Merry Christmas!!!!!

Merry Christmas coaches.  Enjoy the day, and enjoy your families! 

I know we all have one of these in our families! 

Have a great and blessed Christmas day coaches.

Duece

Morphing the 4-2-5 into the 3-3...Keeping the Offense on its Toes...

The new craze amongst coaches is finding ways to be multiple with their defense.  I had an argument a couple of months back with a coach who claimed I was playing defenses and not defense, when I alluded to a 3-3 package I had added to my base 4-2-5.  The fact is, defense is not merely how you add three numbers up to get the number 11, it is very simply formatted into four easy items:

1. Alignment
2. Assignment
3. Pursuit
4. Tackling

As the reader can see, none of the above has anything to do with what front or coverage you have chosen to run.  Ahh, the fundamentals are the key!  However, as all of us know, having an ace up our sleeve is the axiom of being a good defensive coordinator.  Whether it be that key blitz you've kept under your hat for just that right moment, or a stunt you have not shown on film, defensive coordinators (DC's) are known for being able to come up with the right answer at the right moment.  Well, I'm going to show you an easy way to do just that to your opponent, but morphing the 4-2-5 with the 3-3.



Nothing wrong with keeping that ace up your sleeve...

Ok, so how does one do this, quite simply there are two schools of thought here.  You can do it via a personnel package, or simply by moving one player off the line of scrimmage (LOS), back to the linebacker (LB) position.  Either way, the idea is very simple, and as usual, IT'S NOT MINE.  Let's start with the base front:



Base 4-2-5 vs. pro


To get into the 3-3, we make a couple of calls to do this.  The first call is "Tight" (this is TCU's Power call) which puts both DE's in five techniques.  The next call is the double digit number "00".  Anytime the DL hear 00 in my scheme (that I stole), then the tackle moves to a 0 technique and the noseguard stacks behind him at LB depth.  The ILB's know, when they hear 00, they move to fifty techniques, stacking over the defensive ends.  Here's how it looks against a pro set:



Tight 00 call vs. pro

 The only rule here is that you must tag the front call with strong or weak to tell the tackle what gap to attack.  If no gap is called, he will simply bull rush the center.  The nose will attack the A gap opposite the call.  For instance, if Tight 00 Weak is called, the tackle will attack the weak A gap, and the Nose blitzes the strong A gap as shown below:

You can also run some good stunts here too, where you send the tackle and nose in the A gaps, while the DE's crash the B gaps:

A large majority of the TCU blitz package can be run from this look as well.

If you decide not to bring pressure, tag the front with "drop" and you will drop the nose into the low hole area and let him beat up on any crossers.  You can also tag it with "spy" and have the nose spy a good running QB.  The possibilities are endless!

So there you have it!  The 4-2 can easily be modified into the 3-3 with little to no changes in what you do.  For those that argue you are playing two different defenses I'd have to say this:

1. None of the reads for any player changes.
2. The nose rushes every time, he should be able to do this from a stance, or back at linebacker depth.  If he cannot this is where you can substitute in a good pass rusher that is either another DL, LB or DB for that matter.
3. The adjustments are still handled with the coverage, so nothing changes there.

So, as you can see, there is little to no changes for any of the defenders.  Personally, I would take the nose out and replace him with another linebacker.  I like to use a very quick, disruptive kid at that nose position out of this front.  The benefits here far outweigh the risk in my opinion.  You get a team that prepares for the 4-2 all week, and you come out in the 3-3 and blow their minds, then switch back to the 4-2.  A very simple way to keep do what defenses are supposed to do...keep the offense guessing.



Now that's disruptive!



Hope you enjoyed this one, it was requested by a reader.  If you have any questions just email me at footballislifeblog@yahoo.com or follow me on Twitter @theduece02. 

Duece

Suggestions?

I was thinking, with the New Year ringing in, what suggestions would you have for the site?  I'm always interested in taking my audiences' temperature, so send me an email at footballislifeblog@yahoo.com and let me know what suggestions you have.  Currently I'm still working on the 3-4 defense and the single wing offense.  If you have any information you'd like to pass along, drop me an email.  Anyhow, here's some links to keep you going until my next post.

Here's a good post on the adaptation of the flexbone offense.  I think we are really seeing this offense coming into it's own, and there is no doubt the triple option has made its way back into the limelight of college football.  As always good link from Smart Football to Grantland.

Compete in all Things has a good post on the 3-4 defensive line.  If you're like me and trying to learn more about this defense, then you will want to read this post.  Also if you are like me, finding information on the 3-4 is like finding the Holy Grail!  Good post Mariner!

Coach Hoover really hits home with his latest piece on Tim Tebow.  I don't get all the haters our there, but to be honest, ol' Hoover goes into depth on what he believes is happening to the Denver Tebows...er...Broncos.  I think he's dead on with his opinion here, and I feel the EXACT same way.  Maybe I'm a little cynical, but I do believe in the power of belief, and I do believe that one person can make a difference.  Such is the way with the Broncos.  You cannot deny that the Broncos are not a changed football team.  What makes this even better, is how traditional NFL analysts cannot stand how he's able to be successful.  I also think there needs to be some kudos to head coach John Fox.  He at least had the wherewithal to start Tebow and give him a chance despite all the detractors.  Hey, desperate men sometimes do desperate things.  I hope the ride doesn't end with a few wins either, I'd like to see the Tebows playoff bound!!!  That would be a VERY nice Christmas gift for me.

For those that don't go to Gridnotes to find out your latest update on all your favorite football blogs...GET YOUR FRIGGIN' HEAD CHECKED!!!!!  What a great setup over there.  You can find whatever you need, whenever you want it, and the site is cleanly done, hats off bro, I'll drink a Sam Adams for ya!  Great site, please check it out for all your information needs.  There's great links to articles I frequently check out.  No more searching through this blog or that, all blog posts are referenced and easy to find, again...hats off!

Spread football is at it again with some very useful Air Raid powerpoints.  I'm learning this Air Raid stuff daily, and have "overnight" become a Mike Leach fan (who'd have figured right?).  Take a look at these powerpoints, good stuff and well worth the read!

Well, this is probably the last post before the big day, so to all Happy Holidays, and have a very Happy New Year!!!!




Don't forget the Juice!


P.S. don't forget to follow me on Twitter @theduece02. 

Duece

Automatic Coverage Check (ACC)

Playing off of an old article by Brophy about having an Automatic Front Check (AFC), I'm looking more at the automatic coverage check.  I think any defensive coordinator (DC) worth his salt will teach his players a base way to handle various receiving structures that they will face throughout the course of a ball game.  How many times have you gone into a game knowing you were going to see 21 or 20 personnel and the next thing you know the opponent comes out in 10 personnel and starts throwing the ball all over the place?  It's happened enough to me, that I developed an Automatic Coverage Check (ACC) for things we had not practiced on that week.  When I switched to the 4-2 and split field coverage, this idea did not change.  I'm not saying you do this against every opponent, as careful scouting by your opponent will lend you to be out schemed, however by teaching a base method to alignment and assignment vs. various passing sets this will allow your kids a "fail-safe" way of getting into the right coverage for that "odd situation"( as mentioned above). 

The split field secondary makes the ACC just that much less complicated as you are only dealing with half of the offensive formation.  I will talk in TCU terms, as we all know, I'm a TCU buff (if you are interested in some good 4-2 links, go here).  Anyhow, looking at the split field concept, with the ball in the MOF, the read side, or strong side of the secondary can only see the following:

1. Nub (single TE)
2. Single (single WR)
3. Pro (TE and flanker)
4. Twins (2 receivers)
5. Trips (3 receivers)
6. Quads (4 receivers)

To add to that, the away side, or weak side of the coverage will only see the following:

1. Nub
2. Single
3. Pro
4. Twins



Nub sides



3 backs open-"single" to both sides







Away side reads


So, now that we know what we are going to see to each side, let's see how the free safety (FS) and the weak safety (WS) will set the coverage to their respective sides.

Read Side
To the read side, if the ball is in the MOF, and the FS gets a nub side, then he knows, there are three backs.  In this case, the defense checks into cover 0 Power.  Power is also the front.  The defensive tackles move to 2I's and the DE's move to 5 techniques while the OSS's move into "up" alignments on the LOS and the LB's move their toes to the heels of the DL in their respective B gaps.  The corners take the number one receiver to either side, the OSS's peel blitz the near shoulder of the near back and the FS takes the final number three receiver.  This is my automatic check to any three back offense.  This allows your defense to get plenty of players around the football and still be in sound coverage.  This check also works if the FS sees a single side as well.

If the FS gets a pro side, then he plays "Blue" coverage to that side, however the SS makes a "me" call and this puts the FS inside the number two receiver and we are playing traditional "robber" coverage.  Robber is very simple and to the read side the rules are as follows:

SS- Curl/flat/swing deep of 2.
FS- All of 2 vertical, 2 not vertical rob curl to post of 1.
Corner- Deep 1/2, all of 1 vertical.

Very simple, and we've been over a lot of this before.  The "me" call allows the FS to stay inside the tackle box and fill the alley on outside runs, and play cutback on inside runs.  I speak a lot about the "plus one" player on defense, and this is the player who is not accounted for in the offenses' blocking scheme.  With the FS in the box, yet deep, he is not accounted for in most blocking schemes, so he is free to attack the ball, so long as he does not read pass.  Again, a simple system to put your guys in the right coverage for what they are seeing.

Now, twins is very easy, I tell my guys, no matter the side, we play blue to all twins sets.  Now we will game plan some Bronco coverage in to the away side, and will usually check bronco on the away side when the ball is in the MOF, but to the read side, we are going to play Blue.  There's not much out there that hurts Blue coverage, so this is a very sound check to all twins sets.  Go here to read more about TCU's Blue coverage.




What about twins????


Ok, so now the read side gets three receivers to a side.  Does not matter if it's trips or trey or trio, the FS does not care, all he knows is he has three to his side.  As a base rule, my guys are going to check into Special on the read side.  This puts the corner, man to man on the number one receiver with the SS and FS playing blue to the number two and number three receivers.  Again, this is just a "base" rule, we can game plan for anything, but if we do not expect trips, and we get them, we now have a way for our guys to line up and play, without being confused.




Solo is also another option vs. trips, just not the "base" rule...


The odd "quads" front does pop up every now and then, although, to be honest I see it less and less each year.  Does not matter, you need to prepare you guys for being able to handle this four receiver look.  The idea here though is simple, the read side will play Special to the numbers one, two and three receivers with the WS taking the number four receiver in Solo coverage (away side coverage checks are next). 

There, that's all the read side will see!  As you can see, reducing the field down to only half, allows the defense to set the coverage quicker and get lined up rather than one DB trying to grasp the whole picture of what the offense is doing.  This is one huge benefit to the split field concept.

Away Side
To the away side, things are just as simple.  The WS only has one other job than that of the FS, and that is, he must look at the backfield to determine what he is going to see, and how he is going to set the coverage.  The reason for this is any formation to the sideline (FSL) checks must come through the WS, so he needs to know if the formation is in to the boundary or not, and the backfield will give this away.  Again, for the purpose of this discussion, I'm talking about the ball in the MOF.




Cloud to a nub side


If the WS sees three backs in the backfield, he knows he can see only one of two things, a nub side, or a single side.  Both of these as a base check would be checked into "Sky" coverage, which has the WS as the curl/flat/swing deep of 2 defender and the away side corner as the deep 1/2/all of one vertical player.

To a nub side, the WS checks "flop" and he and the corner will switch assignments.  I do this as a base rule because most of the time my safeties are better tacklers and more aggressive than my corners.  If this is not the case in your defense, then you can leave your corner low and play "Cloud" coverage to that side. 

If the WS gets a pro set to his side, he must play Blue.  This is one area where the read side and away side differ and it's simply because without the SS there is no way that the WS could be inside the number two receiver.  The WS must force, so he has to have outside leverage on the number two receiver.  The automatic check here is to play Blue coverage to any pro set to the away side.

If the WS sees twins to his side, he knows his twins rule states he play Blue coverage.  Again, if the ball is in the MOF and we expect twins to the away side we are probably going to play Bronco, but as a base rule when facing twins, we want the WS to check us into Blue coverage.

Again, these checks can easily be altered with a game plan adjustment.  If a team is coming out in trips and doing something to you that solo would handle better, then simply make that adjustment during a timeout, or at halftime.  Don't let your rules and adjustments handcuff you, build in automatics, and then build your game plan rules to break those automatics.  The automatic checks give your players a fail-safe way to get in the best coverage for the situation that's being presented to them at that particular moment.  This will allow you to still be sound why you and your staff are figuring adjustments on the sideline.

To those that won themselves a district, region, or state championship, I say congratulations!  I'm still searching for that elusive ring, but as they always say, it's not whether you get knocked down, it's what you do when you get back up...




"C'mon kid...get back up and get in that ring!"


Happy Holidays coaches,

Duece

TCU Terms-Defined

I get a LOT of emails asking me about "terms" and "what does this mean" and "what is toro or aim mean".  Well, today we are going to have a vocabulary lesson!  Here goes:

• Read side- the strong side of the coverage, or the side of the defense that the FS is aligned on.
• Away side- opposite of the read side.
• Slice- "quick to the curl".
• Swing deep of:  Means take the receiver running out or out and up through your zone man to man.
• "Me"- Call that has the SS take the out of 2 (swing deep of 2).
• Blue- 2 read coverage where the out of #2 is handled by the corner
• Cover 2- In TCU's system, robber coverage where the out of 2 is still handled by the corner (not traditional robber where the OLB/invert has the out of 2).
• Cover 5- 2 deep squat 1/2's coverage, or what most of us are familiar with as cover 2.
• Special- An "X" out concept against trips where the read side corner is man to man on the #1 receiver and the SS and FS play Blue coverage to the #2 and #3 receivers.
• Solo- An "X" out concept against trips where the read side plays Blue coverage to #1 and #2 while the read side LB has the short wall of #3 and the WS has the long wall of #3.
• Roll- Basically...1/4, 1/4, 1/2.
• Bronco- A modified version of man to man coverage ran on the away side where the corner has all of #1 and the WS has the vertical and out of the #2 receiver.
• Cover 0- Man to man, no man free.
• Cover 0 Free- Coverage used when blitzing and there will be a deep safety free; ie Cover 1 (man free).
• COS- Change of strength.
• Man clue- All of a certain receiver vertical (basically).
• Pound- LB is leaving the box to apex a #2 reciever; may also be telling the DE to that side to spill (vague).
• China- When a route by the #1 receiver is shorter than 5 yards (smash alert).
• Bullets- Both ILB's blitzing.
• Smokes- Both outside safeties blitzing outside.
• Lions- OSS's blitzing 1 gap inside a Smoke blitz.
• Dogs- ILB and OSS blitz
• Bullets Thunder/Lightning- Both ILB's and safety to/away from call blitzing.
• Mob- Bullets and Smokes.
• Cop- DE's man to man on a TE if they get one.
• Fiddle- 2 on 1 coverage.
• Aim- DL slant 1 technique away from call.
• Toro- DL slant 1 technique to the call.
• Spy- Call telling outside rusher to cover back man to man if he attempts to cross his face (peel).
• Fire- Call telling DE to rush one gap inside his alignment.
• Switch- Call made by OSS when he cannot blitz (vs. detached #2), this call tells ILB to blitz side to replace the safety in the blitz.
• Silver- DE's will cover RB man to man if he flares and take pitch on option.
• Flip- Corners over.
• Power- Call by OSS puts DE in a 5 technique.
• Tag- Tackle to A gap.
• Peak- Long stick.
• Army- Slant 1 full gap away from call.
• Tank- Slant 1 full gap to the call.
• Tim- Tackles inside 1 gap.
• Tag- Tackles in A gap.
• MOE- Mike off edge/edge blitz by MLB.
• SOE- Sam off edge/same as MOE but for Sam.
• Fifty- Tackle away from call (most of us call him the nose).

That is nowhere near all the TCU terminology, however it is the bulk of what I receive in emails.  Remember folks, it's just "their" language.  You can call it anything you like.  I moved most of my terminology to theirs as it allowed me less "conversion" when learning the scheme and teaching it.  That doesn't mean that some of my old terminology isn't still in my defense, it just means I've adapted more of my stuff to theirs.  Whatever you choose, it's up to you!  Good luck!




No need to convert if you don't have to!

Great 4-2-5 resources here!
Duece

Post Snap Communication in Pattern Reading Coverages

Pattern reading coverages have been the craze hear lately, especially witnessing Gary Patterson's adaptation of the age old Quarters coverage and Nick Saban's Rip/Liz/Mable concepts.  One simple issue I think that's missing is how do these players communicate once the snap has occurred?  In pattern reading coverages, this is essential to the success or failure of said coverage.  I'm going to touch on a way that was recently described to me, that has opened up my eyes to the simplification process in post-snap communication by the defensive secondary.  To start, let's look at some of the ways communication can be done.

Vocal Communication via Tags/Terms by Players Post-Snap
Easy enough, however many a defensive back (DB) has made a communication error leaving a defender wide open on a blown coverage.  Why?  Too many moving parts.  I used to use this system, as recently as two seasons ago.  In my pattern reading coverage (Cover Blue) the corner and safety worked in tandem to describe what they were seeing.  I used basic terms such as "in" and "out", which is all the DB's really need to know once the play begins to develop.  However, as all this communication is unfolding, the DB must first hear the communication from the other DB, then relay what he's seeing as well.  This can become confusing and often times leads to the wide open six!  Boo-ya...NOT pretty.  So, how do we fix this, enter in one-way communication?  For this article, the coverage used in the example, will be TCU's blue coverage, or better yet known as two read.  This is not Quarters coverage, but is very similar.

One-Way Communication
Since most pattern reading coverages are predicated on what the number two receiver does, it is paramount that there be some sort of communication on what exactly this receiver is doing.  In today's world of three, four and even five receiver sets, DB's must all be on the same page, or risk giving up the big play.  So how do we do it?  Let one player make all the reads.  What????  Yes, let one player be designated as the communicator.  This method, employs less moving parts and allows for smoother reads and transitions as receivers stem into their routes.  So how is this done?  First, the defender assigned to take all of the number two receiver vertical is a good person to have in charge of this communication.  Why you ask?  Because this players eyes are already on his key, which is the basis for the pattern reading scheme to begin with.  This also allows your corners to play tighter to the number one receiver, which discourages quick throws to the flats, what most offensive coordinators (OC's) do to beat Quarters coverage.  So, let's look at the "ins and outs" of what the communication process is based on.

First off, the reads I use for Blue coverage are as follows:
Corner- Man to man on number one anything over five yards.  Number one not over five yards call "China" and zone your 1/4.
Safety- All of two vertical.  Two not vertical and inside, rob curl to post of one.  Two outside man one.

The number two receiver can only do four things, three of which are routes.  The first thing the number two receiver can do is block.  This issue is easily handled by utilizing no communication whatsoever.  The corner in Quarters coverage need not be concerned with the run unless the number one receiver crack blocks.

Second, the number two receiver can go inside, to which the safety will make an "in" call (usually echoed three times).  This tells the rest of the defenders their job/role in the coverage.  If number two goes inside the corner knows, he has safety help and can play over the top of all routes by number one.  He no longer has to worry about the out of number two and is essentially in man to man coverage with inside help.  The curl player will now relate to the number one receiver and the hook player can now wall the crosser (number two).

Third, the number two receiver can go vertical.  When this happens, the safety gives a "push" call alerting the defense that the number two receiver has blown the top off the coverage and the safety has to take this receiver vertical.  The corner now knows, he has number one man to man based on his Blue coverage rules shown above. The curl player knows to expand immediately to the flat and look to relate to number one's route.  The hook player can gain depth, and either relate to the back, or work under any deep inside route by number two.  Again, the only player relaying anything to these other defenders is the safety.  This is an age-old trick by good coaches coined "Multiplicity through simplicity". 

Last, the number two receiver can run an outside breaking route.  When this happens the safety gives and out call and knows he must now take all of number one.  The corner hears the "out" call and comes off the route of one, and plays the out or out and up (swing deep) of number two.  The flat player expands and looks for anything expanding to the curl from the backfield or from across the formation.  The hook player also will gain depth and look to work under any inside cutting route, or carry a crosser across the formation to the curl player.  As you can see, this is why in Blue coverage the corner can play tighter to the number one receiver because the safety is being his eyes and making his read for him.  Now the corner discourages the quick throws to the flats by alignment, and adds some confusion to what the quarterback (QB) is seeing pre-snap (is it cover 2 is quarters etc.).  Let's look at how this communication system handles some routes that commonly give Blue coverage some trouble.

When the number two receiver goes outside, it can present some problems when two players are allowed to read this route.  The number one question I get about Blue coverage is what to do when number two does a deep out and number one is vertical.  The answer, leave it in the hands of your safety.  Your kids should know their abilities, probably better than you ever will, so they should be the ones making these reads.  The safety, if he feels he can get to the vertical of one, will give the out call to the corner.  This puts the corner on the out, and the safety on the vertical route by number one.  However, if the safety does not feel he can get to the vertical of one, he makes no communication whatsoever and plays the out by number two.  Either way, the secondary is right in this situation due to only one player making this read, and it is the player put in the most conflict by this route combination.

The other route combinations are the Post Wheel and the Curl Wheel illustrated below.

The main idea behind this post, is have one guy make your reads and calls.  This keeps any miscommunication from happening as receivers are coming into their breaks.  It also allows for your corners to play tighter than in previous versions of Quarters and Blue coverages.  This technique is not limited to only Blue coverage.  This method can easily be applied to other pattern reading coverages as well.  The idea here is, have a system that allows for the person making the calls to recognize the pattern and then make a call that will relate all the defenders to that side of the defense to the receiver distribution. 

To the guy who gave this to me, who WILL remain anonymous, thanks bro, this has really opened my eyes up to being able to simplify some of the post-snap communication issues I've had in the past!

Well, it's a rematch in the BCS National Championship Game...do we really need to see it again?  I'm not in favor of the BCS, however, in this case it has done just what it's designed to do, pitted the number two team vs. the number one team in the country.  Oh how the SEC haters will love this one!  Happy Bowl Season, get that DVR ready!!!




What?


Duece