OUR FIVE-SPOKE PASS DEFENSE
The 5-spoke or 3-deep, as it is commonly referred to at times, is a very sound defense in the secondary. Let me explain exactly what I mean by a 5-spoke defense. We compare the perimeter of our defensive secondary to one-half of a wheel, which may have 5 spokes or 4 spokes. The principles are basically the same, as you will see shortly. I shall discuss the 5-spoke defense first, however.
[Figure 46] illustrates our 5-spoke defense. At the end of each of the imaginary spokes is a defender. The distance between the defenders depends on their individual ability. The spokes can be lengthened or shortened, but they should not be brought closer together or there will be a vulnerable area in the defensive secondary, as will be illustrated shortly. When the spokes of the wheel are lengthened, the players automatically become farther apart, depending upon the distance of the defenders from the football.
Figure 46
As illustrated in [Figure 46], there are defensive men stationed at the ends of the spokes at points 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The defensive end located at 1 is able to cover the area from point F to A; the halfback at point 2 can cover the area from A to B; the safety at point 3 can cover the area from B to C; the halfback at point 4 covers C to D; and the end at point 5 can cover the area from D to E. If the length of the spokes is decreased, the area to be covered will not be as great. Conversely, the longer the spokes, the greater the area to be covered by the defensive secondary. If we stretch a wire from F to A to B to C to D to E, the area enclosed will represent the space in which we should be able to contain our opponents, as illustrated in [Figure 46].
We want our players to assume that the half-wheel will revolve clockwise and counter-clockwise, but the defenders must always remain at their points at the end of the spokes keeping the same relative distance from each other in order for the defense to be sound. If the offensive team runs to their left, the wheel should revolve to our right, counter-clockwise, as illustrated in [Figure 47]. It would be just the opposite if the play were run to our left—revolve clockwise. If it were a running play up-the-middle, the spokes of the wheel would be shortened as the defensive men would converge on the ball carrier, keeping their same proportionate relationship to each other.
Figure 47
[Figure 48] illustrates a vulnerable area in the defensive secondary as the result of the safety man being out of position versus a back up pass. His course should be straight back, covering the deep middle zone, so that he is approximately equidistant from his halfbacks. Should the error occur, as illustrated in [Figure 48], our pass defense will not be sound.
Figure 48
The length of the spokes will be determined by the distance of the defenders from the passer. As an example, if the passer goes back to throw off of a drop back action, the spokes would stretch proportionately. The defenders would have time to cover more distance if the passer is attempting to throw deep because the ball must remain in the air longer in order to reach its receiver. Conversely, if the passer attempts to throw a quick pass from only a yard or so off the line of scrimmage, the receivers will not have time to get deep, consequently the length of the spokes will not be lengthened but will be shortened proportionately as the defenders converge on the ball as it is thrown.
[Figure 49] illustrates the initial depth and width of the ends and the 3-deep secondary in the 5-spoke defensive alignment when the ball is in the middle of the field between the hash marks.
Figure 49
[Figure 50] illustrates the width and depth of the ends and the 3-deep secondary in the 5-spoke alignment when the opposition has the football on the defensive right hash mark and the wide side of the field is to our left. It would be just the opposite if we were on the defensive left hash mark and the wide side of the field was to our right.
Figure 50
Keys for the 5-Spoke Defenders
Our 5-spoke defenders key as follows:
Ends—Our defensive ends look through the tail of the offensive ends and read the whole backfield, especially the back nearest to the defensive end.
Halfbacks—They look through the offensive end to their side and read the whole backfield. It is very important that the halfbacks know at all times where the football is; consequently, they should watch the quarterback closely.
Safety—The safety looks through the center, reading the quarterback and the whole offensive backfield. He, too, must know where the football is at all times.
Linebackers—They line up on the tackle or guard, depending upon the particular front alignment we are employing at the time, and read the man in front of them. They should watch the entire backfield, too.
[Figure 51] illustrates the positions and keys of the linebackers and the 5-spoke defenders.
Figure 51
Dividing the Areas
We divide the areas in our defensive secondary into four short one-quarters and three deep one-thirds. The short one-quarters are covered by the ends and linebackers, and the halfbacks and safety cover the three deep thirds, as illustrated in [Figure 52].
Figure 52
Our short one-quarter areas extend back 16 yards from the line of scrimmage because we are trying to force the passer to throw the football higher to his receivers behind our front line. We think that our linebackers can get back approximately 12-14 yards, but we always tell them we want them to cover 16 yards so they will hustle and work hard to get depth on their pass coverage. If we said only 12 yards, they might only get back to a depth of 10-12 yards, which would not be sufficiently deep to cover their zones.
If our inside linebackers drop back 16 yards and our corner linebackers drop to 8 yards, if all four of these defenders are in a football position and ready to move, they should be able to touch any ball that is thrown in this area. There may be a ball thrown in front of our linebackers, but a completed pass in this area normally will not defeat us. We believe if the passer goes back seven or eight yards, and our rushers can make him release the ball at a higher angle over their extended arms and fingers, it will be difficult for the passer to throw in front of the linebackers. Consequently if they hustle and get to the depth I have indicated, they should be in a good position to intercept any ball thrown into their zone. We instruct our men in the short “fourths” to tip the ball when possible, providing they cannot intercept it, as one of our deep backs is likely to intercept a deflected pass. Incidentally, at times we will not have a defender in every “fourth,” or only two of the “fourths” will be covered. At other times we’ll have an extra man in one of the “fourths.”
After our linebackers get back to their positions, we want them to assume a relaxed position with the feet almost together, knees slightly bent, and ready to move in the direction indicated by their keys. We adopted this stance after making a study of Jackie Robinson’s relaxed and always ready-to-move position on the baseball field. We do not want our players to waste time and motion running in a circle getting to the football.
We can play only three men back in the deep zones. Therefore, we divide our deep zones into “thirds.” A pass should never be completed in one of the deep zones if the line rushes hard forcing the passer to release the ball higher than usual, if the 3-deep men cover their zones properly, and if they see the ball leave the passer’s hand and hustle to intercept it. Of course, teams do complete passes on us in these areas, but we do not believe it should ever happen. Each of the 3-deep men is a “guardian” of his particular area of the field, left, middle and right one-third.
The “thirds” will vary in size. As an example, if the football is over on the offensive team’s left (our right) hash mark, the defensive right halfback’s third would be smaller than the left halfback’s one-third, as illustrated in [Figure 53]. The right halfback’s one-third is smaller because of field position, and secondly because the ball has a relatively shorter distance to travel if thrown in this area of the field. Conversely, if the ball were thrown in the left halfback’s area, the ball would be in the air longer on a deep pass and both defender and receiver would have farther to go to get to the ball. Therefore, the defensive left halfback’s “third” would be larger and farther removed from the ball on the opposite hash mark.
Figure 53