OUR SURPRISE DEFENSE
We never send our boys into a football game without trying to prepare them for every conceivable situation that might arise during the contest. We must try to anticipate every situation, and counteract with a sound defense. A situation might be very unusual, and we cannot actually defense it properly until the coach in the press box tells us exactly what the opposition is doing. Then we can work out the proper defense on the sideline and send it in. In the meantime the boys must have something they can counteract with immediately or the opposition is likely to score with its surprise offense. Consequently our signal caller will yell, “Surprise Defense,” when he sees an unusual offensive formation, and the boys will react accordingly. Our rules for covering a spread or unusual offensive alignment are as follows:
1. If one man flanks, our halfback will cover him.
2. If two men go out, our halfback and end will move out and cover them.
3. If three men go out, our halfback, tackle and end move out and cover them.
4. If four offensive men go out, we put out the halfback, end and tackle, and our linebacker goes out half-way. The alignment for the linebacker would be a yard deeper and a yard wider than he usually lines up.
5. If five men go out on the offensive team, we put out our halfback, end, tackle, linebacker half-way, and the defensive guard. If they put more than five men out, we do not change our alignment.
6. If there is any doubt about how to meet strength with strength, we start with the outside man and put a defender on every other offensive man.
7. The safety man will always play in the middle of the field or in the middle of the eligible receivers.
8. A defensive end must never be flanked by one offensive man unless he can beat the flanker through the gap and into the offensive backfield.
9. A tackle should never be flanked by two offensive men unless he can beat the nearest opponent.
10. The initial charge of the players who are left on defense is to the outside, unless there is a concentration of offensive backs. Should the latter be the case, then the defensive charge will be normal.
11. The greater the offensive team splits its line, the farther off the line of scrimmage the defenders must play.
[Figures 22-23] illustrate two examples of spread formations, and the application of our surprise defense coverage rules.
Figure 22
The first offensive man who flanks to our right ([Figure 22]), will be covered by our defensive right halfback. The second to our right will be covered by our right end. The first man flanked to our left will be covered by our offensive left halfback; the second man out, by our left end; the third flanker, by our left tackle; the fourth flanker will be covered by our left linebacker, who will move out half-way. The fifth man flanked to our left will be covered by our left guard. The remaining players will meet strength with strength. Our right guard will play on the outside shoulder of the offensive right guard, and the defensive right tackle will play on the outside shoulder of the offensive left guard, as illustrated in [Figure 22].
We instruct our defensive players to force the offensive players to come to them. We do not want our men off the line of scrimmage to penetrate, leaving gaps in the defense. We want our men to be in a good football position so they can pursue the ball quickly.
[Figure 23] illustrates another example of the application of our surprised defense rules in covering a spread offense.
Figure 23