Making The 46 Package Work For You
Delaware State\'s top-rated defensive scheme
Former Defensive Coordinator, Delaware State University©
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Like most coaches across the country, we have tried
to come up with a defensive scheme that addresses our needs and
availabilities. Now, what do I mean by needs and availabilities?
Yes, we want two big 6-foot-5, 300-pound defensive tackles jamming
up the middle, men who bench press 450 pounds and can run 4.9 forties
from sideline to sideline. But, we don’t have those kinds of
monsters in the middle. What we do have are 6-foot-1, 275-pound
athletes that can run. Using the 46 Package allows us to take the
athletes that we have and get the most from them.
Diagram 1. |
First, by alignment, we have the opportunity to
use three down linemen to occupy four or five-offensive linemen.
As shown in diagram 1, our base alignment is a zero nose, 2 techniques
and 3 techniques. We feel that if we coach our front three to understand
the blocking scheme, to be very aggressive at the snap and most
importantly pursue to the ball, we will cause most offenses problems
in double-teaming and combo block packages. (See Diagram 1.)
Our nose guard or zero tackle must demand a double team at all times,
or he will be a disruptive force for our defense. By demanding a
double team, we should be able to get a linebacker through A Gap
or free scrape over the top. We never want him to trade one for
one in the run game. We tell our two 3 techs that they can never
be reached by the guard or cutoff by the backside tackle. Both 3
techs are strong B Gap players who must not give up their gaps.
When fighting the double team block, we ask him to get low and make
a pile.
Diagram 2. |
To keep our front out of those situations, we consistently
move our front. Box B shows four of our basic defensive line calls.
(See Diagram 2.)
Diagram 2 shows our strong Tom game. We ask the strong side 3 tech
to rip across the guard’s face at the snap and work to get
to the “V” of the neck of the center. At the snap, we
want zero nose to punch to center and then shuffle to the strong
side B Gap. We want him to be low with his face looking up at the
offensive lineman and we want his shoulders square to the LOS. If
the ball goes opposite of him, we want him to retrace his steps
and shuffle back down the LOS. He becomes a cutback player.
Diagram 3. |
Diagram 4. |
Diagram 5. |
Diagram 3 is the same game, just being run to the
weakside. Diagram 4 and 5 shows a little different game. Our Rip
and Liz call is designed to control the direction of the ball. On
a Rip call, all three of the linemen take an up field step to their
right with their right foot. On their second step, we want their
left foot and arm to work together as they rip across the offensive
linemen in front of them. We want them to get their helmets in the
gap where there are ripping to. They are to work to stay square
and they are not to get knocked off the LOS. They cannot allow themselves
to get reach; especially in the way we are sending them. If we guess
wrong, we want them to work back down the LOS behind the ball. So
what are we really saying? Simply put, everyone takes the next gap
over and works flat down the line to the ball. Our Liz call is the
same as our Rip call, except we are sending them to the left.
Diagram 6. |
Another look that we get from our basic package
is a wide call as shown in diagram 6. (See Diagram 6.)
Here, we align our 2 tackles up in what we call “four-eyes.”
They are aligned on the inside eye of the tackle but their gap responsibility
stays the same as when in the B Gap. At the snap, we want both tackles
to rip up the B Gap, staying square and read the blocking scheme.
We like this call against offenses that are trying to run the ball
right at us. We feel that the guard is wrong no matter which way
he blocks. If he turns out on the tackle, we will send the LB on
a natural run through and if the guard fires off up the field to
LB, we get a defensive tackle on the replacement. We also feel that
if we are closer to the offensive tackle on any down blocks, we
can play it much stronger because we have cut down the angle of
the block.
Diagram 7. |
Now switching gears, I want to talk about the most
important player on our front eight, the Sam linebacker. I’ll
give my take on why he is most important. We align him, as shown
in Box D, head to head over the TE. (See Diagram 7.)
We want his stance to a 2-point with good flex in his hips and knees.
We want his eyes on the top of the helmet of the TE. His hands should
be out in front of him, not at his sides and his elbows should be
bent and ready to punch – lock out the first movement of the
TE. This is why I feel he is most important. We ask him to lock
out the TE, not give ground and work to get his feet to the LOS.
And if run is at him, we want him to make the ball bounce outside
of him. We don’t give him a gap to defend in the run game,
but we want him to dominate the TE and fill where needed.
In the passing game, we ask Sam to cover the TE and that is when
he needs to be a special young man. We play a lot of man coverage
so Sam must be physical enough against the run and athletic enough
to cover the TE in the passing game. We have found that we have
more athletes that can play over the TE than we have defensive ends
with the ability to play 7 tech.
Diagram 8. |
We feel that the 46 Package allows us to get more
athletic players on the field. And rounding out our front is our
bullet and stud. As shown in diagram 8, the bullet and stud, who
are strong safeties, lines up 3 yards outside of the TE and weak
tackle and 2 yards off the LOS. We send both of them on a blitz
off the edge. If the ball is coming at them, they are responsible
for force. They cannot let the ball get outside of them. And on
the action away, they are responsible for bootleg and reverse.
Also, because both the bullet and stud are really defensive backs,
we are able to let them go out over No. 2 and cover him, then, we
walk the Will or Mike linebacker down to the edge. With their athletic
ability, they free us up to do many exciting things with this package.
The flexibility of this package allows us to play any formation
without the problems of substitution.
Diagram 9. |
Our second level defenders are our Mike and Will
linebackers. They align with their heels at 5 yards and they are
aligned in a 50 tech over the offensive tackle as shown in Box F.
(See Diagram 9.)
We ask the Mike and the Will to read the tackle to his near back.
Both linebackers are C gap players, but both know that the blocking
scheme by the offense may force us to use our gap cancellation rules.
If this happens, they will play the next gap over. They are responsible
for the quarterback on the option inside out. Versus a veer option
attack, Mike and Will must take the dive and then we will have to
do some other thing with our secondary athletes.
The passing game for Mike and Will is quite simple. They have the
first back to their side. If the back swings, Mike and Will must
run a 45-degree angle to pick up the back and if the back stays
in to block, we want Mike and Will to blitz to their back. The moment
that they see their back engages with one of our edge rushers, we
want Mike and Will to run to daylight.
Sometimes we hold Mike & Will and have them rob the middle for
“man beater” routes by No. 2. With the many multiple sets
used by today’s offenses, we feel that the 46 Package keeps
us from putting our linebackers in many bad match-ups. For that
reason, many times we blitz the Mike and will up the A Gap and give
the back to the stud, Sam, or the bullet. Again, with the large
number of skill athletes on the field, we have many options at our
hands.
The final piece to our package is our corners and free safeties.
Our corner must be able to play man coverage. We put a lot of pressure
on them to hold up their end of defense. We play our corners as
a base rule, 7 yards off and inside 1 yard. We try to force all
balls to be thrown to the outside. Depending on the athletic ability
of the player, we will allow him to walk down and play “press”
technique on their man. We like to tell our corner to “hold
on” because whatever is going to happen will happen fast! We
try to put a lot of pressure on offense and force their hand.
Diagram 10. |
Although we play a lot of man defense, we do throw
zone coverage into the package. We feel that the 46 Package gives
us the chance to look like Cover 1 and the options of playing Cover
2, 3, 4, and 6, which to us is quarter-quarter-half. (See Diagram
10)
The free safety is our final piece of the pie and he is very important
to our scheme. We play him 10-12 yards from the LOS. We ask him
to be the fill guy in our run defenses and a robber in our passing
defense. He must be a smart player who loves to watch film of our
opponent so that he can anticipate what’s going to happen.
He does not have to be so much of a big hitter but he must be a
solid tackler who knows when to go and when to stay back. We also
like to keep our safety in the middle of the field, so, we do not
ask him to adjust to cover any detachment by the offense. The safety
makes all of our secondary calls for motion, shifts, and any adjustments
made by the offense as well as for our defense. He is the straw
that stirs the drink for our defense.
In closing, I would like to say that in no way have I discussed
all of the features to this defense, for there are many books in
the 46 package. I wanted to show how we have adapted the package
to fit our players at Delaware State University. The 46 Package
is a fun defense. Your players will enjoy the aggressive attacking
style. And because it uses man coverage a lot, it frees our players
to just do their small part in our defense. I feel that the package
allows us to put a much faster and more athletic team on the field.
I hope some of the concepts that we use will be helpful to you.
Note: Damon Frenchers is currently the linebackers coach at Norfolk
State University.