A Cyclone of a Secondary

If you liked this article, here are three others just like it: 1. Troubleshooting in Man Coverage Techniques, Feb. 2002 2. Robber Coverage, Nov. 2000 3. Stop the Spread, Aug. 2001

Finding a way to stop the run has been a goal for all defenses regardless of the level. As more and more defenses employ eight and nine fronts to try to do this, the spread offense has grown in popularity. Teams such as Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Northwestern and West Virginia have turned their programs around by utilizing the spread offense. In the last few years, spread offenses have gained a lot of yards, scored tons of points and left defensive coaches scratching their head on how to slow them down. In this article, I will give you some thoughts and ideas on how we formulate our game plan to try and defend the spread here at Iowa State.

Before you can come up with a plan to try and stop the spread offense, you must first understand what it is. A spread offense generally refers to an offense that runs primarily out of a one back formation with three or four wide receivers and has the quarterback in the shotgun most of the time. They want to get more skilled players on the field to try and create mismatches. These offenses have the ability to throw the ball at anytime and also feature a one back running attack. Depending on the abilities of their quarterback, they often have some pre-determined quarterback run plays too.

The theory is that by spreading the field, the offense can see where the defense is lining up and what they can and cannot cover. The offense can see who is in position to cover the pass and who is in position to stop the run. They can choose to run or pass depending on the look the defense is giving them.

When you start to formulate your game plan to defend the spread offense, I think there are a few common principles that you should consider regardless of the type of scheme that you are running on defense:

1. Get speed on the field
2. Disguise your intent
3. Mix up your coverage’s
4. Get pressure on the QB

Matching up your defensive personnel vs. the offensive personnel is a must. Regardless of the scheme that you are running, you better have guys on the field that can run. You don’t want to get caught in a mismatch with a linebacker trying to cover a 4.4 receiver. When playing a spread offense, most of your tackles will happen in space. A better athlete is best equipped to make these tackles. With offenses spreading the field with receivers and the quarterback in the shotgun, blitzing defenders have to run a little bit further to get to the quarterback. With that in mind, you better send guys with speed so you have a chance to get there. Having players on the field that can run gives your defense a lot of flexibility. You can drop them into coverage, blitz them, or lock them up and play man.

With offenses trying to check to a run or a pass based on the look that they get, it is very important that the defense disguise their intent and hold that disguise as long as possible. You can show 2-deep and drop in and play man (see diagram 1.) or you can show man blitz and fall out and play zone (see diagram 2.). Another way you can disguise is by appearing to leave a receiver uncovered (see diagram 3.) or an inside run gap open and then fall into cover it up on the snap (see diagram 4.). Whatever you choose to do, you must change up your looks and disguise as much as possible. This will create confusion for the quarterback at the line and make his pre-snap read unclear.

Diagram 1.	Diagram 2.
Diagram 3.	Diagram 4.

You must mix up your coverage’s when playing against the spread. If you sit in soft zone coverage the whole game, you will allow the offense to attack you. You may die from a slow death, but a good offense will kill you. If you run an aggressive man coverage all the time, you increase the chances for a blown assignment or a missed tackle that can turn into a huge play because everyone is so spread out. The best defenses have the ability to mix it up and do both vs. spread offenses.

The last thing that I think is an important part to any game plan vs. the spread is having the ability to put pressure on the quarterback. Even though sacks are hard to come by vs. spread offenses, getting a big hit on the quarterback can be just as effective. When the passing game relies on timing routes, pressure on the quarterback can disrupt that timing. After a few hits, the quarterback starts thinking about who is going to hit him next and has a tendency to start getting rid of the ball faster. Mixing up zone and man pressure can further complicate things for the offense.

At Iowa State, we get a lot of practice against the spread when we go against our own offense. In the last few years our offense has done a great job of running and throwing the ball from one-back formations. This has helped our defense tremendously. When we face a team that runs the spread during the season, that last thing we want to do is install a new defense. We practice our Nickel and Dime packages vs. three and four receivers everyday.

When playing against the spread offense, you have to realize that you are going to give up some yards. Your task as a defensive coach is to try to figure out how to limit those yards, how to get some turnovers, and how to keep the offense out of the end zone. Regardless of the type of fronts, coverage’s or blitzes you run on defense, if your game plan vs. the spread includes the four elements that I have discussed in this article, I believe you have given yourself a chance to be successful.

About the author
Chris Ash

Chris Ash, formerly the defensive coordinator at Drake, joined the Iowa State coaching staff in February 2000 and works with the ISU secondary. His efforts helped Iowa State’s defenders post their best total defensive numbers in a decade last season.

In Ash’s first year as defensive coordinator at Drake, the Bulldogs won the 1998 Pioneer Conference title. Drake ranked eighth nationally in 1999 NCAA Division I-AA total defense in his second season as four Drake defenders earned all-conference honors.