Pistol Formation Offense (Coaching Guide With Images)

By Coach Martin | Football Offense

The Pistol formation is an offense that marries two other types of offenses together to make a new hybrid type of offense.

The Pistol is a combination between the traditional Spread Offense run out of the shotgun formation and the Pro Style offense, which has two running backs lined up in various positions in the backfield.

The Pistol formation has the look of a run-heavy offense, but it can also utilize some of the principles of the certain Spread Offenses to be more “pass happy.”

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I-Formation Offense (Coaching Guide With Images)

By Coach Martin | Football Offense

The I-Formation Offense is a great offensive formation that has been, and still can be, used at just about any level of football.

It’s an offense that is designed to overpower the defense at the line of scrimmage by overloading “the box.”

Most of the time, an I-Formation offense will be deployed with a tailback and fullback, as well as at least one tight end.

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Flexbone Offense (Coaching Guide With Images)

By Coach Martin | Football Offense

In today’s football game, most offenses are enamored with the pass.

If you turn on the TV to watch a professional or collegiate football game, you’ll often see spread offenses, shotgun offenses, and other formations that are designed to spread the field and throw the ball more than run.

There are still some offenses, though, that are designed almost exactly opposite — and one of them is the Flexbone offense.

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Double Wing Offense (Coaching Guide With Images)

By Coach Martin | Football Offense

The double-wing offense is one of the more popular offensives run at the youth level of football because of its heavy run tendencies.

However, the double-wing offense can be utilized at higher levels of football in some form.

This is especially true in run-heavy, short-yardage situations, where the offense wants to grind out a few tough yards on the ground.

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What is an Illegal Shift in Football? (The Rule Explained)

By Coach Martin | Football Basics

In football, as in any sport, there are some easy-to-understand rules and some not-so-easy-to-understand rules. The “illegal shift” falls into the latter category. Not many people truly understand what an illegal shift in football is, why the rule is in place, and how referees can spot the infraction. However, one thing is for certain… It’s easy to understand how […]

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4-4 Defense (Coaching Guide With Images)

By Coach Martin | Football Defense

The 4-4 defense is one of the more popular defensive alignments among youth football teams.

That is because this defensive formation allows players at each and every level of the field to learn valuable experience at their position.

And possibly also learn techniques for their future experience, if they end up changing positions based on their developing size and skills.

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T Formation Offense (Coaching Guide With Images)

By Coach Martin | Football Offense

The T Formation is one of the most popular offenses for youth football teams to run.

Because these youth football teams like to run the football more than they pass the football due to the lack of strength a quarterback usually has to throw the football…

The T Formation is a great way to have an offense that teaches these young players how to play the game, while keeping the defense off balance in the meantime.

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Wishbone Offense (Coaching Guide With Images)

By Coach Martin | Football Offense

The Wishbone offense was one of the most popular offensive formations in the 1970s and 1980s, especially in college football.

The offense gets its name because of how the players are lined up in the backfield.

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Icing the Kicker: Does it Actually Work? (Answered)

By Coach Martin | Football Strategies

There are a lot of different strategies that football coaches employ to give their team an advantage in games.

One such strategy is strictly mental, though, and the merits of whether or not it works are constantly being debated.

The strategy to which we are referring here is known as icing the kicker.

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Wildcat Offense (Coaching Guide With Images)

By Coach Martin | Football Offense

The Wildcat Offense burst onto the professional scene about 10 years ago.

The Miami Dolphins were playing the vaunted New England Patriots in 2008, and running back Ronnie Brown lined up as the quarterback, running all sorts of misdirection and confusion plays to keep the Patriots’ solid defense guessing.

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