2LD Defense - Gregory Double Wing

CONCLUSIONMake no mistake -- the 2LD is a radical course. Like any good marriage, it is notto be entered into lightly. I hope I have proven to you, however, that it is aremarkably powerful defensive system that can be quickly and easily taught toplayers at any level. It is a coaching-intensive defense, but a player-friendly one.I spoke with Coach Thomson for over an hour in March 2002 about the 2LD and theInternet. He was amazed to hear that there is such persistent interest in his brainchild,saying he thought the defense must have been "dead and buried." He hascorresponded (snail mail only) with over 100 coaches over the years since Defense ofthe Future: The 2-Level Model was first published. The origin of the concept was as a response to the Mouse Davis Run-and-Shoot inCanada in the early '80s -- to jam the short receivers without conceding the deepball; The title was a response to Tiger Ellison's Run and Shoot Football: Offense of theFuture; Eliminating the deep pass (and the cheap touchdown) was the first effect he noticed; Watching films from some 2LD coaches, he saw them playing a static odd defense,almost a 5-2;• In contrast, he stressed constant shifting before the snap and slanting andstunting after: "I'm not sure we ever played head-up"; He says everyone realized very quickly that Cover-B and -C (variations where Mike,Sam or Will dropped to Deep 1/3 coverage) were "unplayable"; Adaptations recently include 4-6-1 and even 4-5-1-1 adjustments toClemson/Purdue/Northwestern spread shotgun attacks; The CFL Calgary Stampeders have recently used a 3-6-3 with 2LD principles; Dr. Thomson is now concentrating on offense, working on blending theWishbone and WCO (but in Canadian rules, with unlimited motion).The upshot of this extraordinary conversation was that I came away with a betterappreciation of this man and his invention; he, in turn, understands that the 2LDis not dead and with any luck will never die.Between them, Mouse Davis and John Thomson made football history in the1980's, in a classic cycle of action and reaction. Davis's thesis -- the modernRun and Shoot -- and Thomson's antithesis -- the 2LD -- together formed aremarkable synthesis of reactive offense and counter-reactive defense. Giventhe recent popularity of the 3-5-3 Stack defense, it’s hard to disagree with Dr.Thomson -- some part of the 2LD is still the Defense of the Future...97