AFM RSS Feed Follow Us on Twitter       
AMERICAN FOOTBALL MONTHLY THE #1 RESOURCE FOR FOOTBALL COACHES
ABOUT |  CONTACT |  ADVERTISE |  HELP  



   User Name    Password 
      Password Help





Article Categories


AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


High five

Mississippi State\'s five db package
© More from this issue

Click for Printer Friendly Version          

At Mississippi State, we play with five defensive back all of the time as a part of our base package. We have used this personnel grouping for the last five seasons with great success. It is our opinion that with all of the different formations and personnel groupings offensive coordinators are currently employing, it is in our best interest to be able handle these multiple and varied looks and personnel groupings with our base defensive package.

It is our philosophy that the best way to play defense is to make the offense one-dimensional (i.e. stop what they do best). For example, if a team runs the ball extremely well, then we want to force them to throw it, and vice-versa. But, we will not stop with just trying to shut down the opponent's strength. We want to be able go from one play to the next with the procedures and personnel in place that will enable us to stop the teams that run well and/or pass well. My point is that in order to stop a proficient offense, the defense must have some flexibility so as to not make mistakes that will help the offense.

We have concluded that the best way for us to prevent some of the problems encountered with today's offenses is to deploy a Five-Defensive Backs Scheme, sometimes called Nickel Defense.

When playing five defensive backs, the one question that always comes is, "what about stopping the run versus a team that is big and physical?" We believe that you can hold up against the run with five defensive backs, as well as you can with three or four backs. We believe that stopping the run is about shutting off vertical and horizontal seams. That can be done by defeating and beating blocks, or simply put, by players controlling the gap(s) they are assigned.

Whether you stop the run or not has very little to do with the personnel you employ, but stopping the run and the pass has a great deal to do with how the personnel is deployed. We believe that when you have the right people to play each position, you can be good on defense playing with five defensive backs.

A defense with five backs is generally considered a fast defense, and usually a fast defense is more capable of making plays. At MSU, we emphasize making plays, and we practice creating and capitalizing on big plays during group drills as well as team drills. While it is axiomatic, we believe that you can get exactly what you coach, and we stress big plays and turnovers each and every day. In the last five years at Mississippi State, we have scored a number of touchdowns off of interceptions, fumble recoveries, and stripped balls. In 1999, we led the country in total defense and we allowed only two running plays over 20 yards the entire year, and they were a reverse and a great run where the running back broke a number of tackles late in the game. Speed and tackling usually improve when you deploy five defensive backs that are good tacklers. This is a talent we demand in our five defensive backs.

Adjustment problems are minimized when you play with five defensive backs. When teams play a 3-4 defense or a 4-3, different formations (One-Back Sets, No-Back Sets, Slot Sets, and Unbalance Sets, etc.) can be a problem. Sometimes players get confused and, therefore, do not react quite as fast as necessary to successfully accomplish their missions. That can definitely present problems. The way we play five defensive backs eliminate most adjustments and match up problems. I'm not implying that if you play with five defensive backs you will be problem free; we simply believe that with the five backs, you will have more player-friendly adjustments in the secondary. This will eventually lead to a more productive player because it reduces the need to do too much thinking. We believe that our smart players and our smarter players perform better when knowing what to do is eliminated early.

When playing five defensive backs, it is really easy to develop a great deceptive blitz package that is both player and coach friendly. By that, I mean when you blitz one defensive back, you still have four left. With that in mind, you can still play whatever coverage you want and still remain sound. You can outflank the offense anytime you would like without changing the front. There is always a threat of a four-man side or eight rushers. It is easy for the defense to show eight-man pressure and bring only parts of the rush at the QB. This is truly a great way to create doubt and confusion for the QB or offensive coordinator.

Five defensive backs can really add things that will require the opponent's QB and entire offense to spend more time studying. I really think that five backs allows a team to overload the run with the safeties. That is what we call our DOG safeties and our free safety. It also allows us to overload the pass with DOG safeties and the free safety. This means that we have two corners that are basically playing pass all the time, and three safeties who are playing run when it is run and pass when it is pass. The key to playing five DBs is having two really good cover corners and three good safeties that can tackle well. The DBs need above average cover skills and should have some feel for rushing off the corner on the blitz.

At Mississippi State, we have some very simple rules. We never allow a linebacker or a defensive end to cover a detached receiver (i.e. outside the tackle box). We always put defensive backs on receivers and running backs. We don't rely on visual coverage to stop the ball from being completed. We stress our defensive players being playmakers who should make plays such as intercepting balls and running them back for touchdowns. And we also believe that missed tackles are the reasons teams play bad defense.

Option Drill

One drill that we do at Mississippi State that helps to defend the option. It is a team drill where we walk through, and it is an option rill. In my opinion, it is the best way to teach option responsibility. I did it when I was a High School Coach, and we do it now under Coach Dunn at MSU. (DIAGRAM)

Drop Drill

At Mississippi State, we are a three-safety team. We have the capability of being one, two, or three safeties at any time. This allows us to play and show any shell or look we prefer.

One of the group drills that we use as a training aide is what we call "pass drops." When we do this drill, we combine the DB, LB, and DE. We come together as one group. The objective is to teach the underneath and deep coverage and the importance of working as a unit. We emphasize the importance of getting aligned correctly versus basic formations. We always use cones to represent the offensive skill people, and sometimes we use a hose to represent the linemen. This drill is good for anyone that plays zone defense. It helps with basic teaching alignment assignments. It provides players with rehearsed correct behavior. It allows the defensive players to drop with emphasis strictly on the QB once they know where they are suppose to be. It becomes easier to teach them what to do. At Mississippi State, we believe that it is important to teach players where they are to be at all times on the field and where they should be in the pattern of the defense. So many times, young people make mistakes because they are not completely sure what is expected of them. We don't take anything for granted. We try and teach them everything that they need to know so they can play without confusion.

Pass drops, as we call this drill, is exceptionally important to us. This is when we teach our guys equitable distribution in the defense, underneath and deep coverage. We think this is important because it teaches everyone where everyone else is in pass defense. This is the best way to teach defensive players where their help is inside, outside, and deep.

In practice, when we use pass drops, a coach serves as the QB. He drops straight back, and sprints right, and then sprints left. The defense is instructed to mirror the actions of the QB. Emphasis for each player is put on dropping to the area that he is assigned when the QB drops straight back. Everyone has an area that they are responsible for when the QB drops straight back. For example, the corners should drop to the deep outside 1/3 of the field, free safety deep middle 1/3 of the field, and the strong safeties should drop to an area we call the Curl - this is inside the numbers about eleven yards from the side line. The LB and DE should drop inside the hash. This is about 19 yards from the outside. Also, each player has drop responsibilities for when the QB sprints out right or left and they are repetitively practiced.


Run Drill


Pass Drill(Drop Back)


Pass Drill(Sprint)






NEW BOOK!

AFM Videos Streaming Memberships Now Available Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach



















HOME
MAGAZINE
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE COLUMNISTS COACHING VIDEOS


Copyright 2024, AmericanFootballMonthly.com
All Rights Reserved