Building a championship football team

by Paul W. Bryant

OUR PASS COVERAGE

We normally want a man in every area on our pass coverage, unless we decide for one reason or another not to cover one of the “fourths,” as I indicated previously we sometimes do. The defender must intercept or knock down any and all passes thrown in his area. The defenders do not play man-to-man in their areas, but each man covers a zone. If he will play in the middle of his zone or area, when the ball is thrown he can go to it. If a defender plays a man instead of his zone, the decoy can take him out of his area permitting another receiver to catch the ball. Then our defense is not sound. Therefore, we stress zone coverage, and playing the ball—not the man.

Coverage of Straight Drop Back Pass

We consider a pass that is thrown from between the offensive tackle positions as a straight drop back pass, as is illustrated in [Figure 54].

Figure 54

[Figure 55] illustrates our coverage of the zones versus a straight drop back pass. The defenders’ duties and responsibilities are as follows:

Figure 55

Defensive Right End—Turns to his outside, sprints back and out to a depth of 10 yards. He then sets up and faces the passer. He covers a short one-quarter zone. When the ball is thrown, he sprints for it.

Defensive Right Linebacker—Using a cross-over step, he turns to the outside and sprints back trying to get a depth of 12-14 yards. He must set up when the passer sets up. He keeps his distance with his other linebacker to the inside. When the ball is thrown, he sprints for it.

Defensive Right Halfback—His first step is backward and outward, and he continues to go back covering his deep one-third zone. He should not get closer than eight yards to the sideline. When the ball is thrown, he sprints for it.

Defensive Safety—He should favor the wide side of the field when he retreats to cover his middle one-third zone. If no one is coming into his area, he should favor the side with two receivers out. When the ball is thrown, he sprints for it.

Defensive Left Halfback—His first step is backward and outward, and he continues to go back covering his deep one-third zone. He should never get closer than eight yards to the sideline. When the ball is thrown, he sprints for it.

Defensive Left Linebacker—He turns to his outside and sprints back, using a cross-over step, and tries to get a depth of 12-14 yards. However, he must set up when the passer stops and sets up. He keeps his distance with the linebacker to the inside. When the football is thrown, he sprints for it.

Defensive Left End—He turns to his outside and sprints backward and outward to a depth of 10 yards, and faces the passer. He covers a short one-quarter zone. When the football is thrown, he sprints for it.

Coverage of an Action Pass

[Figure 56] illustrates our coverage versus an action pass. The defenders’ duties and responsibilities are as follows:

Figure 56

Defensive Right End—He crosses the line of scrimmage and contains the passer very quickly. He must make the passer throw the football quickly. We do not want the passer to be able to hit the deep receiver.

Defensive Right Linebacker—He plays the run first. After he sees the offensive end releasing, and when he knows that a pass is developing, he sprints out and covers the flat.

Defensive Right Halfback—His first step is back and out. He starts off slowly at first, then covers faster and faster. He will cover the deep one-third of the field on his side. He must be as wide as the widest receiver, unless the receiver is within eight yards of the sideline. Then he will play an inside-out position on the receiver.

Defensive Safety—His first step would be back and out, favoring the wide side of the field. His area of responsibility is the deep one-third of the field. He must always be as deep as the deepest receiver. When the ball is thrown, he will sprint for it.

Defensive Left Halfback—His first step will be back and out when he sees the flow is going away from him. He should turn to the inside and get depth as he covers his area of responsibility, which is the deep one-third of his side of the field.

Defensive Left Linebacker—When he sees the flow going away from him, he will play the counter first, then start to pursue the football. When he sees a pass developing, he sprints back to his spot and covers the short one-quarter zone.

Pass Defense Versus Broken Backfield (Straight Drop Back Pass)

[Figure 57] illustrates our pass coverage of a straight drop back pass when the offense has a broken backfield. The defenders’ duties and responsibilities are as follows:

Figure 57

Defensive Right End—He should line up slightly wider, and he goes back to his spot about 10 yards deep. He will get a little greater width when a man is flanking him.

Defensive Right Linebacker—He should play a little looser, but still cover his spot about 12-14 yards deep.

Defensive Right Halfback—He should line up slightly wider, about one and one-half yards outside of the flank man. He will still cover his regular one-third deep zone.

Defensive Safety—He should line up in a position where he will be in the middle of the eligible receivers. He will face out, and he will cover the deep middle one-third of the field.

Defensive Left Halfback—His alignment does not change and he has the same deep one-third area.

Defensive Left Linebacker—His alignment does not change and he has the same short one-quarter area, which is about 12-14 yards deep.

Defensive Left End—His alignment and assignment does not change. He will have the same width and depth, and cover the short one-quarter area.

Pass Defense Versus Action Pass With Broken Backfield

[Figure 58] illustrates our pass coverage of an action pass (to our left) from a broken backfield. The defensive players’ duties and responsibilities are as follows:

Figure 58

Defensive Left End—He plays a little wider than usual, and he has one of two options depending upon which defense has been called. He either rushes and contains the passer quickly or he will drop off and cover the short flat area. When the latter occurs, the tackle has the outside rush and contain responsibility then in place of the defensive end.

Defensive Left Linebacker—He plays his regular position. He plays the run first, but when he sees a pass develop, he covers his short one-quarter area. If the defensive end is going to contain the passer, the linebacker will check for the run first and then cover the short flat.

Defensive Left Halfback—He lines up on the outside shoulder of the widest man and on the snap of the ball he steps back and out. He plays his regular position, and his area of responsibility is the deep one-third to his side of the field.

Defensive Safety—He lines up in the area where he will be splitting the eligible receivers. His area of responsibility is the deep middle one-third.

Defensive Right Halfback—His first step is toward his outside. As soon as he sees the flow going away from him, however, he turns and gets depth still covering the deep one-third area to his side.

Defensive Right Linebacker—He will play the counter when he sees the flow going away from him. When he sees a pass develop, he will cover his short one-quarter area.

Defensive Right End—The back who is flanked out does not alter the defensive right end’s responsibility. He will start pursuing the ball until he recognizes a pass, then he will cover his short one-quarter area.

Pass Defense Versus End Out

We cover the split end, illustrated in [Figure 59], exactly the same way that we would cover a back out. If the play is an action pass away from the end out, we would cover it as we cover a regular action pass.

Figure 59

Pass Defense Versus a Flanked Back and a Split End to Opposite Sides

[Figure 60] illustrates our defensive alignment versus a flanked back and a split end out to opposite sides. Our coverage depends on whether it is an action or a straight back pass we are defending against.

Figure 60

Versus the straight drop back pass, we cover this like our regular drop back coverage. Our ends drop off and cover their short one-quarter areas, and the linebackers cover their short one-quarter areas. The defensive halfbacks line up outside of the widest man to their side unless he is closer than six yards to the sideline. They cover their deep one-third area, always staying as deep as the deepest receiver. The defensive safety man would line up in a position splitting the eligible receivers. He faces the wide side of the field, and as the receivers come downfield he would cover the deep middle one-third of the field.

Versus the action pass, the ends play their regular defense versus a man out toward them. If the flow comes toward the end, he comes up containing the passer quickly forcing him to throw the football. The end away from the action will start his angle of pursuit through the area where the defensive safety man lined up originally. When he sees a pass develop, he tries to get back to the off-side one-third area. The defensive halfback on the side of the action covers his deep one-third area, unless he receives an oral signal from his safety man. The halfback away from the side of the action takes his steps back and out, and then sprints to a position where he can cover the off-two-thirds of the field. He must get his width and depth first. The defensive safety will start in the direction of the action, and then try to get in a position so that he can cover the deep one-third of the field. When he gets in this position, the defensive safety man gives an oral signal which releases the defensive halfback to go up and cover the short one-quarter area. If the safety cannot get in this proper position, he does not give the signal and we have two men covering the deep one-third area.