This is the scheme that made the 1985 Bears the greatest NFL defense of all time. This attack package to 1-Back sets allows the Defensive Coordinator certain advantages, as outlined in Coach Ryans book. The charlie linebacker will step back to where the middle linebacker was in the normal alignment, the middle linebacker will move to where the strong safety was aligned and the strong safety will move out to cover the third receiver. The bottom line is, youre trying to defend the pass with only three defensive backs. There are many things that can be done from this look, and putting the pressure back on the offense is what we are trying to do. Below are diagrams of Cover 3 against a pro formation and a spread formation. The 46 defense keeps offenses on their toes and makes them adjust their game to an alignment they probably havent seen too often. Thats how I would describe Todd Orlandos gameplan for LSU, in which he played a 3-4 scheme like Wisconsins base defense but with the 6-2, 210 pound safety B.J. Advantages of using the 46 Defense 1.Center and guard are BOTH covered (different from 44, 50 looks) 2.Extra LB that runs like a safety (WILL/the adjuster) 3.TE side of the offense is totally out manned. The 46 was specially tuned to the personnel of the '80s Bears, which is why few teams use the 46 nowadays, and why no one uses it as a base defense. The strong safety and Sam will be funneling runners back to the middle of the field, so the Mike needs to see where any hole develops in doing so, and then fill that hole. By drop back and try to defend him Gundy meant the various drop eight schemes like the inverted Tampa 2 scheme introduced by Iowa State. Even though Texas execution wasnt elite, the obvious question coming out of this game was whether the zone blitz can even work anymore. spread try to do. 46 Defense Formation. Football Offensive Formations - rookieroad.com The personnel is the same as in a 4-3 defense, possessing four down lineman, three linebackers, two corners and two safeties. Not adjusted to the offensive formation. Thats the term I developed for Tony Gibsons 3-3-5 at West Virginia, which eventually moved away from that style when they ran out of good transfer cornerbacks. Again, Texas execution hasnt been exceptional this season but the results are still plenty bad enough to wonder. The nose tackle will line up directly opposite the center or shaded slightly to the strong side of the defense. (Complete Position Guide), Flag Football Rules (Easy Beginners Guide), Pro Set Formation Football Coaching Guide (Includes Images), How to Do a Rip Move in Football (5-Step Guide). Offenses are putting more athletes on the field, and the defense has to adapt and match-up. A weakness of the 46 defense is that with eight defensive players lining up near the line of scrimmage and only three in the secondary, it leaves areas open for receivers to catch passes. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Football 101 - Spill vs. Both of these men were so strong, and such excellent pass rushers, that they could collapse the offensive pocket by themselves, even when they were taking on two blockers. Its very effective when teams use compressed sets, where they line up with two backs in the backfield, and two or threetight ends(what's called a 22-or 23-personnel grouping respectively). The SS fills the area vacated by the Sam LB. 46 Venom Defensive Guide | Madden Turf The Defense can also disguise pass coverage concepts. If you can beat the pressure up front and get a good ballcarrier to the second level, as Texas did on one notable occasion, then the Sooners are vulnerable. In reality, the 46 defense is an iteration of the 4-3 base defense. No modern team has the talent to run this defense effectively. This defense had a short lifespan, as it became less effective by the end of the 1980s. Since the offense has the ball, they can choose how to run plays. That way, the quarterback finds themself in a situation where the pass is the best option. The run game was sweetness. The Tigers rely mostly on the over front, which gets the. A 46 defense is a type of defense used by the Chicago Bears in the 1980s to stop the run and create a dominant pass rush. Its not a hard defense to teach as a base defense, because the responsibilities are relatively simple and straightforward, as well soon see. And the Sam and strong safety will have C gap and outside contain responsibilities, respectively, but that is done in tandem since they line up so close to one another. Interestingly, Jeff Fisher, who played for Buddy Ryan, adopted the 46 defense for a while, as head coach of the Tennessee Oilers, who are now known as the Tennessee Titans. This defense relies on each player being able to make big plays. The 46 defense was originally developed and popularized with the Chicago Bears by their defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, who later became head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals. Susceptible to Crossing Routes - Since the amount of time quarterbacks have to get rid of the ball is less against the 46 defense, offenses often counteract that by running short passing routes. In a sense theyve reached something close to what Matt Wells described, where they have an extensive blitz package with multiple concepts. There are four defensive linemen that are shifted more towards the right. The best way for the defense to combat this is to have a pre-determined strength call, and get to their spots as quick as possible. You can rotate the F$strong, Red coverage, and swipe the backside, or you can rotate the F$weak Yellow, and swipe the strong side. The Bears defensive coordinator at the time, the legendary Buddy Ryan, created the 46 defense as a way to put loads of pressure on the offense, stacking the line of scrimmage. Kenneth Murray wasnt great at diagnosing and filling in Mike Stoops two-gap defense, but hes hell on wheels in this scheme where hes turned into an attacking piece that regularly stunts and blitzes. Heres one of many fire zones from dime that Texas brought against LSU without yielding a positive result: Texas did sack Burrow four times, but he also threw four touchdown passes and averaged 12.1 ypa while throwing for 471 yards. This is largely because of multiple receiver and spread formations. The pass game was average. The Free Safety and Corners would have the same responsibilities as normal 3Z. If the back is aligned to their side, they will take 3 hard steps, then determine what the back is doing. For instance, theres the third down looks that Oklahoma plays and which I mentioned earlier this week: Thats a straight bear front that then morphs into a typical four-down pressure after the snap while the jack linebacker drops into coverage (reading the RB). That obviously helps against some of the problems that occur when your defense relies on cover 3 against offenses when they see the blitz coming. None of them have to pass the spread test all that often and Michigan in particular failed it in spectacular fashion on a number of occasions in 2018. Lined up on the outside of the defensive end, and the 46, you have two outside linebackers, giving you a seven man front, with the middle linebacker lined up right behind the defensive tackle, who is playing a 0 technique -- meaning he is lined up directly in front of the center. One-Gap 3-4 Defense Keeps Offenses On Their Heels TOs gonna bring 7, were gonna bring 7 at times, which means there aint no free safety back there, my man. It's really the most singular innovation in defensive football in the last twenty years. With the ability to rush as many as eight players to the quarterback, it was overwhelming to teams that didnt know how to guard against it. He found a way to keep things simple from a coaching and teaching standpoint, but could be very multiple in his fronts and stunts to confuse offenses. Tactics: Anti-spread schemes Chavis' 4-3 defense is pretty standard and similar to what you see at other programs across the country. It is played out of a base 4-3. http://psalmonetree.blogspot.com. The Strong Safety, and the Will Safety will need to be able to force the run, and cover man-to-man when called upon. It can be advantageous when the 46 defense has all the right parts working. The key to a successful 46 defense is having a strong safety and Sam linebacker who can take the every-down punishment of playing close to the line of scrimmage, and the adjustment ability and awareness of a really good free safety. COACHING THE 4-2-5 DEFENSE VS SPREAD TEAMS - CoachTube The driving force of the Wisconsin method is their linebacker corps, they always have four 220+ pound dudes hanging around the box that can quickly involve themselves in the pressure or the zone coverage. Could Be Thrown Against - The 46 defense was designed to create pressure, but if the offense is able to withstand that pressure, it could be a long game ahead for the defense. The Bears' defense coordinator, Buddy Ryan, designed the 46 defense when he arrived in Chicago in 1978. A 2-4-5 team that plays quarters and alternates which linebackers are involved in the pressure would be interesting to observe in the Big 12. This defense creates many turnovers and wears out the quarterback with big hits. They come hard every play and have very little responsibility. In addition, its easy to drop either the strong safety or Sam back into coverage, either to allow the Mike linebacker to blitz or to provide extra protection against passing plays. That's like saying Marilyn Monroe's just a girl. The advantages spy coverage give you are two fold. The underneath droppers need to understand they can be late to coverage, as that puts them in great underneath trail position. The 46 defense doesnt require new players to be on the field say an extra defensive lineman, linebacker of member of the secondary. Defensive tackles: The weak side defensive tackle lines up on the outside shoulder of the guard. Shut Down the Spread in the Double Eagle Flex Defense As hard as it is to pressure a spread offense normally, its extra hard when theyve seen your gameplan blitzes for three quarters and your big men have been chasing them around for 50+ snaps. Otherwise, on pass plays, he goes after the quarterback. There are really only 2 ways to pass block vs. a 46 front concept. Its very difficult, as you tend to see play out in the Big 12 on a weekly basis. Gates 6946 PoweRated V-Belt, 5L Section, 21/32" Width, 3/8" Height, 46. Modern 46 - real46defense Doug Plank, the strong safety for whom the defense was named (his jersey number was 46), played as a hybrid safety-linebacker. If its all or nothing someones fixing to score. If you play traditional, its pretty difficult, because the schemes we use in this league are built to find seams and stuff and defenses and quarterbacks are too good. Five defenders will always be defending the pass, and one of the extra defensive linemen can always drop back into coverage, too. This allows him to contain runs on the outside, to blitz, or to drop into multiple coverages on the pass. How do you create a safe pressure blitz for the Big 12? While the 7-man box and umbrella look in the back end was morphed into Buddys 46, 8-man front run-stopping, pressure defense, we may be ready to go back in time. The FS helps if either cornerback gets beat. Inside the Virginia Tech Defense - Shakin The Southland Heres how their four starting linebackers are doing this season through six games: Jack: Noah Burks, 6-2, 241. Instead of calling 3Z, we make a Tracy call, which tells the Strong Safety to now drop inside of #2. On running plays, the free safety must approach the line quickly, with primary responsibility of making tackles or funneling a ball carrier inside if that ball carrier gets outside or past the other defenders. (Full Explanation), What is 21 Personnel in Football? Most other defenses get their names from the number of defensive linemen and linebackers, but the 46 defense gets its name elsewhere. If you play Single Coverage, you get a 5-man rush, again with the one-on-one match-ups up front. Defending the Spread with the 46 Defense - YouTube Another problem with the 46 defense is that most teams do not have enough impact players to run the 46 as effectively as the Bears and Ryan's other two major successes, the late 1980s Philadelphia Eagles for which he was head coach and the 1993 Houston Oilers for whom he was defensive coordinator, did. [10], Coaching Football's 46 Defense (The Art & Science of Coaching Series) (Paperback) by Rex Ryan, Last edited on 26 December 2022, at 02:00, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Maynard proud of record for most punts in Super Bowl", "One & Done: Thirty years ago, Dolphins ruined Bears' perfect season", A blast from the past: remember Chicago's 46 defense? Up front, teams still use the concept of the "T-N-T" alignment, where two defensive ends are covering (lined up directly across from) the guards, and a nose tackle is covering the center. This made it impossible for offensive linemen to double team any defender and caused all sorts of havoc in the backfield. The Modern 46 still allows for the Defense to play the way the Defense was designed by Buddy Ryan. Field Hawk tells the defense we will call the strength to the field, and be in our Hawk front, which means the SS will drop off, and the Sam will now become the 9-Tech to a TE, or the 5-Tech to a no-TE set. One of the big challenges though is simply that spread formations, tempo, and smart QB play tied to smart coordination make it hard for defenses to both disguise where a blitz is coming from and also to cover up all of the outlets the QB has in response. In this instance, the linebackers will be responsible for covering running backs out of the backfield or a tight end. If the offense uses a fourth receiver, the middle linebacker lines up in front of the center and the charlie linebacker would cover the fourth receiver. The 1985 Bears were particularly well-suited to play this defense. The 46 defense is one of the most famous defensive alignments around, as it was employed by what is considered one of the best professional defenses in history the 1985 Chicago Bears. The Bears' defense coordinator, Buddy Ryan, designed the 46 defense when he arrived in Chicago in 1978. But even though its a defense that was designed for the most skilled players at the most advanced level of the game, the 46 defense can still be used by youth football teams. Otherwise, you've got your athletic weak side End, crashing hard on the play. One-on-one match ups in pass rush, pressure defense, and making offenses adjust schemes to block the 46 front were still the main principles. The defensive ends line up at each end of the defensive line. Weak side, the F$, Will and CB would have a 3-2 Mix over the two offensive WRs. Its like a positionless 46 that moves the pieces around to create the same defense, much like some of the zone blitz schemes mentioned above. Especially if Ehlinger returns and Texas figures out how to play defense with a roster stocked with NFL athletes. On the topic of the fire zone blitz, Gundy had this to say: You know the fire zone was a good scheme for a couple of years and then offenses, uhh, found ways to determine when it was going to happen prior to the snap. The 46 uses the same 4-3 base personnel that Michigan does. The Buckeyes dont bring a ton of blitzes, they dont have to because they have this guy named Chase Young on their team. One the weak side, the defensive end lines up outside of the tackle. 5 TFL, 5 sacks, 3 PBU. The other defensive tackle essentially becomes a nose guard and lines up in front of the center. Overall I feel confident that Wisconsins defense would run into diminishing returns with their style in the Big 12 as teams worked out where the release valves were on the back end. Outnumber the tackle-to-tackle blocking schemes at the point of attack. After Buddy Ryan designed this play in 1978, the Chicago Bears went on to win the NFC Central in 1984 and 1985 and the Super Bowl in 1985. Those teams fielded some of the best front-seven defenses ever, and included such players as Jerome Brown, Mike Singletary, Steve McMichael, Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, Clyde Simmons, Reggie White, Otis Wilson, Seth Joyner, William Fuller, and Wilber Marshall. By running the ball effectively, you can open up your passing game against the 46 defense. The 46 defense in football does have some significant weaknesses. The 85 Bears used this defense, known as arguably the most dominant defense in NFL history, to win the Super Bowl XX in 1985 under head coach Mike Ditka. The offense is either going to have to go Big on Big man protection, or some sort of full-slide protection, using the back to one side. Lost in the hail of spread-option run attacks and plug'n'play prolific Duck quarterbacks has been the Oregon defense . I also had a brief back and forth with Matt Wells on this topic: Besides your berserker (Wells term of endearment) friend Todd Orlando, theres been a lot of coaches known for being on the cutting edge of blitzing. Oklahomas remake of the 46 defense is an intriguing new way to arrive at that outcome, itll be interesting to see how it holds up over the rest of the season as teams start to figure it out and adjust. The 46 defense employs only two linebackers in the traditional sense. Steve Dykes. It's back againthis time in Baltimore, where Ray Lewis is trying to make it hum, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=46_defense&oldid=1129558954. The 46 defense is an American football defensive formation, an eight men in the box defense, with six players along the line of scrimmage. The TCU defense will be better in another year after a chance to get some linebackers up to speed in the defense and with another year for most of the more impactful DL up front to get better. Texas has tried it from 3-3-5 and 3-2-6 packages with a lot of negative results. But that tackle has quite the blocking task, as he could see intense pressure from either the defensive end or the Sam on any given play. See Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen. The basic Spy Coverage would be using the Sam and Jack (weak side rush backer) to spy the back (Jesse). We will have EXTREME versatility with our defense while only really dealing with one play. Today's emphasis on passing makes it to too risky to field an eight-man front as a base defense. 46 Defense Keys and 2-Back Run Fits Versus 2-Back formations, where the fullback inserts into the line of scrimmage is extremely important. Breaking down the football in Friday Night Lights, Breaking down the football in Remember the Titans, 95 Nebraska and the myth of championship recruiting, Breakdown Sports (B1G Xs and Os) These concepts apply against all offenses, but are magnified against the spread because of spacing. No other Defensive alignment can do that. The 46 Defense was derived from the old Double Eagle Defense of the 1940's and early-to mid 1950's. As Paul Brown innovated the passing game, the evolution of defense moved to a 6-1 alignment by Steve Owens, to the 4-3 Flex by Tom Landry, to the Miami 4-3. His main objective is the same as the strong side defensive end to avoid being pinched inside or letting the guard release to block the linebacker. 2. The weak-side defensive tackle and strong-side defensive end will have primary B gap responsibilities. Bring the heat and see how well the offense can handle it! Those kind of guys are hard to come by. That leaves two cornerbacks and a free safety to cover the rest of the field. The defense, most importantly, was monstrous. The 4-6 defense was created by Buddy Ryan to stop the ground game in the 1980's as well as provide a pass rush that couldn't be stopped. Very aggressive approach oriented around the belief that JT Barrett couldnt beat their guys in man coverage. To stop a passing game, you can't stop it unless you put pressure on it. If so, you'll love my daily "Football Coaching" emails. If you dont have someone like that on your team, then your ability to collapse the pocket, before the quarterback can get the pass off, is greatly diminished. He was a mastermind at disguising coverages and creating havoc in the backfield. College footballs escape from trench warfare. The 85 Bears defense set NFL records for most forced turnovers and the fewest yards, points, and first downs given up in a season. This is where defensive players would line up against a normal Pro Set offense.[7]. In many ways its a more flexible system and more safe on the back end than what Wisconsin runs, but the cost is that you have fewer 220+ pound dudes that can rip through a RB or poorly set OL and go get the QB. The 1985 Bears were arguably the greatest team of all time. 46 Defense in Football - Sports Feel Good Stories Meanwhile, Oklahoma has a bunch of talented athletes up front that they love to bring on different twists and s, so Baylor better have Connor Galvin healthy and everyone well repped on picking this stuff up or []. A few years later, the 46 Alignment changed by keeping the SS to the TE side, putting him in the 9-tech, moving the Sam Backer to the 7-Tech, and keeping the Will backer to the weak side in the 40-tech. Unlike other defensive alignments out there, the 46 defense is not named for the number of players at each level of the defense. One of my readers wrote to me the other day,and wanted to know why we dont see the old Bears' 46 defense anymore. You can also Jesse the back again with the Jack and Sam, and allow the Mike to be a Low-Hole dropper in Single Coverage. In today's game, the 46 defense is often simplified to its main component of walking the strong safety up to the line of scrimmage as an eighth man in the box to help contain the run. As you can imagine with this alignment, thats a whole lot of bodies up front. His objective is to make sure that the offensive guard in front of him does not push him inside and does not get released to block the linebacker. No ball needs to be thrown, only work the drill to where the underneath defenders are in good position, and the deep defender is over the top, in good position. Instead of the normal 3Z, where there are 7 droppers, we will now just drop 6, with the Jack and Sam Spying the back. No defenders are placed over the offensive tackles, instead a defensive end is placed to the outside shoulder of the left tackle and old number 46, who is a cross between a linebacker and a free safety, is placed to the outside shoulder of the right tackle. However, with the players who have the necessary . (Moving on) Umm, thats a solid question, I respect that. I dont think theres going to be many teams go all or nothing with any kind of frequency. The goal of this defense is to attack the quarterback with overwhelming numbers. In the back end, we will have two CBs, a Free Safety, and three invert type players. Box; Defending Trips with Quarter Quarter Half Coverage in the 4-2-5; Hybridizing 3-3 Stack Defense with 4 Man front Concepts; Simple Adjustable 3-4 Blitz vs. 46 Defense Playbooks - FootballXOs.com - Free Football Playbooks Well start with the alignment of all the players. This may be harder for inexperienced players to fully grasp and execute. ASIN : B000LNUWM2 : Customer Reviews: 5.0 out of 5 stars 3 ratings. As Mississippi State's defensive coordinator from 1996-2002, his defenses went from 47th to 35th to 20th to leading the nation in 1999. Most defenses were based on strong and weak sides of the offensive formations. Army runs quite a bit of fire zone AND zone blitzing from quarters, with their own 3-4 defense that has a 2-4-5 nickel sub-package. You can actually observe a similar dimension to Iowa State this season, who began to mix in more zone blitzes into their package last year and this year regularly dial up big pressures. This is also a great front to run vs. the Zone Read teams, as the stack backer can sit for cut-back on flow away. Youre playing a base defense all the time but you can manufacture pressure by confusing the offense about which four are going to come and from what angles. Also, timed passes can be thrown before the players blitzing have a chance to reach the quarterback. (Full Explanation), What is the Box in Football? The 46 defense is an American football defensive formation, an eight men in the box defense, with six players along the line of scrimmage. Strong side, the defense has a 3-2 Mix with the Strong Safety, Mike and CB taking the 2 WRs. They usually get to this front by moving a LB up over the center, or bring both OLBs to outside rushers. 6 TFL, 3 sacks. In most 2 x 2 sets, we will play Exchange, which is a 1-High Safety look, playing exchange concept on the boundary side with the Will and CB underneath, and the F$over the top . On running plays, they will serve as outside protection, funneling runners back into the middle of the field where all the other defenders are waiting to make a tackle. The nose tackle will have A gap responsibilities, most of the time to the strong side of the offense. But the Sooners arent really doing it with the blitz so much as they are creating the bear front from a variety of angles. This defense was so successful because of their ability to collapse the line, shutting down the run, and sacking the quarterback before he could get a pass off. To avoid confusion, the strong and weak side linebackers (who are no longer lined up on opposite sides) are often renamed the 'Jack' and 'Charlie' linebackers, respectively. The 46 defense was created by former Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan in the 1980s. Again, the defense can play Swipe or Exchange. Concerning Sports, [] Patterson is in better shape. The dual 3-techs will cause a problem for zone blocking schemes, and the outside rushers should cause the QB to give. Also, their corners were extraordinary at pressing receivers, making them the perfect fit for the 46. How do you create a safe pressure blitz in the Big 12? No part of this site may be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without the permission of the copyright owner. The free safety lines up about ten to twelve yards away from the line of scrimmage and will stand directly in front of the weak side guard. The Spy Coverage Concept allows the defense a variety of advantages to a one back formation. How to Coach 46 Defense Run Fits Against 1-Back Offenses Plank was a hybrid free safety/linebacker in Buddy Ryans 46 defense. We've had a lot of success over the years with the one-gap 3-4 defense. And then defenses started to disguise that a little bit, but because youre taking and giving up a certain area on the field when youre fire zoning, if offensive quarterbacks know that they can wear you out. The 46 defense is just a 4-3 defense with a major wrinkle, and as such, it has many of the same strengths as the 4-3 defense does. At the same time, defensive coaches can get very, very creative with the 46 defense to keep offenses off balance even more. During run plays, his objective is to protect against reverses and counters. Its all or nothing if youre going to bring any kind of blitz? It is a simple defense to learn and teach, and also allows your players to play fast and . Here is a bit of trivia before we get into how the 46 defense worked, and why we dont see it much anymore: The name "46" Defense didnt come from the alignment of the players on defense; it came from free safety Doug Plank, who wore jersey number 46, and was a hybrid free safety slash linebacker in Buddy Ryans system. http://breakdownsports.blogspot.com, Football Study Hall One is that their cover 3 schemes are rarely tested by proficient, spread passing attacks. We will go over one way pressure, two way pressure, hybrid coverages, and a simple . Every offensive linemen has a defensive linemen lined up directly across from him before the snap of the ball except for the strong side offensive tackle.