Surviving the Super Bowl : The Basics of Defense (2013 Edition)

football, basics, defense

Ok people, here we go for Round 2! If you survived yesterday’s post, today should be no problem.

The (Basic) Basics of Defense

Defense is usually perceived as the unit that tries to stop the offense from scoring. And while that is one of the most important things they do, their primary goal is to score. Defenses score by taking the ball from the offense and scoring points off of those turnovers (read more about turnovers here).

Let’s talk about who’s on the field and what they generally do:

defense

A standard defense gets divided into two sections: the defensive front (7 players) and the defensive backs (4 players).

The Defensive Front

Defensive Tackles (DT): The defensive tackles play on the inside of the defensive line (the line of players directly across from the offensive line). In a 3-4 system, as pictured above (3 defensive linemen and 4 linebackers), the defensive tackle is the player in the middle and is called the nose tackle. Don’t worry too much about the specifics, just know that the defensive tackles are in place to stop running plays as well as contain the offensive linemen in front of them (or him, if there’s only one tackle in place).

Defensive Ends (DE): The defensive ends play on the outside of the defensive line. If the offense runs the ball, the defensive end on the side of the run needs to stop him. If it’s a passing play, the defensive end will usually rush (run at full speed) the quarterback in an attempt to sack him (tackle him to the ground).

Linebackers: There are several types of linebackers – you can learn more about the Mike, Sam, and Will linebackers in the glossary. What’s important to know is that linebackers are the team’s best tacklers; they are responsible for guarding against both running and passing plays.

The Defensive Backs ( also known as the “secondary”)

Cornerbacks: Cornerbacks generally line up near the line of scrimmage directly across from the offense’s best wide receivers. You’d be right to wonder why they are called cornerbacks and collectively known as defensive backs if they play up front with the defensive front. You’re not crazy – that’s a legit question. Here’s the deal: as soon as the ball is snapped, the cornerbacks will backpeddle and take off running toward the backfield to cover the wide receivers who are also running in that direction (toward the end zone). So cornerbacks line up in the front of the formation, but in a split second they’ll be sprinting to the backfield, waiting to make a play on a long ball.

Safeties: Safeties generally play towards the inside and can move up to the front or to the back depending on their position. The free safety (FS) usually lines up the farthest back and defends the deep middle of the field against passing plays. His goal is to break up the pass or intercept the ball. The strong safety (SS) defends against the run and the pass; he lines up closer to the front of the formation, usually covering the tight end. (General Note: whatever side of the formation the tight end lines up on is called the “strong side” because he’s an extra player added to that side, which is why the safety covering the tight end is called the “strong” safety. See, it all connects!)

Putting It All Together:

So you know who these guys are and what they do. Now it’s time to translate that to what you’ll see this weekend while watching the games.

In general, you’ll rarely see a defense as straightforward as the one diagrammed above. It’s pretty vanilla. But you can easily tell what kind of play the defense is anticipating  just by where all of the players are lined up, even if you’re unsure of who’s who in a complicated formation. It couldn’t be easier.

Are the majority of players bunched up toward the front of the line? The defense is expecting a run. Remember when we talked about 8 in the box? Anytime the defense brings more than the standard 7 players into the box (the part of the field where the linemen and linebackers play), you can be fairly sure that the defense is either planning on blitzing the quarterback or stopping a running play. (And remember – the cornerbacks don’t count. They’re outside of the box, on the edges of the formation.)

Are the majority of players spaced out in the backfield? The defense is expecting a pass. The defense usually employs specific packages for this type of situation. In a nickel package, a linebacker is taken off the field and an extra defensive back is put in (because there can only be 11 players on the field for each unit at all times, so they’d have to swap players in and out). In a dime package, two linebackers are taken out and two defensive backs are put in. The more defensive backs, the more chance the defense has of breaking up a pass or intercepting it.

And if you’re thinking either scheme leaves the defense vulnerable in one way or another – you’re right. If everyone is up front expecting a running play, the offense might be tempted to try a bomb downfield. If everyone is spread out in pass coverage, the offense might have an opportunity to run through an obvious hole up front. It’s always a gamble – but that’s what makes football so much fun to watch!

Does all of this make sense? If you have any questions, leave ’em in the comments and I’ll be happy to help!

Fundamentals : 4-3 Defense (Base, Over, Under)

*Due to massive interest, this post is in the process of being rewritten and featured as a series for the 2014 season. In the meantime, please read the comments section as it is tremendously helpful! Thanks to everyone who has reached out about the post so far. Keep any comments coming!

This Fundamentals post serves to answer a question I’ve had for just about forever: what’s the difference between base, over, and under?

So I found the answers and turned them into color coordinated pictures. Because that’s what we do around here.

Ok, ready?! Here are a few foundational truths to lay out before we get rolling with this:

  •  Base defense refers to the default defense that a team runs as a standard. For most teams in the NFL, their base defense is either a 3-4 or a 4-3 defense. Think of base defense as an empty room with a table and chairs: there will always be the same number of furniture pieces in the room, but you can rearrange them in any way that suits your needs. In the same way, teams that run a 3-4 defense as their base defense are going to field 3 linemen and 4 linebackers, but they can rearrange them in different ways if need be. 
  • Over and Under Fronts describe how players are aligned within a base defense. In an over front, the four-man defensive line aligns to the strong side of the offense (the side with the tight end). In an under front, the defensive line aligns to the weak side (the side without the tight end). There can also be over and under fronts in 3-4 defensive systems, in which an outside linebacker would move up to become the 4th lineman. (Thank you so much for your help with this correction to the original post, Drew and Curtis!)
  • Ok, this is going against everything we’re learned so far, but sometimes there is a nose tackle in a 4-3 defense. It’s true. I’ve been withholding information to make the learning process between 3-4 and 4-3 easier, and now I kind of feel like I just told you all you were adopted. So, here’s the thing: the nose tackle in a 3-4 system in the sole defensive tackle and plays 0-technique. We know that. In a 4-3, a nose tackle (if used) would usually have about the same size and strength as a traditional nose tackle, but would play 1-technique instead of straight over the center in 0-technique. According to Pat Kirwan, “A 4-3 nose tackle is required to penetrate the inside “A” gap and often loop around and be responsible for containing the “C” gap.” (See this post for a refresher on gaps.)

Now that we have the basics ironed out, let’s move on to what a 4-3 base defense might look like.

(For all of the following illustrations, W = weakside linebacker (Will), M = middle linebacker (Mike), S = strongside linebacker (Sam). Remember that the strong side of any formation is the side with the tight end; the weak side is the side without the tight end. Check out the glossary for more help with these positions.)

football, fundamentals, defense

 

We won’t spend a lot of time here because we already know this defense fairly well. In a 4-3 Base Defense, there are 4 defensive linemen and 3 linebackers. Usually, they are aligned in a formation similar to the one above, but certainly not always.

Let’s stick with the 4-3 Base and see what an over front would look like:

football, fundamentals, defense

In the 4-3 Over Front, the defense shifts it’s strength to the strong side of the offense. How can that be, you ask, when there are more defensive players on the weak side than on the strong side? Great question! It’s all about the defensive tackle.

We see that the nose tackle is lined up on the weak side of the formation. And he’s important – his size and strength will plug up the gaps like nobody’s business. But the crux of the Over/Under fronts is built around the abilities of the defensive tackle.

In the Over front, the defensive tackle is aligned on the strong side of the formation. That defensive tackle is usually a 3-technique player. We know that the 3-technique player is aligned on the outside of the guard and relies on speed and agility, rather than sheer size (ala nose tackle), to shoot the B-gap and disrupt the backfield. The defensive tackle is the true “strength” of the formation and wherever he is will be the side to which the defense is shifting it’s strength. When the defensive tackle is on the strong side of the formation, it’s a 4-3 Over front.

football, fundamentals, defense

Since you guys are all A+ students, I’m sure you are all anticipated what comes next: In a 4-3 Under Front, the defense shifts it’s strength to the weak side of the offense. See where the DT is? 3-technique on the weak side. A lot of NFL teams runs this defense because the defensive tackle has less obstacles between himself and the backfield. As long as he can shoot the B-gap he can get into the backfield and disrupt the action.

It’s a little counterintuitive to remember that the strength of the defense is the side that has less players and a little confusing to untangle the strength of the defensive from the strong sides and weak sides of the offense – I’ll give you that. But in general, now that we understand the role of the defensive tackle in all  of this, does it make more sense?

Shout out your questions, comments, and concerns!

Fundamentals : Goal Line Defense

Your team’s defense is on the one-yard line. Your own one-yard line. The opposing team is poised to score easily with the ball mere feet from the end zone and a fresh set of downs. You believe in your team…but you know what’s going to happen here. The offense is going to score and then it’ll be up to your team’s offense to make up the difference.

But something miraculous happens. Three downs later, the offense hasn’t broken through the brick wall that is your defense. They opt to kick a field goal for 3 guaranteed points instead of trying to go through it again.

What just happened?

A goal line stand by a spectacularly called goal line defense.

As we’ve discussed before, most NFL defenses run a 3-4 or a 4-3 defensive formation. This makes the most sense when trying to cover large portions of the field.

But when your unit is backed up against the goal line and only has about 10-12 yards of field to cover, what do you do then?

That is just the question that goal line defense answers!

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The point of goal line defense, similarly to every other defense, is to keep the offense from scoring. Since the space in which this happens in quite condensed, goal line defenses load the box as much as possible to defend the goal line and force the offense to pass it in for a touchdown instead of easily running it in.

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NFL teams run two main types of goal line defense (predominately – as we know, there are always exceptions to every rule). Which goal line defense a team runs usually has more to do with the offensive formation they are facing than with the defensive formation they run the rest of the game – but again: exceptions. Here’s what we can know for sure about each formation:

The 6-2

football, basics, defense

We know from studying the 3-4 and the 4-3 that the first number describes the number of players on the defensive line and the second number describes the number of players mid-field between the D-line and the secondary – which is a space usually occupied by linebackers. The rest of the players not denoted by the formation are defensive backs. So in a 3-4, we know there are 3 D-linemen, 4 linebackers, and 4 defensive backs (3+4+4 = 11).

The 6-2 is a little different. The first and second numbers still pertain to regions of the field: there are 6 players up front and 2 behind. But the 6 in this case doesn’t denote 6 defensive linemen in the traditional sense. Only 4 of those 6 are linemen by position; the other 2 are linebackers. See the image above to get a better understanding of what that looks like.

So in the 6-2 we have 6 men on the defensive line (4 D-linemen and 2 LB’s), 2 linebackers behind, and 3 defensive backs. The exact alignment of all these players will depend on the offensive formation, but in this example, the tackles are blocking the A gaps and the ends and linebackers on the D-line are head up over their offensive tackles (which would be 5-technique) and tight ends (8-technique). The linebackers behind the D-line are playing head up over the guards (2-technique). The defensive backs are covering the end zone (and the QB might try to throw one to the outside right corner since there’s no one in the immediate area to defend against it).

The 5-3

football, basics, defense

 

We can go back to our traditional understanding of defensive formations with the 5-3. There are 5 men on the D-line and they’re all linemen, and there are 3 men behind and they’re all linebackers. Since there are 5 on the D-line and 3 LB’s, that means we still have 3 guys in the secondary. The techniques have changed a little bit in this formation, though. See if you can figure out which technique each of the D-linemen and linebackers are playing (and refer back to this post if you need a little extra help!).

Will you see other defenses at the goal line in NFL games this season? Will the linebackers and tackles and ends be all jumbled up and aligned in different places? ABSOLUTELY! Play design is a math equation with thousands and thousands of different permutations. That’s what makes learning about it so interesting! But as long as you know these basics about goal line defense, you’ll be just fine.

Surviving the Super Bowl : The Basics of Defense

If you survived The Basics of Offense last week, you’re in luck. The Basics of Defense is much easier (the intricacies of defense, not so much – but that’s another post for another day). You’re going to breeze right through this, I know it!

First, let’s talk about who’s on the field and what they generally do:

football, defense, basics

A standard defense gets divided into two sections: the defensive front (7 players) and the defensive backs (4 players).

The Defensive Front:

Defensive Tackles (DT): The defensive tackles play on the inside of the defensive line (the line of players directly across from the offensive line). In a 3-4 system, as pictured above (3 defensive linemen and 4 linebackers), the defensive tackle is the player in the middle and is called the nose tackle. Don’t worry too much about the particulars, just know that the defensive tackles are in place to stop running plays as well as contain the offensive linemen in front of them (or him, if there’s only a nose tackle in place).

Defensive Ends (DE): The defensive ends play on the outside of the defensive line. If the offense runs the ball, the defensive end on the side of the run needs to stop the run. If it’s a passing play, the defensive end will rush (run at full speed) the quarterback in an attempt to sack him (tackle him to the ground).

Linebackers: There are several types of linebackers – you can learn more about the Mike, Sam, and Will linebackers in the glossary. What’s important to know is that linebackers are the teams best tacklers; they are responsible for guarding against both running and passing plays.

The Defensive Backs ( also known as the “secondary”):

Cornerbacks: Cornerbacks generally line up near the line of scrimmage directly across from the offense’s best wide receivers. You’d be right to wonder why they are called cornerbacks and collectively known as defensive backs if they play up front with the defensive front. You’re not crazy – that’s a legit question. Here’s the deal: as soon as the ball is snapped, the cornerbacks will backpeddle and take off running toward the backfield to cover the wide receivers who are also running in that direction (toward the end zone). So cornerbacks line up in the front of the formation, but in a split second they’ll be sprinting to the backfield, waiting to make a play on a long ball.

Safeties: Safeties generally play towards the inside and can move up to the front or to the back depending on their position. The free safety (FS) usually lines up the farthest back and defends the deep middle of the field against passing plays. His goal is to break up the pass or intercept the ball. The strong safety (SS) defends against the run and the pass; he lines up closer to the front of the formation, usually covering the tight end. (General Note: whatever side of the formation the tight end lines up on is called the “strong side” because he’s an extra player added to that side, which is why the safety covering the tight end is called the “strong” safety. See, it all connects!)

Putting It All Together:

So you know who these guys are and what they do. Now it’s time to translate that to what you’ll see this weekend while watching the games.

In general, you’ll rarely see a defense as straight forward as the one diagrammed above. It’s pretty vanilla. But you can easily tell what kind of play the defense is anticipating  just by where all of the players are lined up, even if you’re unsure of who’s who in a complicated formation. It couldn’t be easier.

Are the majority of players bunched up toward the front of the line? The defense is expecting a run. Remember when we talked about 8 in the box? Anytime the defense brings more than the standard 7 players into the box (the part of the field where the linemen and linebackers play), you can be fairly sure that the defense is either planning on blitzing the quarterback or stopping a running play. (And remember – the cornerbacks don’t count. They’re outside of the box, on the edges of the formation.)

Are the majority of players spaced out in the backfield? The defense is expecting a pass. The defense usually employs specific packages for this type of situation. In a nickel package, a linebacker is taken off the field and an extra defensive back is put in (because there can only be 11 players on the field for each unit at all times, so they’d have to swap players in and out). In a dime package, two linebackers are taken out and two defensive backs are put in. The more defensive backs, the more chance the defense has of breaking up a pass or intercepting it.

And if you’re thinking either scheme leaves the defense vulnerable in one way or another – you’re right. If everyone is up front expecting a running play, the offense might be tempted to try a bomb downfield. If everyone is spread out in pass coverage, the offense might have an opportunity to run through an obvious hole up front. It’s always a gamble – but that’s what makes football so much fun to watch!

Does all of this make sense? Do you feel more comfortable watching a game now that you know what the offense and the defense do and how they’re trying to beat each other? If you have any questions, leave ’em in the comments and I’ll be happy to help!