1. Our first priority, like usual, was aligning properly. The weeks prior to our match-up with the DW opponent, they revealed a number of interesting formations and change ups to their foot-to-foot, traditional 2-TE, 2-Wing look. They came out in the “Beast” package a few times (we’ll get into that later) and various spread formations. They had little success utilizing those formations in the preseason, but it was still important that we be able to line up and defend their favorite plays out of those formations.

An important point I have to make is this: do not do anything drastic to stop ANY particular offense. If you’re a 4-3 team, don’t all of a sudden become a 3-4 team, and vice versa. Be you. You will only slow your players down, which is the equivalent of kryptonite to Superman.

We stayed in our 3-4 look. 5-0-5 up front. We played 2 9-techniques, but in our 3-4, those 9-techs are outside linebackers. What we did was put our two strongest defensive linemen there. Here’s why:

2. Stop…errrr…contain “POWER.” This is the “their” play. It’s arguably one of the best plays in all of football. They ran it a total of 31 times against us. In my research of the Double Wing, I heard about the famous “Power Hour” where DW teams will run Power and only Power against 11-22 defenders. They want their players to believe in it. They want their players to feel confident in it. They want their players to believe that the only way to stop it is to play with extra players on defense. Don’t always spill power, don’t always contain power. We didn’t blitz at all, but we did change up what our 9-techs were doing.

They did not gain more than 8 yards on a single Power running play against us, but…

3. …be prepared to play 4 downs on every possession…regardless of field position. If it’s 4th and one from their own 20, they’re going for it. Therefore,

4. You must win 1st down! This is our philosophy against any opponent, but it’s particularly important against running teams, such as those that utilize the Double Wing, Wing-T, etc. However,

5. your secondary must be pass first, run support players second. We gave up 21 points as a defense. 7 came with 30 seconds left in the game on 3rd and 21 from their own 40 yard line. Granted, we did miss 3 tackles on the game winning (losing?) touchdown, but we bit on playaction. Discipline is key all the way around. We got a heavy dose of Power and Power Pass sprinkled in. They completed 3 out of their 12 passes: 2 short (less than 10 yards) and the one bomb that won the game.

6. We were easily (EASILY) the physically superior team. Your entire team must be in-sync when playing a DW team. We gave up a touchdown on a punt return. Our offense ran 12 offensive plays in 3 possessions in the first half. The time of possession numbers were 3-1 in their favor.

These are some factors that you must be ready for. 3 and outs will not help you against any one, but particularly against an opponent whose philosophy is serious ball control.

I will get into formations and running game stuff in the follow up post.

As a disclaimer, I am the defensive coordinator in a program that runs the Tony Franklin “System,” and I see the offense every day. I’ve seen teams shut us down, slow us down, and get torched by our offense.

Let’s get on with it.

Once we’ve established that our spread opponent wants to throw the ball, I look at their playmakers and how they distribute the ball to them. Where do they line their playmakers up? How do they get the ball into the their playmakers’ hands? The spread allows teams to put 4-5 athletes out in space. But how do they distribute the ball to these guys?

The Formations

Once you’ve identified the playmakers, where does the offense line them up? Are the quicker guys inside? Are the vertical threats on the outside?

Most spread teams we see regularly, line up in a 2×2 formation as their base. Some teams have both slot WRs off the line of scrimmage and both outside WRs off the line. Some teams will have the left slot WR on the LOS with the slot WR opposite of him off. Or vice versa. Some teams will have both slot WRs on the LOS. To us, it doesn’t matter, it’s still a 2×2 formation. We give this formation a generic name: Spread. See picture below.

We also see the Trips Open formation a lot, 3×1. We call Trips 3 WRs with a Tight End opposite, and Trips Open with 3 WRs to one side and a single WR opposite. We don’t care if number 3 to the trips side is on the LOS while the other two are off, or if number 1 is on while the other two are off. To us, it doesn’t matter. It’s still 3×1 and we give this a generic name also: Trips Open. In the picture below, Texas uses a Trips Open formation with the #3 WR as the receiver on the LOS.

We do see more formations from spread teams, but these are the most common. Some teams will use the bunch and even tighten up their 2×2 sets. Regardless, we will treat them the same way coverage wise.

The Screen Game

Many spread offenses, to include Texas Tech and the Tony Franklin “System,” use a variety of screens:

Fast screens: the QB catches the snap and rips it. He isn’t worried about the laces. It’s a “grip and rip” concept. Every receiver, including the running back, can catch a fast screen. Because the play is so fast hitting, most teams don’t even bother trying to get their offensive linemen in space to block. Receivers on the side of the fast screen are expected to make first contact with the most dangerous defensive threat. Receivers who make the catch are expected to get 5 yards before trying to make defenders miss. After 5 yards, it’s up to the receiver to make something happen. In the last 3 years, only one of our fast screens has been picked off.

Bubbles: teams we’ve seen use bubble screens with their inside receivers instead of fast screens. Similar blocking and scheme.

Solid screens: similar to fast screens except the QB makes a zone fake one way and rips it the other way.

Jail screens: of all the screens to WRs, this one gives me the most fits because it actually involves offensive linemen. The WR takes 1-3 hard steps up field and works his way back down the line of scrimmage towards the QB. It essentially becomes a typical screen to a RB. The offensive linemen make contact with defensive linemen while the QB invites the rush.

Slow screens: screens to RBs with similar blocking scheme as the jail.

Fox screens: faking a fast screen with a pump fake and the WR who is blocking, typically the number 2 WR, runs a wheel.

The Base Pass Plays

We focus on three types of pass plays besides the screen game: the quick passing game, 60s; the vertical passing game, 90s; and the playaction passing game. If our opponent has a true dual-threat QB, the roll-out game, which we dub “Rodeo” and “Lasso,” becomes another threat. Our focus during the week in practice is not so much on the route combinations the offense is using, but rather on the areas of the field they are trying to target and which defender(s) they are trying to exploit.

Many spread teams will choose not to huddle and stay in their base formations. This is one reason why many spread teams utilize only 2-3 formations throughout the game. They want to see what coverage you’re in (or most likely in) or what pre-snap looks you’re giving away. Here, offensive coordinators can take an educated guess and make the right play call for the coverage. For example, they think you’re in cover 2 – here comes smash. Many offensive coordinators will come into a game with man coverage, cover 2, cover 3, cover 4 beaters. With that in mind, defensive coordinators have the opportunity to prepare for the route combinations that an offense will use against the defense’s various coverages.

Now, the Defense

Stay true to yourself. Do not try to out-think or out-scheme your opponent. I am paraphrasing Pete Carroll here, but prepare obsessively if you want your defense to play fast, aggressive, and confident. By designing a new defense to stop the spread, you only give your players more to think about, and therefore, worry about. The worst thing you can do is have 11 guys thinking against a team that is ripping the ball side to side and down the field.

I’ve heard coaches on message boards and blogs talk about “getting into a 3-4 look,” or “getting into our Okie front.” If that’s not your base defense, don’t do it. We are a 3-4 team, but you don’t need to emulate what we do because we’ve had success defending the spread when we were a 4-3 defense. Every week, you can watch a 3-4, 4-3, 3-3-5, or bear defense shut down a spread team. Stay in your base coverages. Stay in your base fronts. Use your regular pressures. Keep the thinking to a minimum and let your coaching (not your scheme) allow the kids to play fast.

Coverages

Naturally, as a former secondary coach, every thing we do defensively starts with our coverage. You cannot do anything sound as a defense if you’re front doesn’t mesh with your coverage. Our run fits are not effective without all defensive players understanding who primary force and secondary force players are. Will we look to bounce or cage everything? To me, you cannot decide this without first deciding on a coverage.

Against a team that looks to go horizontal early and often utilizing the screen game and the quick, 60s passing game, we want to play cover 2. We use a tight cover 2, as well as an off, pattern reading cover 2. However, regardless of what coverage I call, we will always look the same and line up the same way. We will always line up with a two safety shell even in cover 3. I choose to rock the safety down post-snap. This is the most basic form of disguise. Like I mentioned earlier, many spread offenses do not huddle to get a pre-snap read on the defense. Against these offenses, we will use post-snap movement as opposed to pre-snap stemming.

I am a big fan of cover 2, and I will stay in it as much as possible. The picture below shows a typical “cover-2 shell” look. It also look like UCLA might be disguising their coverage with the corner at the bottom of the picture playing so far off the WR.

In our cover 2, we do not allow our corners to simply sit in the flat. They go through a progression: contact, ride, sink. We do not want our corners pack pedaling out of cover 2. Instead we give them read steps or bounces. We want them looking for route combinations rather than spot dropping or sitting in zones. We want them to attack threats. For example, on a smash combination (hitch by #1, corner by #2), we will watch film to see if they are making a high-low read, or low-high read. Some offenses will look to throw the high route (corner) first – throwing to grass – before even looking at the hitch. Some offenses will look at the hitch before looking at the corner route. This read progression is important to understand.

If an offense uses the low-high progression, we attack the hitch immediately with the corner. We always want to take away the first progression. This gives the safety time to get over the top of the corner route and the CB time to sink underneath it. If an offense uses the high-low progression, we will play off cover 2 and look to take the corner route away first by putting the CB in position to make a play on a lofted pass. We tell our defensive backs that the only way they complete the corner route is by making the QB put it on a rope into the “bucket” between the CB and safety.

When looking at an offense’s passing game, we look at their targets, not their route combinations. Who do they want to attack on defense and how do they want to attack him?

Bringing Pressure

Some defensive coordinators I know say that in order to beat the spread, you have to be willing to bring pressure…and lots of it. Others I know say to drop as many guys into coverage as you can. Both of these philosophies CAN work. Whether or not you’re defense is successful is a whole different thing all together.

I personally do not like all-out blitzes. In fact, I don’t ever bring more than 5 guys. I ask myself these questions: where are we bringing those extra guys coming from, when am I sending them, who is going to have to block those guys, what part of the field are we leaving vulnerable? With those questions in mind, I can make a better decision about bringing pressure.

We have a few basic pressures, which we call our Base Pressures. Out of our 3-4, every linebacker has two Base Pressures. For example, the Sam (strong-side OLB) and Wolf (weak-side OLB) can blitz inside or outside. The Mike (strong-side ILB) and Mike (weak-side ILB) can blitz the A or B gaps. After this, we can get pretty creative. I have to admit that I am pretty conservative with my playcalling. I’d prefer to bring 4 guys on every play, but no more than 5 and certainly no more than 6.

Because I am conservative, we employ Fire Zone Blitzes, especially on early downs. These same blitzes, however, can be run as Black Blitzes, which are our man coverage blitzes. This gives the same pre-snap read. There’s that disguise thing again. The picture below was take from Chris Brown’s article on Fire Zones. The article was in New York Time’s “Fifth Down Blog” called “The Zone Blitz: Aggressive and Conservative All At Once.”

The picture shows a typical fire zone blitz with 3-deep/3-underneath coverage. One of our main points of emphasis early on in the teaching process is to tell our defenders in coverage that they are not spot-dropping to grass. They must locate potential threats to their zone immediately. For example, we tell our corners who are responsible for the outside deep 1/3 of the field to read the drop of the QB and alert to any hot throws to the outside WRs. We want our corners to be aggressive.

For more information on the ins and outs of the Fire Zone, read Chris Brown’s article or purchase Jim Schwartz’s (former defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans and current head coach of the Detroit Lions) book The Fire Zone Blitz Package. The greatest strength of the book, in my opinion, is the detailed explanation of the 3-deep/3-underneath coverage.

Conclusion

There is so much going into defending any offense that it would be difficult to hit all the fine points in one short blog. I hope that, at the very least, this article gives you some ideas on how you can defend the spread. If there is one more point I can make about defending any offense: it is not the scheme you draw up that wins ball games, it’s how you coach, and ultimately, how your players execute that scheme that wins ball games.

A couple pieces of information that I found hilarious: “if a player has forgotten what play to run, they may have a concussion.” Huh? Or how about: “if a player looks lost or dazed, they may have a concussion.” All our guys must be suffering from concussions 99% of the time.

A not-so-hilarious situation: Check out the hit on Tim Tebow (QB of the Florida Gators) took on Saturday versus the Kentucky Wildcats. Yikes.

Our first game was to 3A Camas who was ranked in the top 10 in both polls above. We lost 42-27. The big statistic in this game, defensively, was our inability to win 1st and 3rd down. Camas went 10 for 15 on 3rd down and converted to 4th downs to keep drives alive. We consistently yielded 3rd and short situations because we consistently gave up 5+ yards on 1st down! If you look at my defensive philosophy, winning 1st down and owning 3rd down is high on my list of priorities.

Our second game was another loss, this time to a 2A team, WF West from Chehalis, WA. We gave approximately 250 yards of total offense, 150 of which were on 4 plays! We stuffed them over and over again. Breakdowns in coverage or in our run-fits resulted in those big plays. The fact that our offense turned the ball over 6 times didn’t help either, but our job as a defense is to keep our opponent out of the endzone regardless of the situation. A lack of discipline in key moments derailed and overshadowed the hard-hitting defensive game we played.

This week, we are coming off an impressive 27-7 victory over the Columbia River Chieftains. We forced 5 turnovers and held their rushing game to 44 yards. The Chieftains are a Tony Franklin-system spread offense. Our priority, however, was to stop their running game first. Their primary running plays are zone read and speed option. We have worked option responsibilities since Spring Ball, and we felt that we would have no trouble stopping their running game. Our preparation proved effective this past Friday night. We are still conceding too many yards down the field, and if not corrected will prove problematic when we face last season’s 3A state runner-up.

The Union Titans pose a variety of problems: mobile QB, a big and strong offensive line, and 6’6″ vertical threat at WR. Last season, they put up 42 points on us and they were extremely successful running the ball. We were able to shut-down their #1 receiving threat with 3 time All-League and All-State performer, Ashton Clark, who is now on scholarship at Eastern Washington University. We learned some valuable lessons from that game. In every game thereafter, we lined up in our under front every time a team deployed 21 personnel (2 running backs, 1 TE). This was the adjustment we were looking for defensively. We were able to win 4 straight games and capture a share of the league title and a second straight post-season appearance.

Entering the fourth and final non-league game, we still have not identified a shut-down-type cornerback who can take away a player or entire side of the field away like Ashton did for much of 3 seasons. We will look to slow down their running game first though, which consists of Iso, trap, counter, and some option. In their last game, they utilized the screen game with positive results in their loss to Foothill of Palo Cedro, CA. The screen game is just one more threat in the arsenal of a very balanced and well-coached offense. Still, slowing the Titan running game is our first priority.

I’m hoping for a physical and disciplined battle. The Titans will take their fair share of shots down the field, but we know they want to run the ball with physical and methodical marches down the field. We must tackle and swarm the ball. We must take advantage of opportunities to make big plays by forcing turnovers and even scoring on D (we’ve scored a defensive TD two weeks in a row). We must prevent big plays. We must win 1st down and get off the field on 3rd down. We need to be physical and disciplined as a defense. If we can do these things, we’ve got a shot to beat any opponent we face this season.

Defensively, we have been hurt far too often after big returns or turnovers. After reading this article, I feel even more strongly about the importance of special teams and ball security. As a high school player, I remember having an Individual period at the start of every practice that focused solely on special teams. If you were a returner, you caught kicks; if you were a snapper, you snapped; etc. I don’t know of many programs that do this. I can also remember that we won the field position and turnover margins in the majority of games. We simply did not turn the ball over or give up big returns. We put starters on special teams. Maybe these are some of the reasons why my head coach was the first coach to reach 300 wins in the state of California.

As a defensive coordinator, I understand the importance of the kicking game, particularly the kick-off and punting units. At the high school level, it is so difficult to conduct 12+ play scoring drives. Too many mistakes occur. The majority of scores we have given up (and I’m sure this is the case for most defenses, as well) have been on short-field drives due to big returns on punts/kicks or after a turnover. Field position is a factor in games that often goes unnoticed.

This is definitely a topic we will expand on in the future.

When faced with the task of defending the “Spread Offense,” defensive coaches and players must know why that team is in the spread in the first place. The casual fan and observer sees the spread, particularly the “gun spread,” on TV and thinks it’s a recent innovation or trend in football. In fact, the spread has been around for decades. Chris at Smartfootball.com, has a great, short history lesson on it here “Has the Spread Reached its Apex?”

Defensively, coaches must decide why a team is spreading them out. Are they spreading it out to run the ball or throw it? Many programs at the high school level have adopted the spread and many of them have had great success. Some programs have adopted entire systems, while others simply dabble in it. Teams that play around with spread formations tend to be more obvious and predictable in their intentions. They are either using it in passing situations or as a change-up to what they normally do. Regardless of why a team uses spread formations, a savvy defensive coordinator can pick up on this and exploit potential match-ups in protection and/or coverage.

The programs that have adopted whole systems, such as the Tony Franklin system (excuse me, “the System”), are obviously more dangerous and require more careful, traditional game planning. Those systems are what we intend to attack in this series. Countless books, videos, and clinics are available to offensive coaching staffs on how to run the spread, but very few resources on stopping it. Our goal is to set a foundation for defending the spread offense. There is more than one way to defend the spread, but I will share what has worked for me. Also, it is important to note what type of spread we are looking to defend (the passing or running variety?). In our next installment, we will look at defending passing-60-times-a game spread teams.

Before drawing up coverages, fronts, and blitzes, it is imperative that defensive coordinators develop a philosophy that not only they believe in, but can get their assistants and players to believe in. Getting coaches and players to “buy-in” to a philosophy has nothing to do with X’s and O’s, but has more to do with establishing a belief system that players and coaches can lean on throughout a season. It is proven every year that systems and schemes don’t win championships. Instead it’s how you coach those systems and schemes, and whether or not you can get your coaches and players to believe in what you’re doing, that win championships.

1. Swarm and make sure tackles. We practice pursuit and tackling everyday. Pursuit requires taking proper angles and great effort. But if you can’t tackle when you get there, pursuit drill is useless, so we run a “tackle circuit” every Tuesday. We also do more position specific tackling during Individual sessions everyday throughout the week. We feel that a tackling circuit allows all defensive players, regardless of position, to execute a variety of different tackles throughout the week.

2. Force turnovers and turn those TOs in to TDs. We will always look to make the big, momentum changing plays and our players show it in practice and in games. Everyday, we make time to work on creating turnovers and what to do when that turnover is forced. This is called our “hawking” session. Pursue and rip the ball out of the ball carrier’s hands or intercept a pass and we’re off to the races. In 3 weeks thus far, we have scored two TDs on 8 turnovers. Just like on offense, you have to practice scoring on defense if you want to score in a game.

3. At Heritage, we believe in stopping the run. Despite the number of high school teams running the spread offense to throw the ball, many offensive coordinators still look to establish the running game early to set-up playaction and the down field passing game. We want to make teams one-dimensional.

4. Eliminate big, explosive plays. In our second game of the season, we gave up less than 250 yards of total offense, surrendered 7 first downs, but gave up 27 points in an excruciating loss. Our opponent’s running back rushed for around 125 yards, and 101 of those were on 2 plays. We played with a lot of effort and desire, but breakdowns in our run fits and coverage resulted in big plays and scores. Eliminate explosive plays and you increase your chance of winning. No running plays over 15 yards and no passes over 20.

5. Win first down and you will own 3rd down. This allows us as coaches and players to put our opposing offense into “known” situations. This is where a defensive coordinator can put film study to great use. Do they take shots downfield on 2nd and short or look to just get the 1st down? What does your opponent do on 3rd and short, 3rd and long? We will always strive to win 1st down, so that our players know what to expect on 3rd down. Practicing situations throughout the week will only give your players more confidence on Friday night.

We may tweak our goals week-to-week, but this is our philosophy on defense. We feel that if we can do these 5 things on defense, we will be successful in the long run, regardless of what scheme we employ.