Point Counterpoint - Stopping the Air Raid

Spread Stoppers - Defending the Zone Read, Bubble Screen and Four Verticals

Trying to defend the spread includes being creative and mixing defenses but pressure on the quarterback and aggressive open-field tackling are critical.

The evolution of the spread offense has defensive coordinators longing for the good old days when defending the triple option meant accounting for the fullback, quarterback and a pitch man. But these days the third option might just as easily be a wide receiver on a quick bubble screen or even a slanting wide out that can really have your defense spinning.

Welcome to the modern spread, an offense that has evolved to the point where defensive schemes are almost irrelevant. Instead, stopping a balanced, multi-faceted spread offense featuring a dynamic dual-threat quarterback is now more about versatile personnel and open-field tackling.

    But it can be done.

“The game still comes down to personnel and execution,” Mark Colyer, assistant coach at Pope John XXIII High School (NJ) and founder of the informative website Spreadoffense.com. “But trying to prepare for the spread offense during the week, especially after you’ve just played a Wing-T or Power-I team is very difficult.”

Colyer and Joe Daniel, assistant coach at Prince George (Va.) High School, talked to American Football Monthly about how to slow down what has become the most popular offensive scheme at almost every level of football, starting with three of the spread’s staple plays: the zone read, bubble screen and four-vertical routes.

Defending the Zone Read

The BCS Championship Game between Oregon and Auburn is a prime example of how scheme is overshadowed by personnel when defending the spread. All season, the Ducks and Tigers had had success running a zone read power play. This play came to the forefront after defenses began implementing a “chase-and-replace” scheme when defending the traditional zone read, during which the quarterback would read the end.

Daniel utilizes the chase-and-replace scheme out of his base 4-3 set, which often resembles a 4-2-5 against a spread offense. “We want the play-side linebacker and three down-linemen that are getting zoned to fill their gaps and force the back to bounce outside or cut back,” Daniel explained. “Then, our backside, unblocked defensive end is crucial. We want him to bend down the line of scrimmage and tackle any cutbacks by the running back. The backside linebacker then has to be ready to take the quarterback if he keeps it and comes back to him.”

To present the quarterback with different reads, Daniel will mix things up by sending the defensive end hard inside, slanting him to the B-gap and then looping the linebacker off the edge to the quarterback. Or, by sending the end straight at the quarterback and letting the linebacker play the cutback.

Daniel doesn’t want his players trying to read the quarterback and running back at the mesh point. “If they try to read it and figure out what’s happening, it’s going to slow them down,” Daniel said. Instead, he wants them to maintain their gap integrity and responsibilities for the dive or quarterback. “On that play, if you’re responsible for the quarterback, we don’t need you to figure out if he has it,” Daniel emphasized. “It’s just like if you’re playing a veer option team - you have to take away all the options. You can’t worry about whether he keeps it or not.” (See Diagrams 1 and 2).

Diagram 1: Base vs. Zone Read (DE bends on step down of OT. Will reads step down and fits tight to hip of DE for the QB).

Diagram 2: Whip Stunt vs. Zone Read (Will blitzes B gap and end loops out to handle the QB. This is a 3 under, 3 deep zone coverage).

Offenses’ answer to the chase-and-replace technique has been to read the defensive tackle instead of the defensive end and run a zone-read power play, which Auburn did so successfully with Cam Newton. “What’s happening now is offenses are not only reading the defensive end, but they’re also reading the 1-technique and the 3-technique tackles, kind of like the old veer option, where you’d read the tackles as opposed to the ends,” said Colyer. “So now you’re putting these bigger guys (tackles), who are used to being double-teamed every play, reached or slam blocked or combo blocked in a position where they’re being read.

“Imagine you have a big 3-technique, who’s 6-4, 300 pounds and worked on defeating double teams and the reach block,” Colyer continued. “So now, you’ve got two fast guys back there, saying, ‘OK, if you’re going to crash down on the mesh point, the QB is going to pull it and then we’re going block that defensive end with our tackle and let our guard get to the next level.’”

Having a dominant defensive tackle like former Auburn star Nick Fairley, of course, helps stops this play, said Colyer. “What Auburn did so successfully in the title game is just send Fairley directly at the mesh point,” said Colyer. “I don’t care what kind of offense you’re running, if the defensive line moves the line of scrimmage into your backfield, it’s going to disrupt things. I remember (Oregon coach) Chip Kelly saying afterwards that he didn’t think he’d be reading any LSU D-tackles going forward.”

Oregon opened this season against LSU and again had trouble orchestrating the zone read against the Tigers’ big defensive tackles. “Personnel trumps scheme,” Colyer emphasized again.

Defending Four Verticals

What appears to the simplest of routes – sending four receivers straight down the field – gives defenses fits. The best methods at thwarting the four verticals, according to Daniel and Colyer, is by pressuring the quarterback and disrupting the timing by re-routing the receivers.

Daniel uses a base quarters coverage, which against the spread will look like a soft Cover 2. He mixes some man and some zone coverage on the backside, the single-receiver side. He’ll also utilize a Cover 3 look, where he widens out his coverage to take away the slots to give another look. “I feel like you’re vulnerable to the four vertical routes in the Cover 3,” Daniel said. “So we don’t want to sit in it, but we do want to be able to play it and give it that look.” (See Diagram 3).

Diagram 3: Base Quarters vs. 4 Verticals ( CBs handle the #1 vertical while the safeties handle #2 vertical).

The four vertical routes cause multiple problems for a base Cover-3 team, with the three deep defenders trying to cover four receivers. Daniel doesn’t use Cover 3 often, but says the keys to defending four verticals out of it start with teaching the corners to split two receivers in their zone to the short side and favor the inside, while also being able to break to the outside receiver while the ball is in the air. The safeties need to collision and carry the No. 2 receiver and re-route it.

 “With us not being a base Cover-3 team, we really have a problem where our corners will get locked onto that No. 1 receiver,” Daniel explained. “The free safety is going to favor to one side, generally to the wide side of the field. Then, if your guys don’t do a good job of getting underneath those seam routes, one of those can open up quickly.”

For Colyer, defending the four vertical routes is all about disrupting the timing. “With any kind of vertical routes, your second-level guys have to get some kind of collision and re-route the receivers. That’s critical,” Colyer said. “If you let the receivers go with a free release without any collision, that’s where you’re going to get killed, especially if you’re in Cover 3. The alleys are just too big. That’s why they have to collision.”

Depending on the down-and-distance, Colyer will have his linebackers run with the receivers or collision them. On third-and-long, he wants his linebackers to carry the inside seam receivers. If it’s shorter, he prefers to collision the receivers with his corners and linebackers and hope that his front four gets pressure.

“You just can’t let these guys free,” Colyer emphasized. “As long as you’re re-routing those vertical routes, it throws off the timing for the QB and receiver, because 90 percent of the time when they’re practicing these four verticals, it’s a 7-on-7 situation. It’s still hard to simulate.” His linebackers, if they’re not blitzing, generally start off five or six yards off the line of scrimmage. If they are going to run with the receivers, he wants them to use more of a quick-weave backpedal rather than opening their hips and running.

Colyer believes the backpedaling helps prevent offenses from using sight adjustments. “When they see a guy open his hips to the sideline, they’re just telling their receivers to just run opposite to where he opens his hips,” Colyer said. “If you’re running full speed and you open your hips, it’s very hard. Now, if you have to plant your foot and turn, you’re going to fall down. Once you commit, when you open your hips as a linebacker, you’re really done.”

Defending the Bubble Screen

The quick screen to a wide out has become more and more popular with some teams like Clemson even adding it as a third option off a zone-read play. “We want the defensive linemen to recognize the screen, and I think that’s one of the most crucial and most difficult things to do at the high school level,” said Daniel. “We’re constantly telling our kids that, ‘you’re not that good, and he’s not that bad that he’s just going to let you go.’ So when they recognize that and retrace their steps and follow that offensive lineman that left them, that’s going to take the defensive lineman to the play.”

Linebackers, especially the inside backers with less pass responsibility, are allowed to hold a little longer on a pass read to check for the screen. Especially in zone coverage they are looking for the quarterback’s shoulder turning out to the flat. The cornerbacks need to recognize the screen quickly and jump to the outside to force the receiver back inside to where the defensive help is coming from.

When the offense uses a bunch formation, Daniel’s cornerbacks are instructed to get up on and press the point man in the bunch or diamond and pressure him. “We can use a linebacker to do that and make him in charge of forcing the play inside,” said Daniel. “He can take an outside shade and knock that guy back. That’s important for a lot of the routes that come off of that formation. The point man has to get off the ball for a lot of those routes to be successful.” (See Diagram 4).

Diagram 4: Defense vs. Bubble Screens (‘Flat’ check tells CB to read #2 and jump any route to the flat).

Open-field Tackling

In the past, teams often practiced tackling drills in tight situations, drills like the Oklahoma drill. But as the spread offense continues to evolve and forces defenses to defend the entire field, tackling in space has become much more of a priority.

At least a once a week during the season, Pope John Paul XXIII works on open-field tackling. During the preseason, they’ll work on it two to three times a week. Colyer says they use tackling pads to square off a 25-yard section of the field and have the team form two lines (offense and defense). The players start approximately 15 yards apart and run at each other, with the offensive player allowed one juke or cut.

Defenders are instructed not to get over-extended past the ball carrier’s inside hip bone, which puts them in position to handle a cutback. Would-be tacklers are to keep their heads up and eyes open, using their facemask to hit the ball carrier higher rather than lower. Somewhere around the arm-pit is a good aiming point, says Colyer.

“Once you start going lower, you start dropping your head and bad things happen,” Colyer said. “As long as your head’s up and your eyes are open, using your facemask isn’t a bad thing. Take your facemask through his armpit and then wrap up and drive through.” Colyer never wants to see his players leave their feet when making a tackle and says while that may limit the number of big hits, it also reduces the number of whiffs.

Daniel also believes open-field tackling is crucial when it comes to defending the spread, which thrives on getting athletes in space. “We work a lot on open-field tackling, especially on those weeks we’re preparing for spread teams,” said Daniel. “We stress that it doesn’t have to be pretty, but you’ve got to do whatever you can to get a hold of that guy and bring him down.”

Daniel starts out the season using a five-by-five-yard box as a tackling drill, allowing the runner one cut. Each week, as the players become more comfortable tackling space, the box expands, going from five-by-five to seven-by-seven, all the way to 12-by-12. As the box expands, the runners are given more freedom to make more moves. “We want to stress to close the gap and working lateral once they close to about three yards,” said Daniel. “Keep their eyes on the guys’ hips and don’t watch the guys’ head and not watching his feet.”

Whether you’re defending the spread’s zone read, four-vertical routes, or even the bubble screen, the ability to tackle – especially in open space – is critical as it is in defending every offense.