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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Point Counterpoint - The Spread Offense vs the 4-3

by: David Purdum
© More from this issue

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The spread offense has become a potent weapon, especially in the college and high school ranks. It forces teams to defend the entire field, while also putting an offense’s best athletes in open space. But what if it’s the defense that possesses the best athletes? What if their 6-foot-1, 200-pound All-American corner continually gobbles up your 5-foot-10, 175-pound receiver? What if your offensive line and empty backfield can’t handle even just the defense’s front four? Is it time to trade in the five-wide set for two tight ends and an I formation?

No, says Mission Viejo High School head coach Bob Johnson. But adjustments have to be made when you’re facing a defense with superior athletes. The same goes for defenses facing the spread, said Duquesne head coach Jerry Schmitt. Adjustments have to be made to counter the spread offense.

Personnel, says Schmitt, is the first key to stopping the spread. A base 4-3 team, Duquesne drops to three down linemen and utilizes a nickel package when facing a team that consistently runs out of the spread formation.

Mission Viejo High School vs. Duquesne University

TALE OF THE TAPE
Bob Johnson

Head Coach Mission Viejo HS

7 year record at MVHS: 81-11
21 years-overall record: 208-75


Spread Offense

Won 7 Consecutive South Coast
League Championships

2002 California Coach of the Year
Coaches

Schools

Experience



Scheme

Power Stats

Jerry Schmitt

Head Coach Duquesne University

6 seasons as head coach (35-24)
First year at Duquesne: 7-3 (2005)


4-3

2005 MAAC Coach of the Year

Ranked #1 in Total Defense (D I-AA)

Defense intercepted 18 passes in 2005


“I’m going to make sure we have as many skilled players, outside linebackers and defensive backs in the game,” Schmitt said. But the changes in philosophy are minor.

“We don’t want to get too far away from our basic scheme (2-deep, soft shell coverage). We keep it real simple and keep the adjustments minor. We don’t want them to think, ‘Oh my gosh, here goes the spread offense,’ and then we’re all worried and back on our heels. We want to be aggressive, do what we do all the time, and then make slight adjustments that we feel are going to help us stop the spread offense.”

Personnel is also one of the first things Johnson looks at on film. He’ll search for a defense’s best secondary player as well as their most aggressive. By the time, Mission Viejo’s quarterback hits the field, he is well aware of what area of the field to stay away from and where to attack.

When a secondary is playing aggressive and jumping routes, Johnson wastes little time before going down the field.

“Well take a couple of shots early,” he said. “We’ll test that right away. Whether it’s something off a curl route that they’ve seen us throw a lot, and maybe get behind them with a second guy. [Over aggressive corners] sometimes focus in on one guy even in a zone. There’s ways to calm them down.

“But we’re not going to just attack their strengths all game,” he continued. “We’re not crazy. The quarterback knows very well where we’re looking to go with the ball and what areas and against who we want to attack.”

If Schmitt has anything to say about it, a quarterback will not be provided the luxury of thinking about where he wants to go with the football. He’ll be forced to make quick decision, usually under immense pressure. Schmitt also wants his defensive backs to play soft behind this pressure, keeping everything in front of them before rallying to the football.

“We want to force them to get rid of the ball quickly,” Schmitt said. “They’re going to be forced to throw short passes all the way down the field. That’s pretty tough to do.”

To alleviate some of that pressure off of his quarterback, Johnson has him focus on specific pre-snap reads.

“The safeties tell you about everything you need to know,” he said. “Depending on the scheme, one of the backers, usually the middle backer, will also give away some things. But all in all, it starts with the safeties.

“The safeties will tell you the coverage both pre-snap and post quicker than anybody. Whether they're high, low, cheating up, one or both, two high, one high. From there, if one is high you certainly have to peak at the corners pre-snap and see whether it's zone or man based on their alignment and their eyes.”

The middle LB, he says, also can reveal information. “Where he’s shading, what his depth is, where his eyes are” said Johnson. “More so than anything, especially when you get into the 3-by-1’s or 2-by-2 sets or even empty sets, the middle backer can tell you what’s going on underneath, who’s going to be covered up or has a chance to be.

“When your quarterback gets good with numbers and has had enough reps looking all the various defenses they can bring, you should be able to make good decisions.”

But if the defense is still able to get pressure on the quarterback and is forcing bad throws, Johnson bolsters his pass protection.

“If they’ve got a Lawrence Taylor or Jevon Kearse coming off the edge, and we simply can’t block him, then we’re going to help out with a back chipping or having our center slide to that side,” Johnson explained. “Usually, based on the alignments of the linebackers, you can see what side they’re bringing pressure from and then you can be hot off that side. If you can’t block it, then at least you want them to come from the widest part of the field. Protect inside out.”

To limit the amount of pre-snap information his defense reveals, Schmitt prefers to give consistent looks instead of trying to disguise things.

“We try to keep the safeties at a consistent depth,” he said, “so the offense can’t tell whether we’re going to play a cover-2, a quarters coverage or if we’re going to drop one of those guys down into the box. We want to hold our water so you can’t get any keys off that. The experience of a quarterback is important and will dictate how much we show and how quick we are to get to where we’ll eventually be after the snap.”

In preparing to face the spread, Schmitt focuses on what an offense does best and who the most dangerous receivers are. The Dukes’ defensive reads start with the quarterback and go through the offensive linemen.

“We’re going to take the same reads through the uncovered offensive lineman through the quarterback and obviously with the off-set back. Tendencies in scouting reports tell our guys to keep an eye out for how an offensive lineman sets or the way he comes off the football.”

Once the Dukes have pinpointed all their keys, they will then identify where the offense’s best receiver is lined up.

“We try to be as balanced as we can,” said Schmitt. “We’ll rotate coverage if we feel that there’s a receiver that can hurt us. So we may end up with a situation where we’re one-on-one on one side, but we have essentially two guys to cover their best receiver. Our defense is really basic so it’s pretty simple for us to make little adjustments for game plans during that week or even on the sideline.”

If more than one receiver is hurting him and the quarterback has gotten into a smooth rhythm, Schmitt focuses on disrupting pass patterns.

“We’ll play our 2-deep type of shell and try to disrupt their receivers with our linebackers and cornerbacks so he can’t stay in that rhythm. They’re going to have to adjust their routes and time of their pass plays.”

Here’s the Situation:
Uh-oh. You’re in a raucous atmosphere on the road and your freshman quarterback has started the game 0 for 7 with an interception. He’s been sacked twice and you’re down 7-0 early in the first quarter. You only wish he had the deer-in-headlights look. Instead, he looks like he’s already been run over by those headlights. He’s rattled. What are you going to do?

“It’s all about his head,” said Johnson, one of the nation’s foremost quarterback gurus. He has tutored the likes of Drew Brees, David Carr, Carson Palmer and Rob and Brett Johnson, his sons.

When a quarterback gets rattled, Johnson tries to avert his attention away from his arm and the pass rush. Instead, he’ll talk about something as simple as footwork.

“Even if his footwork has been great,” he said, “convince him that it’s not his arm or his head … ‘just move your feet a little bit better and be active in the pocket.

“When you’re trying to get him back on track,” Johnson said, “I’ve found the best way to do that is to not talk about his head or the defense. Talk about his feet.”

Meanwhile on the other side of the ball, defenses are licking their lips at the sight of a rattled quarterback. Schmitt will hold blitzes for just this kind of occasion. Through the week’s prep work, he will try to pinpoint where the offense’s protection is weakest.

“We hold [a blitz] to attack where we think we can beat their protections,” he said. “We’re going to try to bring some heat [when we’ve got the quarterback rattled].”

With his quarterback clearly shaken and struggling with his confidence, Johnson knows pressure is going to be coming. But he doesn’t want his QB to worry about it.

“Usually protection is what gets him rattled,” he said. “We let him know that protection is our responsibility. We tell him to, ‘feel the rush, but don’t see it. You’ll be fine; the protection will be fine. We missed a couple of guys, but we’ve got that fixed. Focus your eyes downfield and don’t look at the rush.

“Also, to pick his confidence up, the next series we want him to have some early success. Don’t make him make that down the field read or tough throw that requires long protection. Make it something quick, a flip screen, some hitches, move the chains two or three times and all of a sudden his head’s fixed.

“Too many guys start thinking, ‘Oh, he’s having a bad game. What are we going to do? They’ll force something down the field and all of a sudden you’re down three touchdowns instead of one.”





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