If you’ve got to defend the spread offense, the first thing you have to find out is if they are a passing spread or a running spread. Even teams that are a good 50/50 balance have one thing or another that they just do better. Even if they do both equally, your defense probably defends one or the other better.

Recently, speaking with a coach who was considering changing his offense from a ground attack to a spread game, he mentioned that he had to have someone to throw to. You can spread your own guys out around the field all day, but if you have 4 little guys running around aimlessly on the perimeter, you’ll still get 7 guys in the box shutting down your rushing attack.

That’s good advice for defensive coaches. What is the team good at? Where do you need to overload your guys? If there are only 2 legitimate receivers – and that is often the case, if not only one – then why are you committing 5 or even 6 guys to coverage?

The moral of the story is, they can’t spread you out if they can’t run and pass. And if they can’t do one or the other very well, then be sure to take away whatever they do best. And if you don’t defend one or the other particularly well – then take away what you can stop, and then overemphasize the other.