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 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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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
There was a time in football when the Nickel defense was used only in particular situations. When the offense was in an obvious passing situation, defenses would respond by taking a strong-side linebacker off the field and replacing him with an extra defensive back. This gave them more speed and coverage ability against an offensive formation that […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
The Cover 3 defense is one of the more popular zone-based defensive alignments in football. At one time, it was thought of as only a defense that youth football teams and teams at the high school level would utilize often in a game. However, that idea has changed dramatically over recent years. Especially with the Seattle Seahawks’ “Legion […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
The Cover 2 defense is a zone-based defense in football. Which means no player has a defensive assignment for a specific offensive player. Each level of defense has a zone on the field for which they’re responsible for covering, and whatever receiver enters that zone on a passing route is that player’s responsibility. The Cover 2 defense gets […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
The 4-3 defense is one of the most basic formations a coach can run. From youth football all the way up to the professional ranks, just about every team has some plays that are run out of the 4-3 formation. Many coaches choose to use this alignment because there are quite a few wrinkles and adjustments that […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
There was a time in football where defenses would run a “base” formation on most plays, with wrinkles on the base system mostly performed in the secondary. Almost all defenses would have a base formation that included either: a. Four down linemen and three linebackers. b. Five down linemen and two linebackers (on obvious running situations). The wrinkles would […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
The Cover 1 defense is often the first defensive philosophy youth players are taught. Because in its simplest form, a ‘Cover 1 defense’ is just a fancy term for man-to-man defense. Is there anything easier than having each player in your defense responsible for covering another player on offense? Probably not. In slightly more advanced forms, the Cover 1 […]
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By Coach Martin | Football Defense
Many youth football coaches are looking for simplified schemes they can run to teach players who don’t have a lot of experience playing football. These coaches are looking to teach the basic principles of both offense and defense first, so that their players can get a handle on the fundamental strategies of the sport. Defensive coaches are […]
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