Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

114 FOOTBAI,L COACHING STR{TEGIES
Xs in Figue 5 show how positions move as the
ball moves).
Good run support is essential for a successfnl
defense. By keeping the ball in the arcas where
you want it, you greatly reduce the chances for a
long run or a big play.
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FIGUBE 5 Inside run supporl movement
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1991 Prcceedings. Codch Frr is head c@ch dr he Uai])ersitr af loud. Coach Brdshi.r is his assistant.
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The Stunting 4.3 Front
GEORGE PERLES
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We run the same type of defense that I Ian as
defensive coordinator of the great Pittsburgh
Steeler t€ams-the 4-3 stunting def€nse. It's dif-
Ierent, and I don't know many people who use it.
Some people will tell you that you can't play
the stunt 4-3 without a Joe crcene. We s€idom
have those type of people, bui the defense stitl
4.3 Alignment
We take our shongside tackle and put him in the
gap betweenthe center and guard. He g€tB into a
stance that allows him to hug the ball. He keeps
his inside leg back to a point where we don t worry
aboutliningup offside. Normally,we can hug th€
ball as much as we wani. The c€nter can't back
off the ball, so he can't do much about it.
The tackt€ gets into an angle charge r,\'ith his
rear end in the way of the oflensive guard. The
middl€ linebacker is also behind our tackle. The
strong €nd plays a 5 technique on the outside
shoulder of ihe ofensive tackle. The strong linebacker
eith€r plays head-up or outside the shoulder
of the iight end, depending on the suppod
responsibility. The w€akside tackle plays on the
outside eye ofthe Btlard, which we call a 2-gap
r..hnique. The $ eaksidp cnd js in rhe s rcchnjqup,
with the weakside lineba€ker on the outside-
In defense, someone has to have two gaps. In
the ,{-3, the middle linebacker has two saps. In
the odd front, the noseguard has two gaps. W}tat
we try to do is give our down tackles a gap and a
half each. What can hurt this theory is the of
fense continually running the fullback in th€ in
side gap. However, th€ offense usua]ly doesn't
have the personnel or the patience to do it
Stunts
WhFn pFopl. sep $ha' ue are doing. they give ur
big splitE between the center and guard. W}len
that happ€ns, we can't cover the inside gapswith
our tackles. We go into an automatic stunt called
our "Tom game." In this stunt, we slant ourweakside
tackleintoth€ center-guard gap and loop our
strongside tackle into the face of the weakside
offensive guard (see Fieure 1).
People try to run the inside isolation to our
strcng side. They double down on the tackle,
single out on the defensive end, and jsolate the
lin€backer Ourcoaching pojnt for the linebacker