When installing or designing defenses, all of us line up our defenses vs. an assorted number of formations. That is, formations specific to our opponent’s offensive tendencies. We do this to make sure our defense is sound vs. the formations we see from the offenses we face.
But why not run plays. Something that we have found helpful over the last couple of years is to add what we call the Big 5 to the development / installation of any defense we implement.
What is the Big 5?
The Big 5 are the top run plays that you see in any given season. Generic in nature, to fit all the variations you will see, but a baseline to start the teaching that you can always return to.
This takes research from your defensive staff to see exactly what those plays are and then come up with the best way to “fit” those plays vs. your different defenses.
Doing this will improve your teaching progression and installation of your defenses. It will also help to highlight any issues you may have in a certain defense vs. a certain run play. Better to have those issues highlighted now in the off-season then on Friday or Saturday in the fall.
Coming up with your Big 5 –
Take your cutups from the past season and sort them by play. Do not get so caught up in all of the variations of a play. If it is a zone run play, it is a zone run play.
If you are not lucky enough to have a video editing system, then watch through last season’s games and keep a tally of the plays you see from opposing offenses.
If there are six or seven plays, that is fine. Just try to avoid more than that. Here is an example of a possible Big 5 run plays you could see drawn up vs. a base 4-3 defense:
1- Zone
2- Lead or Iso
3- Power
4- Counter
5- Toss / Sweep
Zone could include split zone out of two back or just one back zone, to the TE side of the formation or the SE side of the formation. This might be where you place any zone read schemes you see. It is still zone, and your initial teaching is off of that play. A base blocking scheme for Zone vs. a 4-3 look is shown below.
Iso is a two back run play where the FB comes downhill for the frontside LB. With this play you need to determine how you will fit the FB. If possible, you would like to be two on one the block. This means always having one more defender than they have as a blocker. A base blocking scheme for Iso vs. a 4-3 look is below.
Power could be one back or two backs. Two back power includes the FB kicking out and an OG pulling around to seal a LB. This could be an off tackle play or an A gap play. Regardless,the same rule applies. Make sure you have one more defender than they have blockers. In Power, with a FB and pulling guard, they have two blockers, so “fit” it up to have three defenders on their two. A base blocking scheme for two back Power vs. a 4-3 look is below.
You could also get one back power. This is a play where the TB follows a pulling guard through the hole with no FB. Some spread teams run this out of the shotgun. Even though it is out of a one back look, it is placed in this same play because of the similar backfield action and that a pulling guard involved.
Counter is a run play where the TB steps away and then goes back to the initial gap. Like Power, there are two blockers headed to the intended hole. But with counter, many times it is two linemen pulling to the edge. The first will kick-out and the second will seal the edge. A base blocking scheme for two back Counter vs. a 4-3 look is below.
Finally, our Big 5 includes any kind of fast flow. This could be toss, jet sweep, anything that heads to the sideline to try and out-leverage the defense immediately.
Fitting your Big 5 –
Once the task of identifying your Big 5 is complete, now look how you will fit those run plays vs. your base defenses. The important thing here is to make sure that gaps are covered. Be gap sound vs. the zone. The zone seems to really test the discipline of the defensive front. If everyone holds their gaps, there will be no where for the tailback to go. If one defender leaves their gap, for whatever reason, the tailback will more than likely find that gap and get to the second level of the defense.
Another point to remember when fitting your defenses is dealing with extra blockers (such as a FB or pulling OG). You always want to make sure that these “extra blockers” are met with one more defender. This means if a FB is coming downhill to block a defender, like the Iso play, you should try to fit it with two defenders. If a FB and pulling OG are blocking to the edge of the tackle box (for example in a power or counter run play), then you need to scheme to have three defenders there to meet them. Always meet the extra blockers with one more defender.
Whenever we look at installing certain defenses, we always line them up vs. the offensive formations we see on a regular basis to make sure they are “sound.” But take it to the next step. Through film study, determine what are the most frequent run plays you see (The Big 5) and line up your base defenses and/or pressures against them to make sure they are sound vs those plays. It will not only give you and your players more confidence in the scheme but also help to eliminate problem points in your defense.