goes, they are dialed in on the WR that they have in
coverage. Pattern-reading uses zone principals early, and man principals late.

Pros

Fewer windows
25

Fewer completions

Ability to play run and cover intermediate routes

Defender aren't stuck covering grass

confusing for the quarterback

Cons

QB scrambles could hurt

Takes more time to teach initially

Fewer interceptions

more susceptible to the big play

more potential mismatches.

ARE THE TWO COVERAGES MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE?

Is there a team that is purely a spot drop team or purely a pattern match team? I don't think so. In
today's game of spread out offenses, no team will survive with traditional spot dropping.
Conversely, in pattern matching the defenders know the general area that their coverage will be in.
In spot-dropping the underneath defenders are taught to see the QB as well as the WR's that could
cross their zones. There are times the defenders are told to collision or re-route receivers. This is a
principals at the heart of pattern matching.

MY POSITION
These modern offense requires defenses to adjust. The same old style of defense is not gonna
work the same way. As one side evolves the other side must as well. I am a firm believer in pattern
reading. It just make sense in today's game.
The main argument against pattern-matching is difficulty. Many coaches argue that it is too difficult
and that typical high school athletes cannot handle it. They reason along these lines. "Spot
dropping is easier than pattern-matching. Our players are making mistakes spot dropping. So how
can they begin to understand pattern reading?" The other line of reasoning involves the capability
of high school athletes. Many critics question a players ability to see all these routes. I agree that at
time it may appear like a lot, but like anything in football, it can be taught if you perfect the way you
are going to teach it.

26

TRAINING THE EYES

When making any type of "reads" in football, it all boils down to the eyes. There needs to be
methodology to where a players eyes are supposed to be looking and how they respond to what
they see. The more clear we can be with the progression of a players eyes, their ability to diagnose
a situation, and trigger the appropriate response; the better we can all be at coaching defense. In
the analysis below, the focus will be on underneath droppers, not the deep defenders.

EYES IN SPOT DROPPING

First, eyes begin on the run/pass key. The most common keys are linemen and running back.
Regardless of the key, the player should be able to diagnose run/pass and then move on to the
next action. If the defender reads pass, the player should open to his landmark and begin
dropping. The eyes should go to the QB second to diagnose the drop type. (On sprint out flow
rules usually trigger) On straight drop back plays the linebacker continues towards his landmark
reading the QB back to his landmark on the "swivel". This is the basic way of spot dropping. Most
coaches have tried to incorporate reads into their drops. However, this is where problems have
occurred. The problem is usually a rules conflict.
This conflict stems from two primary goals of spot dropping. First, is the ability to see the QB so the
defender can break on the ball. Second, is to gain depth. This is done to prevent an intermediate
route from getting wide open. The philosophy is that if the player can accomplish goal #1 and
goal#2 then the only open passes should be shallow routes. Shallow routes are not a big concern,
because the underneath defenders will be able to see the QB release the ball. This allows the
players to break forward and keep the play to a minimal gain. However it usually does not work this
way.
Intermediate routes become open anyway. The defenders are so busy focusing their eyes on the
landmark and QB that they don't know where the intermediate receiver is going to be. By the time
they "break on the ball" they are usually out of position to make a play on it. Coaches begin
adjusting their drop rules and involve pattern read concepts. They try to train their players to see
these routes developing. Many times these players learn how to do this. However, the rules conflict
rears its ugly head. When you begin to involve reads two things usually happen. First, the
defenders do not see the QB as well and the "break on the ball" is not as good. Second, depth
suffers because droppers will stop and delay more when reading routes.
This angers the traditional spot-drop coaches, because they have always emphasized breaking on
the ball and gaining depth. They have the habit of emphasizing these top two goals. The main
problem is there is no clear process of where a players eyes go. In traditional spot-dropping the
eyes are simple: swivel from the QB to the landmark. If you begin to involve reads into this system
and emphasize these two goals the same way, then conflicts will be present. Spot-dropping will
become more difficult and frustrating then before. I am not saying all spot-dropping coaches go
through this. I am noting this because it is a trap that is easy to fall into.
Whenever you begin integrating route-read concepts into a spot drop philosophy, players
will not drop to depth as consistently nor break on the ball as quickly.
27

EYES IN PATTERN READING

Similarly to spot dropping, eyes begin on run/pass keys. Once reading pass, the eyes go to a
completely different place than their spot-drop counter parts. The body begins dropping in a
predetermined direction, but the eyes flash to a particular receiver. Depending on what that
receiver does the eyes could move somewhere else and/or the direction of the drop can alter quite
a bit. Players are usually given a 3/2 drop or 2/1 drop. These are forms of "Hook to Curl" and "Curl
to Flat". Here is an example
A 3/2 drop is usually an inside linebacker. On pass he opens at 45* and reads #3 (usually the RB)
if he releases vertical he has him man to man. This is simple, on pass look at #3 if he goes deep
you run with him. If #2 blocks or releases outside, the backer expands his eyes to #2. If #2 is
running vertical, the backer walls him off and gets his eyes on #1. In this step he is anticipating #1
to make an inside cut (curl or dig route). If #1 continues vertical past 15 yards his final read is the
QB, his technique to break down and rob the QB's eyes. This is not an exhaustive list, just a simple
example of eye progression in pattern-matching. To Recap the linebackers eyes:
3/2 Pattern-Drop Eye Progression
1. Run/Pass Key
2. #3
3. #2
4.#1
5. Rob the quarterback's eyes
This is an example of cover 3 rules. In Cover 3, it is difficult for the inside linebacker to get
underneath curl routes in a spot-drop scheme. But, in pattern reading the reads take the backer to
the curl, to the point that he is anticipating the route. It is easier to get coverage on the route
because the backer will have his eyes on the receiver.
At first this may seem like a lot to someone unfamiliar with this type of coverage. With enough time
and understanding it becomes easy to coach. The key is emphasizing the progression of the
players eyes and the recognition of what to do. This only requires simple terminology and efficient
drills.
In this philosophy, you don't have to talk about routes in the general sense. Terms like slant, hitch,
dig, and arrow can confuse the process. You only need to talk about receivers and their
movements. If a player makes a mistake on his reads, the process is simple to correct. Questions
are the key. Using the example of the 3/2 drop discussed above: if a player failed to cover #1 on a
curl, what was the problem. He probably never got his eyes on #1. Ask him, "what did #1 do?" He
won't know. Players will gain confidence in this system, because through repetition, reading a route
progression will become second nature.
One major drawback to pattern-matching is that there will be fewer interceptions. Turnovers are a
big key on defense. You have to weigh it with the benefits. The increased coverage will lower
receptions and scoring. As a coach you have to decide what best fits you.
28

SUMMARY
As the game changes so must we. High school teams have become more effective at passing the
balls. If you try to play the same old keep the ball in front of you and break on the philosophy, you
are going to get exploited. Spot dropping has its merits, but when you play in a league with
proficient passing teams, you are gonna have trouble. Offensive coaches have done a great job.
Pattern-matching can make a tremondous difference for your team, if you commit to installing it.
High School athletes can handle it. I once worked with 8th graders in the offseason, and showed
them how to read routes. After a week it became easy for them. They would play 7on7 and have
the routes covered. They even would talk to eachother with the proper terminology. The 2/1
dropper would yell at the 3/2 guy and say "Why did he catch the ball? #3 released out and #2
came in at you."
If spot dropping works for you and you are having success with, then by all means commit to it. A
scheme is as good as its effectiveness. As coaches it helps to understand the different things
teams are trying to do. Down the road coverage will probably take another evolution, because
offenses will begin adjusting to pattern matching even more at the high school level.

29

ZONE COVERAGE TECHNIQUE-READING THE QB

In pure zone coverage techniques that involve reading the QB, there are benefits and drawbacks.
to it. The benefit is the ability to see the ball and ultimately take advantage of poor throws. The
drawbacks are the precense of windows the QB can hit, given the lack of sight on the WR's. I have
gone into detail on this on aprevious post. However, even the biggest proponents of pattern
reading have certain coverages that involve players that read the QB. First, any coverage that
involves corners that bail at the snap, do best to involve some type of QB read to gauge the type of
pass (3 vs 5 step). Any Middle Field Coverage, involves a FS that stays in his zone in the middle of
the field while he reads the QB for an indication to break.
Another drawback to reading the QB in pure zone techniques is the QB's ability to look off a
defender and then throw the ball the other way. For example, in cover 3 the FS drops down the
middle of the field reading the QB. The most difficult play for this player to cover is the 4 verticals
(double seam). QB's are taught to look one way and give a pump fake to get the FS to break
before throwing the ball to the other WR, that the FS can't recover on. This creates a problem. On
one hand, you cannot tell the FS to break when he sees the ball leaves the QB's hand, this will be
too slow more often than not. On the other hand, you can't give advice like "don't fall for the first
fake" or the like. The worst thing you can do to a FS in MOF coverage is slow down his breaks.
The effectiveness of the coverage relys upon the FS's ability to break on the ball well.
Is there another solution? Yes! The key is in finding a reliable key to read on the QB that indicates
a throw is about to occur. This key needs to be present only when the QB is going to throw and not
part of the pump fake. Reading the QB's eyes is not reliable in cover 3 for the FS, because he can
be looked-off. Reading the ball is no good, because A, the pump fake can get you and B, waiting
until the ball leaves his hand will be too slow.
30

The solution is to read the QB's non-throwing arm. Teaching the FS (or any other pure zone
dropper) to read the long-arm is an effective technique. The FS should break when he sees the
QB's arm go long (or lengthen). The typical QB does not pump-fake with his off arm extended. The
only active arm in a pump fake is the throwing arm (unless the QB pump-fakes with both hands on
the ball, still there is no long arm in this type of fake). The long-arm is the motion a QB makes
when his off hand creates separation from his body. This separation happens in the beginning
stages of a QB's throwing motion. Have you ever tried throwing the ball with your off hand stuck on
your body? Try it sometime, it is pretty difficult. Have you ever tried pump-faking with your off arm
extended, its possible but it will throw off your throwing rhythm. Most QB's do not have the
adequate time nor patience to develop this type of pump fake.

Another benefit of reading the long-arm is the indication of where the ball is going. The further the
off-arm is from pointing at you, the further you have to break, this lets the player somewhat know
what angle he needs to break on the ball at. He does not have to wait to see the ball in the air to
know what angle the ball will be going.
Some QB's show a clear extension of the arm. Look at Carson Palmer below:

Others might not be as obvious, but will still show an extension of the arm when beginning the
throwing motion, even Peyton Manning:

31

Try this out and practice this with your players. I have integrated this into our cover three technique
and seen tremendous results. QB's can no longer look us off and we have a breaking key that
allows us to get in motion before the ball leaves the QB's hand. This read can be equally effective
with underneath droppers and corners.

DEFENDING PULL SCHEMES

There are many teams that rely upon pull schemes to move the ball. These schemes create
problems for defenses that try to play base gap control defense and read and react. Plays like the
dart are troublesome for these schemes. Lets take a look at the couple of typical pull schemes that
teams
employ.

32

This

is

the

Dart

and

it

has

become

spread

staple.

This is a simple fold play.

If you look closely a problem is created. The gap the pulling linemen is going throw gets split into
two. This is similar to the problem that the ISO creates. This extra gap gives flexibility to the
running back. Usually teams try to leverage their backers to deal with this. However this is not a
viable option because the backers create a huge cutback lane, if they do this. Consider these two
plays with the backers leveraging the puller.

33

Lets look at the the problem that is created. First off, consider the # of gaps that are needed to
defend the running game.

There are six gaps and in this example we have 6 defenders to cover each of these gaps. So,
whats the problem? The problem is that the offense moves where the gaps are on pull type plays.

34

What makes it a problem for the defense is that the defense does not rearrange the way that the 6
gaps are defended. So essentially, a gap is left open for the ball carrier to run through. If there is 6
gaps and 6 defenders then how is there an open gap?

The pulling scheme puts two players in one gap. The defense needs to avoid this. 2 defenders in
one gap is a big problem. A simple and solid counter for these plays is needed. A good way to stop
these plays is the fire the backers through their gaps. This allows them to penetrate the backfield
before the pullers or double team get to them. However, firing your linebackers constantly is
usually not the best idea (unless the team can't stop it).
Another way to defend this is have one of the linemen defeat the linemen at the point of attack.
However, this is not the most reliable method year in and year out.
This was a long explanation of some simple plays, but I wanted to establish the problem the
offense creates for the defense. The most effective way for countering an offensive concept is to
look at the weakness of a particular scheme.
I was beating my head against the wall when I first started dealing with these plays, I tried to
rearrange my fronts, stunt backers, andtwist linemen. There would be some success, but I would
leave myself open to other plays. It was a guessing game, but sooner or later I would get the
defense out of position and give up a big play. I needed an effective counter that would remain
sound against other plays.
35

What I realized was that both these plays relied on the guard base blocking the 3-technique one on
one. I started slanting the 3-technique from B to A-Gap. This was a problem for guards to pick up
because they did not expect a three technique to do this. If I had a tackle that had a problem with
this technique, then I would cheat him back a step. This is not a hard technique to execute on
defense, an it became my best defense for these types of plays. In one game the 3-tech had 6
tackles for a loss on this stunt.
The best part of it was, I was sound against everything else. The only change in the defensive
scheme was that the backers had the B gaps.

If run effectively, the offense will have to get away from the single pull plays rely on counter OT or
zone runs to get the ball going. I would rather face those plays. It allows the DE to spill the ball to
the Outside guys.
This might seem like an overly simple adjustment. But I have found it to be one of the most
effective ways to defend pull schemes. Teams have tried to counter it, but it more or less takes
them out of pull schemes. Whenever you run a front with a 3 and a 1, the three technique draws a
one on one block. This block is the weakness that the defense can take advantage of.
Even if you pull towards the 3 there is a one on one created. Consider this example.

36

Still

the

3-tech

penetrating

the

gap

creates

problem

for

this

play.

This might have been too long an explanation for such a simple adjustment, but I found it helpful to
understand it this way.

37

BRACKET COVERAGE: PART I THE BASICS

This is the first of a 3-Part series. This series is about the basics behind bracketing and the two
main types that are usually employed. Part II will expand on some different variations and explain
the run support principals. Finally, Part III will cover some read brackets that resemble match-up
zone.

BASICS
Bracket coverage is designed to create double coverage on a single receiver. There are multiple
types of brackets and various reasons to use them. The starting point for bracket coverage is to
begin with its place in football.
The two main coverage families in football are zone and man. Between these two families are
many voids that coaches have attempted to and are still in the process of filling. The major attempt
by many coaches has been seen in the evolution of match up-zone and pattern reading. The other
attempt has been bracket coverage. To better understand its place consider the pros and cons of
man and zone coverage.

MAN
+Close coverage
+Disrupts timing
+eliminates throwing lanes
-Personnel mismatches
-Receivers can run off Defenders on run plays
-vulnerable to the deep ball
-Weak versus the option

ZONE
+Good for run and pass situations
+Protects against the deep ball
+Able to read the QB and break on the ball
-QB has many throwing windows
- Offenses will attack over stressed flat defenders
- You are either weak vertically or underneath.
In zone you are going to have holes in the short/intermediate or deep zones, you cannot eliminate
all areas. In man you are gonna match-up problems and have trouble covering routes run away
from the defenders man leverage. (ie. Inside man versus the 10 and out.) Also, a route that creates
problems for both man and zone coverages is the 10-15 yard bend-in (Dig). These routes create
problems that need solutions, while at the same time keeping the defense as a whole sound
38

versus the run. Bracket coverage has the ability to defend these problem routes, eliminate
mismatches, and remain sound versus the run.
The Positives to Bracket Coverage
1. Ability to double cover a good WR (eliminate mismatch)
2. Ability to leverage underneath and deep routes effectively.
3. Can involve simple and solid run support rules.

TYPES OF BRACKETS
There are two types of bracket coverage concepts:
1. Under/Over (Vertical Bracket)
2. In/Out (Horizontal Bracket)
UNDER/OVER
I have discussed examples of under and over brackets in a previouspost. Essentially One person
is in a trail technique covering any underneath break (inside and outside), with another person over
the top providing deep support. Here a couple examples:

39

These are called vertical brackets Because the WR is sandwiched over and under. One man will
stay low and in front while the other stays high and behind. The strength in this type of bracket is
the ability to stay under any route without having to worry about getting beat deep.
IN/OUT
In/out brackets provide horizontal leverage on a WR. One defender will cover him inside and up
the other will work and outside and up. This type of coverage is easy to disguise and can be
employed on any receiver. To illustrate this coverage, I will use some of Nick Saban's calls for
in/out coverage and some key coaching points.
If Coach Saban wants to double the #1 WR in and out with a corner and he safety he will call
"CONE".

Versus a vertical route by the WR, both players essentially cover him inside and out eliminating
any mismatch.

40

The technique of each player is crucial. If the WR runs an inside cut, the "IN" defender must play
the route aggressively and take it away. In this situation the "OUT" defender would work over the
top of the route and provide deep support for the "IN" defender.

If the WR breaks outside the roles would reverse. With the "OUT" defender aggressively covering
the WR while the "IN" defender works to provide over the top support.

The over the top leveraging on a horizontal break is the key to allowing the other defender to play
aggressive. This makes the double move routes not a concern.

41

In part II I will cover slot,TE, and RB brackets in addition to discussing the run play in this type of
coverage.

BRACKET COVERAGE PART II: SLOT BRACKETS

Been real busy, I am publishing this incomplete I will add that information into part III.
In Part I, I discussed the 2 main types of brackets: Under/Over and In/Out. I finished up that
discussion with a breakdown of the Nick Saban's Cone coverage. In this section I will get into two
different ways of bracketing the slot receiver and discuss the run/pass technique of the people
involved in bracket coverage.
I previously stated the main benefits to bracket coverage
1. Ability to coverage a good WR
2. Ability to leverage underneath and vertical routes
3. Involve simple and solid run support rules.
#3 might be one the most important concepts when it comes to bracketing. When it comes to man
coverage of WR's, it takes 5 men to cover the 5 eligible men at a minimum. This leaves 6 men
dedicated to playing the run. When you bracket, 6 men are put into coverage, leaving only 5 to play
the run. The offensive concept that has become standard (for 10 personnel spread teams) is to run
the ball versus 5 in the box. So if you are going to play the run effectively in bracket coverage, then
you are going to need solid and simple rules for getting another player involved in run plays.

The great part about bracket coverage is that it is easy to do that. The starting point is to keep
players out of run/pass conflicts. What is the usual indicator of a run in the shotgun? It is the mesh
of the QB and running back. It is this action that can put players in conflict. Is it a run or play pass?
If a player can't tell, then he is gonna be stuck in concrete not doing anything productive on the
field. When it comes to run/pass issues, you need to have clear rules to keep players out of
conflicts. Here are some examples and rules for eliminating this dilemma.

DUECE COVERAGE

42

Just like "Cone" DUECE puts the #2 Slot WR in an in/out bracket. The techniques for playing
inside and outside breaks are identical to CONE. The major difference between the two coverages
is the involvement of run/pass responsibilities.

The "IN" players is the person responsible for run overlap. If the ball meshes with the QB and back,
this player must play run first. The FS in this coverage would be the person responsible for the play
action pass to the slot WR. The Nickle player would come off later once he has cleared the run.
Versus a typical bubble screen off play action, the assignments would look like this.

43

This is not ideal for this coverage, but these rules need to be in place to eliminate the Nickle back
from being in a run/pass conflict. Versus a simple run:

Another problem route with this coverage is the Play-Action pass to the slot on a slant. It is an easy
pass to complete given that the fake gets the nickle player out of the way. However, this is not a
major concern. By alignment the offense will be wary of attacking the D with a slant by the #2 WR.
Also, with proper stemming this look can appear to be a 1/2's, man under, quarters, or even an
outside bracket look.

BRACKET COVERAGE
Bracket is an in/out slot bracket like DUECE, the major difference is that the nickle and FS switch
responsibilities. These alignments are similar to robber coverage, and basic pre-stem middle field
zone coverage (cover 3).

44

Versus a basic run the overlap and play-pass assignments look like this.

45

Mixing the looks is key. This game of mixing up the overlap players will cause problems for the
whole offense. The linemen will have problems figuring out which player will be overlapping into
the run-fit, and the QB will be confused as to what coverage the defense is in.

46

PLAY ACTION PASSES-DEFENDING THE BOOTLEG

I apologize for the return to the 60's hand drawn diagrams. Football season makes it hard to find
enough time to write a post much less design the diagrams for it. I hope that the drawing do the job
of illustrating my point.
Power running and pro-style offenses use play action passes to keep the defense off balance. One
of the most difficult types of play-action passes to defend, is the bootleg. The bootleg puts pressure
on the defense because it begins as a play that shows run action in one direction and then
develops into a passing play attacking the defense the other direction. The bulk of the pressure
comes from the offense forcing the defense to pursue one way and then have to quickly change
direction and locate passing threats while simultaneously containing the quarterback. In this post I
will explore defending the bootleg. First, I will explain the idea and concept of the bootleg. Then I
will give a few examples of how to defend it out of cover 3 and quarters.

UNDERSTANDING THE BOOTLEG

To understand the bootleg, you must first understand the major reason that running teams use it.

#1 IT PUNISHES OVER-AGGRESSIVE RUN PLAY

The bootleg is an often used play, but derives it power the same way an infrequent trick play does.
What are trick plays used for? For the most part it is not intended to "trick" the defense as much as
it is designed to keep the D honest. For example, if the offenses is a big toss sweep team, they
should have a toss pass in their gameplan. This is important because it is needed to keep the
corner and or safety from playing the toss too aggressively. If a toss team begins to notice that the
corners and/or safety are playing the toss too aggressively, then they should run the toss pass.
This is smart for two reason: First, it takes advantage of the opportunity to make a big time play.
Second, it will take away the aggressiveness of the corner and/or safety, even if the ball falls
incomplete. In effect the toss pass is the playbook to keep the defense honest. If the defense
chooses to play the run over aggressively, then they will be punished by the bootleg pass.

#2 IT UTILIZES 5 THREATS TO ATTACK THE DEFENSE

The bootleg applies just like the toss pass, however defending it is more complicated then the toss
pass. The toss pass involves one major threat and requires one player to defend it. On the other
hand, the bootleg offers up to 6 threats. The more threats a play has, the more difficult it is to
defend. This is the feature that makes the bootleg a great play. The majority of play action passes
usually involve 4 threats. The bootleg usually has at least 5.

47

There are 5 Threats

1. Flat Route
2. Intermediate Route
3. Deep Route
4. Back Side Stretch route (post or dig)
5. Quarterback Run
* There is the 6th threat of the RB throwback, but I will not explore that option here, I classify that
play as a trick play that punishes a defenses backside defenders for over pursuing.
The fifth threat is what separates the boot from other play-action passes. In normal play-action
passes the QB sets up to read the defense, but in the bootleg he is rolling out away from flow and
becomes a downhill running threat. If you are able to cover all the routes, you still have the threat
of the quarterback run.

#3 IT IS SIMPLE TO EXECUTE AND CHANGE UP

The boot is also easy for the offense to change up. They can run the same concept with the same
reads, but be able to change up the routes. For example, they can run the boot strong and get the
same look.

Not much has changed other then direction and the fact that TE runs a settle route. This route is
still the intermediate read for the offense. The other 4 routes are present. The boot can be run from
48

almost any formation as well.

Here the boot is happening out of double tight 1-back. Even though the TE (Y) and Z WR are
running different routes (a push and post-corner), they are still attacking the flat and deep.

The boot can be extremely dangerous from overloaded formations like this. These sets force the
defense to adjust on alignment and still maintain the ability to cover all 5 threats of the bootleg.

DEFENDING THE BOOTLEG

The first step in developing a sound defense for the bootleg is to develop rules and recognition
points for bootleg strong and bootleg weak. These rules vary depending on the coverage called.
Cover 3 (Middle of the Field Coverage)

RULES FOR BOOTLEG WEAK :

Play Side:
Flat defender----Gain Depth and break on the flat route
Corner-- Cover the deep route #3
Hook Defender---- Find and cover the drag#2
Free Safety------ Protect the middle field and eliminate the post#4
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Back Side:
Flat Defender------ Check RB for throwback pass & get under the backside WR if he runs a dig#4
Corner---- Squeeze the Post to the FS #4
Hook Defender---- Become secondary contain on the QB. #5

The play side flat defender needs to gain depth and maintain leverage with the fullback attacking
the flat. This is intended to allow the flat defender to help out on the intermediate route and be in a
position to keep the flat route to a minimal gain. By gaining depth the flat defender give the QB the
immediate read to throw the flat route. At times the hook defender can be sucked up on the run
and have trouble getting to the drag.
Defending the strong side boot is very similar to the weak side boot.

RULES FOR STRONG SIDE BOOT

Play Side:
Flat defender----Gain Depth and break up on flat route #1
Corner-- Cover the deep route #3
Hook Defender---- Find and cover the settle route #2
Free Safety------ Protect the middle field and eliminate the post#4
Back Side:
Flat Defender------ Check RB for throwback pass & get under the backside WR if he runs a dig#4
Corner---- Squeeze the Post to the FS #4
Hook Defender---- Become secondary contain on the QB. #5

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The difficulty with the strong side boot is the settle route. The SS is put in a bind. If he is used to
help on the settle route, the full back will be open and in a position to gain a good amount because
of the SS leverage. On the other hand if he jumps the flat route, the hook defender will have a
difficult time jumping the settle route. The strong side boot operates similar to the "stick" concept. It
is covered more effectively if the hook defender is aware of the route and sprints to it as soon as
he reads strong side boot.
Quarters Coverage (Robber coverage to the passing strength)

RULES FOR BOOTLEG WEAK :

Play Side:
Flat defender----Pick up flat route #1
Corner-- Cover the deep route #3
Hook Defender---- Find and get under the drag#2
Free Safety------ Jump on top of the drag #2
Back Side:
Flat Defender------ Check RB for throwback pass & get under the backside WR if he runs a dig#4
Corner---- Stay inside the post #4
Hook Defender---- Become secondary contain on the QB. #5

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There is a trade off in this coverage versus Cover 3. Robber coverage allows the FS to play the
intermidiate route aggressively, this is really the route the offense is looking to pick up a good
chunk of yardage and/or first down with. By playing the FS on the intermidiate route, you can
provide stronger coverage on the main two options that the QB wants to throw without relying on a
linebacker that is caught in a run/pass conflict. However, the drawback is that the backside corner
has to defend the post alone...... this is the most difficult route for the corner to defend. The one
point of relief is that even if the post does come open, it is the last WR that the QB checks and the
hardest throw to complete.

RULES FOR BOOTLEG STRONG:

Play Side:
Flat defender----Pick up flat route #1
Corner-- Cover the deep route #3
Hook Defender---- Find and get under the Settle#2
Free Safety------ Jump on top of the Settle #2
Back Side:
Flat Defender------ Check RB for throwback pass & get under the backside WR if he runs a dig#4
Corner---- Stay inside the post #4
Hook Defender---- Become secondary contain on the QB. #5

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Again the same trade off as before. Quarters coverage allows the free safety to play the
intermediate route aggressively at the expense of putting the corner 1 on 1 with the post.
Final Point
In my opinion, and you can take it for what its worth. I am more concerned with covering receivers
than reading the QB on play action passes. Upon recognizing bootleg, I believe it is more important
for the defenders to find and cover the threats they are assigned to cover, than dropping while
reading the QB. Bootlegs are executed by finding windows, it doesn't matter if the window is
behind(vertical) or beside(Horizontal) defenders. By finding and getting to the threats, the
defenders will do a better job of eliminating horizontal and vertical windows.

SUMMARY
The key to stopping the bootleg is quick recognition, and clearly defined rules. Rules allow the
players to know which receivers to pick up, and keep completions to a minimum. Even if they do
get sucked up on the play fake, they will know which receiver they are looking for as soon as soon
as they recognize pass. Any play-action pass puts pressure on the defense. Teams will use it
constantly to punish defenses that are over-aggressive on the run.

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DEFENDING TRIPS- DISGUISE AND SCHEME

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In this post I will focus on defending the trips side of a 3x1 formation. There are certain
considerations that need to be made when planning out a strategy for dealing with trips. Here is the
good news, usually, defending 3x1 is much easier than defending 2x2 formations. The defenses
that have trouble with 3x1 formations are usually defenses that prefer to play the game with
balanced fronts/coverages (hence the discomfort with the overload that trips create) or don't
understand that defending trips like anything else is a risk reward game. The defense cannot stop
everything, every play. The goal is to have the defense in the best position to defend the most
likely range of plays the offense can run in a particular situation. Lets look at some different
options you can run towards trips.

1. A Cover 3 concept.
2. An X-out concept like Special
3. A Pattern-match coverage with a safety poaching #3 (solo)
4. The Classic: Straight up Man or Man-Free

Using these 4 options we can up with a plan for handling trips in a general strategy. I am not gonna
get to much into the technique or scheme of each of these, the links provided offer that. The first
thing to consider is disguise.

DISGUISE

Disguising coverage in football is done in 2 primary ways.

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1. Stemming and Moving around constantly every play to the extent that the offense does not know
what you are in pre-snap
2. Show the same look every-time and then stem to your coverage right before the snap.
Either approach can work, but I will discuss the 2nd because it will easier to explain, and in my
opinion is easier to execute.
I like running 2-Solo, so I prefer to base my trips look out of that.

From this look you can stem and work into the other looks without much difficulty.

Lets look at the others.

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Looking at these alignments it should be evident that there is not too much movement involved in
the stemming of each.

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Again these are simple examples, but even in their simplicity they can be difficult for the typical
High School QB to read. The other disguise principal involves the movement of the SS. Since it is
harder for the SS to align himself out of position, he can be the defenses most liberal person
stemming. He can move around, show blitz, man, ect.

WHEN TO CALL WHAT

This comes down to game-planning. The generic rule is to understand the strengths and
weaknesses of each coverage. Here is a simple list. It is not complete nor detailed, but sufficient to
illustrate the point.

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Ideally, the defense wants to be in a coverage that best defends what the offense is trying to do. If
the defense expects run toward the trips, then 3-Mable or 2-Solo are best. If the defense is worried
about middle and quick game, then cover 1 is the best bet. Finally, if the single WR is a concern,
then special bracket is optimal.

No matter what trips coverages the defense has in its package, they need to be coordinated and
planned. The best way to protect each one is to mix them up and have a sound disguise for them.
This post was a simplistic look at disguising and calling different coverages to trips. If anyone has
any questions about anything let me know in the comment section.

COVER BLACK- INVERTED MAN-UNDER HALVES

Spread Teams put stress on the defense. The challenge of defending the pass and run effectively
put the defense into difficult decisions. The need to stop the run while at the same time maintain
excellent pass coverage is difficult. Zone coverage is the mainstay of choice vs the spread
because of these needs. Zone allows all eyes to be on the run while coverage is developed to
protect deep passes. Because of this, offenses attack defenses with quick/short, intermediate, and
outside breaking routes. In response to this defenses have mixed in man coverage variations to
deal with this attack.
Man coverage can take away short and inside breaking routes. Outside routes are harder to cover
because of the inside-leverage defenders use in man coverage. In certain man coverages
defenders can use outside-leverage. In order to use outside-leverage the defense needs to provide
inside and/or deep support to remain sound. A popular coverage to use when the defense wants to
defend the pass is man-under halves support.

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In this coverage the players in man coverage will use a trail technique and the safeties will provide
deep support. Any outside cut and intermediate inside cuts should be covered by the man
defenders. However, there are two drawbacks to this coverage. First, the quick inside slants are
hard to cover. The man defenders are out of position to cover these routes due to outside
alignment and there isn't anyone that can provide immediate help to these routes. Second, run
support is weak. The man defenders are too far from the action to provide adequate support and
the safeties are gaining depth to provide deep pass support. This limits run support to 5 players.
Given that the offense has 6 players to use in the running game, this puts the defense at a
disadvantage versus the run. Due to these drawbacks the defense usually runs this coverage in
long yardage situations where the threat of the slant and run is of less concern.
The does not put the defense in the best position, because the best coverage for deep to
intermediate pass plays is restricted to long yardage downs. However, the offense can run these
types of passes on any down. How can the defense improve this position? For one, the defense
will need to utilize this coverage on situations other than long yardage. Another thing about today's
spread offenses, is that they can check into different plays depending on what the defense gives
them. This alignment will invite offenses to check into running plays.
The solution must then allow the defense to show this alignment but defend the run more
effectively. If a defense can do this, then the offense will be in a guessing game. In short, the
defense will have gained the upper hand. What type of coverage would this be? In comes Cover
Black, an inverted man-under halves coverage.

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COVER BLACK

PLAYING THE RUN

In cover black the defense shows the offense a man-under halves look and invites the run. The
wrench in the works is that the defense has 7 players that it can commit to the run. The 2 extra run
defenders are the safeties. The safeties need to stem to 1x8 alignment and flat-foot read thinking
run 1st. On a run read the safeties can activate into the box quickly. Also, they will probably pursue
freely because offenses do not account for the safeties in their run blocking schemes. This
coverage is effective versus inside and outside running plays.

VERSUS THE INSIDE RUN

The linebacker is responsible for the A-gap. The FS sees the tackle move inside, so he move over
to cover the QB pull. The WS sees the run action and activates to defend the B gap. The
Defensive end leverages down the line and takes the back. If all goes as planned the QB will pull
the ball not knowing that the FS will be in position to play him.

VERSUS THE OPTION

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Here the rules are little different. On fast flow the play side safety moves lateral and checks the slot
receiver. If the slot releases towards him or vertical he needs to take away the play pass. The SS is
man to man on the slot but begins with his eyes on the backfield. While jamming and disrupting the
slot, he should trigger to run force whenever he sees fast-flow his way. The WS can protect the
cutback by checking backside B-gap and then get into pursuit. The end can take QB.

PLAYING THE PASS

The rules for the underneath man defenders are as follows.
1. Align o/s leverage on man
2. Maintain outside leverage and cover any outside cuts by your man
3. Stay over and outside your man on vertical releases.
4. If your man releases inside yell "in-in!" release him and continue to gain depth. (stay over the top
in case he cuts vertical again. )
5. If you are covering a slot and your man is running a vertical route and you hear the corner make
an "in" call, work inside your man. (You will not have post help anymore)
The biggest challenge is number 5. However, this is not a play type that people will run at a man
under halves look.
Safety Pass Rules
1. Don't chase a shallow crosser. A shallow cross is a route that is below linebacker depth.
2. You have the 1st inside cut (past linebacker depth) of speed (don't take an inside cut by a TE).
Lets look at some diagrams of cover black in action.

VERSUS A DIG POST COMBINATION

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Basic rules application here. The SS makes his "in" call and gains depth. The corner should alert
the SS to his inside cut so that he (the SS) can cutoff the route while the corner plays the route
over the top. The FS will handle the dig.

VERSUS VERTICAL AND DIG

This is an example where the SS will have to work inside his receiver. The corner will make an "in
in" call. This alerts the SS that he has lost his post help, but will have outside from the corner. An
important coaching point with this technique, is that the SS must work inside by going over the WR.
He should be over and outside initially. It is problematic for him to work inside by going behind the
WR, because if the WR cuts inside (ie Post) before the SS gets inside the WR will be wide open
and have an easy lane to go the distance.
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VERSUS THE DEEP OUT BY #1

The idea for the offense is to wall of the SS from getting underneath the out by #1. They run this
when they expect the corner to bail and play deep zone. Versus man the route becomes more of a
comeback. This coverage will look like zone to the WR's so they will try to wall with the slot.
Teams will not want to run a deep out to #1 versus this coverage, but lets talk about the technique
to take this away.

The SS has to maintain outside leverage and remain over the top when the route pushes vertical.
The FS should shuffle and look for inside cuts. The corner should stay outside and over, break
aggressively outside as soon as the receiver breaks out. Due to leverage the corner is in perfect
position to cover this route. The only difficulty will be if the QB throws the ball the WR's inside
shoulder.
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It is important for the SS to maintain proper leverage in this play, because he will be in perfect
position to cover a corner route by the slot.

CONCLUSION
Cover Black is a great and deceptive coverage. It is a great change-up and stand alone coverage
that can be run on any down. It is especially useful when your defense employs man-under halves.
The offense will not be sure what coverage you are in when you align in this look. You can utilize
man-under coverage on more than just long yardage situations when you have cover black as a
change up.

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3 WAYS TO DEFEND TRIPS FORMATIONS FROM 1

COVERAGE SHELL
Defending trips formations, even with many more spread formations, is still a tough task. Many
teams will still check to one automatic blitz or one automatic coverage.
Well, that ends today! I want to show you 3 examples of how to defend trips from the exact same
coverage shell.
For many of you, these are pretty safe adjustments too, meaning youve probably already got
something like them in your playbook. You might not need my exact adjustment for defending trips
formations, but maybe you can tweak your already existing concept.
Well present one slightly tweaked zone coverage adjustment, one man coverage adjustment, and
finally a zone blitz. Again, all of these will come from the same shell. That way, you dont need to
teach new adjustments or give any tells to the offense.

GOALS IN DEFENDING TRIPS FORMATIONS

Before we get too far, lets talk about your goals. I like to prevent big plays, aka 4 verticals, out of
trips. Thats my first priority. My next priority is defending the run, so I am going to do what I can to
keep 6 people immediately in the box, and get safeties involved if necessary.
If the team your facing does different things out of trips, you might need to adjust. However, make
sure you adjust what you do in order to take away the two things they do best. Dont try to defend
everything, because if you do, youll defend nothing.

COVERAGE 1: ZONE COVERAGE FOR DEFENDING TRIPS

This is a zone coverage, but it has some man or matchup principles in it. Theres actually a few
ways you can tweak this and still be effective.
As we can see in the diagram below, we get a trips open formation.

You can play this like cover 2 or cover 4 on the backside.

The next big question you need to ask yourself is do you specialize more in cover 2 or quarters?
Some teams never run true quarters. Others hardly run cover 2. There are probably a few teams
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that run neither, and if thats the case, you might want to figure out a different adjustment (this can
easily be just like cover 3).
Regardless, were going to put the corner on the #1 receiver to the trips side man to man.
The Sam linebacker or nickel player plays outside eye of #2. You could probably play him inside
too, but play him outside lets him easily read the release of the #3 receiver.
This nickel player is going to be basically a corner in cover 2. Essentially this side of trips is cover 2
bumped one man inside. So the Sam/Nickel plays the curl/flat and drops with a release of #3
vertically up the field. He should not cover grass. He should react to throws in the flat after the QB
has committed to that throw.
The Free Safety aligns just inside of #3, unless he has a tight split then he should split the
difference of #2 and #3. Hes got the deep half like hes in cover 2. He wants to play closer to the
#3 receiver for deception reasons.
Since #1 is covered man to man, he shouldnt worry about him as much as #2. However, the
traditional smash concept is less of a threat here because the Sam/Nickel would get driven
vertically by the #2 receivers release, and we have a man to man corner on #1.
The Middle linebacker needs to widen out a little bit presnap, but he can do that for all these
coverages. To help protect him, I like go G the guard (put the nose tackle on the guards inside
shoulder). He needs to be able to play the B gap.
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The middle linebacker should run with #3 vertical and he has the middle hole otherwise with
special focus on #3. He should zone turn and aggressively play over the top of him. He should stop
and react to throws underneath once the ball is gone.
Defending the trips formation from the backside is more flexible.
You could play traditional cover 2 with the Will, Safety, and Corner. You could also invert it if you
expect run, with the corner playing the deep half and the safety taking the flat. However, this will
basically man lock the corner on vertical routes, and any crossers from the trips side will have an
open window sooner in the play. However, this is a good run adjustment if you get a heavy run
read.
You can also play quarters or 2 read here. 2 Read would basically mean if #2 (the back) goes
vertical, the safety covers him. If #2 goes flat, the corner would drop until the back crosses his
face, then he would take him. The safety would have #1 vertical then.
If you play traditional quarters, the corner would read #1. The safety would read #2. The Will would
help rob #2 before robbing the curl from #1.
This is basically a heavily adjustable coverage, and you could even run a few variations of just this
when defending trips formations.

COVERAGE 2: MAN COVERAGE ADJUSTMENT TO DEFEND TRIPS FORMATIONS

This coverage also has a few adjustments. You could bring pressure or rob underneath receivers.

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You can choose to bring pressure with the Mike or Rob the middle or #3
I recommend playing everyone with inside leverage. The corner plays man to man on #1, the
Sam/Nickel plays man to man on #2, and the near safety is man to man on #3. The backside
safety plays the deep middle. The Will plays man to man on the running back. If he blocks you
could bring pressure with him or have him rob the curl by #1.
The Mike robs #3 short. The free safety is playing quite far off, so if #3 runs a shallow route, the
Mike should collision him. He should not let #3 run by him free. If #3 goes vertical, he should rob
him short before getting eyes on #1.
If you wanted to play really risky, you could bring pressure with the Mike and the Will here. You
could peel the C gap player on the back if he swings out. Or you could play the backside safety on
him first before having him take away the middle third. This would cost you the ability to play loose
on #3 though if you bring the Mike. You could cheat the free safety down, but that would give away
the coverage.
Overall, man coverage is a good tactic to defend trips formations.

COVERAGE 3: ZONE BLITZ TO DEFEND TRIPS FORMATIONS

Now, before I get into this, you could bring your pressure with 5 guys in any number of ways,
especially if youre using 5 of the 6 guys near the box (the 2 inside linebackers and the defensive
line). Mine is just one example.

The Blitz Might Change Depending on your needs

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Regardless, one of the guys in the box will need to play the seam/curl/flat to the single receiver
side, so keep that in mind.
To the frontside, the cornerback will play fire 1/3 coverage. He has no 2 to 1 read like many
traditional cover 3 variations. Basically, if #1 goes vertical, he should lock on man to man.
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The Sam/Nickel has seam/curl/flat, and is out over the #2 receiver. I like slight inside leverage
here. He should stay on top of #2 until he gets an out call by the safety which indicates that his #3
receiver has eliminated the possibility of 4 verticals.
The Sam/Nickel wants to pester #2 as much as possible if he goes vertical in order to discourage
that throw.
The Free safety is playing what I call Hole 3. Hes got #3 vertical for 12 yards, at that point the
safety should take over. He shouldnt be over aggressive.
The backside safety and corner have the middle third and deep outside third respectively.
In terms of what to call with the blitz, it depends on what they do. Be mindful of full flow running
plays into the boundary. Keep enough support their to take on that type of play. I also like blitzes
that force a give read but provide a tough to block zone blitz to the front size.
The aggressive zone blitz will help you defend trips formations no matter what they send at you.
Its not a perfect coverage, so make sure you study their pass protections so your blitz can hit
home.

CONCLUSIONS ON DEFENDING TRIPS FORMATIONS

Overall, make sure you scout the team so you know exactly what they like to do, so that way you
can efficiently plan out how to defend trips formations without spending entirely too much time on
it.
This means you should do some scouting in the off-season on your opponents and build coverage
options into your pre-season for defending trips formations.

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5 KEYS TO DEVELOPING A DEFENSIVE SYSTEM IN

FOOTBALL
As I was sifting through endless books, playbooks, and clinic materials to compare what all the
best and brightest minds in the game of football were doing, I realized that there are five keys to
creating a defensive system, and only 2 have anything to do with Xs and Os.

Fritz Shurmurs 5 Eagle Linebacker Defense wasnt cutting it anymore.

KEY #1: YOUR BASE FRONT AND COVERAGE NEED TO BE DURABLE ENOUGH TO
USE AGAINST A MULTITUDE OF OFFENSIVE SETS.
No matter the way you choose to align your defense, whether it be a 4-3, 4-4/4-2, 3-4, 3-3, 3-5, 46
Bear etc. your base better be good enough to align to a majority of the different offensive sets you
will be seeing in a given season.
The same can be said for coverage as well. You need to have a coverage that you can align in no
matter the offensive set and still feel like you have a chance to defend whatever the offense will be
throwing at you.
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For us, we went with a 4-3 Cover 2 for the flexibility we had in aligning to the different offenses we
would see. Sure, we would work in different variations of the front and coverage, but if the crap
started hitting the fan, you could count on us being in this defense.

KEY #2: COMMUNICATION IS KING

When you are developing your defensive system, make sure you come up with a way that will help
your players easily identify with what you are doing.
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You may use coach speak, a made-up name, colors, or even numbers to tell your players how to
get aligned. The key is having all of your players on the same page so that when the bullets start
flying in a game, you players can communicate with you and each other to get the mission
accomplished.

KEY #3: YOU NEED TO HAVE SOME TYPE OF INSTALL PLAN TO CONVEY THE
MATERIAL TO THE PLAYERS.
As I went through the process of figuring out what we wanted to do and how we wanted to
communicate that, I realized that we would need some type of plan to implement this system.
Now, there are two schools of thought on this. The first is to only install something after your
players get the information you were previously teaching them. This works well if the proceeding
material builds off of prior knowledge gained while learning the first. It makes for a much faster
install and learning curve if there are only minor tweaks to the base defense.
The second such method has been popularized by the Air Raid coaches where they will install their
package in a 3-5 day rotation/cycle where they will basically install everything in the course of a
week, and then re-install the same material the next time back through making it easier for the
players to understand the concepts as they go back through the installation process a 2nd and 3rd
time.
Personally, I chose the first method as I knew wed really be spending the most amount of time in
our base defense. Similarly, the adjustments we were making relied upon know the base defense
and moving accordingly based upon the new change.

KEY #4: YOULL NEED TO BE ABLE TO ATTACK/BLITZ FROM INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
IN YOUR DEFENSIVE SYSTEM
This is a key that I quickly realized we were lacking toward the middle of the season.
As I was creating our alignment rules and blitz package for our defensive system, I neglected the
fact that some teams would still be able to run to an area on the field I was trying to keep them
from running to by shear force.

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Adding a Blitz like Zach Davis does in his 3-4 Dime Package Makes a Difference

We play some bigger teams upfront that can negate some of our alignment advantages we would
normally have against weaker teams. This oversight created some problems on Friday night as we
were unable to stop the bleeding at times. I have since added an outside blitz that will take care of
this problem.

KEY #5: YOU NEED A SET OF READ/REACTION KEYS THAT HELP YOUR PLAYERS
PLAY FAST
This key is probably the most important key of them all. Hence the reason I saved it for last. To me,
this is the difference between giving up a gain of 1 or 2 yards as opposed to 3 to 4 yards on a run
play and a pass of 5 yards or less compared to an 8 to 10 yard gain.
During my offseason self-scout, I realized that the majority of the plays we gave up big yards on
were due to a player who either misread or didnt read his key. When we read our keys and
reacted, we were extremely likely to make a great play where the offense gained minimal yards.
This is where I think teams that are average to below average can make the biggest headway in
terms of improvement. I believe this, because the extra half second a player can get by knowing
where the play is going can be the difference between 2nd down and a touchdown. You can
guarantee this will be an area of emphasis during the summer for us.

4-3 DEFENSIVE LINE EVERY DAY FOOTBALL DRILLS

DEFENSIVE DRILLS FOR BEATING THE SOLO BASE BLOCKS
Solo base blocks, like the scoop block and the regular base block, are becoming more rare, in my
opinion. However, there are situations where they occur, especially for defensive ends. I think one
of my favorite drills is to start with the whole part whole method and focus on the part.

DEFENSIVE LINE DRILL: 6 POINT EXPLOSION

Line up your whole group and shade the defenders to one side with a partner. The partner should
be arms length away. The defenders toes, knees, and hands should be on the ground. On some
movement key (I suggest giving the offense a snap count and have them move the bags on it for
this drill if you have a lot of kids, if you have a small number just use a ball) have the defenders
explode up and out (at a 45 degree angle), aiming at the side their shaded to on the pad. They
should focus on driving with their toes to create greap hip extension. If they arent rolling their hips,
tell them to shoot their eyes to the sky and their head up as the drive forward with their body. They
should get full extension on the pad by driving their hands.
Explain to your kids that this really should be what they feel when they make contact, except that
they should keep their feet bacuse their feet should be moving with their body. By isolating this
motion, you let kids who are struggling with the hip roll aspect to understand what you want. They
should also understand that the hip roll helps them explode into the blocker and displace them
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initially. This action needs to be violent, and throwing your hands into the blocker in this drill will do
that. Some kids naturally just get hands on a blocker, they dont know that they need to be violent
with their hands. If they execute this drill correctly, they should see that. The hand strike is critical
for the block destruction phase.

DEFENSIVE LINE DRILLS: BLOCK DESTRUCTION

How many times do you see a defensive end get the perimeter and not make a play? They may
even disengage the blocker. So this is a two part defensive line drill. I believe we as defensive line
coaches tend to condition our kids to just want to disengage. That is the first part of this pair of
defensive line drills. However, we dont tell them when, which is what I try to do with the second
drill or second part of this defensive line drill. They need to understand that they should disengage
after they deystroy the block, after that intial hip explosion and hand strike that they worked on in
the 6 point drill above.
I tell my kids that block destruction doesnt matter if you arent in a position to make the tackle. So
when my drills for defensive line block destruction, I focus on offensive linemen hand
displacement. We need to be active after that initial shock. Sometimes kids are so worried about
their rip. How about we knock the hands down after we shock the blocker. What I do is I place the
kids on an outside shade on a blocker. They are in a 2 point stance, after taking their 6 inch read
step and theyre in their leverage step (taken when the blockers knee comes at you you step
slightly outside with your outside foot to make sure you keep your leverage). The next step is a
power step at the inside heel of the linemen. We take that step in this drill, from the 2 point stance,
and make contact with the blocker he makes his move. The blocker is instructed to either scoop or
base block the defender, and once he does that the defensive linemen strikes. He should step and
strike the blocker with both hands. As he does that, he will gain a small amount of seperation on
the offensive linemen (coaching point, make sure there is no bend in the elbows here, that will
ensure maximum arm length when combined with good knee bend and shoulders over the knee to
keep pad level down). As soon as he makes that contact and he feels the offensive linemen
displaced, he should begin his push pull technique. It should be one snap motion that is fluid when
this is polished. As soon as he finishes the push pull, the blockers pads should be perpendicular to
the line of scrimmage. The defender at this point should violently slam his forearms on the
blockers wrists and begin a rip move where he steps with his inside foot outside the blocker. Now
he has defeated the block and outleveraged the player at the point of attack.

BLOCK DESTRUCTION: MAKE THE TACKLE

The final part of the block destruction defensive line drill is to make the tackle. This should be
incorperated into as many defensive line drills as possible. After getting better at defeating the
block, the defensive linemen should be asked to make a tackle. The ball carrier should be given an
angle outside the blocker, and asked to run at half speed at first, then full speed as the kids get the
concept. This will ensure success and belief in the technique.

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One side note. A lot of defensive coaches want to stress making a tackle behind the line of
scrimmage. While I will say that, I am happy if we make the tackle even a little beyond it. The
reaction speed of defensive linemen to engage, disengage, and make a tackle is tough, especially
at lower levels. If you stress making plays behind the LOS too much, kids will just try to shoot the
gap and then when you get mad at them for not using technique, they will think the technique is
crap. This leads me to another point, dont pull the legs out from your technique. Kids will become
sloppy and defeat blocks easier in practice using bad technique. Demand perfection on technique.
Dont demand it on things like making the tackle before the ball carrier makes the line of
scrimmage, or else when kids fail at that theyll think the technique, and you as a coach, are failing.
In general, for defenisve line drills, remember you care about the technique, and you care about
the tackle, but focus on only one aspect at a time.
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DEFENSIVE LINE DRILLS: EXECUTING THE RIP MOVE WITH A TOWEL

I think executing the rip move is something we all stress as coaches, and it appears in many
defensive line drills. I like the towel drill. Put it behind the blocker. The defensive linemen should be
can be in a 2 or 3 point stance. The blocker should give little resistance. The emphasis of the drill
is the long rip move. We all try to stress ripping to the grass and up to the sky. We can get the
grass easily with the towel drill. The DL, after making contact, rips to scoop the towel. I, however,
ask the kids to release the towel at the end of their rip so it goes behind them and over their head.
This forces the rip to go HIGH in the air, an often undercoached aspect but much needed way to
force the blocker to disengage his hands completely. Like us on Facebook!
Another small coaching tip on the Rip Towel Drill is the idea that the towel is not completely flat on
the ground. Use big towels as well. I like the towel to be raised, like a napkin at a 5 star restaurant
before you sit down, so the kid doesnt have to worry so much about the grabbing of the towel but
the action of the rip move. Also, by giving them a toweel that is larger, you give them a better
opporunity to grab it if they are off to the left or the right. Kids will focus on grabbing the towel if you
tell them too, not as much the technique. By making the towel bigger, they dont have to worry
about grabbing it as much to be successful in the drill. Its also important to tell them youre doing
the drill to work on the rip move, not on grabbing the towel. I made the mistake of not saying that
once and I litterally had a few kids stop the rip movement to pick up the towel. Like literraly bend
over to pickup the towel.

DEFENSIVE LINE DRILLS: PUSH PULL TECHNIQUE AND THUMBS UP WITH A

TOWEL
I like to use towels in my drills if you havent guessed. The next part works on two areas, the push
pull technique and how to keep the elbows in and the thumbs up. The defensive linemen starts
shaded again on the blocker in a perfect fit position. His hands are already on the offensive
linemen, and hes ready to execute the push pull technique. His elbows are in and his thumbs are
up. Have a player (or you yourself) put a towel right over his elbows. On some key, he executes
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just the push pull aspect. If the towel falls THROUGH THE MIDDLE, that means the elbows
worked outside in the push pull action (btw, another coaching point, the DL should be moving the
blocker back into the backfield in this drill a couple of steps). This drill enables you force the
defensive linemen to keep their thumbs up throughout the whole process of the push pull so they
dont lose power. It also refines the skill and keeps the hands tighter, which allows them to more
quickly and efficiently disengage the blockers hands when the time comes.

DEFENSIVE LINE DRILL CONCLUSIONS

I hope to continue this series on defensive line drills for the 4-3 defense over time for each block
type. Hopefully I can cover 3 or 4 defensive line drills in each post. Its hard to do this level of detail
for each block and each one of the many defensive line drills in a blog so maybe I will try to do
some video. I hope this provides the necessary detail for a few drills. I also didnt copy edit this
yet (Im writing it on my blog while Im away from home on an iPad) so please forgive me for
misspellings.

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4-3 DEFENSIVE LINE PLAY SKILLS AND READS

Perhaps the most critical component of the 4-3 is the defensive line. As with any defense, if you
can create pressure with your defensive linemen, your chances of success increase tremendously.
At a clinic in Chicago, I had the pleasure of hearing Wisconsins DL coach, Charlie Partridge. Talk
about a technician. Wisconsins DL is inspiring, and while this past season they had JJ Watt, they
routinely have exceptional players.
Wisconsin is, by definition, a 4-3 Over front defense. They like to play in that front, and they spot
drop. Theyll play Cover 2, Cover 3, and Cover 4, but they definitely are a spot drop team. Their
goal defensively is to create pressure with the front four and take away the immediate passing
lanes of the offense. By doing this, their kids can play fast and if they can create that pressure,
they have a chance to create turnovers.

DEFENSIVE LINE READS

I think both defensive linemen and offensive linemen need to incorporate some stance and start
drills every day. For defense, this means working off a football every day for their get off.
Personally, I feel they need to have their eyes on the football, and not on the offensive linemen,
because the defensive line is already at a slight disadvantage if they key the offensive linemens
knee for get off. Upon the snap of the football, the eyes need to identify the knee of their target.
The knee of the offensive linemen will quickly give the defensive linemen crucial information about
the direction of the play and the type of play. If the knee opens towards you, you know that you are
being blocked by at least him. If you feel a great deal of pressure on your side or hip, you know you
have a combo block. If you feel one hands worth of pressure, you know you have some kind of
zone scheme. The next reaction to the knee is identifying a down block. If the knee turns inside
and you cant see it, then you need to step down. If you feel pressure, you are being down blocked
by the adjacent linemen. If you feel no pressure, you need to react based on your option rules. If
you get straight knee plus extension, you likely have a pass read.

DEFENSIVE LINE REACTIONS

Now, after making your quick read, you must react. You need to get your first step in the ground
immediately. It needs to gain six inches forward. As your foot hits the ground, you need to begin
getting extension with the hands. By the time your second step hits the ground, your hands need to
make contact and be working towards full extension on the offensive blocker. Thumbs should be
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up with the elbows inside. The hands should be punching the offensive linemen, and if the OL wins
inside shoulder pad position, the defensive linemen needs to quickly use his hands and reestablish
inside position on the offensive player. If the offensive linemen that the defensive lineman is
shaded over starts working away from him, either by attempting to rip through or work away from
the shaded alignment, he need to forcefully displace the offensive linemen without getting over
extended. This takes time, however, by displacing a offensive linemen as he works away from the
defensive linemen, he is taken off his coarse to the next down linemen or linebacker.

DEFENSIVE LINE ESCAPE AND PUSH PULL TECHNIQUE

After the defensive linemen takes an explosive and quick first step, reads the knee, and gets
extension on the offensive linemen, they need to begin turning their shoulders to behind the
escape process. The technique I prefer is the Push-Pull technique. Essentially, the defensive
linemen wants to get full extension with his gapside arm and PULL with the other hand. The pull
technique cannot be under estimated. A coaching point to focus on is making sure feet continue
moving. At this point, a lot of players stop moving their feet, or lose their balance as they lose
focus, and the offensive linemen will attempt to bury them or pancake them at this point.
Immediately following a successful push pull technique where the offensive linemens shoulders
are no longer parallel to the LOS, the defensive linemen should rip or swim over the OL, or pull
them to their pocket, depending on their place in the LOS and the ball carriers location. Pulling the
offensive linemen to the pocket involves violently taking the OLs shoulder pads from a high
position to a low position on the DLs non-shade side hip. He can then rip or swim if the OL is still
holding at this point. Like us on Facebook!
The obvious next step here is to make the play. You need to communicate to the defensive line that
even if they dont make the tackle, they need to pursue the ball carrier. This closes cut back lanes
and the defender can be rewarded with a loose ball or a relatively easy tackle.
Part II of defensive line play will detail everyday drills to accomplish these critical techniques.

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4-2-5 BASICS: RUN FITS VS. 2 BACK

FORMATIONS

People often ask me about how we fit the run in the 4-2-5. They say things like:
"4-2-5 is just a 4-4 with DB's at OLB, so you just fit the run like a 4-4?" or
"4-2-5 is just a 4-3 using nickel sub personnel on every play, so you fit like the 4-3?"

My answer is "Yes" to both. Part of the reason the 4-2-5 is popular is that it can fit the
run like a 4-4 or like 4-3. Teams can tailor the fits to their needs. Take for example a
basic two back 21 personnel pro formation.

The defense can align and fit the run like a 4-4. The SS and WS play force while the
four down linemen and two inside linebackers account for all the interior gaps.
OR
The defense can choose to fit the run like a 4-3 with a safety filling the role of the third
linebacker.
In this example the defense bumps the linebackers (Mike & Will) strong and bumps the
WS into the box in the role of the third linebacker. Against a strong or weak flow
running play the Mike, Will, and WS fit the run like a Sam, Mike, and Will in a traditional
4-3 defense would fit.
Versus a strong flow run

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Versus a weak flow run

The defense can alternatively choose to bump the SS into the box and the linebackers
weak. The SS, Mike, and Will then fill the role of the three linebackers.

Versus a strong flow run

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Versus a weak flow run

Lastly, the defense can drop the FS down into the box to fill the third linebacker role.

Versus a strong flow run

Versus a weak flow run

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How can a defense use this multiplicity?

Take for example:

Here is a standard Iso or Lead play from a 21 personnel Pro I formation. If the defense
chooses to fit this play like a traditional 4-4 defense, it can become a stress play.

In this scenario the Mike LB fit the FB on the outside half. If the inside linebackers are
expected to bracket the fullback, the Will has a difficult job. The Will needs to align wide
enough to keep leverage on the guard in case the offense is running an outside flow
run weak, like outside zone. This prevents the Will from cheating his alignment too far
inside. The result is the Center and Guard can scoop the Nose up the Will, potentially
cutting the Will off from his bracket responsibility.
One alternative solution is to have the Mike spill the fullback.
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The Will LB's job is easier because he doesn't have to bracket the FB with the Mike.
The new challenge is if the Mike is fitting inside of the fullback's block, who is fitting
outside? The offense has a good angle to use the TE to block the SS from folding into
the box. That leaves the FS. The FS can make the tackle but not without issues. The
RB vs. FS may be a bad match up. The FS may have to make an open field tackle vs.
a full speed RB. Requiring the FS to be hyper aggressive to fit the run also opens up
play action risks.
Neither fitting the Mike inside nor outside of the fullback may be optimal for the
defense.
Some coaches may say:
"The DT needs to squeeze the guard's block and reduce the A gap."
"The Nose needs to control the scoop block, keeping the offensive lineman on the line
of scrimmage longer. That buys time for the Will."
"The Mike needs to be violent and jam the fullback back in the hole."
"The Will needs to read his key and be quick to attack the ISO."
These are all true. The issue is that may be easier said then done. Especially when
playing good teams. If you want to compete for conference and post-season titles you
are going to have to play and beat good teams. What is the solution when their fullback
is better than your Mike? What if the guard is getting movement on the DT
consistently? Being able to change how the defense fits the run can help give the
defense solutions to these problems.
Here the defense bumped the linebackers strong and is using the WS as the third LB.

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With the Will bumped over the Center the Mike and Will have much easier time
bracketing the fullback's block. The offense does not have an easy angle to block the
Mike or Will.
More examples:
When the offense is using an offset fullback or an unbalanced set, the defense can
sure up run fits by bumping to a 4-3 run fit.

Having the linebackers bumped can help get players to the point of attack. The offense
most likely wants to run toward the offset fullback. It makes sense to get extra
defenders where the offense wants to run the ball.

Here is an unbalanced formation. The offense most likely wants to run toward the
unbalanced side. Being able to bump to a 4-3 run fit can help the defense remain gap
sound even against the extra gaps created by the unbalanced formation. TCU coach
Gary Patterson wrote about the concept of bumping in the 4-2-5 in his article for Nike
Coach of the Year. On pages 6,7,8 of the article Coach Patterson explains TCU's slide
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and scoot concepts.

There are other times when the defense wants to fit like a 4-4.

Here the defense is in a 4-3 run fit. If the offense is running a read power to the weak
side the defense may have difficulty. The WS has a poor angle to force the wide path of
the lead blocker. If the End steps down with the down block of the OT, the Will LB ends
up in a 1 on 1 foot race with the RB. This may be a bad match up.

If the defense is fitting the run like a 4-4, the angles are much easier for the defense.
The WS has a natural force leverage from width on the lead blocker. The Will LB can
much more easily scrape over the top of the DE and pursue the RB.
The 4-2-5 has the added advantage of disguise. On any play the LB's could bump
during the cadence. Any of the three safeties could move into the role of
the third linebacker. The defense can also show a 4-3 fit and bump back into a 4-4 run
fit. The result is offenses being forced to constantly identify, communicate, and react to
a defense changing it's run fits.

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COVER 1 (MAN FREE) VERSUS ACTION PASSES

This is part three of a series about Cover 1 (Man Free) coverage in the 4-2-5 defense.
The topic this time is defending action passes. Our goal is to keep the action pass rules
as simple as possible.

AGAINST ONE BACK BOOT FROM A 2X2 FORMATION:

The Mike and Will are playing Fiddle (2 on 1) technique vs. the running back. On the
action the LBs play run. The LB to the side of the action (here the Will) plays man
coverage on the RB once pass is identified. If the RB is running a throwback route the
Will must handle the route. The LB away from the action (here the Mike) must open up
and cover the crosser. It is critical the Mike plants on this right foot and opens over his
left shoulder. If the Mike opens up over his right shoulder, the crosser will easily run by
him. The Mikes landmark is the hash (college field) at 10 yards from the line of
scrimmage. As the Mike gets to the hash, he will find and cover the crosser. We teach
the aiming point to get the LB to take an angle that cuts off the crosser.

The WS will likely make a cut call in this situation. He will be late reacting to the pass.
Once he identifies the play is a boot, he will work to get back on top of the crossing
route. The WS can expect help from a LB. If the crossing route settles before getting to
the opposite hash the WS will have the route defended.

The FS will squeeze from the middle of the field to a landmark halfway between the
hash and the numbers (college field). This landmark is roughly the high school hash
mark.

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All other man coverage players remain in man coverage.

Against one back boot from a 3x1 formation:

The LB may not have a crossing route to cover. His reaction and aiming point remain
the same (Hash at 10).

Against one back sprint out:

The LB to the RB will go man cover the blocking running back and become an extra
pass rusher. The LB away from the sprint will take an angle to the hash at 10. As he
works to the hash he should find the crosser.

Against two back boot:

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When the backs split on the boot action the outside funnel players (here the WS and
Mike) have the RB's man to man. The Mike must be aware of throwback. The middle
player in the funnel (here the Will) must cover the crosser by getting to this hash at 10
aiming point. The SS will make a "cut" call end up trailing the crossing route.

When both backs release to the same side, the outside of the funnel (here the WS) and
the middle of the funnel (here the Will) have them man to man. The Mike will work to
the hash. Against a corner route by #2 the SS will work to lean the corner route vertical
to the FS. The free safety should be able to provide more corner route help by working
to his new landmark halfway between the numbers and hash.

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COVER 1 MAN (FREE) TECHNIQUE

Against a normal split receiver, the safety will take an outside leverage alignment. He
can expect inside help on short inside routes from the Hole player and deep inside help
from the Free player.

A wide split takes the DB further from his inside help. In that case the DB will adjust to
inside leverage to deny the easiest throws.

The DBs eyes are on the WRs hip.

Where the hip goes tells the DB how to react.

OUTSIDE
When the receivers hip is outside the DB should be in good position to get in phase
and cover the flat route.

While getting in phase, he must be able to access the difference between a flat route
and a wheel route.
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Many times the WR takes a more vertical path to the flat when running a wheel. DBs
must also look for the differences between flat vs. wheel routes in film study.

VERTICAL
When the receivers hip is vertical, the DB should get hands on the WR from the
outside in and get in phase. We want the DB to see through WR to the QB. Throughout
the route, he must maintain body position for outside breaking routes.

The most challenging outside breaking route is the corner. For the safety to be
successful he must make an efficient man turn into the route. Once in phase, the goal
for the DB is to lean on the WR forcing the route as vertical as possible.

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This action plays out like a corner leaning on a fade route. Instead of leaning the route
into the sideline, the safety leans the route to the free player.

If the WR runs a vertical or go route, the DB must defend any throws on a line
(including back shoulder throws). By playing the vertical aggressively with the man
coverage, the QB should be forced to put air on the vertical throw. Throws over the top
of the man coverage should be handled by the free player.

INSIDE
When the receivers hip is inside, the DB will use a Cut, Squeeze, or Pin technique
depending on the depth of the break.

When the hip of the receiver breaks inside immediately the DB should make a Cut
call to the Hole player. After making the cut call the DB will replace the Hole player. A
cut call tells the Hole player to cut off the crossing route in man coverage.

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Against the whip route (in & back out) the DB must be patient in order to correctly
identify what route the WR is running. On many shallow concepts the WR is running his
route at the heels of the DL. Most teams do not run a whip route from an initial release
at that depth. Typically the route is deeper when the WR is going to run a whip.

The DB must recheck a cut WR, looking for a whip route. He should be able to react
from going to the hole and recollect the WR to the flat. Film study is crucial in helping
the DB identify the difference between a crossing route and a whip route.

When thinking about cover 1 the question naturally arises: Why not just play true man
to man coverage and keep it simple? The cut technique is nuanced and requires
practice to perfect. The reason for cut technique is for run support. In a true man
coverage, if the receiver blocks inside the DB is going to go cover him. The receiver
can occupy his man defender and the player he his blocking creating a 2 on 1
advantage for the offense.

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Allowing the DB to make a cut call lets the DB be aggressive attacking the run.

When the hip of the receiver breaks inside at an intermediate depth the DB will use a
squeeze technique. The DB should make an In call to alert the Hole player there is a
route coming. A DB squeezing will trail and strip the receiver. If the WR attempts to
settle his route the DB should make the play. Otherwise the DB should squeeze the
route to the Hole player. Throws out in front of the WR will be defended by the Hole
player. Any other throw should be punched out by the trail and strip DB.

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When the WR sticks his foot in the ground and breaks to the post, the DB will use a pin
technique. We want the DB to push the post vertical, pinning the post to the safety. By
playing outside leverage the DB is naturally going to be in a trial position on the inside
post break. The DB will take a low hip position trailing the post. Any throws on a line will
be handled by the man coverage. Any throws over the top are the responsibility of the
free player.

Putting it all together against a route combination:

Mike & Will are in a fiddle (2 on 1) technique against the back. When the back releases
to the Mikes side the Mike takes him in man coverage. The Will become the Hole
player. However, when #2 releases immediately inside the SS makes a Cut call and
goes to the Hole. The Will cuts the crosser. The WS makes an In call and squeezes
the in route to the SS in the hole.

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PASS RUSH: THINKING ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE

Yesterday, I was asked to take a survey regarding learning styles. The survey
consisted of a number of questions about how I favored being presented information.
Two answer choices were offered in the format of either A or B, which do you prefer?
The final results showed graphs comparing multiple pairings of contrasting learning
styles and which ones I favored based on my answers to the survey. The results got
me thinking about how we teach our team. One set of learning styles from the survey is
visual vs. verbal.
Our coaching staff utilizes the whiteboard, power point, printed playbooks, and
technique manuals to help players understand material that is being taught. Some
players grasp concepts in writing instantly and others do not. We follow up written
material with video playbooks, video cutups, and live demonstrations to show players
what they must know. Once a player has attempted the techniques they are shown film
of the practice or game. Overall the visual portion covers: those who learn on paper,
those who learn by watching others, and those who learn by watching themselves. We
address verbal learners by making every effort to utilize a descriptive and consistent
vocabulary. I believe the most successful coaches spend more time focused on how
they are going to verbalize the coaching points of their scheme and technique than
they do on the scheme and technique itself. Also coaches ask players to verbalize the
concepts. Some players need to hear themselves explain the material to gain mastery
of the material. The players verbalization also serves as excellent feedback about how
the player has interpreted the information.
Overall I think visual and verbal learning styles have received a great deal of attention
in our teaching model. The next set of learning styles is sequential vs. global. Do you
learn better by looking at the steps that end in the final product (sequential) or do you
prefer to see the final product and use that context to better understand the steps to
arrive at that product (global)? Much of what we teach focuses on the sequential. When
looking at the pass rush we focus on stance, alignment, snap reaction, hand strike, and
pass rush moves. Furthermore some pass rush moves are sequential like chop, club,
and rip. I believe this is an area we must integrate more global teaching. Showing
players the big picture of what we are trying to get done in the pass rush will hopefully
inspire more creativity in how we rush the passer. A wise man once said, If you dont
want them to act like robots, dont coach them like robots. The third set of learning
styles that got my attention was active vs. reflective.
Active learning is a huge piece of the football coaching puzzle. Repetition and
development of muscle memory are foundational for all positions. However, reflective
learning is another area we only partially address. How many situations do we inspire
our players to think about football at a technical level in their pre-game preparation?
Our staff gives players film study guides by position group. Players take a weekly
scouting report and game plan test on Fridays. But how much do they really reflect and
how can we foster more thought? I started thinking of ways we can emphasize global
and reflective learning in our teaching model for pass rush.

BALANCE AND BALANCING

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In our baseline teaching the rush is made up of two contain rushers and two interior
rush lanes.

The contain rushers are responsible to squeeze the pocket. Contain players should
not come under a pass block until they reach the depth of the QB. Interior rushers are
responsible to push the interior of the line and control the area behind the center.

Interior rushers should not cross the center nor end up at a contain width in his rush
(stay in the interior rush lane).
On a drop back pass the QB is looking to plant his foot on the fifth step and deliver the
football to his primary read. Next, he will step forward into the pocket which we call his
+1 and look to his next read. He will again step forward on his +2 and look to his final
read. Finally, he will look for an opportunity to escape the pocket. In our pass rush
philosophy, the throws on the 5th step must be pressured with great snap reaction and
takeoff. The +1 and +2 throws are pressured with the combination of the interior push
and the contain players squeeze. If one of these elements is lacking the QB will be
able to step up into the pocket or slide laterally outside the pocket. Rushers must also
use their film study to anticipate the QBs next move. All QBs have tendencies. Where
does he look to escape? How quickly does he look to escape? If he is a runner and
abandons his progression before the +1 we must be aware and adjust. If the QB looks
to escape early, interior rushers need to be ready to transition to a two-gap technique
and disengage from blocks. We must understand when to make that transition. Contain
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rushers must account for the QBs change in depth and be ready to come under pass
sets when they reach the QBs depth.
All rushers have an aiming point in relationship to the QB. The contain rushers are
aiming for the QB's upfield shoulder. The interior rushers are aiming for the QB's front
hip.

If the offense changes the launch point for the QB (scramble, half-roll, sprint out, or
boot) the pass rushers aiming points remain the same. Get to your aiming point no
matter where it goes.

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Players must understand when they have a two-way go on a pass blocker.

Here the Tackle has a two-way go on the guard and has the freedom to make an inside
pass rush move. The End as a contain player should only come underneath the
offensive tackles pass set when he reaches the depth of the QB.

We can rush 4 from our 3-4 package by blitzing the OLB and slanting the DL. Here the
LB is the contain rusher and the End on has a two-way go on the guard.
When we execute twists the responsibilities for contain and interior rush will be
exchanged.

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Here the Nose must understand his responsibility is the opposite interior rush lane. The
Left DE has his normal contain while the Right DE has a two way go on the guard and
is an interior rusher. The DT must loop to contain. As a contain player he must squeeze
the pocket. With the DE going on an inside move it is important for the DT to keep his
loop tight as to not create an escape lane for the QB. The Tackle must see his contain
responsibility in the same way a DE would. All the rushers must understand their new
aiming points on the QB.

Here the Tackle is asked to go from his normal alignment as a 3 technique to the
opposite interior rush lane (B gap to A gap to Opposite A gap) and is responsible for
balancing the pass rush. We only coach the first step or takeoff. Our philosophy is to
attack with the first step and react on the second step. By understanding his final
destination it should help the Tackle understand the best footwork and block shed to
get where he needs to go. I often hear coaches complain about why a player made a
decision and a players lack of football IQ. Perhaps by improving our global teaching
model the player will understand the desired outcome and will make better decisions
and arrive more often at that outcome.

When we bring a blitz the players must understand how that affects their pass rush.
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Here the Tackle must be aware of the offensive tackle and fight for contain. The OT will
look for work when the DE drops into coverage and will try to seal the DT inside. The
long stick DE is the interior rusher on the left side and cannot get washed across the
center. The Nose is balancing the pass rush. The Nose also has a two-way go on the
guard. If the guard is using and overly aggressive slide technique for example the Nose
can work an outside edge pass rush move on the guard.

UNDERSTAND THE PROTECTION SCHEME AND OUR PLAN OF ATTACK

Here the tackle knows he has a two-way go on the guard. If the scouting report for our
opponent is that the center looks to help with the Nose; the Tackle must be aware of
this tendency and the effect on his rush. Because he has a two-way go and a single
block the responsibility to push the pocket is almost all his. The Nose meanwhile must
understand that if he is being double-teamed he must make sure the center has to
keep helping the guard. The worst case scenario is for the center to help initially with
the Nose and still be able to help late with the Tackle.
If we are running the NCAA blitz and the scouting report on our opponent is that the
pass protection is half-slide. If the slide is away from the pressure the DE on the long
stick must know what that means.

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The OT is manned on the DE with the rest of the OL in a slide technique. The DE
needs to understand that the OT has him man to man. This will allow the DE to heavy
his alignment to make beating the OT across his face easier. Also by getting inside
more quickly it creates a more clear pass rush lane for the interior blitzer. The DE must
also anticipate that as he goes inside he will feel pressure on his back from the OT. The
DE must pry up the field and get to his interior rush lane responsibility. The pry will help
insure the DE does not end up being pushed across the center and losing rush lane
integrity.
Against a slide protection going toward the blitz the DEs plan must be different.

Here the offense uses a full slide protection which allows the RB to have no pass
blocking responsibility once the DE drops into coverage. The DE must understand what
full slide means for him. If he simply long sticks and is lateral as he goes to the A gap
the guard will pass him to the center. Offenses are coaching the guard that if your get
the lateral long stick action from the DE you need to pass him and pick up the inside
blitzer in the NCAA blitz. If the DE instead attacks and starts to engage the guard on
the long stick before ripping across his face into the A gap the guard is in bind. The full
slide scheme says the guard has the B gap. The guard only knows what he knows and
initially it feels like the DE is going on a single gap slant to his B gap. The guard would
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need to block the DE in that situation. As the guard figures out what is happening and
passes the long stick DE to the center the interior blitzer is already through the B gap
and pressuring the QB.

SCOUT YOUR OPPONENT & DEVELOP A PLAN

We tell our players that the coaches will deliver the big picture breakdown of the
opponent but players must learn about the individual they are going against. We give
our guys a full checklist of things to watch on film to know what to expect from the OL
they will be lining up against. Where we must improve is helping our players
understand the game within the game. Players need to develop forthemselves a plan of
pass rush attack vs. their opponent. They should use the information they gather from
their film checklist to develop their plan. If you are a 3 technique expecting a two-way
go, how are you going to capitalize on that advantage? If the OL posts (puts lots of
weight on) his inside foot when he sees an inside move, how are you going to attack
that tendency? Are you going to jab inside and work his outside edge? What will you
counter with if he is able to recover? Does the OL over set to a speed rush? Can you
get him to over set and work a counter club move to beat him to the inside? I think we
have done a good job indoctrinating our guys about earning the right to rush the
passer. Our players believe in the idea of stopping the run on 1st and 2nd downs to get
themselves in green light pass rush opportunities. Now if we can help our players to do
more reflective learning in creating their own pass rush plan of attack we will be even
more successful. I think that reflective learning will help our players be more creative in
their pass rush. I am also a believer in visualization and if this model encourages our
players to visualize more than I am all for it. Overall, I think a player who believes he
has earned the right to rush the passer and helped develop his individual plan of attack
will be both motivated and excited. We are going to ask players to verbalize their plan
against their opponent and practice that plan in our 1on1 pass rush period.

WORK A MOVE
We teach our players a number of pass rush techniques and help them to develop their
best move and a counter. When we grade practice and games one part of a DLs grade
is a technical grade. Technical grades are based on knowing the call, proper alignment,
stance, etc. D-linemen receive a technical grade for every play they are on the field.
For pass rush opportunities the DL receive a pass rush move grade. The scale is ++, +,
0,-, -- with a double plus being the best and a double minus being the worst. If a player
received a 0, he attempted a pass rush move but it wasnt successful. If the player was
graded +, the pass rush move resulted in pressure and if he received a ++ the pass
rush resulted in disruption of the pass. While a grade of means the DL did not
attempt a pass rush move. Typically this means a DL ran directly into the OL and
blocked himself. A grade of - - is for a critical error. Critical errors in the pass rush are
taking the path of least resistance and leaving your rush lane or losing contain and the
offense was able to capitalize. Also giving up on a pass rush earns the grade of --. With
HUDL we are able to send out DL film with notes so they can look at their pass rush
grades from practice and games. I think we can use this film to guide our DL as they
develop their pass rush plan.

FINISH
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We work hard to coach finish to our team. For pass rush finish means: sacks, disrupted
passes, and strips. We chart every practice in terms of pass rush production and post
the results in the locker room. Players take the competition seriously and want to be
the best pass rusher each day. This will also serve as a tool to help guide players in
developing their pass rush attack. What worked and what didnt?
Overall I think by helping players understand the big picture (global learning) and
challenging them to think (reflective learning) we will build better pass rushers. I also
think these concepts will help us make in game adjustments as well as help players
self-correct. If a player isnt seeing on the field what he expected based on game plan
he will be able to communicate that to coaches between series. Also the hope is that
the player can evaluate what is happening to him and adjust his pass rush plan during
the game. This type of self-correction is only possible if the player fully understands the
bigger pass rush picture and has thought about what his other possible plans of action
might be

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THE SCIENCE OF PASS RUSH

For the last couple of Coaching Research Reports, we have centered on offensive and
defensive concepts and schemes. Sure, the scheme all looks pretty on the whiteboard,
but what good does it do when their X is better than your O? So what weve decided to
do for this report is get back to the core focus on the fundamentals of the game. And
what better way to do that than start with the defensive unit up front the backbone of
any solid team. In this report, well focus solely on effective pass rush moves and rush
points an area often neglected in coaching. What our researchers found astonishing
was that among all problems that coaches encounter when instructing their defensive
rushers, 38.3% felt that losing gap integrity was the most alarming concern.
So weve consulted with a select group of coaches from various levels of football
from high school through the professional ranks to bring you a detailed report on the
science of pass rushing. No need for diagrams here, were focused on mastering the
technique.
Based on our research these are what are considered to be the most high percentage,
most productive pass rush moves. Its no nonsense content, in a way that only X&O
Labs could produce. But before we get started, it all starts with the hands.

CASE 1: COORDINATING THE EYES AND HANDS

Without question, this area seemed to be the most integral when developing a pass
rush. In fact, 60.7% of our coaches train their players to lead with the eyes meaning
focus their eyes on the blocker, while feeling the QB. While most coaches would agree
that the use of the hands and feet were vital in getting the QB to the turf, teaching that
correlation is something many coaches spend a ton of time on even at the highest
level of football. Ray Hamilton, the defensive line coach of the Atlanta Falcons takes his
entire unit through a hand placement circuit every day of practice. According to
Hamilton, who has 24 years experience in the league tutoring greats such as John
Abraham and John Henderson, hand placement is one of the most under taught skills
in the game.
"Everything starts with hands," says Hamilton. "We teach our defensive linemen to first
identify how the offense lineman is trying to attack us. When youre rushing the passer,
if youre at a point where you can touch him or he can touch me we call that a contact
zone. As soon as you get there, its a boxing match; you need to have your hands
ready. They need to replace his hands. We need to knock his hands off two or three
times before he gets inside on us. If he cant get his hands on you he starts to retreat
by moving his feet and thats when you got him."

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Once he feels that his player is in the advantage, Hamilton then teaches a swipe move,
with the aiming point being the forearm of an offensive lineman, not the wrist. "The
wrist is too small an area," he says. "We go from forearm to elbow. Some guys are
betting at wiping them off, knocking both down or just knocking one arm down. The key
is to get his hands off as quickly as possible." In order to teach this concept, Hamilton
breaks what he calls his "quick hands" segment into the following progressions for drill
work:

Quick hands on sled from four-point stance (knees)

Quick hands on sled from two-point stance
Quick hands on sled from three-point stance
Quick hands and shed block on sled
Quick hands and feet on sled with the use of a board behind rusher. It
emphasizes the straight ahead rush rather than losing ground.
Once he feels his players have mastered the use of quick hands, he begins to teach
them aiming points on offensive lineman. This doesnt need to be relegated to a
perimeter rusher. Our studies have shown that when rushers work "half the man" it cuts
down surface area and allows them to get penetration. "They can never be in the
middle of that guy," says Hamilton. "They need to work on an outside or inside edge.
We talk about either going to New York or LA and not St. Louis. Dont pick the middle."

CASE 2: MOST EFFECTIVE INTERIOR MOVES (BULL RUSH)

Before addressing specific interior moves, its important to note that this doesnt
necessarily pertain to interior defensive lineman. To clarify, an interior move is used
when the rusher has no pass contain responsibilities. With the frequent use of two man
defensive line games and with various zone pressures, the position is not relevant. Yet,
the concept of the interior rush is. When researching power moves, weve found that
the old school "bull rush" is still widely utilized among coaches. Like many other
concepts in football, the science of the bull rush has evolved enough to where it can
suit the needs of all rushers, not just the brutes inside the tackle box.
This was the case for Tim Walters, an assistant coach at Destrehan High School in
Louisiana. He found that the bull rush didnt need to be pigeon holed into defensive
tackles. Walters used to teach all ends and tackles different moves but he started to
see athletic quarterbacks darting out of the pocket each week, so he focused on bull
rushing every down. Walters teaches his players to ball key, which was true of 28% of
the coaches we polled. "Once the ball is snapped, we take a quick power step to shoot
hands. Our aiming point is one hand on shoulder and one hand on sternum. Thumbs
should be as far apart as an Adam apple is wide. You have to punch the offensive
lineman before he punches you. If he gives you a good punch and stalemates you
shock him and get on him. You need to lock out at elbows, hands above eye take
short choppy steps without getting out of the framework of the power step. This cant
change because if its a run situation, we dont want contact with one foot on the
ground. We tell them to disengage once they feel the offensive linemans pressure
coming back into them. As soon as that offensive lineman plants the back foot we take
a shrug release by pulling him down and breaking wrist off."
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Case 3: Most Effective Exterior Move (Power Rip)

All defensive rushers want to get to the edge because thats where all the fun is. Once
a defender gets to edge of the blocker, his arsenal is limitless. But in order to get there,
you need speed. Not just any speed, speed that would get an offensive lineman on his
heels. Weve found that while many coaches at the high school level still teach the rip
move it can be a dead end street against a vertical set of an offensive tackle. "All a
rip does is get you held," said Hamilton. So in order to combat that, Mickey Mays, a
member of X&O Labs' research staff and the DL coach at Sequatchie County High
School (TN) coaches what he calls the "power rip" move.
With over 20 years of coaching experience at the professional and college ranks, Mays
teaches his players (like Walters) to play the run first. He wants his guys to control their
gaps, but not to get on the tip of any lineman where they can easily be washed out of
the play. In order to execute the power rip, Mays teaches his players three targets:

Eyes to outside armpit

Inside hand down the middle of offensive lineman
Outside hand to outside shoulder
"As soon as we see high hat we engage right into blocker. We work to turn the outside
shoulder, but in order to do that we must first knock him off balance. We need to press
the outside shoulder and get hips outside to clear him. Then we take a tight rip with our
inside arm to his outside arm with the aiming point being the bicep. (Mays notes that if
the linemans shoulders are turned it may in fact end up at the elbow). We turn the
corner and beat him outside. But the key is to point the toe at the QB, so you dont get
washed too far outside."
Now what if the lineman doesnt let you outside? Mays has an answer for that too.
"Once his shoulders get perpendicular to the line of scrimmage and I no longer have
outside access, now I use his momentum against him by jerking him forward with my
outside hand and slipping my body off his hip to get to QB level. My inside hand is
going over my helmet and I jerk the outside shoulder down."
Another effective counter move that Mays uses is the "power stab," which is similar to
the power rip. Instead of bringing the inside hand over the helmet, once the defensive
lineman oversets, Mays will teach his players to "stab" the inside hand to attack the
armpit (a natural pressure point) and run him back to the QB. "If we continue to work
hard up field, at some point his shoulders will turn to us," says Mays. "Then we can
execute the stab."

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INDIVIDUAL AND UNIT PASS RUSH TEACHING

PROGRESSIONS

INTRODUCTION

At the University of Rhode Island we want to develop our defensive line as a unit based
off cohesion and trust. In passing situations, we will disrupt QB rhythm with a pre-snap
plan (straight rush or game). Our unit will be master communicators, giving us the best
opportunity to rush the passer as a group. We will be active, violent pass rushers who
play with effort and a relentless motor. Our objectives are to have a winning get off,
work a pass rush every snap, and counter (at QB level) to keep him in the pocket. We
believe if we do these three things, it will equal success.

OUR EDGE
The underlying principle of Rhode Island defensive line play is 'stimulus response' (get
off). This is the speed of our reaction when our visual target moves. This principle is
used on every snap. Our goal is to have the best "get off" in the country. In passing
situations we teach our players to rush on 'their terms', which simply means to make
the offensive lineman make a decision before he is prepared to. With this, we must
stress the offensive lineman with speed and make him reactive to us. Every week we
will identify what moves first on an offensive lineman, or a cue from an offensive player
and focus on it the entire week. That is what we consider our 'weekly target'. There will
be certain instances when we will key the football such as in silent counts or when the
offensive lineman is slow out of his stance. Once our target moves or the ball is
snapped, we will race and attack half-a-man taking a course to the QB. A great
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'stimulus response' gives us the opportunity to rush on our terms. This forces the
offensive lineman to give us his hands. In turn, we will work a violent move that
highlights our strengths as a pass rusher. We take our numbers (his aiming point) away
and flip our hips working them towards the QB. There are two ways to flip our hips,
skate our feet or step our back foot in front of our lead foot helping us to direct our
body. We will then accelerate to our aiming point on the QB.

INDIVIDUAL PASS RUSHING TECHNIQUE

Pass rush lanes are crucial to our development as an affective pass-rushing group.
Once we understand the how to create an even pass rush we must focus on our
development as individuals. Teaching our inside players and outside players to rush the
passer are completely different teaching progressions. Our base belief is that defensive
tackles (inside) are set on a horizontal plane and our defensive ends (outside) are set
on a vertical plane in passing situations. With this, nothing changes in terms of their
stimulus response and their active, violent get off. Instead, we understand that the
defensive tackles must defeat a quick/horizontal sets rather than soft/vertical sets.
Our defensive ends use a different principle called the 'tackle set line' (Diagram 4). The
'tackle set line' goes from the defensive ends down hand to the up field shoulder of the
QB. The defensive end will race to a spot that is 4 yards behind the outside foot of the
offensive tackle. Racing to this spot helps us to create a consistent course towards the
QB. Our defensive ends will make a decision once they get to the spot. If the lineman
crosses the setline, we will work an inside move, however, if they have stayed inside
the setline we will work an outside move. Again, this principle starts with 'stimulus
response'. We will race to 'the spot' and make the offensive tackle make a decision
before he is prepared to. We begin our teaching progression with a club rip (speed
rushers) or post club (power rushers). I teach our speed rushers their outside hand
must strike the offensive lineman's outside elbow. As soon as we club, they drop their
inside shoulder and grab grass. As they accelerate to the QB, they will drive a rip
(inside hand) to the sky, naturally taking them to the QB. Our power rushers will start by
using a long arm or post prior to their club. Our coaching point is that one arm is longer
than two, therefore, they violently punch their inside arm to the offensive tackles
outside shoulder pad. The violence of the post will cause the offensive lineman to lean
back into us. As he does this we will club his outside elbow with our outside arm,
finishing the move with a rip or swipe.

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When the offensive lineman crosses the tackle set line we execute two different
maneuvers that counter his set. We can either execute a hump move or a spin. A hump
is executed by planting our outside foot in the ground, disengaging our rip/swipe and
clubbing his inside triceps. The coaching point I use is 'take him where he is going'.
This move is generally for stronger more physical rushers. Secondly, a spin can be
executed by sinking our hips and violently throwing our outside hand to ice pick the
offensive lineman's kidney. To do this we must pin the offensive lineman's inside leg
with our far leg as we gain ground. This move is generally for faster, more athletic
rushers. We believe there is always a correct decision to be made when rushing the
passer.

UNIT PASS RUSH TEACHING PROGRESSION

On the defensive line, we are only as strong as our weakest link in all phases of our
play, especially rushing the QB. Our defensive line will rush together (4 as 1)
accentuating each other's strengths and weaknesses, which helps to give us the best
chance at disrupting the passer. Our communication will enhance our ability to rush as
a group and be cohesive. Players will be expected to know their own, as well as each
other's strengths and weaknesses, giving us the best opportunity to get to the passer
together.
In the initial teaching process, the defensive line must understand defensive line rush
lanes (Diagram 7). In the simplest terms, our players must understand are that there
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are two inside rush lanes and two outside rush lanes. We want to keep the QB in the
pocket.

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PASS RUSH GAMES ('YOU GAME')

The last way to get to an even pass rush is by running a pass rush game.
Our pass rush games are designed to do the following things:
1.

Conflict offensive linemen

2.

Foul up blocking assignments and throwing lanes

3.

Help with screen and draw

4.

Confuse the passer with moving people

These games are critical to the success of defensive line play. To run them effectively,
we believe they are based off eyes, hands, and feet. In these particular games, the
defensive end is the communicator. When the defensive line runs a 'you game' the
defensive end talks to defensive tackle (you) determining that the defensive tackle is
first (penetrator) in the pass rush game. The defensive end then becomes second
(scrapper). This is how we teach a 'you game.

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PERFECTING YOUR PASS RUSH PROGRESSION

Sacks, QB Knockdowns, Interceptions, forced fumbles, incomplete passes and general

disruption of the quarterback are the reasons a pass rush is so critical to the overall
defense. These negative plays are potential momentum shifters in a given game and
are created by a relentless unyielding pass rush.
Pass rushers come in all types and abilities. I believe it is paramount that a pass rusher
establish a level of physical dominance first to set up the primary of pass rush moves in
ones arsenal. If the offensive lineman believes he is in for a physical battle established
early in the game, when you need that critical move you have a greater chance to hit it
at the crucial time.
I believe a great pass rush starts and ends with the Bull Rush. Its not flashy and
sounds simplistic to coaches, but rushing the QB is not about moves, it is about
attitude, relentless all out attitude. Your Bull Rush establishes the physical onslaught
the OL is about to endure. The natural reaction of the Offensive Tackle is to set and
brace for the violent attack and punch he will receive the majority of the game. As the
game progresses your speed moves will open up and become more effective. When
the offensive tackle sets his feet in preparation to absorb the punch, you can change
up and speed around the corner. With this subtle change up he has to adapt to your
speed and you are better able to use another violent punch back to power as he "soft
sets" back. The key is to read the offensive linemans pass set, you want to look for him
to turn his hips and shoulders to the sideline and his chest to come up exposing himself
to a violent punch dropping him right on the QBs lap. Even if you are a speed rusher
you can set up your best rush move more so by establishing a physical nature in your
pass rush by utilizing a Power/Bull Rush.

ESTABLISH YOUR PHYSICALITY FIRST

As you initiate the Bull Rush you want the first few steps to look like a speed rush. The
take-off should have the same initial look as a speed rush. You want to push the pocket
to a depth of about 4 to 5 yards. The depth will create the illusion of speed rush. The
vertical push should dictate a soft set as the OL bails to defend the corner. The
common mistake players make is they will make contact on a bull rush at 3 yards or
less. This is too soon, we want the OT to turn his shoulders and raise his chest, if he
has a base when you make contact the likelihood of getting "stoned" and not getting to
the QB is great. The OL has the advantage in that shallow area to maul you. We are
looking to deteriorate his base to the point we gain the advantage in power by making
the OT think speed.

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BULL RUSH
Once you have established proper depth the rusher wants to stick his outside foot and
drive at an angle directly into the OT. You plant your mask into the throat of the OT as
you punch your hands, thumbs up; into his chest locking the arms out driving the OL
onto is back heels, dropping him into the QBs lap.

POWER RUSH
Once you have established proper depth the rusher wants to stick his outside foot and
drive at an angle directly into the OT. Using the OT own momentum the rusher will
throw the Tackle vertical up field so you can come underneath. Attack at about a 45
degree angle, hitting him on the inside V of the neck, with the inside hand blasting his
chest. This is again based upon creating the illusion of speed. The key above all else is
to be 100% committed to being relentless, the second you throttle down on the Bull or
Power Rush the OL will grab and maul you. As you violently attack the OL early you are
setting the physical tone for the game and setting up your speed rush and other moves
to utilize in crucial situations.

SPEED RUSH
Once the physical nature of your game is established you can incorporate the Speed
Rush. Keep in mind a few factors that go into a Speed Rush. Foremost is Take Off, this
means everything in the Speed Rush. Without great take-off your Speed Rush is dead.
Initial alignment is critical, take up as mush ball as possible. Next maintain width on the
OT, creating space for you to work. The more you can make the OL move his feet the
greater chance for you to breakdown his base. Keep things moving vertical, the initial
takeoff is the same in all rushes. We are looking to get to 4 to 5 yards of depth. We
want to keep the OL away until we initiate contact at the opportune moment. We want
the OT to move his feet to create an imbalance in his base at the point of contact.
You will be able to determine if your take-off was good enough to beat the OL with in
the first 2 steps. If you have a great take off you are looking to RIP violently at about 5
to 6 yards getting around the corner. Lean hard and get your hips around his, if you are
even, your leaving! It is imperative you get your hips past the OT to get free off the
corner. Make sure you keep a strong pillar with the outside leg as the OL that is beaten
will try to redirect you up field and punch you off course. Make sure you reach with the
opposite arm at the QB. If you have the angle, drop him!
I am a firm believer that you do not want to be a "jack of all trades" when it comes to
pass rush. Pass rush is not about the number of moves in your repertoire, it is
mastering the 2 you have and knowing 1 to 2 counters off of that and rep-ing them out!
I start with the Power/Bull rush to set the tone for the day, if you see yourself as a
physical defense then teach pass rush in a physical manner. We will teach speed and
learn to read the pass set of the Offensive Tackle; from there we can hit the corner or
convert back to power.

ADDITIONAL KEYS
Additional tips to improve take-off are using the play clock to time the snap or using
motions to determine ball movement. Use film study to find out any pre-snap motion
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keys. During a 2 minute drill, most offenses are trying to get the snap off, listen for first
sound snaps. Listen to the inflections in the QBs voice to feel the cadence of the QB.
We are creatures of habit and QBs are not any different. Versus shot gun teams that
go on a silent center snap the OC will look through his legs, bring his head back up and
count, the OL will go off a count or hold hands, a good rusher can use this to determine
snap count.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATES ARM-PIN MOVE FOR

PASS RUSH

INTRODUCTION:
At the defensive tackle position, the top priority is always having guys that are physical
at the point of attack vs. the run. The commonly used phrase, You have to earn the
right to rush the QB, will always hold true because most teams will continue to run the
ball until you prove you can stop it.
With that being said, disruptive pass rushers on the inside can change a game and
force offensive coordinators to adjust their pass protection schemes.
At South Dakota State University, we have been very fortunate to have some gifted
pass rushers on the interior of our defensive line. We have had a different defensive
tackle finish the season with at least six sacks in the last three consecutive seasons.
The most successful of those pass rushers led all 2013 Missouri Valley Football
Conference linemen with nine sacks.

FUNDAMENTALS OF PASS RUSH:

When teaching pass rush, there are four fundamentals that we focus on. These
fundamentals are not specific to the defensive tackle position, but they are an essential
starting point.
1.

Eyes: The area that young players struggle with the most is their eye
discipline. The biggest reason for this is they were able to be successful at the high
school level simply by over-matching their opponent. The natural reaction to a pass
read by a young lineman is to get their eyes to the QB immediately. The coaching
point that has helped guys understand the importance of where their eyes are is by
relating it to a boxing match. You cannot hit what you dont see. If you are looking
at the QB, you will get punched by the blocker and not be able to react because
you dont even see the hit coming.

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2.

Hands: Violent and quick hands are an invaluable asset when rushing the QB.
As a pass rusher, we want to avoid getting locked up with a blocker. We want to
attack the edge of blockers and keep their hands off of us. In order to do this, we
must always have our hands ready. Relating it to boxing again helps. When you are
throwing a punch you cant wind up and swing wildly. You have to be compact,
quick, and violent. The other key aspect to using your hands when rushing the
passer is that your hands and feet need to be tied together. We use the common
coaching point of same arm, same foot. This is something that needs to be drilled
consistently because it is a very unnatural movement.

3.

Hips: An indispensable attribute for successful pass rushers is hip flexibility. A

pass rushers ability to rotate their hips accomplishes three things. The first is that it
reduces the surface area for the offensive linemans block. The second is that it
generates more force when striking the blockers arms. The last benefit to hip
flexibility is that it enables pass rushers to square up the quarterback when they
come free. Many opportunities for sacks are missed because the rusher is unable
to get their hips to the quarterback and they are left reaching out to grab with one
arm.

4.

Feet: The key coaching point for feet is that you dont want your feet to come
together or cross over. The reason for that is we dont want to be off balance when
the blocker tries to punch.

Once we have established the ground-work of fundamentals, we work on trying to find

what is going to be the most successful go-to move for each guy. I encourage guys to
find one move that they feel comfortable with and focus on refining that move every
day. We will introduce and drill a variety of moves so guys have options, but I guard
against trying to be a jack-of-all trades when it comes to pass rush.
This Bruce Lee quote embodies my thoughts about skill refinement: I fear not the man
who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick
10,000 times.

OUTSIDE-ARM PIN MOVE:

The pass rush move that has been the most successful for us at SDSU is the Outside
Arm Pin. I really like this move forthree reasons:
1.

The first reason is that it can be successfully used in both transition pass rush
and obvious passing situations. This is important for us because we are not a gap
penetration team in base down and distance situations.

2.

The second reason is that it can be effective from a head up or heavy

alignment.

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3.

The last reason is that you do not need to teach something different for a
counter move.

HAVING SECOND OPTIONS:

After the basic move is taught, it is important to give guys a fall-back plan of what you
want them to do in each situation. There are two scenarios that I cover with guys and
they are the following:
1.

If the blocker oversets you: This is an easy adjustment because we will just
flip our hips the opposite way and attack the inside arm. You will see several
examples of this happening on the film.

2.

The other scenario we talk about is when we miss the blockers arm: This
does not happen often but needs to be prepared for. We have had blockers flash
their hands and pull them back against rushers who frequently use this move.
When they do that, we want to snap our inside hip back through the blocker and
transition to power. It is very hard for a blocker to handle a bull-rush when they are
worrying about deceiving the rusher with their hands.

FOUR MAN HIP FLIPS DRILL:

As with any skill, we try to find drills that help guys get realistic repetitions in the most
efficient way possible. The drill that has been very productive in developing the Outside
Arm Pin is what we call Four-Man Hip Flips. This drill involves five or more players.
Four players will align in a straight line about five yards apart. These four players are
simulating blockers by holding their arms out. The remaining players will be pass
rushers. The pass rushers will work their way through the line of blockers, executing
the move on alternating sides. Anywhere from one to four guys will go through the drill,
and then the blockers rotate up to become pass rushers and the players who just went
take their places as blockers.

CONCLUSION:
Just like any other skill, pass rush is something that must continually be practiced and
refined in order to excel. The exciting thing about teaching pass rush is that there a lot
of different ways to be successful, you just have to find what works for each individual
athlete. The one principle that I do hold all of the defensive tackles to is that we want to
attack the edge of the blocker. I see it as a wasted opportunity any time we get a oneon-one match-up on the inside and the first thing the rusher does is go right down the
middle of the blocker. The pass rusher should be a better athlete than the blocker, so I
continually coach guys to try to attack the edge of the blocker. The Outside Arm Pin
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has been the most effective method for us to get to the edge and consistently beat our
opponents.

11 AS 1 TEAM DEFENSIVE PURSUIT

INTRODUCTION

There are very few

completely original ideas in the game of football today, and the pursuit angles that we
use at Saint Thomas Academy (STA) are a result of a clinic presentation made by
Coach Chuck Martin who was at the time, the Grand Valley State University Head
Coach. Coach Martin presented the idea that running to a spot at some point down the
field where you hope to intersect the ball carrier actuallyprovides more opportunity for
big yardage on cutbacks because you are creating space for the ball carrier. This type
of angle suggests that you are trying to tackle the ball carrier by yourself and do not
have any help on the field. He called it a one on one pursuit angle. He then went on to
present the team tackling angles that they used at GVSU and that is the basis of the
pursuit angles that we use at STA.

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We play an aggressive pressure style defense at STA, and like all defenses, we put a
premium on playing team defense and getting as many players to the football as
possible on each play. We emphasize speed and want our kids flying to the football
without hesitation. One of the foundations of our team defense concept is trust. We
dont want 11 heroes running around the field all trying to make the big play. We want
11 guys who are focused on doing their jobs and trust their teammates to do the same.
We feel that the way we pursue to the football emphasizes our team defense and trust
concepts.

IDENTIFYING FORCE
Every one of our defensive calls has a primary and secondary force player and it is
absolutely necessary that all 11 defenders know and trust that the ball will be turned
back to the inside where we have the most help. It is just as important that our force
players trust their teammates to pursue aggressively and on the correct angles in order
to minimize the offenses effectiveness. We feel that this allows our players to go full
throttle to the football because they know, and over time and through repetition, trust
that their teammates will turn the ball back to them.
Knowing that we have players assigned to force the ball back to the inside of the field,
we teach our players to pursue to the inside or back hip of the ball carrier. The only
exceptions to this rule are for the primary force player on the backside of the play who
looks for reverse and all misdirection plays coming back his way, and the backside
corner who takes an angle towards the far pylon for the touchdown saving tackle.
The remaining non-force players are on inside out pursuit paths pressing the inside
hip of the ball carrier. We feel that this puts them in great position to make a tackle
when the force player makes the ball carrier turn back to the inside. Using this general
concept, we are trying to restrict the amount of space available to the ball carrier and
therefore taking away the big cutback play.

DRILLING PURSUIT
We conduct at least one, if not all, of the pursuit drills below in practice on a daily
basis. Some days we will work through four of the drills in an eight to ten minute
pursuit circuit. On other days we will mix these pursuit drills with tackling and take
away drills in a skills circuit. We emphasize getting to the football as fast as possible
and on the correct path during every one of our practice periods. It doesnt matter if we
are in our pursuit circuit, a unit drill, skelly, or team against scout cards, we are
constantly telling our kids to get after the football and to take the correct angles. Like
any skill in football, repetition with constant feedback is the key.

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We use this drill in summer practice and the first day or so of two-a-days to introduce
and solidify the back hip concept. The ball carrier is to take an outside path and at
some point in time try to cutback across the face of the defender. The defender should
pursue to the back hip and know that the ball carrier will cut back into his pursuit
path.

We conduct this drill at to speed to really solidify the concept and focus on

the following coaching points:

1.

Initial steps should be directly at back hip and bend as the ball carrier turns
upfield.

2.

Do not get out in front of the ball carrier and run to a point in space where he
might go.

3.

Close the distance with the ball carrier as fast as possible.

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4.

Shimmy/breakdown under control as the ball carrier cuts back.

5.

Never let the ball carrier cross your face.

CONCLUSION
We have used this pursuit concept for the past four seasons and we really like it
because we feel it fits in well with our team defense and trust focus. An added bonus
to working on pursuit as often as we do at STA is the fact that players must complete
every pursuit drill with breaking down and getting into a good tackling position so they
are working on that key fundamental on a daily basis. Lastly, we feel that this approach
maximizes the number of players that we have around the ball carrier which promotes
gang tackling and takeaways. We had 14 takeaways in our four playoff games this
season and we feel a lot of this had to do with our angles and how many defenders we
had around the football in position to make a play. I want to thank XandO Labs for
providing us with the opportunity to share our pursuit technique. Do not hesitate to
contact me if you have any questions, or if you have drills that you feel we could use to
further enhance our team pursuit.

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