Beast Offense Beaters Section Grows
As you may have read here before, we are not a fan of the youth football “Beast” offense. So much so that we created a “Beast Beaters” section in FirstDown PlayBook for our youth football coaches.
Our problem with this so called Beast offense stems from the the fact that what we saw promoted as a “Beast” offense had all of the players lined up with no splits. The three backs were lined up in the gaps or what would be a gap if there was a split.
To me, this is not football and I have trouble seeing how it is helping the young football player learn our game. So today we want to take a moment to show you the additions to the new “Beast Beaters” section in FirstDown PlayBook. We have treated this just like we do all other defenses in FirstDown PlayBook. We have given you a base defense and some changeups off of that base.
We also want to give you three fundamental axioms to defending this offense…
1. Defend The Beast Offense Not The Field
We see so may youth football defenses that are lined up nice and pretty to defend the entire football field. Do not do this, especially if you are playing an offense like the Beast.
Defend the formation. Assign contain players to keep the formation bottled up but even the contain players should not be very wide. Put the rest of your players inside to create piles or to be free to the ball. If it’s a scrum they want then it is a scrum you should give them.
NFL Coaches On 12 Formations To Consider For Your Youth Football Offense
If you have a player that is not making physical contact on a run play vs this offense then you have that player aligned wrong. The last thing the offense wants is to have the ball bounce side to side all day. That is exactly what your goal should be…see #2.
2. Make The Beast Offense A Perimeter Offense
If they line up in a Beast offense with little to no splits, then use that to your advantage. Take some of your less athletic players, put them in a four point stance and make a pile inside. The bodies piled up will be a run stopper in the A, B and C gaps alone. Do not allow them to run the ball downhill.
When the offense begins to bounce to the perimeter make sure you have athletic players there waiting on it. Also have linebackers scraping over the top inside out to the ball. Coach your inside people who have initially created that pile to get back up and pursue the ball once it bounces.
3. Be Able To Adjust When You Run Them Out Of The Beast Offense
We feel a lot about the Beast offense the way we do the Spread offense. The key is to run them out of it. In different ways both offenses make little sense at the youth football level. Most youth coaches will quickly become frustrated because you are not letting them run the ball. Soon they will begin to widen their splits and even spread the formation out some.
Are Your Youth Football Plays Drawn Up Vs Multiple Defenses?
However, when they do open their “Beast” up and play with normal football formations you must be able to adjust. This will require you to have simple rules that allows quick easy adjustments to shifts, trades or motion. Make sure you have a base defense to get back to when they give up on this Beast offense.
Let’s take a look at this short video so that the “Beast” remains tame this fall in your youth football neighborhood…
