My last article was viewed by fair amount of people. It encourages me to continue to write more football stuff. This time I go deep and go technical. I start with Defense because I am a big fan of defense. Top offense wins games but top defense wins championships. Secondly, defense game plans are less complicated than offense’s.
A defense’s performance is evaluated by stats including how many points allowed, how many yardages surrendered, how many sacks incurred, how many turnovers created, how high the opponent offensive team’s third down conversion rate.
The numbers, however, are sometimes misleading due to different team schedules. NFL intends to make teams with good record in previous season having a tough schedule, while teams with bad record are scheduled relatively easy matches. Consequently, the stat is not appealing when two strong teams meet, while a powerful team crushing a weak opponent makes the numbers inflate.
Defense:
Before I get into the details of formations, let us get familiar with several terminological terms first.
Blitz: Sending one or more linebackers or defensive backs to rush the passer.
Zone Blitz: A zone blitz is a defensive concept that tries to confuse opposing offenses by blitzing linebackers and/or defensive backs while at the same time dropping defensive linemen into coverage, filling the vacated zone. You can imagine that a fat, slow lineman attempts to cover a fast, elusive running back in this scenario, hilarious, isn’t it?
Bull Rush: Straight-ahead, power rush when DE’s (defensive ends) face OT’s (offensive tackles).
Spy: Use a defensive player (typically a linebacker) designated to shadow a quarterback who has running ability, Vince Young for instance, in order to restrict the quarterback’s ability to gain important yards with his feet.
Stunt: A maneuver by two defensive linemen in which they alter their course to the quarterback, hoping to confuse the offensive linemen. In most stunts, one defensive lineman sacrifices himself in hopes of his teammate either going unblocked or gaining advantage in his pursuit.
Defense has two basic formations before the ball is snapped. Namely, 3-4 Defense and 4-3 Defense.
3-4 Defense: Defense that employs three linemen and four linebackers. In this style of defense, the linemen play so-called two-gap defense, meaning that they aim to the gap between two offensive linemen and hope to neutralize those two blockers, allowing the linebackers to go unblocked. A 3-4 defense is a stronger defense against the run, but requires very strong and stout defensive linemen.
4-3 Defense: Defense that employs four linemen and three linebackers. The kind of defense needs defensive ends who are strong pass rushers as well as physically tough against the run. The 4-3 also operates best with a quality middle linebacker. A 4-3 defense generates more pressure to QB than a 3-4 defense. It is adopted by most of NFL teams today.
Once the formation is set, team’s DC (defensive coordinator) will deploy different kinds of coverage based on game’s situations. Main coverage packages include man-to-man coverage and zone coverage. The coaches devise variations using these two basic coverage packages as templates/foundation.
Man-to-Man Coverage: Or simply called man coverage, is a coverage which the defensive backs and linebackers are assigned to cover specific players rather than certain areas of the playing field. The defenders are supposed to cover their respective opponents until the completion of the play. It is the opposite of zone coverage.
Man-to-Man with Free Safety: Or man free. This coverage allows tight man-to-man coverage with the free safety helping deep. The cornerbacks will often position themselves to the outside in this coverage, knowing they have help deep from the safety.
Bump-and-Run Coverage: or called press coverage, is man-to-man coverage which the defensive back jams the receiver at the line of scrimmage and then runs with him down the field.
Zone Coverage: is coverage which the defensive backs and linebackers are designed to cover certain areas of the field, rather than certain players.
Zone coverage is consisted of the following “branches”:
Cover One: Defensive coverage which the free safety is 12-14 yards deep, the two cornerbacks are in press coverage, and the strong safety is about 5 yards deep over the tight end. Cover one is generally a man-to-man scheme and vulnerable to a running play.
Cover Two: Two-deep zone coverage. In Cover 2, the safeties play further back, while the linebackers and cornerbacks play zone coverage underneath the safeties. The two safeties split the field and each cover half against the deep pass.
Cover Three: Three-deep zone coverage. This coverage usually has the two corners and the free safety deep (10-14 yards off the line of scrimmage). The strong safety is 5 yards off the line, over the tight end. This is a stout defense versus the run, but very soft versus a good passing team
Cover Four: Four-deep zone coverage or “quarters.” All four defensive backs are off the line of scrimmage approximately 12 yards deep. The cover four is a good pass defense against the long ball because the secondary players are told never to allow a receiver to get behind them. Running plays and the short passing game often work well against this kind of coverage.
Dime Coverage: Coverage with six defensive backs instead of the standard four. Two linebackers are usually removed in favor of two extra defensive backs in this coverage.
Quarter Coverage: Coverage with seven defensive backs instead of the stand four. All three linebackers or two linebackers and a defensive lineman are usually removed in favor of the extra three defensive backs in this coverage.
Prevent Coverage: Also called prevent defense. Coverage used in sure passing situations, especially during the last two minutes of a half. The defense is set to take away the deep pass first and, secondly, to keep all other passes in front of the coverage. Prevent defenses requires dime or quarter cover.
Playing Off: Coverage where the defensive back provides a cushion of space between his receiver and himself before the start of the play. It is the opposite of bump-and-run coverage.
These coverage packages have their own strengths and weaknesses. I prefer man-to-man coverage over zone coverage because man coverage demonstrates an aggressive/attacking attitude and tactic. It brings intensity and more excitement to the audiences. It will come back to bite you if your defender fails to wrap up his target though. Giving up big chuck of yardage is the immediate consequence if coverage is blown.
Zone coverage is a yield-but-not-break method, meaning that defense allows opponent team’s offense to gain short yardage but prevents them from gaining the long ones. The offensive team is much easier to obtain first down(s) against this kind of coverage. A defender missing his assignment in this coverage will result in an offensive player wild open in the middle of field.
I think that I have covered most of general defensive schemes (I welcome anyone to add the missing pieces or to correct my errors). I hope that the readers can identify the team formations on games with this as guideline. There are more complicated concepts such as 1-technique or 3-technique. I don’t bother to get in detail because I think that they give little helps to understand what happens on field.
P.S: I planed to post this yesterday but my “project” was interrupted by a reckless mouse, which we named it “Jerry” later. It might be a smart or retarded mouse depends on how you look at it. It showed no respect to human beings in my office. It first confronted me when it tried to climb up to my desk through the hole, through which the computer cables run. Then it showed its butt in every corner of the office and scared all women to scream and to keep their feet off the ground. While we thought that it disappeared for good, it was spotted attempting to climb up one of my male co-worker’s leg! We called the building superintendent and received the same old “we will take care of it later” response. My manager escalated and pushed him to contact exterminator immediately and being told that he needed to schedule an appointment with them. Oh well, we then had “we can’t work in such condition” legitimate excuse and left for home early, haha.
A defense’s performance is evaluated by stats including how many points allowed, how many yardages surrendered, how many sacks incurred, how many turnovers created, how high the opponent offensive team’s third down conversion rate.
The numbers, however, are sometimes misleading due to different team schedules. NFL intends to make teams with good record in previous season having a tough schedule, while teams with bad record are scheduled relatively easy matches. Consequently, the stat is not appealing when two strong teams meet, while a powerful team crushing a weak opponent makes the numbers inflate.
Defense:
Before I get into the details of formations, let us get familiar with several terminological terms first.
Blitz: Sending one or more linebackers or defensive backs to rush the passer.
Zone Blitz: A zone blitz is a defensive concept that tries to confuse opposing offenses by blitzing linebackers and/or defensive backs while at the same time dropping defensive linemen into coverage, filling the vacated zone. You can imagine that a fat, slow lineman attempts to cover a fast, elusive running back in this scenario, hilarious, isn’t it?
Bull Rush: Straight-ahead, power rush when DE’s (defensive ends) face OT’s (offensive tackles).
Spy: Use a defensive player (typically a linebacker) designated to shadow a quarterback who has running ability, Vince Young for instance, in order to restrict the quarterback’s ability to gain important yards with his feet.
Stunt: A maneuver by two defensive linemen in which they alter their course to the quarterback, hoping to confuse the offensive linemen. In most stunts, one defensive lineman sacrifices himself in hopes of his teammate either going unblocked or gaining advantage in his pursuit.
Defense has two basic formations before the ball is snapped. Namely, 3-4 Defense and 4-3 Defense.
3-4 Defense: Defense that employs three linemen and four linebackers. In this style of defense, the linemen play so-called two-gap defense, meaning that they aim to the gap between two offensive linemen and hope to neutralize those two blockers, allowing the linebackers to go unblocked. A 3-4 defense is a stronger defense against the run, but requires very strong and stout defensive linemen.
4-3 Defense: Defense that employs four linemen and three linebackers. The kind of defense needs defensive ends who are strong pass rushers as well as physically tough against the run. The 4-3 also operates best with a quality middle linebacker. A 4-3 defense generates more pressure to QB than a 3-4 defense. It is adopted by most of NFL teams today.
Once the formation is set, team’s DC (defensive coordinator) will deploy different kinds of coverage based on game’s situations. Main coverage packages include man-to-man coverage and zone coverage. The coaches devise variations using these two basic coverage packages as templates/foundation.
Man-to-Man Coverage: Or simply called man coverage, is a coverage which the defensive backs and linebackers are assigned to cover specific players rather than certain areas of the playing field. The defenders are supposed to cover their respective opponents until the completion of the play. It is the opposite of zone coverage.
Man-to-Man with Free Safety: Or man free. This coverage allows tight man-to-man coverage with the free safety helping deep. The cornerbacks will often position themselves to the outside in this coverage, knowing they have help deep from the safety.
Bump-and-Run Coverage: or called press coverage, is man-to-man coverage which the defensive back jams the receiver at the line of scrimmage and then runs with him down the field.
Zone Coverage: is coverage which the defensive backs and linebackers are designed to cover certain areas of the field, rather than certain players.
Zone coverage is consisted of the following “branches”:
Cover One: Defensive coverage which the free safety is 12-14 yards deep, the two cornerbacks are in press coverage, and the strong safety is about 5 yards deep over the tight end. Cover one is generally a man-to-man scheme and vulnerable to a running play.
Cover Two: Two-deep zone coverage. In Cover 2, the safeties play further back, while the linebackers and cornerbacks play zone coverage underneath the safeties. The two safeties split the field and each cover half against the deep pass.
Cover Three: Three-deep zone coverage. This coverage usually has the two corners and the free safety deep (10-14 yards off the line of scrimmage). The strong safety is 5 yards off the line, over the tight end. This is a stout defense versus the run, but very soft versus a good passing team
Cover Four: Four-deep zone coverage or “quarters.” All four defensive backs are off the line of scrimmage approximately 12 yards deep. The cover four is a good pass defense against the long ball because the secondary players are told never to allow a receiver to get behind them. Running plays and the short passing game often work well against this kind of coverage.
Dime Coverage: Coverage with six defensive backs instead of the standard four. Two linebackers are usually removed in favor of two extra defensive backs in this coverage.
Quarter Coverage: Coverage with seven defensive backs instead of the stand four. All three linebackers or two linebackers and a defensive lineman are usually removed in favor of the extra three defensive backs in this coverage.
Prevent Coverage: Also called prevent defense. Coverage used in sure passing situations, especially during the last two minutes of a half. The defense is set to take away the deep pass first and, secondly, to keep all other passes in front of the coverage. Prevent defenses requires dime or quarter cover.
Playing Off: Coverage where the defensive back provides a cushion of space between his receiver and himself before the start of the play. It is the opposite of bump-and-run coverage.
These coverage packages have their own strengths and weaknesses. I prefer man-to-man coverage over zone coverage because man coverage demonstrates an aggressive/attacking attitude and tactic. It brings intensity and more excitement to the audiences. It will come back to bite you if your defender fails to wrap up his target though. Giving up big chuck of yardage is the immediate consequence if coverage is blown.
Zone coverage is a yield-but-not-break method, meaning that defense allows opponent team’s offense to gain short yardage but prevents them from gaining the long ones. The offensive team is much easier to obtain first down(s) against this kind of coverage. A defender missing his assignment in this coverage will result in an offensive player wild open in the middle of field.
I think that I have covered most of general defensive schemes (I welcome anyone to add the missing pieces or to correct my errors). I hope that the readers can identify the team formations on games with this as guideline. There are more complicated concepts such as 1-technique or 3-technique. I don’t bother to get in detail because I think that they give little helps to understand what happens on field.
P.S: I planed to post this yesterday but my “project” was interrupted by a reckless mouse, which we named it “Jerry” later. It might be a smart or retarded mouse depends on how you look at it. It showed no respect to human beings in my office. It first confronted me when it tried to climb up to my desk through the hole, through which the computer cables run. Then it showed its butt in every corner of the office and scared all women to scream and to keep their feet off the ground. While we thought that it disappeared for good, it was spotted attempting to climb up one of my male co-worker’s leg! We called the building superintendent and received the same old “we will take care of it later” response. My manager escalated and pushed him to contact exterminator immediately and being told that he needed to schedule an appointment with them. Oh well, we then had “we can’t work in such condition” legitimate excuse and left for home early, haha.
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