By Coach Martin | Football Offense
The West Coast offense derives its name from the location where its creator made his name. Bill Walsh actually created the offense as the quarterbacks coach and play caller for the Cincinnati Bengals in the late 1960s. Walsh became known as one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time after leading the San Francisco 49ers (and […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Offense
Pro Style offenses are named after the level of play where they are most often run… At the NFL level or with collegiate teams who have a similar personnel and skillsets with that of a typical professional team. The reason for this is that Pro Style offenses are generally more complex and take more skill to run […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Offense
In the mid-1980s, the college football offensive landscape was built around running the football. Sure, some teams with strong-armed quarterbacks would run some type of Pro Style offense, with their passer standing tall in the pocket… But the majority of plays were still in the running game. In fact, there were still plenty of college teams at this […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
In obvious running situations for the offense – when the down and distance is third-and-one let’s say – defenses often adjust by going to what’s called a “big” or “stack” formation. This brings extra bodies near the line of scrimmage to stop the run. One of the most popular defensive formations to do this out of is […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
The 46 defense is perhaps the most famous alignment around. That’s because it’s associated with possibly the greatest defense in the history of the National Football League – the 1985 Chicago Bears. That team was a dominating force, with its defense helping to lead the team to a 15-1 record and a Super Bowl championship. The Bears’ defensive […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
More than 10 years ago, the 4-2-5 defensive alignment was created as a wrinkle in defensive formations that caused opposing offenses a lot of headaches. It’s an alignment that attacks, attacks, and attacks some more with almost free will… Relying on players to use their instincts to make quick decisions instead of reading the full play and […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
One of the most overlooked parts of training is learning how to catch a football. A lot goes into a passing play in football… From the perfect snap from the center, to good pass protection by the offensive line, to good routes run by the receivers, to finally a good pass thrown by the quarterback. But once all […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Offense
The single-wing offense was one of the first true offensive formations in American football. It was created by the legendary Pop Warner. (That’s the same Pop Warner that youth football leagues around the country were named after.) This offense dominated offensive playbooks of teams at every level of football for many years. Then, slowly by surely, the single-wing offense […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
Understanding the many different football routes is important for every player and coach. On any given play, each receiver on the field will be asked to run a specific route to attack the different levels of the defense, and to keep the defenders off balance. But let’s first start with the basics…What is the “Route Tree”?Every pass […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
The Cover 4 defense is often referred to as the “Quarters” alignment, because each member of the secondary is responsible for a quarter of the field on the deep section. It’s a four-deep, three-under zone defense in which the three linebackers are responsible for splitting the underneath section of the field into threes. While the cornerbacks and […]
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