A Case For Corners Over Defense
Today’s football demands that as a Defensive Coordinator you adjust to any formation you can imagine. Motion is more common than not. The receivers are as likely to take a handoff or pitch as they are to catch a pass. Because of this, today we are looking at corners over defense and why it should still be in defensive gameplan.
Personnel matchups are inevitable in football. The game is played with people and if you can find a favorable matchup, smart coaches always exploit it.
In our example today, the offense is daring the Defensive Coordinator to stay simple. Too simple. The offense comes out in 12 personnel which means the two Tight Ends create a run threat. That is going to generally force a defense into middle of the field closed defense.
A a Defensive Coordinator you have a choice. You can line up with your corners on opposite sides and let the chips fall where they may. Your corner is on the other side of the ball waiting for the receiver if they cross the formation. It is a sound defense and it allows you to play simple zone coverage.
However, that motion across the formation is likely to never happen. The offense may do it once or twice to see that you are in zone. After that they will begin to exploit the strong side linebacker or strong safety to the two receiver side in the pass game. This is why we think playing corners over is the best defense to stop the run and the pass.
Corners over will take away the immediate personnel mismatch that the offense is trying to create. You set your four man front defense to the formation strength and you play man free behind it. You have a good personnel matchup with your corners on their two receivers.
Playing Corners Over Allows You To Be Sound Vs Jet or Orbit Motion
Now if the offense comes out in a 3×1 two tight end formation to the field you are in good shape for motion or not. This allows you to defend orbit motion or jet sweep motion with your corner running with the motion. Your personnel matchup has a skill player running with a skill player if it is a jet sweep.
When I was a young football coach I remember Lou Holtz being quoted something to the effect “If the offense moves one player and you are moving three or four to adjust on defense then you have a defensive problem.” This is another reason running one player across the formation is sound, simple and allows your players to play fast. This is opposed to checking zone and running the risk of an assignment bust.
Don’t interpret this as the only way to adjust but just as a simple solution that allows you to match personnel and be ready for shifts and motions. One of the great things about FirstDown PlayBook is that we offer you defensive adjustments for all of our defenses. We do this for every defense vs 27 different formations. Just one more thing that makes FirstDown PlayBook “For Coaches, By Coaches” more than just words.
