Game Planning to Stop Their Best Play

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When you start breaking down an opponent’s offensive film, what are you looking for? Are you trying to find their best player, their favorite formation, whether the OC is right handed or left handed?

You should be looking for all of that information. But ultimately, there is one piece of information you need to know when you build your game plan: What do they do best?

Creating a defensive game plan for the next football game is all about finding a way to stop what they do best.

Why You Need to Stop One Play

Finding the best play they run, and knowing the philosophy behind why they run it, is the corner stone of your game plan. At the very least, if you can accomplish that task, you force them to turn to page 2 of the playbook.

Maybe you can stop what’s on page 2, and maybe you can’t – and don’t worry, we are going to plan for that too. But what matters is that you get them off page 1, the best page. The one they practice all the time. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Game Planning, Members

Man Coverage vs. Zone Coverage: The Great Debate

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Recently, I was reading a thread on Man Coverage vs Zone Coverage on CoachHuey.com. The discussion has been pretty involved on the topic (and it is certainly not a new topic), but for some reason this time it caught my attention.

Most high school coaches run Zone Coverage, and they will tell you that it is to stop the run first. They may also feel their athletes are not good enough to play lock down man coverage.

But there is much more to it than that. Have high school coaches really given Man Coverage a fair shot? There is an assumption that you run Man Coverage if you have superior athletes. That way you can put them out there on an island and forget about them. But it just is not the case.

Let’s compare the advantages and disadvantages of Man Coverage and Zone Coverage, and then we will talk about the popular compromise – Pattern Read coverages. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Man Coverage, Members, Zone Coverage

Get After the Quarterback with The Natural Line Stunt

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I have no doubt there are tons of names for this line stunt. It is not at all uncommon, although it is not one that I have run in the past. But my favorite name for this stunt, is “The Natural.”

It is my favorite because it combines my two passions: football, and Pro Wrestling. You see, Dustin Rhodes was one nicknamed “The Natural” when he was in WCW early in his career, and I really liked the theme song for some reason. I think I was 11 or so, but the point is… I prefer to call this, the “The Natural.” (and I’m aware of the movie by the same name… never seen it)

How to Run “The Natural”

The Natural is a  slick looking line stunt that, on first glance, looked completely ridiculous to me. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Defensive Line, Members

Keying the Quarterback against the Wing-T

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The number of ways that teams have come up with to key the Wing-T is impressive. And at some point, I think I have tried most of them.

To be fair, we do not see much of this great and…er, antiquated… Offense. Now I love the Wing-T, I’ve just never run it and haven’t coached against it too much. I believe that he principles of the Wing-T are in almost every offense though, and if you are not studying the principles of the offense, you are not trying to understand your opponents.

And in studying it, I am always looking for the right way to defend it. You need to identify what Wing-T play series they like best, what play calls they like best, etc. I talked about defending the Wing-T in Episode 6 of The Football Coaching Podcast with my co-host Nate Albaugh, so if you are looking or more general details on defending the Wing-T, give that a listen.

In this article, however, we look at one very specific read – the Quarterback. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Free Articles, Game Planning, Linebackers

3 Teaching Tips to Cause a Fumble

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In a previous post I wrote about how we pick up a fumble. The other part to picking up a fumble, is how do we make one happen? The more balls that go on the ground the better chance we have of picking one up.

When we teach how to strip a football, we start with one rule – the ball carrier must be tackled first.

Securing the Tackle

Before anything else, the tackle on the ball carrier has to be secured. If we go for a strip and do not get it, and end up giving up extra yardage, it is a huge mistake.

In all of our strip drills, we make sure the tackle is secured first. While this article will not be talking about Chase & Strip drills (running a ball carrier down from behind), we stress securing the tackle in those drills as well. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Football Drills, Members, Technique