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Football strategy)
Strategy is essential to the game of American football.
Offensive strategy
General
Formations
- Double tight end
- Empty backfield
- I-back formation
- Shotgun
- Wishbone and T formations
Run
- Bootleg
- Quarterback sneak
- Reverse, double reverse
- Draw play
- Straight up the middle
- Student body right
- Trap block
Passes
- Down-and-in, Down-and-out patterns
- Flea-flicker pass
- Going through the rotation
- Hail Mary pass
- Halfback pass
- Holding blocks
- Lob pass
- Outlet pass
- Play action pass
- Post pattern
- Pump fake
- Running interference
- Screen pass
- Shovel pass
- Slant pattern
- Statue of Liberty play
- Tackle eligible
- Throw a bomb downfield / Fly pattern
- Using the sideline
Defensive strategy
The general goal of defensive strategy is to prevent the offensive opponent from scoring, and to either gain control for their offense or to score themselves. There are many different defensive strategies.
For a discussion of the basic elements of defensive strategy, see American football defensive schemes.
3-4
The 3-4 defense has declined in popularity over the years, but it is still used by some professional football teams and by a few college football teams. The 3-4 defense is so named because it involves 3 down linemen and 4 linebackers. There are usually 4 defensive backs.
The 3 down linemen attempt to break into the backfield in order to sack or rush the quarterback or to stop running backs and other players behind the line of scrimmage. The defensive line is made up of a nose tackle (NT), who lines up in front of the opposing team's center and two defensive ends (DEs), who flank the nose tackle on both sides.
4 linebackers line up behind the defensive line. In a 3-4 defense, the linebacker unit is made up of two middle or inside linebackers (MLBs/ILBs), who are flanked on both sides by outside linebackers (OLBs). Linebackers often try to break into the offense's backfield or they stay back to defend against the pass or the run.
4-3
The 4-3 defense is probably the most commonly used defense in modern American Football. The 4-3 defense is so named because it involves 4 down linemen and 3 linebackers. There are usually also 4 defensive backs.
The 4 down linemen attempt to break into the backfield in order to sack or rush the quarterback or to stop running backs and other players behind the line of scrimmage. The defensive line is made up of two defensive tackles (DTs) and two defensive ends (DEs). The two defensive tackles line up in the middle of the line, in front of the opposing team's center. The two defensive ends flank the defensive tackles.
3 linebackers line up behind the defensive line. In a 4-3 defense, the linebacker unit is made up of a middle or inside linebacker (MLB/ILB), who is flanked on both sides by outside linebackers (OLBs). Linebackers often try to break into the offense's backfield or they stay back to defend against the pass or the run.
Nickel
The nickel defense is employed in obvious passing situations, or against a team that frequently uses four-wide receiver sets on offense. The defense has 5 defensive backs, and has either 4 down linemen and 2 linebackers or 3 down linemen and 3 linebackers.
In most defenses, the secondary consists of two cornerbacks (CBs), a free safety (FS) and a strong safety (SS). The nickel defense adds an extra defensive back, known as the "nickel back" (NB), in order to defend against the pass. A nickel back is also employed in the "dime" defense (see below) and are usually free or strong safeties, although cornerbacks can be utilized as well. The term "nickel" comes from the five-cent value of a United States nickel, in reference to the fifth defensive back.
Dime
The dime defense is usually employed in obvious passing situations. The formation usually consists of 6 defensive backs, and has either 4 down linemen and 1 linebacker, or 3 down linemen and 2 linebackers.
A dime defense differs from the nickel in that it adds yet another defensive back to the secondary. The sixth defensive back is called a "dime back" (DB). The defense gets its name because a dime is two nickels.
Quarter
The Quarter defense has 3 down linemen, one linebacker, and 7 defensive backs. This is usually only used in a third-and-very-long situation (because the defense can afford to allow a short gain), to prevent a long score on the last play of a half, or when the defense believes that the offense will definitely pass (for example if the offense goes into the huddle without anyone competent to carry the ball). This gets its name because a quarter is higher in value than a nickel or a dime.
Half-dollar defenses, with eight defensive backs, are very rare, often to prevent a Hail Mary.
Cover 2
The Cover 2 defense, also known as a "1-gap" defense, is a variation of the 4-3 defense. Each player on defense is responsible for defending the 'gap' between the two opposing offensive players. The success or failure of the Cover 2 defensive implementation relies solely on each individual defender successfully defending their assigned gap. Defensive players must each defend their gap and, in the case of the linebackers and secondary, are also responsible for a certain 'zone' (area on the field of play) in the secondary.
The Cover 2 defense utilizes 4 down linemen for rushing the passer, 3 linebackers responsible for run and pass defense, and a secondary consisting of 2 cornerbacks, a strong safety, and a free safety. Although the secondary's primary responsibility is pass defense, it too is involved in stopping the run. Particularly the strong safety, which will, in potential running situations, line up near the linebackers, in effect, taking the role of an additional linebacker. This is known as 'putting 8 men in the box' to stop the run.
The Cover 2 defense is designed to counter the West Coast offense philosophy of using high percentage passes to maintain ball control. The West Coast offense is designed for getting yards after a catch has been made. The Cover 2 defense is designed to eliminate the run after the catch. The Cover 2 is meant to place maximum pressure on the quarterback via the 4 down linemen. The strategy behind this tactic is that if the quarterback is successfully pressured in this way, the quarterback will not be able to get into a rhythm offensively, hence he will make more mistakes: interceptions, incompletions, fumbles, etc. Any defensive player can blitz the quarterback during the course of the game, adding to the quarterback's confusion. Often, instead of a straight out blitz, a corresponding defensive lineman might drop back into short pass coverage to make up for the blitzing linebacker/defensive back. This is known as a 'zone blitz'. In addition, once the blitz is successful, the defense can later 'show' a blitz before the snap, causing the quarterback to call an audible at the line of scrimmage, and then fake the blitz. But the blitz in the Cover 2 defensive scheme is utilized as a strategy of choice rather than a necessity of play.
One of the strengths of the Cover 2 defense is its ability to mask what the defensive players will do after the snap of the ball, since each down, the players line up in exactly the same formation. There are nickel and dime versions of the Cover 2 as well, in which a nickel/dime back is substituted appropriately for a linebacker in more pass-oriented downs.
The weakness of the Cover 2 defense is that the cornerbacks are relied on heavily in both run and pass defense. A defensive breakdown or missed tackle at the conerback position can oftentimes result in a big gain for the opposing offense. The Cover 2 defense is built on the premise that 'speed kills', hence, players in a Cover 2 defense are usually smaller and faster than their counterparts in a traditional 4-3 defense. This lack of size and mass is usually compensated by the fact that often, an offensive player with the ball is being tackled by two, three, or sometimes even more defensive players on any given play.
The premier example of the Cover 2 defense is the 2002 Superbowl XXXVII Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Superbowl XXXVII, Tampa Bay, ranked the #1 defense in the league, defeated the #1 ranked offense in the league, the Oakland Raiders, 48-21. Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon was sacked 5 times, threw 5 interceptions (3 interceptions were returned for touchdowns), and for the most part, was ineffective against the Cover 2 defense of the Buccaneers. Oakland was equally ineffective running the ball against Tampa Bay as well.
Eight in the box
The defensive linemen and linebackers collectively - or, more properly, the area of the field where they typically line up - are often referred to as "the box" and thus normally number seven players; on occasion, however, circumstances call for an additional man to be placed therein (generally a linebacker if the team uses the 4-3 as its base alignment, or a defensive lineman in cases where the 3-4 is ordinarily utilized), whereupon one player in the secondary (most commonly the free safety) is removed from the lineup. Sometimes a player in the secondary (usually the strong safety) acts as an additional linebacker and no actual lineup change ensues. Some teams use a defensive system in which one of the players is cross between a linebacker and a strong safety and is called a "rover".
Teams most often put "eight in the box" or "stack the box" when the opposing team has a weak passing game and thus must rely heavily on its running attack, particularly if the opponents' normal starting quarterback is injured and a backup is playing in his place. By having more players in "the box," the defense can more effectively contain the opposing team's running game. In so doing, the defense "dares" the other team to throw the football.
Special teams strategy
General topics
- Field position
- Touchbacks
Kicking team topics
- Downing the ball inside the 20
- Fake punts
- Kick-offs out-of-bounds
- Onside kick
- Preventing a run-back / "Bloopers" on kick-off
- Punts out-of-bounds
Receiving team topics
- Blocking punts
- Deciding whether to "take it out"
- Fair catch
- Roughing the kicker
