Post by blueadams on Aug 17, 2008 22:36:49 GMT
Coaches (in particular Coaches Mountjoy and Easton...along with any other defensive guru's),
I have been doing a lot of reading on my two favorite defenses, the 46 Bear and the 4-4, and I've been trying to think of a way to combine the strengths (in my opinion) into a single defensive philosophy. I've given an explanation of what I'm trying to create, the ideas I'm trying to include, the weaknesses I'm trying to rid, etc...in a little background section. It may be more interesting for you to start with the diagram and work your way back though. Depends on your preference. If you could give me your thoughts on the effectiveness this potential defense would have as a base scheme, it would be greatly appreciated.
BACKGROUND
Here are some of the things I've attempted to combine from;
*The 46 Bear:
- The thing I like about the 46 Bear, obviously, is the fact that you have a 6 man front backed by two inside backers against the run.
*The 4-4:
- The #1 thing I LOVE about the 4-4 is its simplicity and flexibility. I'm leaning more and more towards the high school game, and at that level, you just don't have the time to install complicated schemes. With that being said though, even if I had the time, I WOULDN'T WANT to install more than one, simple, defensive scheme. In my opinion, the BIGGEST difference between a winning program and a losing program (I've played in both) is simplicity!! As Rex Ryan says, "the best coach is the coach who knows the most, but does the least." When the players KNOW EXACTLY what they are doing, they are confident, and they are focusing on NOTHING but the keys they MUST in order to play great defense. That is how you get the absolute most out of the talent given to you.
- The 2nd thing I love about the 4-4 is the ability to play a 3-deep, 4-under zone...the ENTIRE GAME (almost). As you can probably tell from above, I don't want my players to have a lot on their minds. Aside from the more than occasional blitz (which I will need in this defense...as I'll explain later), in which case I'll go man-man, I want these guys in a 3-deep 4-under zone. I will, of course, need to insert a 4-3, 4-deep, 3-under package for late game and obvious nickel situations...but that's really not asking too much. In this defense (again, as I'll explain in below) the only players doing anything really different are going to be the three LBs. I know a lot of you guys love to play man2man 4-4, but at the high school level, in my personal opinion...you just can't count on having two natural athletes like that every single year. If you get some, you can obviously blitz much more, and get a lot of extra pressure on the passer. BUT, I want to make talent like that a luxury, not an absolute necessity.
- The 3rd thing I like is the outside run support. With both DEs playing on the offenses' end men, your OLBs are very free and very well positioned to turn anything - sweep, toss, option...which are all very prevelent at the high school level - back inside to the pack.
Here are some of the things I don't like:
*46 Bear - Again, obviously, the pass vulnerabilities. You can either go man2man, which requires exceptional athletes, or you can go with a pourous zone, which will get picked apart at least once a season...and that just could be a playoff game.
*4-4 - Inside vulnerability against power-I formations. I know a lot of you guys believe strongly in the 4-4's ability to stop the inside run. But, again...in my humble opinion...at the high school level, there is an EXTREME SHORTAGE of legit, capable BIG men. Unfortunately for my future defenses, I am a BIG OLINE guy. I'm a defensive guy through and through, and maybe for that reason I believe the offensive line is THE MOST important thing in football. Again, a lot of us will just have to agree to disagree here, but I am a firm believer in the principle that you MUST be able to run the football to win ball games. You MUST be able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. On the offensive line I generally believe that you need more individually talented players. Legit, strong, athletic big men who can win one on one matchups, pull, pass set edge-rushers, etc. On defense, I generally feel we can control the line with numbers (scheme), conditioning and HUSTLE.
Here's the main thing I'm going to lose:
- The base PASS-RUSH. The 46 Bear brings EXCELLENT pressure off the edge in passing situations. The 4-4 brings great pressure around both ends as well in most passing situations...and at the very least, around the weakside when the TE stays in to block. In the defensive I've designed, we're not going to have great outside pressure. I'm gonna have to go man2man and send an OLB on the blitz often against good passing teams. That could creat some serious problems if I don't have at least one shut down corner.
THE DEFENSE itself
.........................................F
.........C............................M.....M......................C
..........................O..............................O
...............................E.......T.....T.......E
.........W...................T...G...C...G...T...E
.........................................Q............................W
....................................B.........B
-FS: Deep 1/3, COULD BE man2man on #2 in OLB blitz to one side.
-CBs: Flexible allignment, Deep 1/3, man2man on #1 in OLB blitz to their side. Keep in mind that I'm gonna be putting my man2man stud on the weakside for OLB blitz.
-OLBs: Closer than normal 4-4 OLB allignment (maybe 2/3yds), Curl to Flat. My WOLB is probably gonna be the better blitzer of the two.
-MLBs: Normal 4-4 ILB allignment, Hook to Curl, COULD BE man2man on #2 WR in OLB blitz to their side.
-Weak-side DE: 4i. I want him to play that OT JUST like the strong-side DE plays the TE. Explode with the hands into the chest, strong, short chopped steps, maintain inside levergae...but these two guys GOTTA have the athleticism and strength to, at least, extend outside runs, flatten the RBs angle, and slow it down. I'm also gonna try to get him to rush OUTSIDE the OT in pass-rush situations in an attempt to, again...at least, contain the QB. I know its asking a lot, but this guy's ideally the best all-around player on my defense.
-Stong-side DE: 6i on a TE. Basic 4-4 style of play here.
-Weak-side DT: (ps...my dlinemen aren't going to be sides during the game, I'll make week2week adjustments when necessary though) 1-tech on the center. A-gap responsibility. Pretty basic.
-Strong-side DT: 3-tech on the guard. B-gap responsibility. Again, pretty basic. I should note here that you could easily play around with these allignments to better match-up. I'm not gonna get too creative with that right now, but you obviously could.
As far as formation adjustments go:
-I think I'd be able to do pretty much everything you do with a 4-4. Against double-tight, I'll probably just go with two 6i's and two 3-techs. Two back, double tight couldl be a little trickier to adjust to. That's a week2week matchup adjustment though. Could stack the MLBs, could slide the line, move an OLB inside, get the CBs involved etc.
-CBs always on #1. OLBs always on #2. If there's a #3, I'll probably line the FS up on him. Obviously though, our MLB's zone to the trips side is gonna be a factor.
-An athletic QB rollout to the weakside is going to be PROBLEM. I'll probably just have to auto blitz the weak-side MLB as a QB contain/spy type player. How I'll cover that is a little too complex and varrying to get into right now. I really just haven't quite put the time in on that issue yet.
In general, I just want to emphasize that these OLBs are going to be extremely aggressive. The weakside backers gonna be blitzing a lot, both are gonna be right up there, almost on the line, against the run as well. Bottom line, I want to create that 46 Bear-like pressure atmosphere at the line of scrimmage, while backing it up with a more sound coverage system. By blitzing so much I'm gonna lose a little simplicity in the secondary, and this will probably be my greatest challenge.
Thank you very much for reading this, and for any opinions/ideas you may have.
Sincerely,
Blue
I have been doing a lot of reading on my two favorite defenses, the 46 Bear and the 4-4, and I've been trying to think of a way to combine the strengths (in my opinion) into a single defensive philosophy. I've given an explanation of what I'm trying to create, the ideas I'm trying to include, the weaknesses I'm trying to rid, etc...in a little background section. It may be more interesting for you to start with the diagram and work your way back though. Depends on your preference. If you could give me your thoughts on the effectiveness this potential defense would have as a base scheme, it would be greatly appreciated.
BACKGROUND
Here are some of the things I've attempted to combine from;
*The 46 Bear:
- The thing I like about the 46 Bear, obviously, is the fact that you have a 6 man front backed by two inside backers against the run.
*The 4-4:
- The #1 thing I LOVE about the 4-4 is its simplicity and flexibility. I'm leaning more and more towards the high school game, and at that level, you just don't have the time to install complicated schemes. With that being said though, even if I had the time, I WOULDN'T WANT to install more than one, simple, defensive scheme. In my opinion, the BIGGEST difference between a winning program and a losing program (I've played in both) is simplicity!! As Rex Ryan says, "the best coach is the coach who knows the most, but does the least." When the players KNOW EXACTLY what they are doing, they are confident, and they are focusing on NOTHING but the keys they MUST in order to play great defense. That is how you get the absolute most out of the talent given to you.
- The 2nd thing I love about the 4-4 is the ability to play a 3-deep, 4-under zone...the ENTIRE GAME (almost). As you can probably tell from above, I don't want my players to have a lot on their minds. Aside from the more than occasional blitz (which I will need in this defense...as I'll explain later), in which case I'll go man-man, I want these guys in a 3-deep 4-under zone. I will, of course, need to insert a 4-3, 4-deep, 3-under package for late game and obvious nickel situations...but that's really not asking too much. In this defense (again, as I'll explain in below) the only players doing anything really different are going to be the three LBs. I know a lot of you guys love to play man2man 4-4, but at the high school level, in my personal opinion...you just can't count on having two natural athletes like that every single year. If you get some, you can obviously blitz much more, and get a lot of extra pressure on the passer. BUT, I want to make talent like that a luxury, not an absolute necessity.
- The 3rd thing I like is the outside run support. With both DEs playing on the offenses' end men, your OLBs are very free and very well positioned to turn anything - sweep, toss, option...which are all very prevelent at the high school level - back inside to the pack.
Here are some of the things I don't like:
*46 Bear - Again, obviously, the pass vulnerabilities. You can either go man2man, which requires exceptional athletes, or you can go with a pourous zone, which will get picked apart at least once a season...and that just could be a playoff game.
*4-4 - Inside vulnerability against power-I formations. I know a lot of you guys believe strongly in the 4-4's ability to stop the inside run. But, again...in my humble opinion...at the high school level, there is an EXTREME SHORTAGE of legit, capable BIG men. Unfortunately for my future defenses, I am a BIG OLINE guy. I'm a defensive guy through and through, and maybe for that reason I believe the offensive line is THE MOST important thing in football. Again, a lot of us will just have to agree to disagree here, but I am a firm believer in the principle that you MUST be able to run the football to win ball games. You MUST be able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. On the offensive line I generally believe that you need more individually talented players. Legit, strong, athletic big men who can win one on one matchups, pull, pass set edge-rushers, etc. On defense, I generally feel we can control the line with numbers (scheme), conditioning and HUSTLE.
Here's the main thing I'm going to lose:
- The base PASS-RUSH. The 46 Bear brings EXCELLENT pressure off the edge in passing situations. The 4-4 brings great pressure around both ends as well in most passing situations...and at the very least, around the weakside when the TE stays in to block. In the defensive I've designed, we're not going to have great outside pressure. I'm gonna have to go man2man and send an OLB on the blitz often against good passing teams. That could creat some serious problems if I don't have at least one shut down corner.
THE DEFENSE itself
.........................................F
.........C............................M.....M......................C
..........................O..............................O
...............................E.......T.....T.......E
.........W...................T...G...C...G...T...E
.........................................Q............................W
....................................B.........B
-FS: Deep 1/3, COULD BE man2man on #2 in OLB blitz to one side.
-CBs: Flexible allignment, Deep 1/3, man2man on #1 in OLB blitz to their side. Keep in mind that I'm gonna be putting my man2man stud on the weakside for OLB blitz.
-OLBs: Closer than normal 4-4 OLB allignment (maybe 2/3yds), Curl to Flat. My WOLB is probably gonna be the better blitzer of the two.
-MLBs: Normal 4-4 ILB allignment, Hook to Curl, COULD BE man2man on #2 WR in OLB blitz to their side.
-Weak-side DE: 4i. I want him to play that OT JUST like the strong-side DE plays the TE. Explode with the hands into the chest, strong, short chopped steps, maintain inside levergae...but these two guys GOTTA have the athleticism and strength to, at least, extend outside runs, flatten the RBs angle, and slow it down. I'm also gonna try to get him to rush OUTSIDE the OT in pass-rush situations in an attempt to, again...at least, contain the QB. I know its asking a lot, but this guy's ideally the best all-around player on my defense.
-Stong-side DE: 6i on a TE. Basic 4-4 style of play here.
-Weak-side DT: (ps...my dlinemen aren't going to be sides during the game, I'll make week2week adjustments when necessary though) 1-tech on the center. A-gap responsibility. Pretty basic.
-Strong-side DT: 3-tech on the guard. B-gap responsibility. Again, pretty basic. I should note here that you could easily play around with these allignments to better match-up. I'm not gonna get too creative with that right now, but you obviously could.
As far as formation adjustments go:
-I think I'd be able to do pretty much everything you do with a 4-4. Against double-tight, I'll probably just go with two 6i's and two 3-techs. Two back, double tight couldl be a little trickier to adjust to. That's a week2week matchup adjustment though. Could stack the MLBs, could slide the line, move an OLB inside, get the CBs involved etc.
-CBs always on #1. OLBs always on #2. If there's a #3, I'll probably line the FS up on him. Obviously though, our MLB's zone to the trips side is gonna be a factor.
-An athletic QB rollout to the weakside is going to be PROBLEM. I'll probably just have to auto blitz the weak-side MLB as a QB contain/spy type player. How I'll cover that is a little too complex and varrying to get into right now. I really just haven't quite put the time in on that issue yet.
In general, I just want to emphasize that these OLBs are going to be extremely aggressive. The weakside backers gonna be blitzing a lot, both are gonna be right up there, almost on the line, against the run as well. Bottom line, I want to create that 46 Bear-like pressure atmosphere at the line of scrimmage, while backing it up with a more sound coverage system. By blitzing so much I'm gonna lose a little simplicity in the secondary, and this will probably be my greatest challenge.
Thank you very much for reading this, and for any opinions/ideas you may have.
Sincerely,
Blue
