Oneback's Under Front Defense
Introduction
In order to be successful on defense you need to develop a philosophy. You have to know what you want to do, how you want to look, and how you want it to feel. A philosophy is like a railroad track. You have a clear cut direction in which you are going. If you start to get off track it becomes real obvious to you. If you don’t know what you want and what you are about you won’t know when you are off course. If you do realize you are off course you won’t know how to fix the problems you are having without a philosophy.
If you can’t write down your philosophy then you still have some work to do. If you don’t have a clear view of your philosophy you will be floundering all over the place. If you win, it will be pure luck. One year you will win, it will be pure luck. One year you will run a 34 defense and the next year you will run a 43 based defense. You will never get zeroed in on what is important.
What I can do is give you a basic understanding of the defense I run defense. I am not trying to sell this to you as being the best defense. What I am saying is that for me this is the defense that I know best and can make work.
I want to start out explaining the basic front end coverage. Then we’ll go over some of the more basic blitzes we run from this coverage.
The basic schematic structure to my defensive front is the under front, you may utilize this front with either the 34 or 43. Within this basic framework, each of the front seven players is responsible for a single gap along the offensive line. Inherently, this is an unforgiving discipline, because a single missed responsibility could potentially lead to a big gain by the offense; there usually isn’t any backup if we’re not considering the defensive backfield.
Advantages of the Under Defense
Man Advantage Around the Ball
Playing the under front allows the defense to always have more defenders that the offense has possible blockers. If the offense has eight possible blockers, the defense will have nine defenders close to the ball. If the offense has seven possible blockers, the defense will have eight defenders, etc. Having an extra defender around the ball is imperative, especially with the emergence of the athletic running quarterback.
Gap Control Defense
Each player is initially assigned only one gap. This gap is the one which the player is currently lined up in or over. There will not be any confusion as to which gap the defender is responsible for. From strong side to weak side the Sam is responsible for the D-gap, the end is responsible for the C-gap; the Mike is responsible for the B gap; the nose is responsible for the A gap; the Will is responsible for the A-gap; the tackle is responsible for the B-gap; and the Buck is responsible for the C-gap.
Only One Bubble
Many offensive coordinators like to attack the bubbles in a defense. Bubbles are natural holes a defense presents in their original alignment. The under front only has one bubble. The 34 defense presents two bubbles and the 43 defense presents three bubbles for an offensive coordinator to attack.
Tandems
The under defense has two adjacent outside shade players next to each other at each edge of the defense. This formation gives the defense a tremendous advantage against teams that try to get outside or try to block down and kick out.
Having two adjacent players at the outside of the defense makes it difficult for the offense to execute two reach blocks in a row to gain advantage on outside running plays such as outside zone or toss sweep.
Having two adjacent player’s means that any attempt to double and kick out can be swiftly defeated because of the proximity of the next defender. The presence of the defender makes it more difficult for the offense to run such plays as counter, lead, or power.
Highly Flexible
The under defense is highly flexible, allowing you to play with three or four down linemen. The Buck (the weak defensive end) can play in a three-point stance or a two-point stance, depending on your personnel or depending on the down and distance. This alignment also gives you more options in a substitution package if you choose to substitute.
Fast Play
The under front allows the defense to play fast when two backs are in the backfield. This alignment forces the offensive linemen to come off double-teams and combination blocks quickly.
Few adjustments
There is very little adjusting once the defense is aligned. The amount of adjusting the defense does is proportionate to how close the defenders are to the line of scrimmage, meaning that defensive backs are asked to do more adjusting than defensive linemen. Once the defensive line puts their hands to the ground, they do not move them. The only time a linebacker would have to adjust from his normal alignments is when the offense motions into a trips formation, and then only in a double-call defense. The secondary will make all the strength adjustments.
I hope that once I am done with this write-up everyone will be able to take something away and will be able to apply it towards your brand of defense.