S1 E4: Will British Guys Understand a Fans Guide to American Football Defense?
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- Опубликовано: 28 май 2024
- Two British Guys react to a Fans Guide to American Football Defense explained! We continue down the path to master American Football. We’ve completed the beginners course on rules and positions, and we’re ready for a deeper look! This is our NFL Reaction and our NFL First Time Reaction to “Fans Guide to American Football Defense”. We enjoy uploading our British Reactions to NFL and American Football / College Football.
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It's refreshing to see you guys taking the time to learn the game as opposed to just simply reacting to highlights. Also, you are fast learners
Really sets them apart. It isn't a blank slate every video with regurgitated reaction faces. Its two guys genuinely trying to learn and experience things. Fun to watch every time.
Thank you Gregory! Great to see it’s coming across. We’re loving this journey
@@oneupper666 Thank you for this, great that you’re enjoying our content.
I like it, too. These are good videos. I subscribed today. It's enjoyable to watch other nationalities enjoy Am. Football instead of poopooing it. I think that if someone just took 5 minutes to explain the basic rules then more people would enjoy it. The game makes no sense if you've just turned on the TV and start watching. Like what is 3rd and 4? When I was a little boy this always confused me and then one day someone took time to explain it. And football suddenly became something I enjoy.
@@DNReacts On the 5-2 defense against a 3 wide receiver set, the coach of the defense team would more than likely call a time out. The match ups would be bad, they would have linebackers and defensive linemen trying to cover people way faster than them.
It's funny watching this video because as it goes on and gets more and more complex, I start to realize how much information about football is just a given to me because I've grown up with it. To someone who is just learning, there really is a lot going on.
You know what 😮 I never even thought about that or looked at it that way..
It feels like I've known what a Q.B was my entire life. I think I learned who George Washington was after I knew who Joe Montana was.
Definitely could recognize Zone Coverage, before I could recognize whats under a girls dress.
@@Peakfreud You know "I think I learned who George Washington was after I knew who Joe Montana was" is a funny comment but thinking about it really I definitely knew Peyton Manning and Tom Brady before I knew what a president even was lol
Yeah I realized this once my sons where old enough to ask about the game…. So much information that we just take for granted because we have been around it all our life.
My pops grew up watching basketball and soccer…he never knew what American football was until he noticed me watching it as a kid (he was about 35). At first he didn’t like it cause he didn’t understand it, but then we made it a father-son bonding experience. He would watch and learn through me explaining what’s going on and I would practice explaining different coverages and schemes. It was a win-win and American football is one of his favorite sports now!
Yeah, I'm thinking the same. Football, Baseball and Basketball are universes on there own. I'd say football the most because 22 guys are moving at once and almost anything can happen on any given play but watching foreigners watch and react to our sports is kinda eye-opening.
Defensive schemes (ex: 4-3, 3-4 etc) are not usually swapped to match every offensive lineup. It's more of a philosophy set by the Defensive coordinator based on his preference and the strengths of his players. Typically this is established before the season begins and is practiced for the duration of the season. There are some changeups but committing to a scheme allows players to focus on their position and leverage their experience.
There's many players you'd ideally want to keep in man at all times or even double them to hopefully prevent a big play. Calvin Johnson (aka Megatron) was someone you double or watch him destroy your secondary. Also who the QB is makes a considerable difference. It was a known fact that you didn't want to play zone vs Tom Brady or Drew Brees because they know every zone and when they see it they could immediately recognize where the gap was.
as a Patriots fan, I was always stunned at how often Rob Gronkowski was single teamed in the Red Zone
@@jeddineen2185 His route running. Gronk had exceptional route running abilities, he could find the open seam and spaces. And when you have a QB like that, its shredding time. Kelce is very similar. Im a Giants fan and I just couldnt understand how these guys were open all the time. First 10 yards of a play Gronk and Kelce have you, after that you're just playing catch up.
I was planning to use Calvin Johnson as a double man coverage example as well. Absolute beast.
Also, when a team has a great CB, like Darrelle Revis, they usually put him in man coverage against the other team's best receiver, while the rest of the defense plays zone coverage.
Great example you could also use hill as one cause you don’t simply want to have him in man you’ll want to have a man on him of course but you’ll want the cover 2 or even Tampa 2 cause his speed would kill just one man in man coverage
Yes, Ray Lewis was a Middle linebacker. LT was an outside linebacker. Deion Sanders was a cornerback. This is a really good defensive video!
And yes you are right, the defense tends to mirror the offense.
3-4 versus 4-3 is usually a set scheme based on the defensive coordinator and the personnel on the team.
Great day to have a great day Bill
More specifically, LT was a linebacker in the 3-4. The outside linebackers in a 4-3 don't rush the QB nearly as much.
3-4 sucks unless there is a legit game changing linebacker and very athletic outside cornerbacks. Otherwise, offenses move at will against the ordinary 3-4 defense. 3-4 uses disguise and confusion but that means the defense changes to a 4-3 to pressure the quarterback. Perfect example: my fav team The Vikings used a 3-4 and though their record was 13-4 they had the worst defense in the league. With an average 4-3 defense they might have gone to or even won the Super Bowl.
@@drew1964able @Drew Lowfner This is just false.
Of the top 10 defenses last year, 5 ran a base 3-4, while 4 ran a base 4-3 and the Bills ran a nickel base.
The problem with the Vikings defense had nothing to do with their base scheme, but with poor usage of their players (why is zadarius smith covering a receiver?) and refusal to mix up their approach throughout the game.
The vikings never would have made it to the super bowl with only a scheme change. They were the biggest outlier in point differential in the league with 13 wins and a negative differential (possibly the greatest outlier of all time in that regard)
also worth pointing out that the Vikings were 7th in points per game.
The 7th best offense and a middle of the pack defense is not a superbowl team in all but the rarest of circumstances.
The Vikings were not a good team last year; they were a very lucky mediocre team.
Hell, they had 1-score games against the Lions, Bears, Saints, Jets, Colts, Commanders and Patriots, all of whom didn't even make the playoffs.
The 5-2 is rarely used these days, but it was the base defense used by most teams for the first 40 years of NFL history (when the game was more run-offense heavy). I’m surprised they even mentioned it among the base defenses. These days, you would mostly see either 4-3 or 3-4. 5-2 is typically only used in short yardage situations when you are fairly confident the other team will run or short pass, such as near the goal line.
The 5-2 is essentially the same as the 3-4. But instead of two defensive ends you have two outside linebackers.
This is great, thank you for the context, appreciate it
@@christophermckinney3924 Which inevitably brings you to 'tweeners' like Micah Parsons, who essentially go be "DE" just because it means they'll get a bigger contract than if they went by "LB" lol
The 5-2 went away with the Wing T and wishbone offenses it defended well. You only see it in short yardage situations in todays NFL.
@@DNReacts Lol the 5-2 and also the I formation on offense is a loooot like the whole "4-4-fackin-2 Big Sam Brexit-ball" kind of thing loool
I played football for 10 years and just today I learned what Cover 2 meant 😂😂😂. I was a defensive linemen and never knew what the hell the defensive backs were doing unless they were blitzing
That’s pretty funny. I played center and learned 99% of my football knowledge from watching it on tv lol. Playing was a lot more simple, just either run or pass block lol.
I played football my whole life growing up. Went to college and worked for the football team in the video department. I realized even though I played my whole life I literally knew nothing about football🤦🏾♂️😂😂
Cover 2 means you’re about to throw an interception in madden
My first day as a college receiver in our meeting we were being quizzed, my coach told me to come up to the board and draw a cover 2 defense... I said I didn't know how and he lost his mind 🤣 that wasn't even the quiz, I had to draw the defense before he had me start drawing routes. Learning the playbook was my hardest college class lol
that’s bad man😂
I played Cornerback and free safety loved reading a play and picking off a quarterback….
Loads of information to absorb for anyone with limited experience with the sport. You guys seem to have good instincts about how American football might work. Well done, guys!
Thank you, really appreciate the comment and the support. Definitely a lot to take in learning so much at once but excited for the challenge.
@@DNReacts Appreciate the love for our sport. Come on down to Texas and get some BBQ and football 😂
@@DNReacts one thing the video and cjpreach didn't mention is when to assign a Blitzer to try and disrupt the pass before it even happens. There are some players where sending a Blitzer is a bad idea because the QB's instantly recognize the blitz and exploit the hole the blitzer left. So that's why defenses have gotten good at disguising who gets sent after the QB and when to do it. Tom Brady was a guy you'd only ever send 4 men to try to disrupt him, since he will recognize the 5th and more blitzers and get the ball thrown quicker than a blink of an eye, but if you can disrupt him with 4 players, and say, have a Nickelback blitz and drop a DE in coverage, it helps confuse the QB to making a bad decision
I really enjoy when foreign sports fans come at American football with an open mind, setting aside all the stereotypes, and realize how complex and frankly beautiful a sport it can be. Loving these videos guys
Thank you for the support Jose, appreciate it!
Yes the defense will try to mirror or match the offense but a lot of other times, the D mirrors the offense then changes because they expect the offense is giving a formation that's just a bait and then changes it once the ball is snapped. It's amazing how many hundreds of plays many offenses have that defenses then have to try to match up. Great video guys! Cheers form Orlando!!!
Thank you Knight, appreciate the info and glad you enjoyed the video. Love the support!
@@DNReacts when you see an offensive player run parallel to the line of scrimmage prior to the snap he is checking to see if a defensive back is going to mirror him. If a defensive back mirrors him then that means the defense is in man to man. If no one mirrors him then they're in zone.
The Miami Dolphins is a team that you would never play man to man. It has the two fastest players/ wide receivers in the NFL, Waddle and Hill. Hill is a straight up freak of nature because no one has ever been that fast in pads and Waddle was being called Tyreek Hill 2.0 in college. Waddle made a play this past season where his acceleration is so fast he split 3 defensive backs so perfectly the corner back accidentally tackled one of the safeties.
@@DNReacts before each play the defense has an amount of time to do a substitution. There is no limit to the amount ppl unlike European football.
Also offensive teams will run a no huddle (means they just keep going with out stopping like rugby, but the ref has to get the ball after each play and put it down like normal) this keeps the defense from substitutions or when the clock is running out and you need to hurry, why its called the Hurry Up Offensive or 2 minute drill bc this happens at the end of the game.
@@DNReacts The middle linebacker (also referred to as the "mic/mike" because he wears a headset) is responsible for defensive pre-snap adjustments. He typically has a little dot on his helmet to indicate this, although it might be hard to spot on TV.
@@DNReacts Mayo stole my thunder. To add to his first point, when you watch a game you will often see an official standing over the ball preventing the play from starting. This is the officials giving the defense a chance to match the offensive personnel.
I don’t often do live streams, but I might consider it to have us all watch a game with you. The information overload would be off the charts!😄
Once you guys are full fledged American Football fans, I'd love to watch a video on how your thoughts on the game have changed from before making your first video to then (and I don't think you guys are too far off from getting there)
Will definitely do something like this Pete. I reckon after properly watching 1 season through, it’s going to complete reshape our knowledge. We’re getting there, but a season of action is going to elevate us
The team on defense does look to see how many running backs, wide receivers and tight ends the offense has on the field when determining their package. There are rules that protect the defensive team’s ability to make substitutions. If the offense substitutes any players they must allow the defense some time to sub before they can snap the ball. And if the offense huddles, they need to be finished with their substitutions before breaking the huddle.
Thank you Mac, this makes sense. Appreciate the context
Another thing I’m surprised they haven’t mentioned is that the numbers the players wear on their jersey give you a good idea of what their normal position on the defense is. 40-59 is usually linebackers, 90-99 is usually the defensive line, and 20-39 is usually the defensive backs. Not always but generally the combination of the player number and how big they are tells you what position they typically play.
that was always a thing. . but its becoming increasingly less and less
Admittedly the NFL has really made it difficult with their rule changes regarding numbers. Now you might see a CB wearing No. 1 (Sauce Gardner), a safety wearing No. 14 (Kyle Hamilton) and an Edge Rusher wearing No. 7 (Haason Reddick)
They changed up the number rule. Look at the Cowboys. Micah Parsons playing LB and EDGE with the number 11, and Trevon Diggs play CB with the number 7.
That was mostly an NFL rule. Most players in college would sort of follow it. But for defense in college, there are no position restrictions for numbers except offensive linemen must wear 50-79 and you can't have two players with the same number on the field at the same time.
I wish it wasn’t becoming less and less of a thing as this would’ve been quite useful. Thanks for the info Logan
I absolutely applaud the effort you two are making. The more I watch these, the more I realize what a specialized game this is, and I only see some of the nuance involved because I've been watching it all my life. I'm glad videos like this exist, because while I can add on all the extras, I can't talk down to basics like they do. I'm tempted to dive straight in to the 4-3 vs the 3-4 (pretty standard defensive schemes named for the number of defensive lineman, followed by the number of linebacker). Then we can get into gap assignments, and before long I'm in the weeds with completely unnecessary exposition.
Thank you Mark, love this, appreciate the support!
Defense in football has a ton of soccer parallels. Excited for this video
Tried to lay this out in another comment of mine. It is kind of like Football every play is a set play (free kick, corner, throwin) each and every play. There isn't a 1-1 for players but zone and man coverage has a lot of equal comparisons in those situations. Marking a man, trash man, wall etc.
Hi Guys! At about 14:00 you asked when it is best to use man-to-man pass coverage defense, and when is it best to use zone defense. This is usually determined after evaluating an upcoming opponent, and what they prioritize on their offense. If an opponent has a very large offensive line and do most of their plays using their running backs (a rushing offense), they may use only one or two wide receivers who are not a priority. For that you would likely use physical cornerbacks to play man-to-man up close (called 'press-man'), and attempt to physically disrupt any passing routes by the receiver to give the defense a chance to pressure the quarterback. For opponents that have lots of athletic receivers that set up in three or four wide receiver sets before snap, a zone defense would be preferable because, as you said, one receiver who shakes his guy loose in man-to-man coverage has no support.
I’d also say it’s employed based more so on the field situation vs the player or team. On a 3rd and 20, you’re likely going mid-deep zone coverage. 3rd and 1, it’s the opposite
in general also if the other team has good revivers you play zone and if they have a good quarterback you play man
@@pithon1438 and if they have both then you give up your firstborn son to the football gods and resign
There are a lot of good answers to this question, and @Coach John does a very nice job giving a quick response. But of course, the answer is much more nuanced than this.
One important difference between European football and American football is the fact that there is a stoppage between every play. As the video indicates, teams change situationally, but beyond that, it's important to vary what you are doing frequently enough to create some doubt for the offense. If you always play a zone coverage on third and long, it does not take teams long to figure that out. For that matter, most quarterbacks begin "reading coverage" before the ball is snapped. For example, teams use pre-snap motion to help determine whether you are in man or zone before the ball is in play. If your defensive back follows across the formation, it suggests man to man coverage, while if he stays put it tells the offense that you are in zone..
But defenses know this, and will sometimes disguise what they are doing by sending a defender with the motion man and then sliding into zone at the snap. It is a constant game of cat and mouse. Great defenses that are well-coached communicate what they are doing seamlessly. When you see a guy running wide open, you know that there has been a "busted" coverage, meaning that somebody thought the defense was playing coverage A while they were actually in coverage B.
This is why having a good quarterback is of paramount importance. The ability to read a defense between the time at which a team breaks the huddle and snaps the ball can mean the difference between having a play likely to work against a given defensive alignment and not. People frequently talk about how good Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are at this. But the next step is even more difficult: verifying in the 1.5-2 seconds -after- the snap that you read the defense correctly, and knowing where to go with the ball while enormous hostile men come flying at you like they were fired out of a cannon.
And -that- is the prime difference between a Hall-of-Famer and everyone else.
I dunno what channel created that video but if all of their content matches the quality of this one I would definitely encourage you guys react to more of their stuff. I was impressed with the sort of moderately paced progression in complexity and especially their ability to explain things simply without oversimplifying the concepts themselves (which is a major issue I have with most educational content in general; sports or otherwise - simplify the language, not the idea).
Brilliant
Love your reactions, guys!! Since you're learning more about all sides of the ball, you should watch "Charles Woodson Becomes Only Defensive Player to Win the Heisman." Although he was primarily a defensive back, he also played wide receiver and returned punts on special teams. He's also in the Football Hall of Fame.
Thank you Andrew, really appreciate the support! Thanks for the suggestion, have added that one to our list.
Love that you guys absorb knowledge and kinda pass it on along in other videos. One of my favorite channels for sure
Defenses will change based on what an Offense is doing, but usually the "base" package is established by the team culture early in the year. Your team roster might consist of more linebackers/less linemen with a 3-4 culture than it would if you run a base of 4-3. The changes are usually these packages the video describes, where you might change to counter the Offense bringing out extra receivers.
I was very fortunate to have a dad that would sit down and watch football with me. My math brain loves this type of stuff. I was probably like 12 or 13 and I could already explain back to my dad if an offense was using a 00 personnel or 10 personnel or whatever. These videos can be a lot at first but once you see it in a game it starts to make a ton of sense
You guys have great takes in this. The game essentially is very simple but the things done at a professional level are just insane. The schemes, assignments, the knowledge of studying the opposing team the week of your game, there is just so much information.
Just subbed. It's not only because I'm an American football fan, and also not only because you guys are entertaining... But more because of your dedication to understanding, and working to get the basis of the sport, instead of just saying WOW! As you clearly demonstrated here, learning about the inner workings. Well done!
Thanks so much Rukus! Really appreciate it. Great you’re coming along for the journey with us.
Your question regarding zone vs. man and personnel: YES! All of the yes.
Nnamdi Asomugha vs. Richard Sherman. These are two of the best cornerbacks of the last generation, both retired now, but fantastic in their day. Nnamdi was a pure press-man corner. All you had to do was tell him what receiver you wanted out of the game, and you were playing 10 man football. He left the Raiders and bounced around to a bunch of teams that wanted him to play zone, and he was out of the league shortly after.
Richard Sherman is one of the best pure zone corners ever. He wasn't particularly fast, but he was crafty and observant and understood positioning and baiting better than any corner in the league. Pure zone guy, you locked up a 3rd of the field with him. But he was never going to cover Moss one on one in Man, he just didn't have that kind of twitch.
Very rare are the ultra greats like Deion Sanders, Darrell Green, and Derrelle Revis. These guys could actually mix-and-match techniques within a play. For instance, both Deion and Green extensively played outside leverage in man (quite uncommon, as inside leverage allows you to use the sideline as an extra defender). This allowed them to see the ball sooner, as their man was between them and the QB. They had the speed and the talent to undercut inside breaking routes despite bad positioning.
As far as what your opponent does, yes it makes a difference, but defenses tend to do what they're good at over what might counter the opponent. There are few man-coverage focused teams in the modern NFL, and those who are deploy it strategically (the Dolphins are known for their cover-1 blitz, which is a man scheme, but they use it sparingly so it's a surprise). If your opponent has a particularly good receiving corps this might make you shy away from Man coverage, but since most teams are in zone the majority of the time anyways, it's hard to see the difference.
Great comment, thank you for this info, really appreciate it!
@@DNReacts Shut down corner is the term that comes to mind as well.
Very good synopsis! Always love it when someone gives Darrell Green his due for how great he was!
Love y'all's channel guys! It's really cool as someone who has just started watching a lot of the EFL, seeing you two guys diving into our sports too. You can really tell that y'all want to understand what's going on when you're watching and not just the same reaction to big hits every time lol. Welcome to Wrexham and you two have showed me how similar our love for our sports are. Cheers fellas, and keep up the great work.
Thank you Wil, love that you’re enjoying the channel, appreciate the comment. We’re loving this journey! Welcome to Wrexham is a great story, I think most of us are Wrexham fans now too
When u guys were asking about the difference between a 5-2, 4-3 or 3-4, i think the guy making the video could’ve been more descriptive at this point. If you recall, these formations are known as “base” formations. A team will have 1 base formation that they play for the entire season. 5-2 is almost never seen in the NfL. So the most common base formation would be 4-3 followed by 3-4. The team will actually build their playbook (to the defensive coordinator’s liking) around the players that they have signed. For instance, my favorite team: the cleveland browns, ran a base formation of 4-3 the entirety of last season. While a team like the LA rams ran a 3-4 base defensive scheme the whole season. This is because the rams have a star at the nose tackle position, being Aaron Donald. A nose tackle plays on teams that run 3-4 defensive schemes. The “packages” he mentions are what situationally come up throughout the game. Nickel and dime packages come on the field when the defense is predicting heavy pass attempts. I know that was a lot, but i felt i could be of assistance!
Listening to someone speaking in a British accent, enthusiastically learning American football, brings a tear to my eye. Good shit!
Enjoying your videos and the journey the both of you are taking in learning about America’s past time 😃
This is so interesting to see people genuinely try to understand American football. I'm going to subscribe to watch yall journey. I hope you guys grow to enjoy the game. Fly Eagles Fly go birds!
Great video, glad you are taking it in parts.
I was travelling for business once with a man from Yorkshire. We were at a hotel bar in Texas and the NFL was on TV. He looked confused and asked for a basic explanation of what was going on. The bartender heard this and came over and flooded him with tons of detailed information beyond what he was asking and at that moment it occurred to me that learning American sports is really quite confusing if you didn't grow up around them. When it comes to detailed rules which vary between professional levels (for example, when the clock stops), even those of us who have watched for years get confused. I love how in soccer the rules never change.
Really fun to see that, as you guys learn more, your learning has become sorta exponential. Every new video shows a better/quicker understanding than the last!
Thank you for this, glad you’re enjoying the content
Zone vs Man coverage by player and/or opponent is a much deeper conversation than a simple RUclips comment. There are a lot of things that go into what a defense will do against specific offensive players or offensive schemes. I love you guys enthusiasm to learn American sports.
Thank you for the support!
Yeah you can play zone on one side man on the other. This is common when a team motions to trips. If in cover 2, which is fundamentally unsound against trips, defense auto checks to cover 3 to the trips side and man on the backside, might even auto-check to a backside blitz.
@@chonzen1764 Also most defenses try to disguise their coverage, whether its man-to-man or zone, to bait the QB into making a poor decision. Offenses try to disguise their formations or what they are doing to try and put the defense into bad positions. And all of this happens pre-snap. It can get pretty complicated.
I learned a lot too! thanks for sharing!
Really enjoyable video! Thank you
Defense was my personal favorite to play. Defense wins championships. I played cornerback and free safety.
Absolutely. I played safety and defensive end. I had 2 goals. Sack the QB or get an INT. I may have sacked our QB during practice and injured him...oopsie. He was a D-bag anyway.
@ImAlwaysLast lol...what? No red jersey...LOL!
That was a pretty decent explanation of the basics and formations on defense. The offensive version will be a bit longer or more in depth, if it covers all the different formations.
Thanks, we’ll keep an eye out for a good offensive video. Unfortunately the creator of this defensive video doesn’t have one for offensive.
Formation mismatches mean you'll have a fast offense on a slow defender or a deep secondary on a running back. You'll often see defenders point and talk to align their defense with the offensive formation, but it'd usually a chance for a big play.
This was a great video to be picked!
Hey guys brilliant video as always. In college there have been a number of teams that were or are known as a man coverage or zone. Man can be a great defense as long as there are superstars on the defense, because it is easy to get burned by the offense, especially with crossing routes of the receivers. I am a Michigan fan and from 2016 to 2019 we had a great man and blitzing defense. The team was in the top 5 for those years. But, in 2019 Indiana university and Ohio State clobbered our defense with crossing routes. So as long as the team has outstanding talent it can be great, but once the talent decreases ever so slightly the crossing routes will burn a man team. A number of teams will use a man and zone mix if they can but zone helps to keep things in front of the defense. Then as the offense gets closer to the end zone the smaller the field and that can give advantages to the defense. This video is great though as the guy really did a fantastic job explaining the defense. Keep up the great reactions!! 👍👍
Great read Bryan, thank you for the comment. Appreciate the support for the channel. We do like this creator, second time we’ve used him now and we’ve been impressed both times
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The question you asked at 7:12 is like this:
Say the defense calls a nickel but the offense comes out in a run formation, the defense can shift formation depending on what they see from the offense. The defense has a captain, who takes on the roll of the coach basically, and if he sees the defensive package is wrong he will adjust accordingly
Most of the decisions are situationally dependent. IE: How many yards does the offense need to gain on any given play. If they need only a yard or 2 for a 1st down (Which I assume you understand). The defense will use more large linemen and line backers to try to prevent an offensive running play that only requires a couple yards or less. But if the situation requires the offense to gain 10 or more yards, the defense will use more defensive backs and be willing to give up 5-8 yards, but not the 10 required for the 1st down (That's very simplified). To answer one of your other questions, normally the players are designated typically by number, as to whether or not they are a DB, LB or Safety, etc. It's not just the same 11 guys lining up in a different location, they have actual 'Specialists" for each position. I believe the number is still 53 active players on each team for a game. Anyone can go in at anytime allowed. That being said, they can go wherever they want once the play starts. So there are players that are assigned as Defensive lineman, defensive line backers and Defensive backs (Same with offense, mostly). Where it gets tricky and this video doesn't go into it is swapping players out for other specialized positional players. The defense can only swap in or out players if the offense does. So if the defense was expecting a run heavy selection of plays, but the offense just keeps passing the ball and the defense is getting beat, the defense will need to call a timeout to be allowed to put in more pass defenders (DB's) and Timeouts are extremely valuable, so you don't want to be caught in the situation. It can work the other way around, if the offense is just pounding run after run, the defense can tire, but they can't swap in run defenders unless the offense swaps in players or again, they need to call a timeout. So many times the Strategy can be for the offense to put in a run heavy offense and just stick with it. And if it keeps working, the defense needs to either call a timeout to swap in larger players to stop the run, or the just keep getting run over. But the second they do, the offense can switch to a pass heavy offense. And it goes back and forth. Hence the strategy and love of the game. I think you mentioned, something to the effect, does a player become a DB, or DL or LB just by where they line up? In theory sort of, but in reality, each player has a position and role and typically both the offense and defense will swap out players based on the situation and yardage required. Unless the offense is just running over the defense, then they will stick with what they have. Because in general it's much harder to play defense, physically. reacting to what someone is doing requires more effort than initiating the action.
In High School we never did anything fancy on Defense we usually had a 4-4, but we would go to a 5-2 something and we played a simple cover 6, and to answer your question about a 3 receiver set since we ran a zone didn’t matter if we covered a man at the start of the play but we had a defensive play called Ed, Ed (was when we were in a 5-2 and the other team had 3 plus recevier) and what Ed did was it had the Edge Rusher cover the flat zone to the side with the most receivers allowing for our SS/OLB (our SS was called a strong safety but he lined up has an outside liner back that’s why I called it a 4-4) to cover the Curl.
I feel like I should return the favor and learn about futbol, rugby and cricket.
Rugby and Cricket are worth learning and watching, really entertaining
Really glad RUclips recommended this video. It's easy to forget there's a whole world out there who don't grow up with football as I know it. This guy did a great job of explaining things and watching you 2 react was very fun!
Great video! I've subbed and will check out your other videos. The video you were reacting to was really good at breaking down a pretty complex subject into easily understood sections. I would say that in the NFL there has been a shift over the last 20 years or so, IMO spearheaded by the New England Patriots and their coach, Bill Belichick, to become much more situationally adaptable. Professional Football in the 1990's and before often saw teams coming up with new schemes and plans before a season, practicing them, and implementing them over the entire season. One thing that contributed to the Patriot's "dynasty" (aside from an outstanding QB) was that they were highly adaptive, especially on defense. They would change out schemes every game or even mid-game, and this adaptability allowed players to play at a much higher level than they might have on other teams. As in all sports, once everyone else clued into the idea and found how to make it work for them, we now see this as common. This is not to imply that before then, teams didn't plan situationally to their opponent's strengths and weaknesses; it was more that this adaptation became much more refined and rapid. So now defenses will adapt how they play against an offense based on factors like the opponent's player injuries or how well they handle specific scenarios. Suppose an opposing QB seems to have trouble connecting on long passes when the year before, they were great at that. In that case, the defense might only keep 1 safety out in deep zone, or if an injury on the O-line weakens that area of an opponent, they may change the defensive scheme from 4-3 to 3-4 or even commit to blitzing much more to better exploit that weakness. Of course, these changes happened over 20 years, and there were various rule changes along the way, which meant that the sport stayed balanced between defense and offense.
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its the penalties that take years to learn.
You play man to man if your defense is more athletic then their offense.
Zone if their offense is more athletic than your defense. Not every play, but its common.
you failed to tell they why it is called a nickle back, Brits have no idea that a nickle is a US coin worth 5 cents.
@@michaeljcarneyjr.6187 Right . A US nickle is a five cent coin .
Watching your reaction makes me realize why I fell in love with football. I didn't grow up in a sports family and didn't get to sports until college, but man was it fun playing even just flag football with the guys. I started out as the center bc everyone wanted to be the wideout, but eventually became the MLB calling plays.
This is great! I like that you guys are learning the game and not just watching highlights and not knowing what’s going on. American football is great once you know the ins and outs of it. You start to see how athletic players are and how the minds of the coaches play out through the game.
Great video
Good one, guys. I learned from this.
This is the best explanation you could find!
This is such a good video. Glad you guys watched it.
You are correct Damo! Ray Lewis was a Middle Linebacker. He was the perfect MLB because of four main reasons:
1. Power, hard ass hitter.
2. Speed, for a guy who was 250lbs.
3. Vision, to see an offensive formation and due to watching film or intuition was able to snuff out plays before they could develop.
4. Communication. As a MLB he had the Defensive Coordinator in his ear (only one Defensive player gets to have an earpiece and it is normally a MLB or a Safety, someone who can see the whole Offensive Formation) and Ray Lewis with his booming voice would be communicating with his teammates things that the coaching staff were telling him and observations that he was seeing based on his own knowledge.
He also used his communication skills expertly via trash talking to get into offensive players' heads.
Love the channel! Keep up the good work!
Thank you James, appreciate the context. Had a great read. Love that you’re living the channel, thank you for the support.
As an avid college football and nfl fan (Roll Tide and Titan Up), this breaks down the defense to the average viewers level. The viewer knows the defense has stop the offense from gaining yardage and scoring, but this allows the average joe to watch the game with an analytical perspective in mind. Very well put together video
3-4 setup usually has a linebacker that is mostly a pass rusher (eg Lawrence Taylor). 4-3 is more static in this regard, but as mentioned at the end, the Tampa 2 has it's own hybrid linebacker that specializes in pass coverage (such as Urlacher).
The base scheme does make a big difference in the type of player you want. 4-3 has less "tricks" in general. But your base defense is only that, what you use most of the time.
Good on you both for picking up so much; it makes watching a game so much better when you can see the chess game that's going on out on the field. With an average of one game a week, teams spend a lot of time with staff tracking the next teams tendencies, injuries, etc. Even many college teams have guys taking video and breaking it down to give the coaches. I know of coaches who also study the coaches, even looking back several seasons to see what they might pull out. After a game there is a support staff that breaks down the video by team groups (cut-ups) and has it ready the next day for the coaches, who have position group rooms to break out into and study what to improve on, etc. Then they start to install what they want to do this week for the next opponent. It's big business, NFL and college level.
That was a good one. I learned a few things too.
Everything is situational. Great job fellas!
You guys ask excellent questions.
Enjoyed that as a along time football fan.
Great review for a lifelong fan…Thanks!
Yeah there is like at the end of games during hail Mary’s the defense plays zone at a 3-4-4, or a prevent defense which is where all or most of the defenders go and try to stop the receivers getting into the endzone
I am an NFL fan and have watched it for decades and was still able to learn a few things from the video.
Btw, yes, Ray Lewis was middle linebacker. Other notables randomly chosen from the top of my head are: Deion Sanders a cornerback and Troy Polamalu strong safety. Looking at the difference and their body types and physical abilities kinda help illustrate what skills are needed for a given position.
Good video to learn from, short and to the point but not oversimplified.
I've been watching American Football my whole life and I learned a couple things from this vid. Also loved how simple they made it
Love that you enjoyed and took something from this one Reed
Kudos, you guys are learning this fast. Much better than I know rugby, guess I have some homework to do.
OMG! yall are reacting to a video I recommended! love the stuff and looking forward to the march madness coming up :)
Appreciate the recommendation Christian! Jump in the discord, link is on the channel page. We have a bracket group set up!
Good on ya for taking the time to learn the game. As a Yank, I spent a few years in Australia and absorbed as much as I could about Ruby Union, Ruby League, Cricket as well as Australian Rules Football and Ruby 7s for the annual trip to HK. I loved them all and gained a huge appreciation for each. I wish the US was more aligned with English and prior English colony sports. For whatever reason our sports diverged into their own thing, which is kind of too bad. It would be awesome to have some strong international rivalries.
Showed up on my recommended a month later I guess, but I’m glad it did. You earned a new subscriber. Thank you for the great content.
Thank you, appreciate your support!
You guys have become one of my new favs on RUclips. I love your appreciation of sports, particularly American football.
Thank you so much for the support. Glad you’re enjoying the content!
This is great stuff. You guys seem to pick it up quickly and are asking good questions.
The more you know about football, the better it is. The game gets almost as intricate as a chess match.
Great content guys. Fun to watch. Someone might have said this already but if you really want to learn and appreciate American Football, you might try playing Madden Football on whatever platform you use. It’s a fun game and will definitely supercharge your understanding of the strategy and terminology. Thanks for sharing your videos.
You guys are doing well! This is an excellent video. Everything will come together after watching a couple of games.
Appreciate that Stephen!
Love to see you learning the great game of football!
Thank you Ray! Great having you with us for the journey
I am thoroughly enjoying you guys expand your football knowledge and i hope you two take a look at some College and NFL games this upcoming fall. I love these videos man 😂❤
Thank you so much for the support! We’re loving the journey and will be picking up a lot of games this fall 👍
I loved this video! You guys are brave lol
Thank you!
Definitely those zone/man decisions are made and entered into the game plan and practiced during the week.
This is great! I'll have to check out your other videos and subscribe. I did not read other comments. At 14:20, That's a game-to-game matchup puzzle that earns some coaches millions of dollars to get right! In fact, that is coaching; It is designing plays and formations based on the matchups at each position on each team. Similarly, lower-level teams choose their BASE defense on the capabilities of the personnel on the roster. At upper-level colleges and professional levels, generally, players are recruited/drafted/signed that match the characteristics desired for the positions within whatever defense the coach or organization prefers. Same for the offense... but both will mix and disguise packages and coverages play-to-play and (for instance, when time is rushed and no play can be called) use the BASE defense as the scaffold for most plays.
After binge watching you two for a couple days now...I can't wait for the NFL's next game in London...and your reactions as fans attending the game!
Neither can we!! Thanks for the support!
True
This is a very well done video of the person explaining it. Once people explain positions in football it makes a LOT more sense to casual viewers
This is a great video you guys watched
Great choice of video to learn from - i'm 54 years old and i've been watching American football since i was 5 - 6 years old - and while i hear many of these terms from the announcers - it was informative to have it explained the way it was - so if you're still a bit confused - don't feel badly - most American fans could also learn a lot from this video. Most fans don't have this level of understanding. I remember as a kid on the school playground in the 1970s - where we just ran wildly around in circles with the ball until someone could tackle us - how sophisticated professional football is by comparison. Hope there's a "guide for offense" for a future reaction. Thanks for posting this one.
Just one more thing - my favorite player (in the last 30 years) was a defensive back named Troy Polamalu - who was a strong safety for the Pittsburg Steelers. I hope you get a chance some time to take a look at his career highlights - he played the game like a wild man - the way all us kids back on the school playground dreamed of playing the game. He was a one-man wrecking ball. i'm sure you get many requests / suggestions for individual players - so please keep Polamalu in mind. Thanks.
Thank you Jedd, really appreciate your support. We’re going to keep an eye out for a good Offense video. Funny that you mention Polamalu, he’s been mentioned to us a lot of times. We’ll definitely be watching him and hopefully soon. I’d be playing football now the way you played in the playground 😅
Back in the stone age ,when I played high school football ,we ran a 5-4-2 defense with 5 defensive linemen 4 linebackers and two safeties . I played outside linebacker ,which in that defense was sort of a hybrid linebacker-cornerback
That's what we ran a lot in pop-warner through high school also. The 5-4 defense was popular back in the day.
@@areguapiri Where and when was that ,fellow old guy ? I played in Alabama around 1960 .We had a hell of a defense . We were undefeated ,untied ,and un-scored upon ,state AA class champs . We actually held one team ,which I won't disgrace by naming to NEGATIVE 227 yards total offense in one game .
There is one position that has been utilized over the last few years with the rising prominence of running QBs and that is 'the spy'. It is usually a middle-linebacker or free-safety assigned to watching a run happy QB.
This makes me so happy most of the film was my alma mater Iowa State :) Awesome Video guys!!!
Thank you Michael, appreciate this!
I'm getting flashback when I taught English in Tokyo in the late 90s and a lot of my co-workers were British. There was a British pub that would show all the Premier League matches down the road from my school and my colleagues would give me a tutorial on European football over pints.
That's a great video. I've been watching the NFL since 1970 and I still learned some things. One thing not covered in the video is "double coverage", where two players are assigned to cover one receiver (whichever receiver the defense considers the most dangerous).
I enjoyed that. I was going to make a few points about how the MLB usually calls the defense and how things change if the QB calls an "audible". That's when he changes the play call at the line of scrimmage. It gets so complicated. Maybe do a video on play calling. If there is one. Thanks for the great videos!
Thanks Mark, for the ongoing support. Really appreciate it. We’ve got QB Language high on our list, definitely one we want/need to take a look at
The defensive plays were the hardest for me to grasp growing up. How they can read the offense and make adjustments on the fly still kinda blows my mind.
Then you get the feedback loop of defense reading offense and adapting and both trying to disguise what they are doing back and forth haha.
Don’t worry Nathan, everything still blows my mind 😅
Love the channel. Even as a 24 year old American watching football (American football) my whole life, it’s always refreshing even more me to watch these videos
Thank you for the comment, great you’re enjoying the channel. We’ve been loving these videos. The more we’re picking up; the more fun it is
I'm not sure how I got here but even as an American football fan already, I felt like I was learning a lot along with you. I know defenses will adapt based on who they're playing (at least, most will). As a Detroit Lions fan back when Calvin Johnson was with the team, I think I read in an interview once that he was *always* doubled, sometimes tripled, by the defense...so I think defenses definitely adapt their scheme depending on who they're playing. Liked and subscribed, I'll look for more of your content!
Me too
That was a nice video. I usually hate these. Coming from a family of players and everyone but me coached too, there's usually something they describe that irritates me, isn't quite right, or is oversimplified and potentially misleading. That was really good. You guys should stick with him! He gets this coach's kid's stamp of approval :)
Fun video! As someone who grew up living and breathing American football, one thing that tripped me up a bit when playing adult league soccer was that the way we number our formations is flipped. In an American football team's 4-3 defense, the 4 refers to the forward-most players, whereas in a soccer team's 4-3-3 formation, the 4 refers to the rear-most players (minus the keeper). It took me an embarrassingly long time to get that straight.
Defensive strategies in American football have definitely evolved over the past couple decades, mainly due to players' increasing athleticism, size, and strength on both sides of the ball. Quarterbacks are more athletic and more accurate, so passing has become far more dominant, and so defenses often can't afford to keep five huge defensive linemen on the field that can neither catch the quarterback nor cover even a tight end. Even 4-3 defense is less common these days at the highest level.
I'll also point out that defenses are often not as symmetrical as they seem. Some teams use a "strong" side defensive end and linebacker with different responsibilities than the "weak" side defenders, and what determines the strong and weak sides may change from play-to-play based on some combination of where the tight end is, field position, quarterback blind side, planned blitzes, etc. Like a weak-side defensive end may focus on penetration, whereas the strong end may focus on containing the run (i.e. forcing runners to stay in the box). And then the two ends may flip responsibilities if the offense shifts formations or goes in motion. It can definitely get complicated!
You guys are asking great questions. I love these videos, and I'll jump into the comments to try and help out when I can.
The standard around the league right now for base defense is a nickel scheme, as the video stated. The best NFL teams today can score quickly by throwing the ball deep, so having five defensive backs on the field does help level the scales a bit. As a result, safeties and linebackers are staring to resemble each other in body type because both are expected to provide pass coverage and run tackling. Traditionally, linebackers were taller and heavier and safeties were skinner, faster and quicker. They look pretty much the same now. Also, the play calling role on the defense used to only be the responsibility of the middle linebacker, but many teams are having one of the safeties pick up that duty due to the implementation of more complex secondary schemes.
Against really great pass teams like Kansas City, Dallas, or Philadelphia, the average team might start the game playing at least cover two out of nickel, or "two high". That means you have two safeties over the top who can roam around and break up deep pass plays, and the other three DBs play man against three wide receivers. There are some downsides to having two high players. It is easier to run on and easier for quarterbacks to exploit soft spots in the zone with short passing plays. From there, teams will adjust the players on the field between drives, but not necessarily between plays. Defenses are reactionary, so they don't need to swap out players in direct response to the offense. Most schemes have some amount of build in flexibility that can tailor coverage to what they see when everyone lines up.
Defenses will typically play one deep or even a cover zero, which is just straight man to man, if they think blitzing the quarterback will be effective. In a cover zero, the defense will line up 10 players on 10 players, the opposing quarterback will have the ball, and one defensive player will be free to create a mismatch or rush the QB. This doesn't make much sense against a quarterback with elite movement who can throw on the run like Mahomes because he plays so well under pressure. Against less talented, less mobile and less seasoned QBs, blitzing out of a cover zero or cover one can really disrupt an offense.
Against run-first teams like the Titans, defenses might opt to play a cover three or cover four zone so they can have more players line up in the box to stop the run. Cover three has one deep middle safety and two corners drop to split the width of the field into deep thirds for coverage. This frees up the other safeties and the linebackers to quickly crash down into the box if they think a run play is coming. A team could have a nickel package on for the first few drives of the game and play cover two, but then switch to a cover three with the same personnel if they believe the opposing team is going to try a run play. Cover four is interesting - the cornerbacks will line up on the sidelines like they are in man coverage with receivers, but they will let their man run past them deep and pass them off to a safety in real time. This can create confusion for a quarterback, and he might walk right into a bad throw to a safety switching onto a player. That is just one of the many ways that the defense can disguise their coverage to create confusion.
Another thing to consider is that man to man and zone will typically look different before the ball is snapped. In m2m, you'll see the corners and even a safety or two right on the line of scrimmage or a few yards back to lessen the distance between the guy they are covering. Conversely, zone schemes will have the corners and DBs starting the play seven or ten yards back before the ball is snapped so that they can keep everyone in front of them and cover their zone more quickly. But once again, defense can and do get tricky with their pre-snap looks, so you can't always rely upon what you see before the ball is snapped to figure out the coverage. Defenses might line up very aggressively on the line, and then drop into a really conservative zone coverage to trick the offense.
You are probably getting a sense of how important good coaching and good game planning is by now. Games between high level teams are literal chess matches. Also, a team like Kansas City is so hard to stop because Mahomes is elite at almost everything, and they have both a deep game and an incredible shallow passing game with Travis Kelce. You have to pick your poison. Bill Belichick, as you probably know, is the legendary Pats head coach who won six rings with Tom Brady. He has always been a more defensive minded coach, and his philosophy was to always stop the greatest threat first. Against KC, that would probably mean putting a DB on Kelce in man coverage all game and figuring the rest out when you stop him.
For good defensive study, I would recommend watching a full game or two of Kansas City losing against any other team from the past few years - maybe check out them verses the Bengals in the AFC championship game from 2021. KC has such a balanced passing attack. Only high level coaching and tricky defense has been able to stop them.
He just went into the hall of fame this year so I will mention Revis as a guy always in man to man. Often called the isle of Revis defenses would put him against the offenses best receiver and it usually meant that player was erased from the game. This allowed multiple blitz packages to be employed because the quarterbacks number one receiver was always covered, and when a 300 lb man is charging at you instincts kick in and you throw to your most reliable receiver.
A Def will usually stick to their base (4-3 or 3-4, ect.) that is their identity. They drafted players to fit that scheme.
BUT they will situationally sub a few positions out for a different look.
DEF can MATCH any OFF out of their base by being very creative. Blitzing from different areas/positions, using stunts, mixing up coverages, dropping DL into coverage, ect.....
This is the strategic part of the game and why coaches get paid so much . Teams study & scheme all week to prepare for that one game each week !!!
I love that you guys seem to be understanding my football far better than I understand yours. Keep it up boys
Thank you Jon! Really appreciate your support
I appreciate the genuine curiosity in understanding American Football. To the uninitiated, it can look like a dumb and violent sport, but there is a lot of nuance and complexity. There is no team sport more intense, which is why the pace is so uniquely staggered. While it's my favorite form of "football" I also appreciate the older - and rounder - version that you and the rest of the world celebrate. Cheers from the US
This really blew my mind because I grew up watching and playing football. I had no idea how much information I just took for granted as standard knowledge. I’m for sure going to have to tone it down this season when I watch with my girlfriend who knows almost nothing about schemes and different packages.
Congrats! You guys now know more than most American NFL fans! In all seriousness, your effort to learn the game is awesome.
In regards to your question about defenses "adjusting", the offense makes substitutions before the play. The personnel that the offense chooses ultimately determines what formation a defense will play. If an offense comes out with 2 wide receivers, the defense will most likely be in base. 3 or 4 wide receivers and the defense will play nickel or dime. If the offense subs any personnel, the defense gets a chance to match. Great question and I hope this helps explain it some.