Building a championship football team

by Paul W. Bryant

RECOGNIZING AND ATTACKING DEFENSES

When working with our quarterbacks “picking” a defense, we never tell them to attack the opposition’s weakness but merely to run away from their strength. The only time your quarterback really needs to know how to recognize a defense and its strengths and weaknesses is when he is changing plays at the line of scrimmage. Otherwise your quarterback will call specific plays in certain zones or areas according to your scouting report and game plans.

There are two basic defensive alignments, which are even and odd. If there are defensive men playing over our guards, we call this an even defense. If there are no defensive men playing over our offensive guards, we call this an odd defense.

With respect to the secondary, there are two alignments. They are 3-deep and box. If there is a safety man, it is a 3-deep secondary and an 8-man defensive front. If there is no safety man, it is a box defense and there are nine men in close proximity to the line of scrimmage, or a 9-man front.

Recognizing and Attacking an 8-Man Front

After the quarterback has determined whether the defense is odd or even, and the secondary is 3-deep or box, he should then look and determine the number of men who are playing outside of his offensive end. By doing this he can determine if the strength of the defense is inside or outside. If there are two or more men outside of his offensive end, as illustrated in [Figure 117], the strength of the defense is wide. Consequently the quarterback should run inside plays, away from the strength of the defense. As illustrated in [Figure 117], by looking through the inside and outside lanes it is easy to see these defenses are fundamentally the same.

Figure 117

You can definitely run against an 8-man front, as illustrated in [Figure 117], because by splitting properly the defense has only two men outside of the offensive ends. Consequently you can run wide. Or the defense must have four men or less inside your end, in which event you can run inside with your basic offensive attack.

The defensive team playing a gap 8 defense, as illustrated in [Figure 118], is trying to get penetration by shooting the gaps. The quarterback must recognize what the opposition is attempting to do, and he must eliminate the bad play. Consequently he should work slightly off the line of scrimmage in order to avoid being tackled before he can hand-off. The strength of the defense is inside. Consequently the quarterback must run the corners. The game situation and field position will determine which play the quarterback will call. The quarterback should never throw a counter pass or a back up pass versus the gap 8 defense because all the defenders cannot be blocked. He stands a better chance of scoring if he selects a corner pass. The block or action pass is very good because it helps to eliminate the bad play.

Figure 118

Recognizing and Attacking a 9-Man Front

If it is not a 3-deep secondary, then it is a 9-man front. All 9-man fronts are basically the same, as I have illustrated in [Figure 119].

The quarterback wants to run at the man who is isolated in the defense, and in most cases it is the defensive man over the offensive center’s area. The attack can go wide, too, but the offensive team must do an intelligent job of splitting in order to draw the defense in tight. If the offensive guards take wide splits and the defensive men move out with them, the defensive man over the center will be isolated and the quarterback can direct his attack toward the middle.

Figure 119

The corner passes versus a 9-man front, with the quarterback exercising his option of running or passing, are excellent because of the pressure exerted on the corner man. If he drops off to cover an area for the pass, the quarterback must run with the football. If he rushes to contain the passer, the short flat is open for a pass.

It is very important to teach your quarterbacks the different defenses, and the strength of each defensive alignment. As I mentioned previously, we teach the quarterbacks to run away from the strength of the various alignments. The quarterback must also be aware of the fact that he does not have to whip the entire defense, but only the weak area in the defense. If a defensive man is isolated or if there is not a defensive man on the line in a particular area, we consider this the weak part of a defensive alignment.

Playing the Game on a Blackboard

We have a number of meetings with our quarterbacks going over strategy and game situations and drilling them in the principles of quarterbacking and field generalship. It is difficult to expect a quarterback to make the correct decision at a critical time in a game unless he has been drilled to react to such a situation. With this in mind, for years I have used the procedure of having our quarterback coach and the quarterbacks play a game of football on the blackboard.

In order to explain our procedure more clearly, let’s assume it is early September and we are preparing for our opening game with the University of Georgia. We have been drilling our quarterbacks daily on the defenses we expect Georgia to use in various parts of the field. We have been drilling them on how to attack these particular defenses with our offense. With this basic information, we are now ready to work with the quarterbacks at the blackboard playing our football game.

A coach goes to the blackboard and draws a diagram of a football field, along with the defenses we expect Georgia to use on the hash mark, in the middle of the field, on the goal line, and in a short yardage situation. On the board the coach will also list the backfield personnel, so the quarterback will have an opportunity to use his men properly. To digress for a second: the quarterback uses the wrong judgment if he calls for sweeps with a slow backfield, does not employ the best blocker to block, etc. The quarterback must know his offensive personnel thoroughly.

The coach then explains to the quarterbacks, who are observing what he is writing on the blackboard, the condition of the field, wind, and the other tactical factors. It is now time to play the game with a particular quarterback.

The coach will select a quarterback and say, for example, “Georgia kicked-off to us and we returned the ball to the 25-yard line on the right hash mark.” The coach will plot the position on the diagram. The quarterback will then take into consideration the defensive alignment we expect Georgia to employ in this particular section of the field, and the quarterback must call a play accordingly. If he makes what the coach considers a good call, the coach will say, “You made four yards on the play. It is now second and six.” If the quarterback makes a bad call, the coach will say, “You lost three yards on the play,” and he will explain why the call was a poor one. If the quarterback takes too long in calling his play, he receives a five yard penalty. When the quarterback makes a very good call, the coach gives him a long gain or a touchdown.

By using this game, a quarterback can learn to call plays by anticipating defenses in areas all over the football field. He also learns to use his personnel properly. We have found this game at the blackboard has helped our quarterbacks tremendously.

While one quarterback is playing the game, the other quarterbacks are listening. If the boy at the board fails to make a first down, he must punt, and the coach appoints another quarterback to take over. After each play the coach will plot the position of the ball on the diagram, and the players learn to know which defenses to expect. We have found, with other things being equal, the quarterback who has the mental ability to sustain the ball for a long drive and a touchdown will usually be your best quarterback.

We also spend quite a bit of time going over situations. The coach will cite a specific situation, and then say, “What would you do in this situation?” The situations are usually the clutch ones, and should the quarterback select the wrong answer in the game it is likely to lose the contest. Even though you drill the quarterbacks there is no fool-proof method of making certain they will always make the right decision. The following example will illustrate my point.

Early in September during our 1959 season, our backfield coach, Phil Cutchin, was going over situations with our quarterbacks and said, “We are playing the University of Houston (our second game). We are ahead by six points. There are five minutes remaining to play. We are on our own 18-yard line. It is a first-and-10 situation, and Houston is playing a 5-4 defense. What would you do?” One quarterback said quickly, “Coach, I would throw a corner pass into the sideline.” Phil answered, “Yes, and they would intercept the pass, return it for a touchdown, kick the extra point, and we would lose the game, 7-6.” The quarterback saw his mistake and said he was glad we had gone over this particular situation.

Three weeks later the same quarterback was faced with almost the identical situation, except that we were ahead by three points. The other factors were the same as previously cited. What did the quarterback do? He threw the corner pass into the sideline, and Houston intercepted it. Fortunately Houston did not score! The point I am trying to make is your quarterbacks will still make mistakes even after you have worked with them.