Defensive Formation Primer
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ScipioCowboy
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Rampage;2854010 said:
Sorry.
Just a little gallows humor.
SaltwaterServr
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A few good reads on the 3-3-5:
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7249
http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/seahawks/2009/07/16/a_closer_look_at_the_3_3_defense
The video from the article immediately above:
http://www.ehow.com/video_2287691_positioning-33-football-defense.html
This is a post of an article that no longer exists on any website, that I have archived on my home PC. The graphics were hotlinked and all of the links are dead....
In this week's class we will study the 3-3-5 stack defense that is somewhat of a new trend in college football. Several schools around the country, including West Virginia, Wake Forest, Air Force, New Mexico and BYU, are using this unorthodox scheme as their base defensive package.
It is a unique combination of an 8-man front and the standard 3-4 defense. It causes confusion for offensive football teams to attack because it is something they don't normally see on a weekly basis.
Base alignment and personnel
1. The front
The standard front for the stack defense starts with three down linemen aligned over the center and both offensive tackles. These are the only three defensive players aligned down in a 3-point stance. They must be physical and command double teams from the offensive linemen.
There are two different philosophies on how to play the defensive front in this scheme. Some teams play the defensive line head-up on the snap of the football commanding double teams, which allows the linebackers to run. In this scheme, teams need big, physical defensive linemen who will play their role. The defensive linemen do not make a lot of tackles -- their role is to keep things clean for the linebackers.
The other choice is to stunt the front, slanting and angling the defensive linemen into gaps on the snap of the football in order to get penetration. Defensive linemen need to be more athletic in this scheme. The disadvantage in this scheme is if you don't get penetration with the DLs, the linebackers are now blocked by the offensive linemen.
2. The linebackers
The stack defense is played with three linebackers on the field at all times. The middle linebacker is aligned stacked directly behind the noseguard, while the outside linebackers are aligned stacked behind the defensive ends. Because of this stack alignment, it is not only confusing for the offensive linemen, but it is also difficult for them to get to the linebackers.
The linebackers can either play a straight-up technique reading the offensive backs on the snap of the football or they can create confusion by plugging a predetermined gap on the snap.
3. Strong safeties
The secondary plays with five defensive backs on the field at all times. The key position in the defense are the strong safeties. They must be able to be a combination defensive back and linebacker and are asked to do a lot of different things. Their base responsibility is the flat or shallow area of the field extending to the sidelines. Many times strong safeties will be asked to blitz, play man-to-man coverage and even defend a deep half or quarter of the field.
3. The deep secondary
The remaining members of the secondary are the corners and the free safety. The corner's role is primarily pass coverage, playing the outside third of the field or man-to-man. The free safety plays the deep middle third of the field and must also be a great tackler.
Base alignment - 8-man front
As you can see, the stack defense, simply by alignment is in an 8-man front configuration. This allows the defense to outnumber the offense as the defense has eight defenders in the box and the offense only has seven blockers. The strong safeties are counted as being in the box due to their positioning close enough to the formation to defend the run. For the offense, the quarterback and the back that receives the ball are not potential blockers.
Base coverage
The base coverage is a 3-deep zone with the corners and free safety playing deep thirds. There are five underneath zone defenders, so it provides maximum pass coverage. In this scheme, eight defenders are allocated to play the pass and only three to rush the passer.
Adding rushers
The beauty of the 3-3-5 is that the offense must account for all the linebackers to be potential rushers on every snap. If any one of the linebacker blitzes, you still have four remaining underneath zone players. With three deep secondary players and four underneath, you still have a sound pass defense, and also have the added flexibility of being able to rush a linebacker.
Blitz package
Because of the normal alignment of the strong safeties close to the line of scrimmage, this is a great blitz package defense. Obviously with eight men lined up close to the box, all are in great position to blitz. It also helps that the defense is completely balanced, which allows blitzing from either side of the offensive formation equally. The offense must account for four rushers to either side of their formation every time the ball is snapped.
Advantages of the 3-3-5
1. It can be played with smaller personnel because the base defense is played with only three down linemen on the field. The linebackers are protected by the stack alignment and can also be undersized.
2. Because the 3-3-5 stack defense is different and not used by many schools as a base defense, offenses have only one week to prepare for it. The blocking rules, particularly for pass protection, are completely different to what you see against a normal defensive front with four down lineman.
3. It causes problems in pass protection because offenses can't predetermine who the fourth rusher will be. Any of the linebackers can rush at any time. Against a normal 4-down defensive line, the fourth rusher is already determined for the offense.
4. Because the defense is totally balanced, there is no pre-snap read for the quarterback. Usually defenses are shaded or cheated to one particular side of the offensive formation. This gives the quarterback, as well as the offensive lineman, a predetermined snap read.
5. There is a lot of flexibility in the stack defense because it already has five defensive backs in the game at one time. This means the defense doesn't have to go to a nickel package on passing downs. The fifth defensive back is already in the game. With three linebackers and five defensive backs, the defense also has the flexibility to drop all eight into pass coverage or blitz all eight.
Disadvantages of the 3-3-5
One of the potential weaknesses of this defense is that with only three down linemen in the game, there are two soft spots over the guards. In other words, two offensive linemen are uncovered. In a normal 4-down defense, there is only one soft spot or bubble. Even though linebackers are stepping up to fill those gaps, they are still linebackers. The defense can be a little soft against the run due to the lack of big, anchor players.
Conclusion
The 3-3-5 defense is an interesting new scheme in college football. Within the system, there are different philosophies on how to play it. Depending on personnel, you can blitz, stunt or play straight up. The beauty of the scheme is that the defense can either blitz eight or drop eight at any time. Because it is balanced, it is a great blitz defense, enabling a blitz from either side of the offensive formation. With five defensive backs and three linebackers on the field, it provides the defense with a lot of team speed. Like all schemes, though, it is not so much what you play, but how you play it that determines your success.
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7249
http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/seahawks/2009/07/16/a_closer_look_at_the_3_3_defense
The video from the article immediately above:
http://www.ehow.com/video_2287691_positioning-33-football-defense.html
This is a post of an article that no longer exists on any website, that I have archived on my home PC. The graphics were hotlinked and all of the links are dead....
In this week's class we will study the 3-3-5 stack defense that is somewhat of a new trend in college football. Several schools around the country, including West Virginia, Wake Forest, Air Force, New Mexico and BYU, are using this unorthodox scheme as their base defensive package.
It is a unique combination of an 8-man front and the standard 3-4 defense. It causes confusion for offensive football teams to attack because it is something they don't normally see on a weekly basis.
Base alignment and personnel
1. The front
The standard front for the stack defense starts with three down linemen aligned over the center and both offensive tackles. These are the only three defensive players aligned down in a 3-point stance. They must be physical and command double teams from the offensive linemen.
There are two different philosophies on how to play the defensive front in this scheme. Some teams play the defensive line head-up on the snap of the football commanding double teams, which allows the linebackers to run. In this scheme, teams need big, physical defensive linemen who will play their role. The defensive linemen do not make a lot of tackles -- their role is to keep things clean for the linebackers.
The other choice is to stunt the front, slanting and angling the defensive linemen into gaps on the snap of the football in order to get penetration. Defensive linemen need to be more athletic in this scheme. The disadvantage in this scheme is if you don't get penetration with the DLs, the linebackers are now blocked by the offensive linemen.
2. The linebackers
The stack defense is played with three linebackers on the field at all times. The middle linebacker is aligned stacked directly behind the noseguard, while the outside linebackers are aligned stacked behind the defensive ends. Because of this stack alignment, it is not only confusing for the offensive linemen, but it is also difficult for them to get to the linebackers.
The linebackers can either play a straight-up technique reading the offensive backs on the snap of the football or they can create confusion by plugging a predetermined gap on the snap.
3. Strong safeties
The secondary plays with five defensive backs on the field at all times. The key position in the defense are the strong safeties. They must be able to be a combination defensive back and linebacker and are asked to do a lot of different things. Their base responsibility is the flat or shallow area of the field extending to the sidelines. Many times strong safeties will be asked to blitz, play man-to-man coverage and even defend a deep half or quarter of the field.
3. The deep secondary
The remaining members of the secondary are the corners and the free safety. The corner's role is primarily pass coverage, playing the outside third of the field or man-to-man. The free safety plays the deep middle third of the field and must also be a great tackler.
Base alignment - 8-man front
As you can see, the stack defense, simply by alignment is in an 8-man front configuration. This allows the defense to outnumber the offense as the defense has eight defenders in the box and the offense only has seven blockers. The strong safeties are counted as being in the box due to their positioning close enough to the formation to defend the run. For the offense, the quarterback and the back that receives the ball are not potential blockers.
Base coverage
The base coverage is a 3-deep zone with the corners and free safety playing deep thirds. There are five underneath zone defenders, so it provides maximum pass coverage. In this scheme, eight defenders are allocated to play the pass and only three to rush the passer.
Adding rushers
The beauty of the 3-3-5 is that the offense must account for all the linebackers to be potential rushers on every snap. If any one of the linebacker blitzes, you still have four remaining underneath zone players. With three deep secondary players and four underneath, you still have a sound pass defense, and also have the added flexibility of being able to rush a linebacker.
Blitz package
Because of the normal alignment of the strong safeties close to the line of scrimmage, this is a great blitz package defense. Obviously with eight men lined up close to the box, all are in great position to blitz. It also helps that the defense is completely balanced, which allows blitzing from either side of the offensive formation equally. The offense must account for four rushers to either side of their formation every time the ball is snapped.
Advantages of the 3-3-5
1. It can be played with smaller personnel because the base defense is played with only three down linemen on the field. The linebackers are protected by the stack alignment and can also be undersized.
2. Because the 3-3-5 stack defense is different and not used by many schools as a base defense, offenses have only one week to prepare for it. The blocking rules, particularly for pass protection, are completely different to what you see against a normal defensive front with four down lineman.
3. It causes problems in pass protection because offenses can't predetermine who the fourth rusher will be. Any of the linebackers can rush at any time. Against a normal 4-down defensive line, the fourth rusher is already determined for the offense.
4. Because the defense is totally balanced, there is no pre-snap read for the quarterback. Usually defenses are shaded or cheated to one particular side of the offensive formation. This gives the quarterback, as well as the offensive lineman, a predetermined snap read.
5. There is a lot of flexibility in the stack defense because it already has five defensive backs in the game at one time. This means the defense doesn't have to go to a nickel package on passing downs. The fifth defensive back is already in the game. With three linebackers and five defensive backs, the defense also has the flexibility to drop all eight into pass coverage or blitz all eight.
Disadvantages of the 3-3-5
One of the potential weaknesses of this defense is that with only three down linemen in the game, there are two soft spots over the guards. In other words, two offensive linemen are uncovered. In a normal 4-down defense, there is only one soft spot or bubble. Even though linebackers are stepping up to fill those gaps, they are still linebackers. The defense can be a little soft against the run due to the lack of big, anchor players.
Conclusion
The 3-3-5 defense is an interesting new scheme in college football. Within the system, there are different philosophies on how to play it. Depending on personnel, you can blitz, stunt or play straight up. The beauty of the scheme is that the defense can either blitz eight or drop eight at any time. Because it is balanced, it is a great blitz defense, enabling a blitz from either side of the offensive formation. With five defensive backs and three linebackers on the field, it provides the defense with a lot of team speed. Like all schemes, though, it is not so much what you play, but how you play it that determines your success.
burmafrd
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When we are playing a team with a top tier WR on third downs I want Tnew on him no matter where he goes. That is when we should man up. We have the speed and talent at CB to do that now- and that also allows both Safeties to concentrate on shutting down the TE and RB outs. WHile we send 6 after the QB.
theogt
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It is similar, but I believe in our 3-3-5, we keep the defensive linemen in a typical 3-4 lineup (i.e., lined up over each tackle and the center -- or 5, 0, and 5 techniques). In our 46 package, the 3 interior linemen scrunch in like a 46, where they're lined up over the center and guards (i.e., 2, 0, and 2 technique).Hostile;2854101 said:
Sometimes we walk the linebackers and/or safety up to the line in the 3-3-5 and sometimes not. In the 3-3-5, when we've walked the safety up, he actually plays heads up over the TE (this was Henry's role in the 3-3-5 in 2008), rather than behind the lineman as a "linebacker." In that case, it'd look more like this:
.............................................26
.......................................56......93.
21....................94...99.........90.........97....43........32..............41
X............................LT...LG...C...RG...RT...TE........Y................Z
..........................................QB
..........................................RB
Here Spencer or James could end up walking up to the line as well. I also switched Newman and Scandrick as I think he's going to keep the slot position.
SkinsFan28
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Looking forward to the season guys!dcfanatic;2853993 said:
On a serious note, Hos and DCFanatic you do excellent jobs on these play descriptions.
sonnyboy
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I think this is what the Ravens were using in week 16. Appeared to me like we could never pick up the blitzer and Romo was too often pressured by a free rusher while still facing seven guys in coverage.
"Ultimately the comments of Eagles TE Brent Celek lead me to believe it will be Spencer."
So what was the comment?
"Ultimately the comments of Eagles TE Brent Celek lead me to believe it will be Spencer."
So what was the comment?
cowboyschmps3
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good stuff hos also i wld want to add on that if a RB goes into a bubble either to the left or right it would be either ware or spencer getting the guy to their side...
NextGenBoys
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BAT;2854250 said:
Sam isn't the middle backer, he's the outside.
Will Mike Mo Sam...If I'm not mistaken.
Romo2Bryant4Six
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lolHostile;2853938 said:
its actually one of my favorite formations in madden
ScipioCowboy
More than meets the eye.
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Rampage;2854340 said:thanks to whichever mod deleted that crap
Actually, I deleted it.
I simply couldn't bear the thought of you being so butthurt over it.
:laugh1: