Football Fundamentals: Defensive Gap Discipline vs Formations, Pulling OL, and FBs

For the defense to be successful, they must have "gap discipline". Having an "empty sound" means placing defenders on each side of each blocker to stop the attack. If you have a defender responsible for filling the game on every empty field, the defense in the LOS forms a wall, and the attack has no chance of success. The purpose of the attack - to lose the discipline of the defensive gap or not to narrow the gap (free up space). Any empty space is an option for the ball carrier, and any empty space is useful for leaving an attacking play. In this post we will see how gaps are formed against certain formations and we will see how blockers and shooters change numbers at the point of attack.

Standard Pro-Style O
Let's first look at 12 employees who are apparently supported by just one company. This is a common aspect of many modern bands like Iowa or Wisconsin. Usually these groups have a zone attack and add TE and wings to add its gaps throughout the LOS. It must be a disciplined defense, both forward and sideways. 10 spaces go from A to E on both sides.

Standard stretch
Well hired about 10 employees with double twins. Note that the gaps are equal; The presence of WR does not mean that protection should not take into account gaps on both sides. Many fast WR screens use protections that cannot take external errors into account. During the game, defenders can often "two gaps" (protect two different gaps), and continuing will help you fill another gap, but the game also allows you to stay locked on the field, which means to give meters (just the front closing does not mean that the gap does not exist, its origin is below the field). Advanced pharmacy works next to its advantage, with some "big" gaps.

travel training
You can change the numbers by placing more blockers on one side of the center. Something like a pharmacy has spaces between A and F on one side of the pharmacy and on the other side of the pharmacy there are gaps between A and D. There are still 10 spaces to protect, but usually let them adjust. High School or LB.

An unbalanced workout or victory works the same way. Usually the method of protection is to determine the location of the third PR (central) and make it the nominal center; No matter who enters the ball, the OG can snatch the ball, you start the spaces with the middle OL number.

OL tiranne
By dragging the OL, you do not add a space, but move the space. The advantage of this is that you remove the empty space on the back of the mold and add it to the mounting point. The problem for protection here is that they have to adapt to the gaps. They usually have problems with gap manipulation in groups of zones, especially in extended formations. Gaps are gaps, and defense knows the gaps that need to be defended. By pulling the lock, let the defense adjust to the flight. Adding more gaps in a practice game makes it a little easier for the ball carrier to take advantage of the gaps left by the defense.

Of course, sometimes you even get rid of OL. It does not change anything. Dragging the OL from the outside adds two spaces from the outside, removing one space from the inside.

Insert FB
Using FB as a crime will lose your vertical threat in a passing game. To complement it, add variety to your run. Starting with LOS, it can be inserted into the FB game to add spaces throughout the LOS.

The power unit adds outer space to the playing side of the formation. Typically, a unit is an ignition unit that opens a gap in that ignition unit; Sometimes, however, the blocks fall, and Belarus can bounce. The demand is the same, but an empty space is inserted inside and outside the site.

The advantage block also adds a gap in the gameplay, but now it's in format. Typically, this causes the LB to adjust in flight to protect the gaps. Of course, before the game they do not know where the gap in the formation will go.

In the case of separation zone E, an empty space is added to the background formation. In this case, the defensive back makes it difficult to enter the game and closes other internal gaps, which opens the incision of the Republic of Belarus.

power over
Games like Power O (or Counter F / H ) turn the empty square toward the mounting point and add an extra block to the game. Basically, the playground adds two spots to the snap. The defense must, of course, be brought to court for reflection.

Closure
Each style has its notable strengths. Expanded formations create larger spaces by displacing and forcing defenses to cover the space; However, they do not support a wide range of games during runtime, as there are fewer blockers to work with, and external acoustic protection can create two gaps in most external gaps. Formations with FB can insert spaces anywhere in the LOS; The downside is that you lose the vertical threat, and from the LOS you have to defeat the defender to the point (or he can start making two holes or walls, like the formations scattered outside). Headquarters with 12 identify the best gaps in the front tie, and two gaps in defense make it difficult to penetrate the LOS for most attacking players; However, as in extended formations, it is more difficult to hold different running matches, and you are usually forced to play in narrower places because you do not have blockers to stretch the playing field more horizontally.

So they all have their strengths, they all struggle to defend, and they can all be used to advantage in the offense. But ultimately, because defense plays football, it can block any attack.

Inside the Playbook: Michigan's Use of Multiple FBs and Additional Gaps

I have already talked about space discipline , I focused on part of the article on how to drag and drop LOs into the FB mix. These things are hard to defend because they have to adapt quickly to ever-changing responsibilities. Drag OL adds spaces to the attack point, և FB can be placed anywhere along the LOS to add spaces; The protection must be adjusted after pressing these new vulnerabilities. Jim Harbo likes to use it to his advantage. Adding loopholes to the game plan makes the defense think, hesitate, and when they do, their strength-based attack can start closing yards. Also, as more and more teams focus on building attacking space (although this is starting to revert to denser people structures / gap planes as everything in football is cyclical) , the defenders are not so happy. For reliable performance (as Spielman has repeatedly said over the past few weeks).

The downside is that it provides protective "switches", especially for LBs who often learn to read from OG to FB. Usually OL pull takes you to play, և often FB takes you to play. attack, you don't want to risk pulling OL, what can you do? The answer is more twists. let's look

FB Main Blocks
Michigan will use their FB slot with a few standard horses. from the previous article

Enter FB:
Using FB as an attack will miss one of the scrolling game's vertical threats. To compensate, you can multiply your miles. From LOS, FB can be included in the game to add gaps along the LOS.

The power unit in the cast is added open from the outside next to the game. Usually a block is a percussion block; և it opens the space inside this percussion block; But sometimes the unit leans inwards, և RB can jump. The essence is the same, next to the game է it is inserted from the outside.

The ball is out of play. This usually forces the LB to steal to protect gaps. Of course, before the draw, they do not know where the place will be included.

In the case of a split area, a tear is added to the part with the tape. In this case, it will be difficult to collapse the back of the defense in the game, fill other internal gaps, as well as open the way for Belarus.

So you actually have two instances where FB defends in play, one when he leaves play և he can be placed anywhere along the LOS (obviously he can drive the block to the weak side of the circle). . This all leads to Michigan's main game.

on the power
Games like Power O (or F/H counterattack ) turn the gap into an attack point և insert an extra lock next to the game. Basically the game side adds up these two periods after pressing C և D :. The defense must of course be able to explain themselves after the shot.

These are two new gaps in the point of attack that give the ball player a very good option when he gets there.

Blog:

But removing OG is kind of a defense cue. How to reconcile the Split Zone և Iso threat, mainly using Power O? Shoot bullets.

power cord
Power Lead is the same as Power O, except instead of firing OG, you replace the pull unit with something that actually pulls FB. This “attractive Facebook” is a “bullet blocker”. Does that make sense? Ehh, let's just say I've seen better.

Note that the gap settings are exactly the same. In the game, the first FB has an effect lock, and the second goes through the C space. We are now watching it live.

Same game, different keys.

Traps և kicks

Of course, some of Harbo's favorite things are traps and hits . Again, basically the same thing, but one trap blocks DL with OL, the other with FB, և both add an extra gap, this time to the old B gap. (Note below: purple legend indicates that the space disappears because the eyebrow protrudes, leaving only one space in this area)

From the video (note that the FB input itself is where the OG push is coming from, so the B gap is preserved)

և in one fell swoop

Look at the match, FB (here, H-back) sets as a barrier trap, pushes back DT (while OG keeps typical block space).

bullet trap և punch
But what if we still want to isolate LB by blocking lead? No problem. You can always set traps, hit, always have bullet blocks. The only difference is which is the DT blocking trap.

Watch the Wham Balls video.

Traps և Strikes with external influence
Oh, but you don't take hitting people, it'll be so easy. Sometimes you might even want to influence the defense by involving line workers and intending to run with them. The "effect" here is that the defense interacts with the shooting blocker, effectively taking them out of play.

Here is the T ice cream.

Here is the standard lever trap, the defense must respond to the first T, which comes out often.

And, of course, you can do the same with a precursor.

Rear Impact Strike:
But since Power O is the main game, it's often the reverse game (remove the OG, then close the DT on the firing OG). Pull OG, watch the defense try to get to the offensive spot first, so the offensive spot is exactly where it was just released.

և video:

Jim Light

Ah, shit, affect everything

Let's get crazy, hit the t-balls, hit the trap, hit the game.

Sometimes you overestimate yourself a little, but in any case, it's a fairly normal guy who blocked the impact with a key block (TE tries to enter through the hole).

Leading force O.

But why stop by adding breaks to the point of attack? Why not two FB և microphones? Yes, the power of lead O.

While Harba will hold him (note Belarus's little countermeasure, which is done simply to give blockers time to cross), ISU holds him against Baylor.

No, it's not just a war, it just shows the strength of such a concept.

double

Michigan will close the person/gap through LOS և run dual iso:FB will separate the two ILBs. The bottom line here is that the FB must react faster than the ILB և meet them at level 2, firmly և responsibly, before the defense can respond և. It's a challenge for LB, especially if it's a sudden change from every other game I've played.

Conclusion :

The expansion of the sphere is wonderful և has advantages. Additionally, using the linear TE և H side section of the back. Everyone forces the defense to defend on both sides և vertically. But only on FB you can have different games running. FB can be placed anywhere in LOS, and using both allows you to check OL or not check OL and still use your entire game. It's a ride I've enjoyed since a long time, I like to use FB և H-Back with this egg because ultimately it makes the defense think. And when the defense thinks, և the attack hits his head, the game continues, և nothing can stop him.

Film Review: How MSU Defends Power O

The main running game in Michigan is Power O. For the past half century , MSU has specialized in stopping professional assault attacks and thus stopping Power O from running. It got to the point where Stanford during the 2014 Rose Bowl rarely tried to make a more standard game. . In this post, we want to explore what is so effective against Power O execution.

Bases for 4 MSU coverage plan

Moscow State University - 4-3 more, Cover Team 4 . The configuration looks like this.

Speaking about how LB was supposed to play, Narduzi joked about how he played. Narduzi, as well as his teammates and the LB sub-athlete, did not have time to read. Instead, he had to take the key and go to the show with speed and fury. That's the main thinking here, although LB MSU isn't what I'd call lightweight and athletic.

The seven best ISUs form a wall. The whole purpose of the defense is to play everything backwards. "Use football", "force resignation" and "trust your teammates to unite". This means that no LB should leave the game. "The worst place on the football field is behind the ball." The DL will also push and break to form a pile of bodies in midfield to make it bounce. The rebound is where the next LBs land and where security measures need to be taken.

On the contrary, it is so difficult to carry out such an attempt against the Spartans as Force O.

Triangles DL

Let's start with the defensive line, that is, the D-line keys that help them get into position to complete the game at the point of attack.

Let's start with NT. 1-Tech will read from the outer low exhaust port, back to back (FB or Single Back) to the inner far exhaust port. Anyone who falls into this triangle needs to be read.

Why do it? Well, think of it like this:

1. If the middle and far OG are blocking and pulling the near OG, you know to push back to try and close the gaps for Force O.

2. If the nearest OG and the center group block and push the far OG, you know that you will have to fight the nearest OG to try and cut off Force O's oncoming run.

3. When OG's mid and near zones are locked down, you know you're sticking to the double and keeping your distance.

And you can go on and on. He clicks on reading RB and then takes into account all the possible concepts of hits and traps, allowing his NT to connect with his A-gap.

The same philosophy will work elsewhere.

3-Tech will read the center of the near shoulder, select the near far shoulder, and back to the RB. Anyone who enters this triangle should read it.

The 5-Tech DE will read the outside shoulder from middle old to the center outside shoulder, back to the RB, which lines up behind the QB. She now has a 5-Tech visual cue in front of her. Must withstand external influences on OT. If the OT attempts to reach him, he must keep his outside hand free and secure it. If OT is blocking, he should look for players who shoot or run/hit the screens. It will print until it reads, and then any blockers that attack it. More on this later.

Now 9-Tech DE will have almost the same triangle, only it goes to TE. Count the outer arm TE to the center of the far arm and back to RB. And everyone who enters his triangle needs a key.

Here is a short video about the journey, but it explains in detail.

LB keys

LB will have its own reading triangle. They are going to read PR between them and Belarus. For two OLBs, Money (SAM) and Star (SAA) with MSU protection, they will read AG when they are in the queue or read EMOL when they are at the front of the queue. . The third point of this triangle is football (essentially QB), and this is how they determine, along with the reaction of their first two keys (OL, then RB), their run or pass. Like DL, they read everyone they meet along the way. To draw players, add spaces and you have to take this into account to see them with your own eyes.

MIKE will make similar readings but will also be able to test OG on your peripherals. Again, if someone crosses your line of sight, you must follow them to fill in the extra space.

defensive power

Now let's take each player's responsibility to protect Power O.

9 characters

Again, pay attention to the triangular DL keys, this will be important. For 9-Tech DE, read from the outermost arm of the TE to the farthest arm of the center, back to the RB. The power of O comes to him.

The first visual clue he has is a TE blocking him. Right at the moment of pressing, DE will remain at LOS level, but his eyes should look inward and look for FB or OG approaching him. Once you find the blockers that are in your way, it's your job to collect them. If a blocker approaches you, you must attack him. If two blockers come over to your side, your goal is to disable them both. To do this, you will use the purl hand technique .

However, it is clear that he must deal with the first blocker first. To do this you are going to work on the LOS, take your outside hand and pierce it through the inside arm of the FB, bring it in to prevent it from falling or going through the FB area and a bunch of bodies in general.

The goal here is to be able to fight inside the FB and then also in the OG extraction, forcing the offender to use two blockers per defender. By occupying blocks, the defense can restore the numerical advantage over the game. In the worst case, you are forcing the OG shooter to gain depth, which slows down the RB, hoping that the OG will move away from it, allowing the defense to continue and end the game.

3 characters

In this game, 3-Tech will face a double team. Both the OT (disk drive) and OG sides of the game (rear drive) will try to combine all 3 technologies and get back to the LB behind. The task of Tech 3 is to crouch and tear the outside arm up and down. Breaking through the outside arm between two blockers, he remains skinny, exposing his shoulder, in front of the blocker who tries to block him, allowing him to look down into the defensive zone. Now moving harder, the combo unit must decide if they want to keep the combo or settle for not moving at the point of attack.

If 3-Tech makes a good game, it can raise the tractor or at least increase the depth (slow down the run again or make it easier for everyone else). Worst case scenario, you need to stay alone and fight the OT unit, keeping the B space in charge and closing the C gap between your work and 9-tech work.

1 character

The NT will feel that the Center is blocking it, and will see that the OG is moving away from it. Once he sees this, he wants to stay in line with the VOC, but wants to go through the center block and leave his outside hand free.

If he struggles with a block in the post, he can return to the game, but this will increase the gap on the A side, potentially threatening the RB. By working to clear the screen, he closes the gap in the player, leaving the outside hand free to account for his A-space.

5 characters

The rear DE just clicks and bounces in play. When AG moves away from it, there is no gap B. Between him and NT they can both take place at the end of the part. This allows LB to complete the game.

Money (SAM)

Money LB Fix Tech 9. We discussed how inserting FB and extracting OG add additional security holes on the player's side. Tech 9 is trying to eliminate two players in the game in order to reduce the gaps that the defense on the player's side has to contend with. To do this, enter the block with FB feet. If there is space D outside TE, then the OG survey adds an additional space there, which we will call C2. In addition, FB hit blocking adds another gap on the player side outside of TE and outside of OG shooting, a gap we'll call D2.

With the wrong armament of the FB and the destruction of the attraction, GO Technology 9 can protect cracks C2 and D1. This leaves space D2 unoccupied. Therefore, this responsibility lies with LB money.

LB money flows through the OG side back to RB read. RB walks up to him and takes a step to read and then O.G. is about to cross his line of sight, which will give him the key he needs to attack. LB wants to move fast and straight. It will press the blade against the EMOL as hard as possible without leaving any gaps. This forces everyone back to the extra guards (oil pouring guards) and gives them leverage.

MICHAEL

MIKE will read the ball, and in his field of vision, he will see a pretty aha. At this point, you want to attack down and get to the point of attack. You want to get as close as possible to the TE to the point of attack.

Now sometimes tech 9 doesn't make a good play and chooses two blockers for one play. This is good. Let's say he raises FB. This reduces the D2 gap. The LB money will take care of the D3 gap. What remains is the space D1 and the space C, in which there are no bodies. But those gaps are filled with wrong 9-tech weapons and 3-tech gameplay. Thus, MIKE's filling will initially occupy the TE area, since he is simply trying to form a wall at the point of attack.

Star (SOL)

If the LB Star reads well, he may try to “shoot a hole” which will evacuate the throwing OG. There are only two locks in the back and getting behind OT and avoiding a shot from LB is very difficult. If you see your key right away, you can attack and track the game from behind and get TFL.

If you don't get the key right away, no problem. He will work overtime and work to fill the void in the A-side game.

what are you doing

Form a pile of bodies and a wall at the attack site. Express any gap by shaping it in a bottleneck, and never let the game develop or extra space become significant.

Resist the wrong hand

There are several ways to counter 9-Tech's wrong hand technique. First, he can make up for his FB after the game, thereby quickly pushing himself to the limit and keeping that gap large enough for the OG curve to pick up the game from the doubles team and hand over to LB, who is now forced to play head-to-head. inside fb.

Some teams go so far as to disable DE when he is fast charging because he can't handle the punch of his poor hand technique.

In addition to FB compensation, you can set up your schema to treat your FB as H-back. By that I mean that you are essentially using FB to unblock. Whether you're aligning the FB in wing position or just aiming for the DE's outer arm, flip it over and seal depending on placement and alignment. When you do this, you need to meet the DE as close to LOS as possible so that you can ride it in LOS. This allows the AG to get out of that unit by force without losing ground.

If you line up at the wing position, the added benefit is that you can also expand the DE if you use H-back and FB, FB can now find you before entering. But most of the time it will stay in the space between the fuel tank and the wing, and the center section will roll to the edge. CB is less of a threat to the success of the wrong hand.

Another thing you can try is the G lead pattern, or some kind of pin-and-pull pattern. This will give the same front view (TE and OT game blocks are down, FBs are down), but the goal is to get out as quickly as possible. So OG can be a block sealing DE inside and FB now acts as a BOSS block and goes directly to SS. Poor hand technique actually takes DE out of the game.

Or you can run G to try and get a short trap for DE before it can read the path.

Finally, you can influence Wham. I was talking about the rear NT trying to squeeze space out of the playing side A. The intruder can still pull the rear OG, he can still pull the front OG or OT. All of these traits are designed to affect defense, LB and DL. LB connect them to force O or lead G and move in that direction. DL also has an effect. An NT who is trying to increase what he thinks is gap on side A simply increases gap B. The punching block again adds gap B to the game, and an opportunity to attack becomes available.

Inside the Playbook: Michigan Offense Reaction to Pursuit with False Keys

We discussed earlier how teams like Michigan and MSU blockers play . In both schemes, the keys can be reduced to take advantage of the numbers the attacker is trying to get at the point of attack. This is done by leaking from the back layer of the LB or by placing wicks in the filling. When teams are interested in shooting OLs, they start diagnosing plays faster and using attack. This is where the criminal can start working to get these keys, or use the move as a fake key. Let's see how this is resolved in the Michigan decision.

Patrick Semansky / AP

DO NOT SMOKE
Let's start with a simple task not to shoot the player. It provides less than one key to protection. Now it seems simple, of course there is no zone, no iso, no main game and no key. What if you want to keep the priority of the numbers provided by the lock key but do not want to give the key? It can help to move a lot of turns here.

This is what I call Power F in Michigan. In essence, the FB serves as a shield and the H-back serves as a ejection element (note that the cells below are the same cells as during power play.

It should be noted that the LB game in this game makes a wrong move and then attacks the "blocker" with the wrong shoulder, which reveals a twist in defense. Similarly, the back of the LB is hooked rather than shaped.

Fold the block
This is something that is not used criminally in modern football: a folding block. I have not actually seen Harbaugh use this tactic yet, but I want to talk about it because I like it a lot. The flexible block is used to improve the blocking angles for the OL, allowing the OL to be a leading blocker similar to the FB. If you have OL with good legs, it can be fatal. You can also use it as a Power Confrontation game.

Here, instead of attacking the "front" LB, the blocking shooter will actually try to attack the back LB and the front will be out of play. in the middle, which can sometimes be difficult for the middle when QB is below the middle, so the RB should allow play. Evolve forward to land on the slides).

This game probably works best with a very open (low) power team, as shown in the two diagrams below.

You can also use it as a "G" game with FB or RB (even if it is before)

Although not in Michigan, former Toledo coach (now Iowa coach) Matt Campbell practices a mid-level with a choice of play-by-play (both open and closed).

Ian Boyd talked about it here .

Affects the Whams
The new scheme of modern football is the Wham block. What is not yet seen in most teams are shock traps and blows. The impact trap forces the front of the guard to overtake the outside, but locking behind will still keep players behind. Therefore, we will retain it and focus on the impact of wham.

Here you draw two OLs, one gives a forward feint, the other gives a counter-feint and lets the defense respond where the game actually happened. X-back then destroys the defender and covers one of the guards. Not only does the DL flow in the wrong direction, it tries to push through a hole for the strippers, but also the LB starts flowing in the wrong direction.

Protective cover - cut out
Of course, you can always focus on reducing the RP when chasing. If the back LB goes down the coil and RB commits to play in front row before entering LOS, RB can see if there is still a ball left and cut the winning ball for a good win from behind. .

Although it is not the same, the trap game works the same way. Instead of blocking defense from behind, he blocks it from the front when he attacks.

Pull the guard - play action
A wise coach once said to me : “If you really want to move, kill the goalkeeper.

It works to get the LB out of traps and lower areas. It is also very effective in fooling guards involved in attacks or forcing them to lose their place on the battlefield. Harbaugh has always benefited from teams trying to actively use security measures in their competitions.

And here's a good example of a guard that causes freeze guard and WR to follow (wait again).

Traction protection - Do not pull
Or, of course, you can still perform the download operation. This game was completely developed by QB Keeper. Michigan's defense is overloading the striker so they still have a free kick, but he uses a bad angle as he expects RB to fall behind in the game. More importantly, look what he is doing with the ILB, it is going to deteriorate the ILB against the authorities.

Results

Michigan aims to release the blockers, which is a key aspect of their crimes. They like to have extra bodies at the point of attack. However, the defense will use these hits as a signal to pull the defenders to the point of attack. The key for them is to find a balance so that the defense can play fair. By having a standard kick (power, counter-attack, trap) on these counter-attacks, you give the defense a bit of wave and respect to run or move from behind. Power slips down, which can go a long way to success.