Guide to NFL Defenses

Good find!

Fantastic NoOffSeason! I've got my brewery fired up right now and these articles will provide a great way to pass the time.

Thanks for taking the time.

Thank you! This is something all our fans should read and it helps explain why guys such as Franklin & RJF excel in the one-gap but not the two-gap as undersized NT's (e.g. not your prototypical "big men"). Finding a NT that is big enough to be a two-gap player and still have the quickness to collapse the pocket and play one-gap are hard to find. Franklin is a PERFECT example of this and why we don't need to pay him a gazillion dollars. One-gappers are much easier to find!

Glad you guys like it

Personally, I always find the evolution of the game fascinating and some of the nuggets in there were especially fun.

For example, the article gives an explanation why there are Ends, Tackles and Guards on the offensive side, but only Ends and Tackles on the defensive side, something that bugged for me years (hint: there used to be defensive guards as well )

Some of the old defensive formations and how they came to be and evolved are quite interesting. I have to admit, I would not mind seeing some of those again in the NFL, if for example the NY Giants would play their old "Umbrella" defense again, that could be quite terrifying to watch (read the series if you want to know what that would look like )

Also, some basic stuff is explained in good detail, like how the gaps are named and you can also learn why a five-technique D-Lineman is called that way and what differentiates him from, for example a three-technique.

So again, I want to shamelessly plug this thread and the first post containing the links

[ Edited by NoOffseason on Sep 10, 2010 at 16:24:00 ]

Awesome. I love football 101 stuff. I wish more writers had actual football knowledge.

That's a great read, thanks for posting

-9fA

Very cool...ALMOST as fascinating as a CFL Defensive guide. You try covering a six receiver set on a bigger field where four receivers are allowed to motion at any time.




Then again, Willie Middlebrooks is one of the better CFL db's so go figure

[ Edited by Canadian49er on Sep 10, 2010 at 16:23:04 ]

part 5 zone blitz

Originally posted by znk916:
part 5 zone blitz

Thanks, I added part 5 to the original post

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:
That's a great read, thanks for posting

-9fA

Having had a chance to read them, again thank you, NoOffSeason.

That really is an interesting series of articles and I learned a lot more than I thought I would. If nothing else, they did a wonderful job of passing the time on a painfully long brewing night.

I'm hoping that he'll include the secondary in subsequent installments. I hung up my cleats a lot longer ago than I care to admit, so it'll be interesting to see what new developments have transpired in the part of the field that nobody gets to see.

Originally posted by BubbaParisMVP:
Having had a chance to read them, again thank you, NoOffSeason.

That really is an interesting series of articles and I learned a lot more than I thought I would. If nothing else, they did a wonderful job of passing the time on a painfully long brewing night.

I'm hoping that he'll include the secondary in subsequent installments. I hung up my cleats a lot longer ago than I care to admit, so it'll be interesting to see what new developments have transpired in the part of the field that nobody gets to see.

You´re very welcome

I don´t think they will add to much secondary stuff in the remaining installments, but I think I found something you might like :

The National Football Post has a column from former NFL safety Matt Bowen, which is interesting in itself, as he is very good at giving an inside look at how the NFL looks like from a players perspective.

But even more interesting, he has a recurring series in there called "Inside the playbook", which is basically a football chalk talk, and very insightful in my mind.

Matt Bowen not only shows the basic concept and the philosophy, but he also gives a complete breakdown of what all the players do and what their roles are, complete with play diagrams and such and of course, including a detailed look at the secondary . Which should be a given, as he was a safety himself

Even better, he sometimes breaks down specific highlight plays from the season and explains in detail what happens there, including video, if available.

Here is a link to the "Players Page" column, look for the "Inside the playbook" articles there:

NFP: The Players Page

Also, here are some examples of what he is doing there, which I also highly recommend:

The Tampa 2

Cover 3

The Zone Blitz

Defeating the Tampa 2

Defeating man pressure

Red zone passing

Compley blitz schemes

And for a specific play breakdown:

Tracy Porters Super Bowl INT


You get the idea

Oh, I nearly forgot (also added this to the original post):

Part 6: The 46 Defense

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:
That's a great read, thanks for posting

-9fA