43 to dbl twins

Lou, you're absolutely correct!

My cousin, Larry Semenza, played Carmine Jrs son on two episodes of the Sopranos and my other cousin tried out for a role on the Sopranos and did not make the cut. If you saw my cousin, John, you'd say that he was a perfect fit!

That's the CONVENTIONAL way people play "QUARTER COVERAGE".

REMEMBER: If any receiver goes vertical 10 yds - one of the 4 deep jumps him! The OLB's go from Curl to flat depending on the release of the #2 receiver, & the MLB goes from hook to curl based on the release of the #3 receiver. This is the "OVERLAPPING" of zones most zone teams use!

If you want to dicuss this coverage (the way Jimmy Johnson used it to win Super Bowls in Dallas in the early to mid 1990's) PHONE me at: 804-740-4479 (up till 9 PM/EDT).

I'd worry about option.

Coach, I understand perfectly. Most of the time, I just like seeing people's ideas and various adjustments they make year to year. To be honest, vs option, I have always played our base defense and did what we do best-some slight adjustments, but never a new defense. We have done well this season and I appreciate all your and the other coach's input. To me, the preparation is the most fun for me. It's like a big test. On the other hand, we came out after the half last Friday and went with a 3x2 set (I stole from a post of yours)and just had 3 plays-2 pass, 1 run. Kids had a blast and we caught them off guard. I'm still not ready to give up my fullback and tailback, but it sure was fun. Have a great week. Nick

I'm going to chime in on this, Bill.

If you try to play anything vs. cover 4 vs. a one-back set, it is wrong unless you are much more athletically gifted than your opponent and you play man-to-man (I did this when I was a defensive coordinator running a 3-4)!

I was with Rutgers Head Coach, Greg Schiano this off-season. He told me that he attributed his turnaround to doing three things on defense.

1. Eliminate ALL vertical passes (always two safeties in MOF, focus on keeping the ball underneath the secondary)!

2. Train linebackers to FORCE the ball back inside... greatest runs occur when the ball gets outside the FORCE/TRAIL player.

3. FLATWALL all the bubbles vs. inside run... train the inside linebacker to read and fill the bubbles FAST!

Greg Schiano's quote after all this: "IF YOU GIVE THE OFFENSE ENOUGH CHANCES, THEY WILL FIND A WAY TO SCREW IT UP!"

What Coach Schiano means is that once you eliminate verticals, plays that are run outside the force, and plays that attack the bubble, they will have to drive through you to beat you.

Rutgers has NEVER lost a football game in the Schiano era where they gave up 2 or less plays/game of more than 25 yards! NEVER!

He attributes these three concepts to the turnaround.

I hope this helped.

PS. We play the option a few different ways... vs. Bucknell we played a 4-4 stack cover 3 (w/ some changeups)... vs. Navy Prep (because of the threat of 4 verticals, we played a 4-3 cover 4 with some changeups). This year we allowed three touchdowns in those two games and won both games by a combined total of 84 points.

We'd go 46 in short yardage situations, made sure that in passing situations we were in 4-3 cover 4, and if we saw a tight end coming in the game (11 personnel) we would run tuff or under.

NICK,

SO GLAD TO HEAR THAT YOUR KIDS ENJOYED MY VERSION OF THE 3 X 2. Nobody ever steals from me or Bill or Lou, we give it away free and are glad to see you try out the things we recommend. I'm just kidding you about your statement in your post. Keep up the good job and let me know how it all works out for you as you put in more plays from the formation as you go along.

Coach Easton-TIGER ONE