Football Offensive Formations. Now some people are good enough to put it on with a three-man rush; well, we're not. Ryan also used the 46 defense as the head coach with the Philadelphia Eagles and as defensive coordinator with the Houston Oilers. Don't let the fact that the Double Eagle Flex turns into a 4-2-5 Defense when you face Spread opponents. Different than a Zone Blitz where the Defense is dropping six and playing a zone concept, Spy Concept allows the Defense to play 2-Man, and still bring 5 Pass Rushers. For example, the strong safety could assume either the charley or the jack linebacker role. That team was a dominating force, with its defense helping to lead the team to a 15-1 record and a Super Bowl championship. Instead of the normal 3Z, where there are 7 droppers, we will now just drop 6, with the Jack and Sam Spying the back. TCU is the closest you get to that but they are more of a true 4-2-5, even though their DEs often stand-up and occasionally drop into zone coverage. Too many defensive coaches these days move into a front where they cover both guards and center, and say we are in the 46, but they are not. Its very effective when teams use compressed sets, where they line up with two backs in the backfield, and two or threetight ends(what's called a 22-or 23-personnel grouping respectively). This gives the illusion of Single Coverage. Linebackers: The jack linebacker lines up on the outside shoulder of the strong tight end and just slightly behind the line of scrimmage. No part of this site may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner. Defensive coaches are often very aggressive in temperament, and TO as Wells affectionately refers to his former assistant Todd Orlando, is certainly an energetic and aggressive figure. By drop back and try to defend him Gundy meant the various drop eight schemes like the inverted Tampa 2 scheme introduced by Iowa State. Thats because its associated with possibly the greatest defense in the history of the National Football League the 1985 Chicago Bears. There are four defensive linemen, three linebackers, and four players in the secondary in a 46 defense - but the difference lies in where they line up. In other words, the "field" side of the secondary gets a separate call from the "boundary" side of the secondary. Pressure the QB relentlessly on every pass play. A 46 defense is a type of defense used by the Chicago Bears in the 1980s to stop the run and create a dominant pass rush. You can get extremely creative with your Cover 1 or Cover 0 blitzes, just like in any defense. Rub or mesh our DBS when we are in man. Pulls and traps were also limited by the formation, as each lineman had to account for the defender immediately in front of him. Many a Big 12 QB will see single-high and just fire off a fade route to whichever of his receivers have the best matchup, or whichever one is furthest from the deep safety. This is the only gap along the line of scrimmage that isnt occupied by a defensive lineman in a 46 defense. If a cornerback cant keep up to speed with the wide receiver or the pass rush isnt strong enough, the defense will get beat routinely. It hasnt borne the same kind of results that it does in B1G country. If he stays in to block, they will continue their rush. But what made the 15-1 Bears so dominant? When we move into our 46 Concepts, the DE can be the Field 3-Tech, and the normal Tackle can be the Away 3-Tech. (Moving on) Umm, thats a solid question, I respect that. DIAGRAM 4: One Gap 3-4 Defense Cover 3 (Vs Pro Set). In Chicago, he had Dan Hampton lined up over center, and in Philadelphia, the defensive tackle over the center was the late, great, Reggie White. The Lions bring more but less so because their linebackers are brilliant finishers in the pass-rush but more because their involvement creates 1-on-1 matchups for their DL, who are all quite good. These concepts apply against all offenses, but are magnified against the spread because of spacing. The Free Safety will make a Tracy call, telling the SS to now move inside of #2, instead of on top or outside of #2. Offensive formations must have seven players on the line of scrimmage and four in the . 2 Defensive ends, 2 tackles, 3 linebackers, 2 safeties and 2 corners. The Strong Safety, and the Will Safety will need to be able to force the run, and cover man-to-man when called upon. We do this with our Hawk (Jayhawk) and Cub (Ace) fronts. The 46 defense is a generic playbook, but that doesn't make it any less capable. The corners line up on their receivers. One of the great things about Buddys 46 is that he found a way to implement it into his base 4-3 Defense, and keep things simple. In this instance, the linebackers will be responsible for covering running backs out of the backfield or a tight end. The cornerbacks will defend the receivers in man-to-man coverage or drop back and cover an area of the field in zone coverage. This defense relies on each player being able to make big plays. Hey, ask TO (Todd Orlando) that question. The state of Texas doesnt produce linebackers quite like the state of Wisconsin does. On top of that, for the 46 defense to really be successful, you need a Dan Hampton or Reggie White type lined up over the center. (Full Explanation). Most 46 defense run man-to-man coverage against the pass. The defense, most importantly, was monstrous. The Bears' run defense was top two in both run and overall defense every year from 1984-1988. During 7 on 7 time, be sure to throw in some speed-option by the offense, to make sure that the underneath run-stop defenders are getting their reads. It can be advantageous when the 46 defense has all the right parts working. As Mississippi State's defensive coordinator from 1996-2002, his defenses went from 47th to 35th to 20th to leading the nation in 1999. When three or more receivers are used by the offense, the defense makes what is called a jayhawk adjustment. Kenneth Murray wasnt great at diagnosing and filling in Mike Stoops two-gap defense, but hes hell on wheels in this scheme where hes turned into an attacking piece that regularly stunts and blitzes. You either gotta defend the quarterback, width and length, or you gotta go get him. Spread Formations; Coaching the Rat in Cover 1; SCIF vs. Seam; Diguising Blitzes in the 3-3 Stack; 4-2-5 Basics: Run Fits vs. 2 Back Formations With the Sam linebacker starting the play at the line of scrimmage, that leaves only the Mike and the Will in their traditional alignments with traditional responsibilities. How do you create a safe pressure blitz for the Big 12? Quarters coverage can solve for that problem by getting more safeties in the deep field and putting the free safety on the hash mark. The offense is either going to have to go Big on Big man protection, or some sort of full-slide protection, using the back to one side. Especially if Ehlinger returns and Texas figures out how to play defense with a roster stocked with NFL athletes. The advantages spy coverage give you are two fold. Otherwise, on pass plays, he goes after the quarterback. The 46 defensive front. In many ways its a more flexible system and more safe on the back end than what Wisconsin runs, but the cost is that you have fewer 220+ pound dudes that can rip through a RB or poorly set OL and go get the QB. The personnel is the same as in a 4-3 defense, possessing four down lineman, three linebackers, two corners and two safeties. The defense mounts a defensive line that is hard to get through, making it nearly impossible for teams to run with the ball. Uh, that was a straight 46 though backed by cover zero. Who won week 8 in the Big 12? The run game was sweetness. The idea was this, theyd play 3-down with eight defenders off the ball and then alternate between playing drop eight coverage or blitzing as many as six or seven defenders. The 46 essentially put a steel wall of defenders in front of opposing offenses, forcing them to throw the football. In 1984 this system produced 72 quarterback sacks, and in 1985, when they made their Super Bowl run, the defense had a six game streak, where, on average they only gave up 4.5 points per game, and during the playoffs only allowed 10 points over three games. Line up the strongest pass rusher against the center. That way, the quarterback finds themself in a situation where the pass is the best option. running the spread. The alignment of the defenders on the line of scrimmage eliminates the potential for double team blocks. As the league became more and more pass happy, and the rules changed to favor theoffense and the passing game, this system became less and less effective. This is the standard alignment for the defense when facing a balanced formation on the hash, and it's worth noting that the calls are split into two separate pieces. The 46 defense is perhaps the most famous alignment around. We havent seen the full capability of what this style could do. No longer is the game played from Tackle to Tackle. The Jack becomes the rush end on the boundary side. Here is a bit of trivia before we get into how the 46 defense worked, and why we dont see it much anymore: The name "46" Defense didnt come from the alignment of the players on defense; it came from free safety Doug Plank, who wore jersey number 46, and was a hybrid free safety slash linebacker in Buddy Ryans system. The difference was in the lineup. The weak LB now aligned to the strong side, inside the Tight End with the Sam Backer aligning outside the Tight End. The SS fills the area vacated by the Sam LB. As I started to reply to him, I thought that this would make for an interesting article for everyone to read. The dual 3-techs will cause a problem for zone blocking schemes, and the outside rushers should cause the QB to give. The 85 Bears used this defense, known as arguably the most dominant defense in NFL history, to win the Super Bowl XX in 1985 under head coach Mike Ditka. Because of this, the 46 defense has been used in many different iterations at the professional and collegiate levels by coaches who wish to replicate its success. Up front, teams still use the concept of the "T-N-T" alignment, where two defensive ends are covering (lined up directly across from) the guards, and a nose tackle is covering the center. Also, timed passes can be thrown before the players blitzing have a chance to reach the quarterback. Hard to Fully Grasp - While the 46 defense can be implemented in a base formation without a lot of wrinkles, it is most effective when those wrinkles are implemented. The TCU defense will be better in another year after a chance to get some linebackers up to speed in the defense and with another year for most of the more impactful DL up front to get better. Wisconsin regularly has two backers as good as anyone at Texas in timing a blitz and beating pass blocks. This allowed the defense to keep all of the coverages in tact, without changing a lot of rules for the players. Youre playing a base defense all the time but you can manufacture pressure by confusing the offense about which four are going to come and from what angles. The two cornerbacks are in isolated man-to-man coverage. These players are the second layer of support in the 46 and can blitz. The 46 was specially tuned to the personnel of the '80s Bears, which is why few teams use the 46 nowadays, and why no one uses it as a base defense. The one-high look to 2 x 2 can also be played as straight man, with the F$dropping to #2 weak, freeing up the Mike and Will to become pass rushers, and take advantage of one-on-one match-ups in pass protection. You can actually observe a similar dimension to Iowa State this season, who began to mix in more zone blitzes into their package last year and this year regularly dial up big pressures. The Badgers have a pretty extensive playbook of blitzes, but a lot of the time theyre bringing four and dropping seven into cover 3: Either from their base 3-4 or the 2-4-5 that they regularly mix in, the Badgers like to keep four linebackers on the field at all times. Using a five-man front against Spread teams allows the defense to create one-on-one blocking, especially versus Zone-centric offenses. The primary tactic is to rush between five and eight players on each play, either to get to the quarterback quickly or disrupt running plays, although dropping some players back into pass coverage after seemingly indicating that they will blitz (see zone blitzing) is another method of creating confusion. The Free Safety and Corners would have the same responsibilities as normal 3Z. 4-2-5 Defense vs Spread - 22 Formations. [], K-State and West Virginia, winning with four on defense Concerning Sports, [] tell you that theyre a better overall tackling team than K-State or Texas. This player is the last player you want to have to make a play. Another problem with the 46 defense is that most teams do not have enough impact players to run the 46 as effectively as the Bears and Ryan's other two major successes, the late 1980s Philadelphia Eagles for which he was head coach and the 1993 Houston Oilers for whom he was defensive coordinator, did. The Mike will read that its a run play and then move to fill any open space on his side of the field. Concerning Sports, [] Patterson is in better shape. In reality, the 46 defense is an iteration of the 4-3 base defense. The Linebacker system will be defined as a Mike Backer, who is a basic 4-3 Mike LB type player, and a Jack Backer, who will be primarily used as an edge rusher, but can be used in coverage on occasion, and needs to be heavy enough to defend run game vs. an Offensive Tackle. DIAGRAM 5: One Gap 3-4 Defense Cover 3 (Vs Spread). Most of their best defensive performances in the last three years under Orlando have come either from playing more inverted Tampa 2 and not being as aggressive (Oklahoma State in 2016 and 2018), or going up against run-centric spread teams that couldnt protect very well (Iowa State and Georgia in 2018). Very aggressive approach oriented around the belief that JT Barrett couldnt beat their guys in man coverage. Instead, it just requires the normal stable of players to have slightly different responsibilities. The middle linebacker lines up about four to four and a half yards behind the line of scrimmage and directly in front of the strong offensive tackle. The 46 defense is one of the most famous defensive alignments around, as it was employed by what is considered one of the best professional defenses in history the 1985 Chicago Bears. No ball needs to be thrown, only work the drill to where the underneath defenders are in good position, and the deep defender is over the top, in good position. Because their aggressive blitzes are paired with the ultra-conservative inverted Tampa 2 structure and style, it tends to work out pretty well. See Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen. If the offense uses a fourth receiver, the middle linebacker lines up in front of the center and the charlie linebacker would cover the fourth receiver. How do you create a safe pressure blitz in the Big 12? The reason the 46 defense fell out of favor is that when it came to pass coverage, you only had three defensive backs to protect the whole field. Defensive ends: The weak side defensive end lines up one to two yards outside the weak side offensive tackle. "- Buddy Ryan, Chicago Bears former defensive coordinator and creator of the 46. I mean that your blitz package needs to have every type of blitz if you wanted to rely on it in your philosophy, because it seemed that Wells was suggesting that bringing only one, or a few, types of blitz means youre going to get caught and killed. (Full Explanation), What is 21 Personnel in Football? The extra two players at the line of scrimmage can open up space for receivers to find. After Buddy Ryan designed this play in 1978, the Chicago Bears went on to win the NFC Central in 1984 and 1985 and the Super Bowl in 1985. Your email address is safe with me, 46 Defense Football Coaching Guide (Includes Images), Tampa 2 Defense Football Coaching Guide (Includes Images), What is a Flag in Football? On a lot of plays, there will be too many defenders for the offense to block. As hard as it is to pressure a spread offense normally, its extra hard when theyve seen your gameplan blitzes for three quarters and your big men have been chasing them around for 50+ snaps. I dont think theres going to be many teams go all or nothing with any kind of frequency. The corners would play bump and run coverage, in order to disrupt the quick, "West Coast-type" patterns that were so dangerous to this defense. The 46 defense is just a 4-3 defense with a major wrinkle, and as such, it has many of the same strengths as the 4-3 defense does. One-on-one match ups in pass rush, pressure defense, and making offenses adjust schemes to block the 46 front were still the main principles. It is a simple defense to learn and teach, and also allows your players to play fast and . The 46 defense can quickly crumble if the personnel doesnt fit the scheme. The integrity and overall view of the defense did not change. The spread offense is attempting to do just that, SPREAD you across the entire field. The 46 defense moves quickly and wears out the offensive line with many pass rushers. Similar, Im not sure how often they built bear fronts at Wazzu. As Paul Brown innovated the passing game, the evolution of defense moved to a 6-1 alignment by Steve Owens, to the 4-3 Flex by Tom Landry, to the Miami 4-3. But that tackle has quite the blocking task, as he could see intense pressure from either the defensive end or the Sam on any given play. But even though its a defense that was designed for the most skilled players at the most advanced level of the game, the 46 defense can still be used by youth football teams. Vs. a 3 x 1 set, the Nickel Back will now go over and play over #3 strong. Youre in trouble. Lined up on the outside of the defensive end, and the 46, you have two outside linebackers, giving you a seven man front, with the middle linebacker lined up right behind the defensive tackle, who is playing a 0 technique -- meaning he is lined up directly in front of the center. The 46 defense, sometimes written 4-6 defense, is still used today, but not very often. Foster as the jack and the 6-0, 205 pound safety Brandon Jones as the sam.. Tactics: Anti-spread schemes Chavis' 4-3 defense is pretty standard and similar to what you see at other programs across the country. It was designed to leave the cornerbacks in man coverage 90 percent of the time, while the FS was left on an island playing a deep zone. Orlando has tended to make up for that by using fire zones that overload the edge with safeties, like the one you can see Burrow beating above. http://www.footballstudyhall.com, MatchQuarters.com (schematics on the ubiquitous over-quarters defense) Meanwhile, Oklahoma has a bunch of talented athletes up front that they love to bring on different twists and s, so Baylor better have Connor Galvin healthy and everyone well repped on picking this stuff up or []. Have a coach stand behind the DBs, and signal to the WRs what routes he wants them to run. (Full Explanation), What is the Box in Football? Well start with the alignment of all the players. Still, the 46 defense has its place in todays game. The FS helps if either cornerback gets beat. Since the spread offense is so common, it would be challenging for a 46 defense to succeed. It can still be helpful today if used in the right situation. Defensive linemen are used to taking a pounding on every single down immediately at the snap of the ball, but strong safeties and outside linebackers are not. Unlike the 4-3 and the 3-4, which get their names from the. lose gap integrity. He found a way to keep things simple from a coaching and teaching standpoint, but could be very multiple in his fronts and stunts to confuse offenses. Rover adjusts to the better receivers or Field side. But they typically do a very good job of pressuring up front so that its very hard to clear the first level cleanly. As any good Coordinator will tell you, getting lined up correctly is half the battle. The 46 is eight men in the box defense with six players lining up on the line of scrimmage. 46 Bear Defense This is Coach P's detailed version of the 46(Bear) style of Defense, in his terminology it is the Maniac Defense and he has many adjustments and stunts off this alignment . In addition, its easy to drop either the strong safety or Sam back into coverage, either to allow the Mike linebacker to blitz or to provide extra protection against passing plays. Iowa State isnt really trying to beat people with pressure, they just have a high capacity for utilizing it as a component to their toolkit. This formation offers us a true Cover 2 shell, and happens to be very effective against an opponent that is very pass heavy. If you do not want to play man coverage, the rotation coverages come into play. Steve Dykes. 10.5 TFL, 6 sacks, 1 INT. Defenses today may also run safety blitzes and corner blitzes at crucial moments without committing wholly to the "46" defense. There are many things that can be done from this look, and putting the pressure back on the offense is what we are trying to do. 4.Hard penetrating ends. Spread Option - In a different way than the heavy passing of the air raid offense, the spread option looks to run the ball first. Get it FREE with a Video Set purchase, find it on Amazon, or buy it from our Order Page. The Spying also allows you to play man-free, and bring the Mike on a blitz. One is that their cover 3 schemes are rarely tested by proficient, spread passing attacks. Zone coverage could be deployed as well, and in many of these cases, the strong safety might drop back into coverage to help out. It is played out of a base 4-3. I had to use every bit of knowledge and experience and wisdom I had to come up with game plans to attack this defense. With the ability to rush as many as eight players to the quarterback, it was overwhelming to teams that didnt know how to guard against it. The weak-side defensive tackle and strong-side defensive end will have primary B gap responsibilities. Go through the route concepts you believe you are going to see that week, and work them. Otherwise, you've got your athletic weak side End, crashing hard on the play. Whether playing 3-deep/3-under coverage, even with zone match rules and dime personnel, can adequately defend a high level passing attack. Texas runs the tite front on defense, which utilizes three big DL across the front, so weve yet to see a team attempt to play positionless quarters behind a 2-4-5 like Wisconsin plays. spread try to do. The 46 was named after The Modern 46 Book is here! So they are all or nothing both in the sense that Matt Wells meant and also occasionally in the sense that he thought I meant. For Texas theyve mimicked that by getting extra safeties on the field rather than outside linebackers, so they have multiple guys on the field that could conceivably blitz the edge, match a slot, play an underneath zone, or even drop into a deep zone. During run plays, his objective is to protect against reverses and counters. In part because they had the 6-2, 290 pound Malcolm Roach responsible for the drop underneath the receiver, but also because the recognition from Burrow and the timing on that route is nearly impossible to defend if theres a window to throw the ball into. On the strong side, the defensive end is head up on the strong-side guard and the tackle is lined up over the center. Moreover, the weak side defensive end would be aligned one to two yards outside the left offensive tackle, leaving the opposing tackle man-on-man when trying to block the pass rush. Cornerbacks: The corners will line up on the line of scrimmage in bump and run coverage, or at times will line up seven to eight yards off of the line in front of their receivers in man-free coverage. Oklahomas remake of the 46 defense is an intriguing new way to arrive at that outcome, itll be interesting to see how it holds up over the rest of the season as teams start to figure it out and adjust. This is a great alignment, as it allows for so many possibilities from the Defense. Every offensive linemen has a defensive linemen lined up directly across from him before the snap of the ball except for the strong side offensive tackle. Most other defenses get their names from the number of defensive linemen and linebackers, but the 46 defense gets its name elsewhere. Buddys defenses in the past relied on strength calls to get the defense lined up. Editors note: Things broke down there at the end when I didnt phrase my question well. A basic principle of football is that the team on offense largely has control over the game. This could wear these players down over the entire stretch of the game if theyre not prepared for the extra physicality. As a result, offensive lineman must possess the ability to pull outside, receivers must be willing to block, and the quarterback should be able to tuck it and run in certain situations. The 46 Defense was derived from the old Double Eagle Defense of the 1940s and early-to mid 1950s. Pronounced forty-six (not four-six), the 46 defense overloads the weak side of the offense and brings up the strong safety as if he were a fourth linebacker. Both players will line up about five yards off the line of scrimmage, directly over the offensive tackles. The 1985 Bears were arguably the greatest team of all time. Football 101 - Spill vs. They usually get to this front by moving a LB up over the center, or bring both OLBs to outside rushers. The 46 defense in football does have some significant weaknesses. And the Sam and strong safety will have C gap and outside contain responsibilities, respectively, but that is done in tandem since they line up so close to one another. Since the Bear defense has the flexibility to contract or expand with the offensive formations, it can attack the LOS whenever the offense loads up with extra tight ends or running backs. Lost in the hail of spread-option run attacks and plug'n'play prolific Duck quarterbacks has been the Oregon defense . We will go over one way pressure, two way pressure, hybrid coverages, and a simple . As you can imagine with this alignment, thats a whole lot of bodies up front. As the defense needs to change with the times, we are now using field calls to help the defenders get into position faster. This is a really sensible way of doing things. The free safety lines up more than 25 yards behind the line of scrimmage and is the last line of defense. Enter your email below to get access for free: 100% Privacy Guarantee. Again, the defense can play Swipe or Exchange. Learn more about the development of these juggernaut Big 12 offenses in my book: How different is Grinchs OU defense from what he was doing at WSU? 5.The 46 is hard to trap against. So that wasnt good for defenses. http://breakdownsports.blogspot.com, Football Study Hall When the offenses were huddling, you could find the TE, or Strong Guard, or 2 WR side, and make a front call to the offenses strong side, and get lined up. The defense put a defender directly in front of every lineman, making it difficult to execute second level blocking. The 1985 Bears were particularly well-suited to play this defense. That year, he was a finalist for the Broyles Award (best. None of them have to pass the spread test all that often and Michigan in particular failed it in spectacular fashion on a number of occasions in 2018. That obviously helps against some of the problems that occur when your defense relies on cover 3 against offenses when they see the blitz coming. The Mike would work off #3, and the Will would thumbs drop to #1 weak. I think you gotta keep offenses off balance, you gotta bring em (blitzes) to the back, away from the back, to the strength of the passing formation, away from the strength, from the boundary, from the field, you cant beas soon as an offensive coordinator in this league dials you in? 46 Defense Keys and 2-Back Run Fits Versus 2-Back formations, where the fullback inserts into the line of scrimmage is extremely important. A talented crew can make many a defensive formation work well. Unlike most defensive formations that take their names from the number of defensive linemen and linebackers on the field (i.e. Youre on our 46 Defense in Football page. The strong side defensive tackle ( SDT), also known at nose tackle (NT) lines head up over the center. The secondary is also down a man in a 46 defense, with the strong safety at the line of scrimmage and acting more like a defensive lineman. An aggressive defense puts pressure on the opposing QB to make quick decisions. Stacks the Line of Scrimmage - In addition to the four normal down defensive linemen, two other players a strong safety and linebacker will start each play at the line of scrimmage. The formation was very effective in the 1980s NFL because it often negated a team's running game and forced them to throw the ball. The 46 defense employs only two linebackers in the traditional sense.