By Coach Martin | Football Defense
In football, teams are generally broken down into three (3) main categories — the offense, the defense and the special teams.
These categories are then further broken down into sub-categories, generally considered ‘position groups’.
One of those position groups on the defensive side of the ball is called the secondary.
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By Coach Martin | Football Strategies
Shovel passes were hardly ever called in football before.
In recent years, though, that trend started to change as offensive coaches now integrate new wrinkles into their play calling.
Coaches do this to keep defenses off balance and take advantage of players’ different skillsets.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
If you watch an NFL game, you might think that all touchdowns are worth 7 points.
That’s because in most cases, when a team scores a touchdown, you’ll see their score increase by 7 points.
But, if you’re new to the game of football, what you might not realize is that there are two (2) parts to every touchdown.
When a player crosses the goal line with the ball in his hand, his team scores 6 points.
Then, that team has the opportunity to score one (1) additional point through what’s known as a PAT — or a Point After Touchdown.
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By Coach Martin | Football Routes
A Hook route is one of the basic routes on the route tree that all receivers will learn.
It’s sometimes called the Hitch route, and has other variations such as the Button Hook or the Curl Route.
Teams run different versions of the Hook route depending on how the defensive lines up — for example a man-to-man defense versus a zone defense.
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By Coach Martin | Football Plays
Maybe you need to give your team a jolt of energy, score some points quickly, or turn the field around to get out of a bad situation.
These are all times when a coach might call for a crazy trick play.
These trick plays are more than just simple misdirection plays like a draw play or the play-action pass.
Instead, they are full-blown deceptions designed to completely confuse every defender.
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By Coach Martin | Coaching
Football isn’t always played with 11 players on offense and defense, with full pads and full contact.
Coaches and players can create variations to this, to help focus on some areas of the game.
One of the most popular variations today is the 7 on 7 football.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
Practice is one of the most important aspects of being a football coach.
While there’s so much focus on games and which team wins or loses, the real time youth football players learn is during practice.
A practice that’s run effectively will teach players great on-field skills as well as valuable lessons they may take with them throughout their entire lives.
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By Coach Martin | Football Offense
The exchange between a quarterback and running back is one of the simplest, most straightforward things in football.
On just about every running play, the quarterback will need to execute a handoff with a running back.
While this may seem very simple and ordinary, there is a correct way to execute a handoff.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
If you’re going to teach the game of football to youth players, you’ll need to teach them what all the terms of the game mean.
At the same time, it’s equally important for players to understand football lingo.
Here are 50 football terms all players and coaches must know.
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By Coach Martin | Football Offense
The Naked Bootleg is a kind of misdirection play — and one of the most effective ones in football.
Misdirection plays are extremely important to offenses as they help keep defenses off-balance.
Being able to keep the defense guessing — whether they are going to run or pass the ball — is an advantage the offense should capitalize on.
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