Brandt’s Corner
As the latter portion of this two-part series explaining football, I welcome everyone to read further to understand defensive formations and schemes. Last week, I talked about offense, and I did so first because defense is reactionary to the offensive formations and packages. I could write about defense until I’m blue in the face, but unless you have an understanding of offense first, you’ll probably be very confused.
I also won’t be able to illustrate my points like I did in last week’s column, albeit they were less “illustrations” and more just letters arranged like a football formation — but they served their purpose.
While yes, defense is reactionary, they can also force an offense’s hand into running a different play or formation than they originally planned. For example, if a defense is constantly showing a 4-4 (which I will discuss shortly), the offense probably won’t have success in the run game, and passing would be much more beneficial.
Before I explain the defenses, I will give you a quick cheat sheet of terms I’m about to use. “Blitz” means anyone not on the defensive line — linebackers and defensive backs — rushing through the line and trying to stop the ball-carrier. “Man-to-man” coverage is whoever is in coverage follows their assigned player wherever they go, before the snap and after. They are assigned to that player and that player only. “Zone” coverage is when the player is assigned a certain area, or zone, of the field. They will cover whoever is in the zone, but they will not follow anyone pre-snap or before or after they enter or leave the zone.
The 4-4 defense that I just alluded to is a great one to start with, as it is one of the base defensive alignments. The numbers signify how many linemen and linebackers they have, which is common in most formations. The first number is always the linemen, with the second always being the backers.
A 4-4 is probably the most rudimentary defense a team can run, and you see it often in younger leagues. This isn’t taking anything away from it — it’s still used at the highest levels today, but it’s just a simple, old concept that withstands the tests of time. This formation is a run-stopper, as you have put eight players in the “box” — the area between the two offensive tackles. Offenses will struggle to get yards on the ground here, but the biggest weakness is the pass, as you only have three defensive backs that are able to drop in coverage. You don’t always have to rush your front eight, and many teams don’t, meaning you can have outside linebackers in coverage. The drawback to that, though is that linebackers are typically slower than receivers.
The 3-4 defense drops a defensive lineman for a defensive back, allowing the defense to have four. This is typically called an “odd-man front” defense. Its goals are about the same as the 4-4, however, with a 3-4, you typically want bigger defensive linemen that can play two gaps on the offensive line to make up for the missing lineman. Another difference is the two is the naming of the positions. The 4-4 has two defensive tackles and two defensive ends. The 3-4 has two defensive tackles and a nose tackle/nose guard. Both defenses have middle and outside linebackers, but in today’s game, these are called “edge rushers” as they fill a different role now.
The next alignment is called the nickel because of the five defensive backs it uses. It has been called a 4-2 as well. Here is where defenses become more “alignments” rather than “formations,” because the nickel package doesn’t always look the same. To break it down, I’ll first start with the linebackers. Remember how the linebackers are typically slower than the receivers? This helps close that gap by removing the two outside linebackers (or edge rushers) and substitutes in speedier defensive backs that can cover the receivers better.
The outside linebackers aren’t entirely removed in most cases, though, and this is where the “edge rusher” moniker comes into play. Many teams will substitute out their two defensive tackles and instead put the edge rushers down on the line because of how disruptive they can be. These are your TJ Watts and Max Crosbys that you hear about on Sundays.
A “nickel back” is substituted in, which is usually a hybrid linebacker/defensive back. He’s usually in coverage, but he can blitz and stop the run as needed, too. And now we get to come full-circle to my rant about the two-high safety form earlier this month, because the nickel is the prime alignment for it to be run. All the two-high consists of is the two safeties sitting back in a cover-two look, meaning they each have a half of the field to cover against a long pass.
The rest of the defensive backs, including the nickel, will be in either a zone or man-to-man coverage, or a mix thereof. Blitzes can still happen out of this as well.
If a team is going super pass-heavy on offense, the defense might switch to a dime, which substitutes out one more line backer for another defensive back, meaning there will be a total of six on the field. This is usually only used for a team that lives by the pass, like Hobbton. Most other offenses in Sampson County can be countered by either a base 3-4 or a nickel if they’re going to pass, but many area teams don’t pass enough to warrant a dime look.
There are more in-depth topics to cover defensively, like how to defend every offensive play type, or even the quarters concept, but I will save those for a later date so as to not overwhelm you.
Reach Brandt Young at (910) 247-9036, at byoung@clintonnc.com, or on the Sampson Independent Facebook page.