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