Stopping the 2x2 Shotgun

Do you box the pullers in or do you spill them and force them to the outside. Is the other team reading when they run counter trey? If not who blocks the backside End? If you Box it I say use your 4-3. If you spill it use fast guys and go to a 4-2 with your Free Safety going with the pullers. I'd even consider using faster guys at ends if possible whether they are running option or not on the backside. They can either force a pull, check for boot and then pursue. They may be able to spill better than a big guy, they would probably have a very hard time boxing though.

......................................................HB...QB

............WR.....................................................................................WR
...WR...............................................T..G..C..G..T....................................WR
......................................................E....T....T...E
....C.........S.......................................................................................SS.....C
..........................................................M............W


..........................................................FS

LDE-5 technique(c gap)
DT's- both in I2 techniques(a gaps)
RDE-I4 technique (b gap)
M-3 technique(b gap)
W-4 or 5 technique(c gap)

Cover 2 zone pressures

Pressures applied with either the Sam and Mike backer.
Corners play Flats...FS and SS each have their deep half(ss can give some ground during cadance 7-8yds off ball)
Will backer- get to his hook to curl zone in reading pass.
Mike backer can blitz the B gap with Sam creeping towards the los during the cadance. on the snap and Sam reads pass he gets to his hook to curl zone having the #2 reciever in the corner of his eye as he read the QB. Having the sam backer show blitz he gives the angle to get to his zone much better. Also possibly baiting the QB to throw a quick slant to the #2 reciever placing him in a good position to either intercept the ball or lay a big hit on the reciever.

You can also bring the Sam backer. If you do this I suggest you move the LDE to a I4 tech before the snap and the mike moves to a 5. Sam is a leverage player now as he is blitzing the edge. Mike shifting alignment puts him in a better position with less ground to cover.

Man pressures.

Alignment is the same for all players.

pressures applied by the sam, mike and will.

corners man to man vs #1...FS quickly slides down and replaces the sam backer as the offense moves to the los. FS and SS are man vs #2...all must be physical with their man.
Mike is man vs HB...you can blitz the mike or leave him in coverage. As well as blitz 1, 2 or all 3 LB's.

You can also add a "heads slant call" have all the DL play head up and slant right or left if their are strong tendencies in their run game. The alignment in the gun make them the ctr trey to the opposite sideof where the HB is lined up.

Bringing pressure and causing protection problems will limit the routes their recievers run. The QB must get the ball out or he will be sacked. quick throws of slants, fade/go and crossing routes. You can work on defending these routes in practice, as you will be sure to see them.

The bump and run in man coverage will also force their WR to work hard every play to get off the los...force the WR's to work hard to get open...force the QB to make a perfect throw and force the reciever to make agreat catch.

The pressure and gap gap control will help your defense be very sound. It will also make the opponent perform under the fast physical play of your defense. Hope it all works out coach.

quote:

---

Originally posted by: Caveman
You are not playing us this week are you? We run that all the time!

---

No coach different part of NY!

Well we went with both the 4-3 and 4-2-5 looks to try and switch it up on them. We were just physically less talented then them. My hat goes off to those guys, they realy run the offense well, and everyone executes.
When we went man, we got burned, when we went zone, we did not play deep enough. And the DL failed to make the neccessary tackles when we got into the backfiled. One of our DE's had the HB dead in his sights on 3 different plays, and failed to bring him down, and it lead to them scoring.

As a staff we met for quite some time this weekend to try and figure things out, becuase our execution of our defensive plan was awful! I could only recall 3 plays in the whole game were I could honestly state that I thought I called a bad defensive play for the situation.

As a side note, I was wondering if I could ask you guys to give a very brief outline of your defensive practice week. It does not have to be overly detailed, but maybe mention things like how often do you do tackling for real, How many different plays of the opponents fo you prep for, How often do you live scrimmage? And anything else that you can add.
Text