By Coach Martin | Football Basics
An important concept to understand in football is what’s referred to as downs.
Whenever you watch a game of football or play it, you will hear each play referred to as a “down.”
This could be in the form of “first down and 10 yards to go” or, more commonly, first-and-10.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
In football, offenses try to advance the ball downfield as far as possible so that they can score points.
Scoring in football can be in many different forms, but the offense usually does so by either scoring a touchdown or kicking a field goal.
There are times, though, when they fall short of being able to score, and end up punting the ball away on fourth down.
Offenses do this so that they don’t risk getting back up too far and handing the ball over to the other team deep in their own zone.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
There are many different tactics that defenders can use to shed blockers and make their way into open space.
One of the most popular methods of doing so for defensive linemen is the Swim Move.
With this technique, the defender will actually do one thing that goes against some logic when it comes to football — they will be, in a way, going over the top of their blocker rather than staying low the entire time.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
If you’ve ever played the game of football – or watched one closely enough – you’ve probably heard the quarterback run through what seems like a rehearsed set of lines before every play.
That cadence will go something like this:
“Down. Blue 85. Blue 85. Ready. Hike!”
On the word “hike,” the center will snap the ball to the quarterback and the play will begin.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
Naming conventions are common in football, as coaches look for ways to quickly identify various things during fast-paced games.
One of the common naming conventions that is the personnel grouping.
These groupings refer to how many players at each position are on the field for a particular play on offense.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
Football coaches need a way to quickly identify a package of players on the field.
These personnel groupings are important for the offense and the defense, as it allows each to set up the plays they’ll run in a game.
As such, coaches gave personnel groupings certain naming mechanisms based around numbers.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
Every offensive play in football starts with a snap, yet it’s one of the most overlooked parts of the game.
Those who watch the game simply assume that the snap is just going to happen properly so that the play can start as it’s supposed to.
While this happens more times than not at the upper levels of the game, there are many more issues with the snap at lower levels of football.
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By Coach Martin | Miscellaneous
Youth football teams need extra preparation for each upcoming season.
With so many young players on the team – including many who may be playing the game for the first time – this extra preparation is necessary to get everyone up to speed.
This happens even in high school, where the level of football starts to really step up a significant amount.
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By Coach Martin | Miscellaneous
If you’re around football enough, you may have heard of the term “redshirt” before.
But, depending on where it’s used, redshirt could actually mean a few different things.
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By Coach Martin | Football Basics
Football coaches name different sections of the field to easily detail where the play occurs, and how far the offense is progressing downfield.
Knowing this information helps coaches know what type of plays to call — on both offense and defense — and how to set a game plan for what’s ahead.
One of those sections is what’s known as the Red Zone, and it’s probably the most well-known of them all — it’s also the most important zone on a football field.
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