The 46 Nickel and the Flexbone...Defending Against the Adjustments

In part one on the series on defending the flexbone with the 46 Nickel, we learned how to handle the base offense, and the inside veer.  Now for the "cat and mouse" game to begin.  Any good triple option offensive coordinator (OC) is going to roll the dice and adjust to what you are doing defensively to take away the flexbone's base play...the triple option. 

There are two methods this OC can perform to try and outmaneuver what the defense is doing and these are:

1. Formation the defense into a bad situation
2. Run plays that attack what the defense is doing to take away the triple option.

This post will look at both these adjustments by the offense, and show you exactly how to react to them out of the 46 Nickel.


Formation Adjustments
The easiest method for the OC to employ, is that of utilizing formations to hurt what the defense is doing to take away the triple.  A couple common formation adjustments are listed below:

1. Ends Over
2. Trips (Open and Closed)
3. Nasty
4. Heavy (Tackles Over)

Ends Over

Trips Open

Trips Closed

Nasty

Heavy

Now, let's look at how you should attack each of these formations adjustments.

Ends Over
The Ends Over, or Over adjustment, is meant to give 8 man fronts a problem, and will if you don't adjust in some manner.  The simplest manner is to treat this as a twins closed formation and go corners over as shown below:

The defense is balanced with 6.5 defenders to the offense's strong side and 4.5 defenders to the nub side.  I like to play my corner on the outside shade of the inside receiver.  This gives you a good leverage point to defend the pitch, and to defend any screens the offense may try to use out of this Over formation.

Trips Open
Trips Open, is a tricky formation to defend.  On one hand you can simply move the Whip and Spur over to the trips side, however this leaves the offense with some good angles to the weak side.  What I prefer to do in this situation is use the Jayhawk adjustment and have my defense use Saban's "Mable" adjustment to trips formations.  What this does is keeps the defense sound against any of the trips passing game, and gives the offense poor blocking angles to the weak side.

The reason for this adjustment is the threat of "return" motion.  Return motion has become popular in recent years with Georgia Tech. leading the pack at the FBS level.  Return motion is simply where the middle slot in trips motions to the backfield, but the play "returns" to the side he came from.  This makes life difficult for teams looking for a key on overplaying the flexbone's motion ability.  The problem is, if you simply treat this formation as a twins open formation, you are down in pass responsibility to the trips side.  The key here is to gamble on what you are facing.  You are NOT facing a prolific passing team, usually, and sometimes you have to roll the dice.  I say, make them beat me passing, and see what happens.  So I DO treat this as a twins open formation, and that is why the adjustment above is shown.

Return Motion





With motion trips open becomes twins open



Trips Closed
Trips closed is a set rarely used by Flexbone teams, however, it can be a tough set to defend if you are not prepared.  The key to the trips closed formation is not to treat it any differently than the over formation shown above.  They are one in the same.  The only thing I would do, is bump the Whip down to a seven technique and have him plug the C gap, playing off of the block by the offensive tackle.  If the OT blocks down, have him take dive and utilize the BDSD principle discussed here before.  The coverage should be the standard 3 deep 3 under fire zone match up man coverage.  The only difference is, the inside corner and the FS will trade assignments.  So the inside corner is the MOF player, while the FS will take all of 1 vertical.   The Whip safety will take #2 out only, as he drops off the LOS.  If #2 is not out, then you can have him rush, or better yet have him spy the QB (we all know Flexbone QB's are usually runners first, so not a bad idea to spy him).

Nasty
The Nasty formation is just as it sounds...nasty.  The main reason Flexbone teams use the Nasty formation is when they are facing a defense with the force players on the LOS.  There are a couple of ways to defend this, the first is to simply widen your force players.  This is a simple adjustment, but does have the drawback that the WR's now have some clean shots at some players to the inside.

The other option is to align these players in their normal alignment and utilize a combination of two calls we learned about in a previous post.  The Jet call puts the OLB down hard inside looking to take dive to QB (whichever shows first).  The Heavy call, puts the OSS driving hard down inside for the very same thing as the Jet call.  Combining the two calls into the "Blood" call looks as follows:



Blood Stunt

The FS must see the block by the slot on the OSS and get on his horse to get to the pitch, as running this stunt will usually result in a quick pitch.  Now if the offense decides to crack the OLB with the WR and still load, my advice is to simply run the Jet stunt shown below:



Jet Stunt

Here the FS fits inside the load and plays the outside half of the QB to pitch.

Finally, if the offense chooses to align this way, yet leave your force player alone, and use a "double load" scheme as shown below, then utilize the Heavy stunt mentioned in a previous post.  Now the OSS is inside the load and the FS will overlap and play outside the load. 





Heavy Stunt

Now we all know the old saying "He who has the chalk last", however, the more bullets you have in your gun, the better off you are in a gunfight is my motto.  Only having one way of defending the triple option is exactly what the person meant when they described someone "Bringing a knife to a gunfight".  I prefer to have some answers, and the three stunts mentioned above are good ones (Jet, Heavy and Blood).

Heavy
Heavy or Tackles Over is the toughest formation to defend.  Upon recognition of this set, the defense should check into a front called "Kick Strong".  Kick is a term in the 46 Nickel that "kicks" the front 1 shade to the call side.  So out of our base three-zero-three alignment, the new alignment would be four-eye, one, and two-eye as shown below.

The coverage must change as well.  The coverage is a rotated zone based on motion.  If there is motion to the weak side, the corner will take the first receiver outside and will carry the second receiver through the zone (swing deep of 2).  The FS has the first vertical.  If there is no motion, then the weak corner takes the flats and the FS will take the weak half of the field.  The Whip is the hook to curl player and Mike plays the low hole.  To the strong side, that corner is a deep half player.  The OLB will take the flats, and the Spur will take the hook to curl zone.



 Vs. motion, the coverage "morphs" into a two by four zone coverage as follows:



Looking at run assignments, there must be some calls made to help the defense be in a better position to defend the triple option.  Looking to the strong side first, if a team tried to run the inside veer, there must be two things they can do.  First, if they choose to run the veer scheme, then the option simply becomes a double option and the offense is playing right into the hands of the defense (the defense has taken away the dive by alignment).




Inside Veer Strong

The ideal play for the offense to try and run is the outside veer.  The best stunt to call in this situation is either the Jet stunt, or the Blood stunt.



Jet Stunt vs. OSV



Blood vs. OSV

 
To the weak side the offense will think it has easy pickings for the inside veer play, but the Jet and Blood stunts will quickly deter them!






Jet vs. Heavy ISV Weak





Blood vs Heavy ISV Weak

As you can see, the Heavy formation is not as tough to defend as some might think.  The defense is also very sound against some of the other staple run plays of the Flexbone offense.  The key here is getting the players to recognize the alignment of the offense and check into the proper front (Kick Strong). 

 Play Adjustments

Flexbone coaches will not only adjust with formations, they will run complimentary plays that attack other areas of your defense to attempt to take away what you are doing to stop the triple option.  Some of these plays are:

1. Midline
2. Triple Pass
3. Rocket
4. Counter Option or Counter Iso

Knowing the opposing coaches' counter moves are essential to defending the offense you are facing.  The Flexbone is no different, so let's break these plays down and see how the 46 Nickel defends them.

Midline
Midline is one of the toughest plays in football to defend.  There are several ways to run midline and they are listed below:

1. Midline blast (double power play-both slots inserting)
2. Midline load (double option, only one slot inserting)
3. Midline fold (double option, backside slot goes for pitch, front side inserts)
4. Midline arc/switch (triple option)

So now that we know what we are facing, let's look at how the 46 Nickel handles each of these situations.  First to the Midline blast.  Blast is one of my favorite plays (for more on midline, go here) in all of football.  It combines power football and option football all in one play.  The good news for the 46 Nickel, is that with the standard three-zero-three look, that makes life tough on midline football.




Midline Blast

 The key to defending midline is for the OSS's to key the OT.  If he fans, and the window opens, they fill it.  If the OT blocks down, they fill and the window closes, then they fill outside (see Veer examples above).  Here, you can see, the Spur, inserts because the B gap window opens.  This puts a defender outside the lead block by the slot.  The Mike inserts and is inside the lead block of the folding slot and outside the lead block by the trailing slot.  The End and Nose make up the two defenders inside the lead block by the trailing slot.  You also have the FS filling to the ball as your "plus one" player.  The offense has chosen to put 2 blockers in one gap, thereby creating three more gaps to that side, but you have countered that by having one more than they can block by the play of the FS.

Now let's look at Midline Seal.  Flexbone teams that see you keying their slots will attempt to "load" or seal the LB with the slot instead of folding as shown below.  The idea here is that it removes a player from the B gap so the QB is free to run.  Again, this proves useless because of the reads by the OSS and the FS.

Midline Seal/Load Scheme

Flexbone teams are notorious for switching players assignment, as to try and confuse the defense and get a defender out of position.  The next tactic they utilize is that of folding the front side slot and having the backside slot go for pitch. 






Midline Fold Scheme

Once you've finally frustrated the offense, you will now see the wrath of the dreaded Midline Triple.  Midline Triple, or "mid veer" as I call it, is not an easy play on the offense.  This play puts tremendous stress on the option quarterback as the reads happen so fast.  A defense must be careful in the way they handle the mid veer play, because if not handled properly this play can "get out the gate" on you in a hurry.



Mid Veer

The FS will more than likely be slightly out of position as he's used to jumping motion (most Flexbone teams run this play with counter motion), however he's more than likely having to deal with being blocked by an OT, a match up I would hope most FS's would win in the open field.  The keys to defending this play is that you have your players inside and outside the dive (End being read and OSS away from action).  You have a defender inside the load and outside the load (Mike inside OSS to option side outside), and a player inside and outside the second load by the slot (OLB is outside, and FS is inside). 

There is nothing wrong with stunting this play either, and a good stunt is the Jet stunt.  This forces the QB to make instantaneous reads and will more than likely result in the ball being pitched on the ground. 



Jet Stunt vs. Mid Veer

Triple Pass
Good Flexbone coaches are going to notice the FS in the 46 Nickel scheme and try to exploit his aggressiveness.  Again, with a solid foundation of keys and reads, these tactics should not thwart the attack of the 46 Nickel.  The two most common versions of the Triple Pass are to run the play side WR on a takeoff route with the slot mimicking a load block and running a Whip route.  Secondly, some coaches choose to send both the WR and the slot on takeoff routes to try and put an aggressive safety in a bind.  Both passes, and how they should be defensed are shown below.




The FS's read on the play side slot is what will save the FS from being burned deep on the second diagram.  The FS must know, he has time to react to this route and must always approach the LOS patiently until he has diagnosed the play correctly.  The famous phrase "Don't go til' you know" rings very true when defending the Triple Pass.

Rocket
Once the Flexbone OC has seen you are stunting to stop the triple option, more than likely you will start to see a heavy dose of Rocket toss.  Rocket is a play that can really hurt a defense if their force players are not coached very well on defending it.  Some keys to teach your players when looking to defend this play are:

1. Situation- If the offense has been routinely stuffed when trying to run the inside veer, outside veer, or midline (whatever their staple option plays are), then you can expect Rocket.  To the OC, Rocket is a "cheap" play as it's easy to install, and can get some big yardage against teams stunting inside against the option.
2. Motion- The motion by the slot is usually "tail motion" as opposed to two-step motion that is utilized on the triple option.  This is not always the case, but another difference is the motion once it hits the heels of the fullback (FB).  On Rocket, the back will turn his shoulders to the sideline which will be a dead giveaway that the play is Rocket, or at the very least the force player is about to see a pitch back come his way.  If the shoulders turn up field on the motion, you are getting some sort of inside lead play by the slot.
3. Near Slot- It is important to note that the force player in the 46 Nickel reads the lane of the ball (LOB), but against the Flexbone, he should make this read, through the near slot.  If that slot is attacking at him, he knows, the play is Rocket. 

Once the force player recognizes the motion, he need not take any steps forward, yet must keep himself flat and in outside leverage on the pitch back.  Even if he has to turn his shoulders to the sideline that's being attacked to outflank the runner, he should do so.  All other players should run to the football.  Now, they do not run blindly, but find open windows and play the Rocket inside-out.  The FS is the alley player and should fill the void between the force player, and the inside spill players.  You have now successfully eliminated the Rocket toss from the Flexbone's arsenal.



Defending Rocket Toss

Counter Iso
If the backside of your defense begins to fly to the football and are making plays on the front side of option plays, you had better expect the counter iso play to be come soon.  First off, this play does not need to be handled by scheme, but merely by coaching.  You are seeing this play because the backside of your defense is playing unsound.  Looking at the diagram below, we can easily see how if players are not in the proper position, the offense will have leverage on them with the counter iso play.




Counter Iso

The reads are what is key to defending this play.  Again, as with midline, the OSS sees the B gap open up, then he should fill it.  You have two players on either side of the lead block (the DE and the OSS) and you could add the Mike depending on whether the Nose prevented the jump through block or not.  The only player who should be slightly fooled by the motion and counter direction of the play is the FS.  The FS is aligned at enough depth though, to effectively redirect and fill to the football as needed.

I know this one was a long post, and I probably should have divided it in two, but things didn't quite work out that way.  Anyhow, that's how the 46 Nickel breaks down the flexbone offense.  Now as with anything, there is no substitute for fundamental football.  No scheme works if you cannot run and tackle, and that is what 99% of defensive football is all about.

Duece

The 46 Nickel and the Triple Option...Myths Debunked!

For years I was one of those coaches who always thought the 46 Defense (sometimes called the Bear), was no match for the dreaded triple option.  A few years ago in a spring scrimmage we played a 3-4 team that kept shifting to the 46, and it completely wrecked our gameplan.  The only success we had was attempting to run Rocket toss as well as getting in a "Heavy" formation and trying to run outside veer (OSV).  By the time the adjustments were made, it was too little too late unfortunately and we lost the scrimmage.  I had never really faced the 46 as an offensive coach, and I have always been interested in why we didn't have that much success against that defense.  Well as most know from this story, I came upon the 46 by sheer necessity to stop the bleeding a couple of seasons ago.  Well, not facing many option teams where I'm at led me not to worry about the old myth that the 46 can't handle the triple option.  Anyhow, as with anything I run, I research the heck out of it and over the past few months I've been wearing out grease pens attempting to break down this myth that the 46 cannot handle the triple option.  So that's what this post will be about, and most notably, the triple option from the flexbone offense.

Rule #1...Set the Coverage First!

As with defending any offense, you must set your coverage first.  The 46 Nickel bases out of man free, or what some call Cover one.  I'm not a fan of man coverage when facing the option, as I want all 11 eyes on defense being able to see the offense.  So, I fall back on one of my old coverages (which you can read about here), known as "3 Robber".  Simply put this coverage is based on whether or not the offense motions.  If the offense motions, you are playing standard Robber Coverage.  If the offense does not motion, you are playing a three by three fire zone.  Here are the pass responsibilities for each defender depending on which coverage is used (motion or no motion):

Robber (vs. motion)

• Corner- Deep 1/2 all of #1 vertical
• FS- All of #2 vertical (away from motion), 2 not vertical rob curl to post of 1.
• SS/WS- Curl/Flat/Swing deep of #2
• Mike- Middle hook, all of #3 vertical



3 Robber vs. Triple Pass


Cover 3 (Offense did not motion)

• Corner- Deep 1/3, all of #1 vertical
• FS- Deep middle 1/3, all of #3 vertical
• SS/WS- All of #2 vertical or out
• Mike- Middle hook, disrupt any crossing routes (do not chase)



3 Robber vs. 4 Vertical


The coverage sets the front, so now that we have set our coverage and how we are going to play these respective players, now lets look at the front.

Front

The front is fairly standard when you get down to it.  I treat this as a one back offense, so the Mike LB will align over the single back which would be the flexbone's B back.  The defensive line (DL) will align in their standard three, zero, three alignment, while the outside linebackers (OLB's) align on the line of scrimmage (LOS) two yards outside the end man on the line of scrimmage (EMOL).  The strong safety (SS) and the weak safety (WS) will align at LB depth, over the slot to their side.  The corners can align any way they want so as to disguise where their zone responsibilities are.  The FS aligns over the center, no deeper than ten yards off the LOS. 



Base Alignment

 Now the variations are numerous to the base front.  In this post, however, I'm only going to concentrate on how the base front will handle the flexbone.

Rules for Defending the Inside Veer

The Inside Veer (ISV) is the basis of the flexbone offense.  This is the heart and soul of the flexbone.  To defend this offense, you MUST at the very LEAST slow down this offensive play.  How do we do it, let's look at the guiding principles in which the flexbone offense is going to attack the 46 Nickle.

First, with the 46 being predominately a one-high (better known as MOFC) defense, the flexbone offensive coordinator (OC) is usually going to treat this as an eight man front (and rightfully so).  Here is how a typical flexbone team will run the ISV at the 46 Nickel:

Inside Veer vs. 46

Nothing surprising here, the playside tackle (PST) and playside guard (PSG) are going to attempt to move the three technique and combo to either the Mike LB or the WS, depending on whether or not the Mike scrapes or fills.  The playside slotback (PSSB) will load the Mike LB if he scrapes, whereas he will stalk the FS if the Mike fills.  Everything else is pretty standard flexbone stuff.

The guiding principle is this, there must be a dedicated defender to defend the inside and outside half of all three phases when defending the triple option.  What does that mean?

• There is a defender inside the load block (dive).
• There is a defender outside the load block (dive).
• There is a defender inside the QB (cutback).
• There is a defender outside the QB (spill).
• There is a defender inside the pitch (alley).
• There is a defender outside the pitch (force).

Now all we have to do is get the right pieces in the right place!  So how do we do that.  It's quite simple actually, and here are the rules:

• Nose- Hips to the hole, close the A gap, if overtaken, make a pile.
• End (to action)- Hips to the hole, do not allow PST off to Mike, if you feel movement, make a pile.
• End (away from action)- Don't allow jump through, look for pull coming back to you (trap) and play dive cutback.
• OLB (to action)- Feather pitch, don't allow pitch back to gain outside leverage on you.  Keep shoulders square to the LOS at all times.
• OLB (away from action)- Squeeze down inside, keep shoulders square and play BRC (boot, reverse, cutback).
• OSS (to action)- Fit off the load block, play inside 1/2 of QB.
• OSS (away from action)- Scrape and stack the BSG, play cutback all the way.
• MLB- Fit in open window (A open, fit inside dive/A closed scrape and play outside dive to inside 1/2 of QB) to flow.
• FS- On motion, slide over guard in direction of motion, eyes on #2.  If #2 is vertical, man #2 per Robber rules.  If #2 load blocks, fill outside load block and play outside 1/2 of QB and rally late to pitch.
• Corner (to action)- Drop off #1, if #1 stalks, rally outside late to pitch, must ensure it's not veer pass.  If #1 cracks, replace and run to pitch.
• Corner (away from action)- insurance rule, get in pursuit angle.

So, who fits where?




Make it fit!!!

Inside the Dive
Nose/End
Outside the Dive
Mike/OSS
Inside the QB
Mike/OSS
Outside the QB
OLB/FS
Inside the pitch
FS
Outside the pitch
OLB

Not only do you have at least one player dedicated to each half of each phase, in some cases there are even two players dedicated!  This is an important factor if your defense is to break down the triple option rushing attack.

What makes this defense so special against the option compared to others I've run is the DL play.  If the nose does his job he leverages any cutback by the B back on the give portion of ISV.  However, coupled with the Mike play of filling the open window to flow, of the Nose DOES get reached, then the Mike simply fills this window.  The Mike is your "plus one" player you always hear me talking about when facing the triple option.  The key component to making all of this work is that action-side three technique.  He cannot lose ground, and must make a pile in the B gap.  Most triple option QB's are not going to give the ball when there is a mess in that B gap.  What makes this tough is that you MUST find a kid who's willing to sell out and make that pile all night long, because if not, the scheme will be severely compromised.

Adjustments

So, now that you've shown your hand in the first series, how are you going to deal with adjustments by the offense?  The way to handle this cat and mouse game is to adjust first!  The Jet call is the first adjustment that I would use.  Jet is simple, all jet does, is tell the OLB and OSS to exchange responsibilities.  So now the OLB is going to slam down off the load block and play inside 1/2 of QB, while the OSS is going to auto scrape and play outside the pitch back.  One coaching point is to school the OSS to get on his horse as there will probably be a very quick pitch, so he needs to get out there and maintain leverage on the pitch back.



Jet Call

 
Another call that can be utilized is the "Heavy" call.  Heavy puts the OSS to the action side down hard inside off of the down block by the PST, and has the Mike scrape hard across the load and take the FS normal job.  The FS now fits inside the load block on the Heavy call.  Again, just another way to "mess" with the triple option QB.



Heavy Call

As you can see, the 46 is actually quite sound against the triple option.  In my next post I'm going to explain how to play some of the other formations that flexbone teams will throw at you, as well as some of the other plays such as midline, rocket, and the dreaded outside veer (OSV).  Until next time!

Duece

Defensive Backs in the 46 Nickel

Well, the last position manual in the defense is complete! The unique thing about the 46 Nickel compared to its cousin the old standard 46, is that there are five defensive backs (DB's) on the field at any given time. This allows you to use athletic players as adjusters against spread-type sets, yet coupled with the 46's patented base front, you can also play these smaller, quicker players inside the box because they are protected. It is imperative to understand that the use of the 46 against the spread is a pressure concept, if you are not a "man to man guy", then you might as well forget this defense...it's not for you. The heart of the defense is built around the idea of "Get to them, before they get to you". This idea should be ingrained in your defense players if you so choose to use this defense.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's look at personnel in the 46 Nickel!

Archetypes

• Strong Safety (Spur)- The Spur is a good "all around" athlete. He's probably the second best pure athlete on your defense. He has the ability to play in space, but is not shy about playing inside the box. He must be physical enough to play the seven technique, yet agile enough to cover a slot receiver man to man.
• Weak Safety (Whip)- The Whip is the least athletic of all of the DB's in the 46 Nickel. Even though he aligns in the box, DON'T think linebacker (LB) here. The Whip is protected by two defensive linemen (DL) and an outside linebacker (OLB), so he doesn't have to be as physical a player as a LB. He does need to like contact, I mean after all, he's on defense! The Whip should be able to cover man to man, look for that ability first, then move on to what else that player can do.
• Free Safety- This is the man in the middle. He's the best athlete in the secondary, and possibly on the team. He must be able to cover ground, love to hit, and tackle well in open space. He must also make all the adjustment checks in the secondary. This is probably your best football player on the team. DO NOT skimp at this position!
• Corner- Corners are cover guys. The more physical the better, but it's not a must. The ability to be able to cover a receiver in single coverage is paramount, everything else is secondary. Look for good feet and hips, speed is a plus, but not a must.

Man Free-Pressuring With Coverage

As was stated earlier, the 46 Nickel thrives on pressure. If a defense is going to base with a pressure philosophy, then they need to cover with a pressure philosophy as well. Man free coverage, typically known as Cover 1, is the base coverage in the 46 Nickel. It's not the only coverage, however this is the coverage you will teach from day one.

The rules are simple and concise with Cover one. The corners will take the number one receiver to their side man to man. The Spur and Whip will cover the number two receiver man to man to their respective side. The Spur and Whip are the adjusters to each side and the FS is the final adjuster.

Alignment-Spur
The Spur has a pretty simple job. First, he listens for the strength call, given by the Mike LB, and goes to that side of the formation, and covers the number two receiver man to man. If this receiver is a tight end (TE), he will align in a seven technique and cover the TE man to man. If the number two receiver is a split receiver, then the Spur will move to five yards off this receiver and in inside leverage of this receiver. The only time the "cover number two rule" does not hold true is against TE trips, or "Trey" sets. In this case, the Spur will stay in the seven technique and cover the TE man to man, while another DB in the secondary will cover the number two receiver. The reason behind this is that the Spur is usually the more physical of the outside safeties (OSS's), so he's better suited to stay in the seven technique against Trey sets.

Alignment- Whip
The Whip is similar to the Spur, but has a few different alignments against certain offensive sets.  If there are two or three backs in the backfield, then the Whip will align in a weak 40 technique and will essentially be the weakside LB in the defense.  If the offense comes out in a one back set, and puts a TE to the weak side then the Whip will align in a seven technique and cover the TE man to man.  If the number two receiver is a split receiver he uses the same rule as the Spur does in the same situation.  The Whip will be called on, in certain situations to move to the strong side of the defense.  This is when the FS gives a "help" call, alerting the Whip, that there is a trips or trey set on the opposite side of the defense.  The Whip's rule is to go to the call side, and cover the number three receiver, unless the number three receiver is a TE.  If the #3 receiver is a TE, then he adjusts and covers the number two receiver man to man (see illustration above).

Alignments-Free Safety
The FS's normal alignment is over the center at a depth of no less than eight and no greater than 15 yards off the line of scrimmage (LOS).  This depth is dependant on coverage or down and distance, or both.  If the FS expects a run play, I like him to be around eight yards, whereas if he expects the pass, then he should move back to ten or 12 yards.  In a double coverage scenario, the FS will cheat over late to inside leverage on the double covered receiver.  The FS must learn to time this move, as we do not want to give away what our defense is doing.  If the offense presents three backs in the backfield, the FS will move to a "backer" alignment, putting him over the center, at LB depth. 




FS Cheats Late in Double Coverage


Alignments- Cornerback
Corners have three basic alignment, normal, press and off.  The normal alignment is five yards off their receiver and in inside leverage.  Press is inside leverage but on the LOS as close to the receiver as legally possible.  Off is inside leverage, but eight yards off the receiver.  It's important that the corner know not only how to align in these alignments, but how to stem to these alignments as well. 

There will be some cases where the cornerback will have to play the seven technique as well.  If the offense comes out in two or three backs and has two TE's then the weakside corner plays the seven technique.  If you are not comfortable with this, an easy adjustment is put the corner in a weakside 40 technique and move the Whip safety to the seven technique. 




Weak Corner Plays the Seven Technique

A Note on Dividers
Some coaches use divider rules to align their DB's, and this is perfectly fine.  Most of these rules are pretty standard.
Corners

• #1 Aligns outside the top of the numbers, inside leverage
• #1 Aligns inside the top of the numbers, outside leverage

OSS

• #2 Aligns outside the hash mark, inside leverage
• #2 Aligns inside the hash mark, outside leverage

I currently coach junior high football, and we don't use divider rules.  I just don't feel it's necessary at my age level.  I'm not sure I'd use them all that much at the high school level either, but whatever you feel comfortable with is just fine.

Vs. the Run-Spur
The Spur has very little to do with the run game when in man to man coverage.  All DB's use the catch man technique, but when involved in man coverage all DB's are secondary run support ONLY.  When the Spur is in the seven technique, he has NO run assignment whatsoever.  He must be conscious of the TE and his ability to run a route.  At the more advanced level, you can have the SS read the TE's release for run or pass, however this is difficult and time consuming.

One way to give the offense fits is to blitz or stunt the Spur.  The Single Spur blitz is very simple, the Spur will blitz, from wherever he is on the field and take the C gap.  This is a very good blitz that the offense will not expect and get you an extra run defender to the strong side of the formation. 




Single Spur


A good stunt to use, especially against wing-t teams or teams that like to run Power is Spur "X".  The "X" in the call tells the OLB to that side to run the Jet stunt (discussed earlier) and the Spur will loop outside for contain.  These stunts and blitzes are used to keep the Spur, who is one of the better athletes on the team, involved in attacking the offense and not just covering receivers.




Single Spur "X"


Vs. the Run- Whip
The Whip, in some cases is like a LB, whereas in other situations he is like a DB.  When the offense has two or three backs, the Whip is in LB mode and will play using LB keys and reads.  Against one back or empty teams, the Whip is a DB first and has no run assignment.  Just as with the Spur, you can blitz the Whip in a bunch of different ways to get him involved in pressuring the offense.

Vs. the Run- Free Safety
The FS is actually quite an important factor against the run.  The FS is the alley player to either side of the formation on outside run plays, and plays the cutback on inside run plays.  This is one reason the FS needs to be one of the best athletes on the field as he must be able to play like a LB or a DB depending on what the offense is presenting the defense.  Against option teams the FS is VERY important as he is used in tracking down and helping take away the QB and helping defend the dreaded option pass.  This run responsibility is the major reason that the FS will align so close to the LOS in run situations.

Vs. the Run- Cornerback
The corner has no run assignment, as he is always involved in coverage.  A good way to mix things up is to run a corner blitz from the boundary, if you have the personnel to do so.  This means the corner must be able to get there, and must be able to do something once he gets to the football.  In normal situations, the corner is purely a cover man though.




Corner Blitz From the Boundary

Vs. the Pass
Against the passing game, the rule is quite simple...cover your man!  The main component of the man free coverage used, is the FS.  He plays a robber technique and assists on all routes coming into the middle of the field.  All the other DB's must realize this, and can play their man accordingly.  What this means is that if a corner gets an inside move, he does not necessarily have to "jump" the route, because he knows he has help to the inside.  However, the corner should be overly concerned by outside breaking routes, because these routes move away from the FS, thereby not allowing the FS to help. 

This middle of the field robber technique, can be modified by deepening the FS to allow him to play over the top of any inside route (he normally is inside and underneath these routes).  The tag "deep" added to the coverage tells the FS to deepen his alignment and play over the top of any inside route in the middle of the field. 

All defenders must learn how to play catch man.  The catch man technique is the backbone of the 46 Nickel's pressure coverage package.  Catch man allows the DB's to read and react to a receiver's movement and then play off of that movement accordingly.  This technique also allows man defenders to react to running plays quicker than when using traditional man to man techniques.

Adjustments-Aligning and Attacking

The adjustments in cover one are pretty simple, but here are a few of the basic ones so you can get an idea on how the secondary handles the adjustments.  One rule to keep in mind is I don't ask my LB's to leave the box to cover anyone, this is why I declare the FS to be the final adjuster.

Against any nub set, the call is Flip. Flip tells the corner to the nub side to go cover the number two receiver to the side he was called to. This keeps your best athletes covering their best athletes.

Two by two is pretty simple, the SS will go cover the strong number two receiver and the WS will cover the weak number two receiver.  The FS should align splitting the middle of the widest vertical threats.

When the offense presents three or more receiving threats to one side of the defense, the FS makes a "help" call.  This tells the WS to move over and cover the number three receiver.  The only time this doesn't hold true is if the number three receiver is a TE.

Against the empty set, I check to cover zero and auto-blitz the Mike LB, however there are other ways to do this.  The first adjustment I've seen, is simple, have the Mike slide out and cover number three strong and keep the FS in the middle of the field.

A problem with that adjustment is QB draw can be a little rough to defend from that alignment.  Another adjustment that can be used is to drop the nose back to LB depth and have him spy the QB.

However you choose to do it, all of those adjustments are simple and easy to get in to.  I choose to keep the Mike as the "man in the middle" as that is what he normally does in the defense.

Additional Coverages- One High
There are several other coverages that can be run out of the 46 Nickel.  The first of these, would be cover three.  Since the defense is pressure based, I don't recommend utilizing cover three as much because I feel cover three does not pressure the offense, however if you want a zone coverage to fit with the defense, this is the coverage for you.

In cover three, the deep zone droppers are the corners and the FS.  This is just your standard three deep zone, although you can use pattern reading if you like, but then why not run cover one?  The Sam and Spur are the key to the coverage and they must communicate at all times.  The widest of these two defenders will drop to the numbers and play the curl to flat area and is the swing deep of two player.  This means this player will run with the number two receiver through the zone man to man.  The inside-most of these two players is the hook zone player to his respective side and will drop to just inside the near hash mark.  The Mike drops to the opposite hash mark and is the weak hook player.  The WS will drop to the weak numbers and is the weak curl to flat, swing deep of two player.  Another key element is that there must be an automatic "Spike" call given to the DE who is on the side the Sam LB is on.  This tells this DE to cross face of the OT to the outside and contain rush. 

One coverage I particularly like if you want to play zone in the 46 Nickel, is cover six.  Cover six is a three deep, three underneath fire zone package that allows you to still send five after the QB.  The rules are very similar to some of the pattern reading coverages discussed here before (most notably Saban's Rip/Liz adjustment to cover three).  The corners will take all of number one vertical, while the OSS's will take number two vertical or outside.  If number two is inside, then they release and relate to the number one receiver.  The Mike LB will handle allow shallow crossers and the FS handles any of the deeper inside routes.  The Sam is now free to rush the QB. 

Again, not sure why anyone would not want to run cover one.  When coupled with the catch man technique, there is no real need for any other coverage.

Additional Coverages- 2 High
This defense is completely capable of morphing into a seven man front if need be with coverage.  Not sure exactly why, but the concept is relatively simple.  Using split field techniques the defense can easily get into a seven man front and provide for sound pass coverage.  Utilizing what we know about split field coverage from TCU's Gary Patterson we see against a two by two set the 46 Nickel would align as follows:

The rules are the same as discussed in earlier posts on TCU's famed Blue coverage.  The Sam will drop to the strong hook, and will have number three vertical, whereas the Mike is the away side slice player.  To the strong side of the coverage, the SS is the curl to flat, swing deep of three player, while the corner and FS play their Blue reads to the number one and number two receiver.  The away side can play Blue, or Bronco (man), whichever you choose.

As you can see, the 46 Nickel is not some "flash in the pan" defense.  It has all the capabilities of doing what any other defense does.  However, this is not what the defense was built for.  This defense, as stated earlier, is built to pressure.  If you are not comfortable with this, I suggest a different defense.

In my next posts, I'm going to look at and break down how the 46 Nickel handles various offenses that you might see.  The first offense will be the dreaded Flexbone offense!

Well, the Super Bowl Matchup has been decided, who are you taking the Pats or the Giants?  I'm going with New York, they play good defense and well, I don't care for Tom Brady!  Anyhow, who you got in the big game?

Duece