There is a lot of discussion about different football defenses. The 4-4 Defense has been around forever, as has the 5-2 Defense. Today’s favorites include the 4-2-5 Defense and the 3-5-3 Defense. In the NFL, all teams are either 4-3 or 3-4 Defensive teams. But when you boil it all down, all defensive fronts are either Odd, or Even.
Very simply, an Even Front has an even number of defensive linemen. An Odd Front has an odd number. Normally, the Even front has 4 defensive linemen, while there are 3 or 5 defensive linemen in an Odd front.
The Odd Front defensive traditionally uses a Nose Guard aligned head up on the Center. The assignments of the rest of the defenders are based off of this one key player. Many successful Odd front football defenses utilizes a powerful, dominant nose guard. High School programs may also utilize a “shooter” Nose Guard, who is a smaller and quicker player that can cause havoc for the offense.
The Even Front does not use a head-up Nose Guard. Instead, there will be two interior defensive tackles will align themselves somewhere between the outside shoulders of the Right and Left Guard. A standard Even Front defense is to align the strong side Tackle on the outside shoulder of the Guard. This is known as the 3-Technique Tackle. To the weak side, this football defense will align the other Tackle on the inside shoulder of the Guard, or the weak side shoulder of the Offensive Center. These techniques are a 1-Technique or a ‘Weak Shade.’
Neither defensive front is better than the other. Teams have been successful with both. What is more important than the type of football defense a coach chooses, is that he has players suited to that particular style. If a team does not have a player capable of controlling the offense from the Nose Guard position, then the Odd Front is not the best defensive choice. By contrast, if a team does not have 4 capable defensive linemen, they may find an Odd Front using only 3 defensive linemen, such as the 3-4 or 3-5 defense, more beneficial.
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