Inside Backer reads in the 4-4

Coach,
We have been most successful by reading flow. We keep our rules very simple: "Flow to Attack, Flow away Stay". Basically we will attack downhill at the angle of the fullback with flow towards us. If flow is away then we will fill backside A-gap (in a 33 front). We are keying the FB/Nearback. We have found that versus a TE set the toughest block for us is the down by the strong OT. So in your 33 front be sure to work on that with your SILB. Some people read the "triangle" (guard, center, FB) but I have found that it takes a pretty quick witted LB to do that, not to mention consistency among offenses we face. We see a lot of different looks so reading flow has worked best for us. Hope this was of some help. Coach Thompson

Coach,
The 33 looks good against the trap in theory anyway. I like the idea of having to block my four inside defenders with 3 OLinemen. What I have found over the past few years running this defense is that there is still a nice bubble on the LOS between the 3 techs. With a FB rolling downhill it is all about momentum. Coach up those DT's versus the trap everyday!

Against mid-line we are a little more fortunate. Our HC is a midline/belly man. He is going to run the midline to your 3 until the cows come home. So if we see a team who loves the midline we don't give them a 3 tech. We will usually align in our Snake front which is a 22i (two 2i's) or the old wide tackle six. Now we have taken away the midline and the FB trap. A lot of people like the veer against this but it puts our ILBs in a better position for QB anyway. If you stay in a 3 tech vs. the midline then treat the FB like a trapper with SILB getting over top to QB. Its tough to defend.

As far as flow, I think you should coach what works best for your kids. We talk about fast and slow reads some. But we try to keep as simple as possible. Here are a couple of rules I picked up that suits this scheme. I got them off a website and used them in my playbook:
A. “Nose to me, play to me, I have “A”.(depends on front)

B. “Nose to me, play away, I have opposite “A”.

C. “Tackle to me, play to me, stack “C” to “D”.

D. “Tackle to me, play away, slow play my “A"

TSB,
Thank you much. Seems simple enough. How do you deal with 4 vertical threats. As a general rule if we get for recievers we will check to cover 1 (man free) if any of them run motion we will check 3. At times we have played or checked to Cover 2. Any thoughts?

How about this? Tell your OLB's that if #2 runs vertical, the OLB runs with him until he sees #3 run to the flat. You could tell the OLB that he has any vertical pattern by #2 or any quick outside pattern by #2. The FS will be able tohelp the OLB if #2 goes vertical. If #2 does anyhting else, the OLB plays his normal coverage rules. This will help the FS deal with 4 verticals, and force the offense to throw the ball into the flat where the defense can rally to he ball. This is the way a number of teams who run zone blitzes handle two verticals on the same side.

The PROBLEM with flow reads in zone coverage is play action. If you play zone (ex. Cov. 3) you had better look thru a liineman who might give away pass. If playing more man - flow reads are great because tyou can watch particular backs, etc.