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Stopping Power: Part I – Basics of the 4-2-5by: Frank DiCoccoAssistant Coach and Player Development Director, Stillman College © More from this issue Since the advent of the spread-offense, defensive coordinators at every level have been searching for a way to defend its pass-happy formations, while still being able to stop the run and gain the numbers advantage at the point-of-attack. Over the past decade, numerous schemes have been devised to stop the newest trends of offensive football. From variations of the traditional 4-3 and 3-4, to the creation of hybrid defenses like the 3-3 and 3-5, defensive signal-callers have come up with a myriad of ways to attack the spread. Perhaps the most effective approach, however, may be one which manages to employ the strengths of each of these defenses, while still being adaptable, learnable, and executable enough to be effective against virtually every style of offensive play. Enter the 4-2-5 defense. The 4-2-5 scheme gives a defense the ability to align and match-up well against spread formations, allows it to maintain box-integrity by keeping a numbers advantage near the line-of-scrimmage and point-of-attack, and provides it with a highly-flexible, easily-understandable, and personnel-friendly approach to defending multiple looks from offenses. The scheme enables defenses to effectively pressure the quarterback, maintain a stout presence against the running game, and create confusion in the minds of offensive coordinators and on-field signal-callers. It creates the potential for generating turnovers and takeaways, while reducing the likelihood of the big play from the offense. Each of these reasons, along with the relative simplicity of installing this particular brand of defense, makes the 4-2-5 scheme what many call the most effective defense in football. Basic Alignment The base alignment of the 4-2-5 is similar to the 4-4 defense, with the main differences being in personnel. Rather than two outside linebackers, the 4-2-5 employs two additional safeties. Essentially, it is a variation of the Nickel package. However, the added athleticism allows for greater flexibility and versatility in terms of both alignment and coverage. Along the defensive line, the alignment is the same as that of a traditional 4-man front. Two interior defensive tackles, aligned in a 3-technique to the strong-side and a 1-technique to the weak-side, anchor the defensive line in this particular scheme. The ends are contain players, along with outside pass rushers. There are two linebackers in the 4-2-5, with the middle linebacker (“The Mike”) aligned over B-gap to the weak-side, and the strong-side linebacker (“The Sam”) aligned in either in a stacked-look over the 3-technique, or over the B-gap to the strong-side. The backers are aligned five yards off the ball, playing what usually amounts to the outside shade of either guard. Depending on your base alignment and coverage, both a 1-safety-high or 2-safety-high look may be used. In a 1-high look, the free safety would play in the deep middle of the field, while the strong safety and weak safety (often called names like “Rover,” “Hawk,” “Bandit,” or “Joker”) can align to a slot receiver or trips formation, or can walk-up and become edge-of-the-box defenders. In a 2-high look, the weak safety is free to align to a slot receiver, to the pass-strength side, or on the edge of the box as well. Cornerback alignment in the 4-2-5 can vary, based upon coverage and call. The strong and weak safeties can be set to either the boundary/field-side or the strong or weak side of the formation, depending upon how you choose to determine alignment (See Diagrams 1-3). Diagram 1. Diagram 2. Diagram 3. Primary Objectives The 4-2-5’s strength is its capacity to adjust to multiple formations, adequately address the run, and create a myriad of confusing alignments, pressures, and coverage scenarios for offenses to deal with. It has the ability to align favorably against two-tight-end and heavy sets and also provide a strong presence against the run game, by consistently keeping at least six defenders in the box. The 4-2-5’s personnel also allows for greater flexibility in designing blitz packages and coverage schemes, along with creating an increased ability to disguise pressures and coverages. Dedrick Dodge, Stillman College’s Defensive Coordinator, finds the 4-2-5 adaptable to any offense. “It matches up extremely well to every offense we face,” said Dodge.” It is essentially a nickel defense, which allows the adjustment to various formations and personnel groupings. The strength of the defense lies in its ability to add an extra defensive back (or two) in order to create a better match-up with the 3 and 4-receiver packages that you see so often.” Neal Neathery, the Defensive Coordinator at the University of Texas-San Antonio agrees with Dodge. “When run correctly, the 4-2-5 is strong enough to stop the run, and athletic enough to counter the spread offense which has become the weapon of choice today,” said Neathery. One of the 4-2-5’s greatest strengths is that it allows you to defend all areas of the field, at all times, in both the running and passing games. Along the front four, you generally need to have only one “true” defensive lineman – this being your strong-side 3-technique – along with another defensive linemen that can also be a smaller and quicker guy, playing the weak shaded nose. At the linebacker level, the presence of four down linemen helps create an effective pass rush, while also occupying offensive linemen and helping to keep linebackers clean and free to make plays. The presence of five defensive backs behind the linebackers provides for adequate coverage in the passing game, limiting the amount of time that linebackers need to cover, and the amount of space that they need to account for in their zone-responsibilities. In the secondary, the luxury of having five defensive backs enables you to disguise coverages, roll coverages, and exchange responsibilities and allow players – especially cornerbacks – to play to their strengths and away from their weaknesses. Sky and Cloud coverage variations, along with the Robber scheme, are great ways to mix-up alignment and assignment looks, and hiding weaknesses in the defensive secondary. Among the scheme’s weaknesses is that it is often susceptible to weak-side running plays, particularly the speed-option and QB read-counter plays. However, because of the speed and athleticism of the on-field personnel, this weakness is not as pronounced as it otherwise would be in a typical 4-3 scheme. Another weakness of the 4-2-5 is that it tends to be susceptible to the 3-step and quick passing games. This can be compensated for by varying coverages to include forms of press, bump-and-run, Cloud, and Robber techniques. Another weakness is the vulnerability to crossing routes. Again, the speed of the secondary can help reduce the effectiveness of such routes, shortening the yards-after-catch on shallow-routes, digs, and drags. Perhaps the most-pronounced weakness of the 4-2-5 scheme is the size disadvantages created by a two-tight-end set (such as the Ace formation). Larger tight ends can exploit potential size advantages against nickel backs or smaller defensive backs. However, due to the number of defenders in the secondary, and the overall speed and athleticism of those defenders, tight ends will be limited to short and intermediate gains, and almost never will be able to run unchecked vertically or in the openfield. Most teams are going to face everything from spread offensive attacks to Wing-T, Double Wing, I-formation and anything else. The 4-2-5 is easy to adapt to all of these, since that 6-man box never has to change a bit. You can use a wide variety of blitzes, as well as any coverage under the sun. Simple for your guys, complex for the opponent, and adaptable to anybody. |
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