Defensive play calling might seem simple. Pick a front, maybe throw in a blitz, choose a coverage. But it’s not.
Defensive football in general isn’t nearly as simple as some would make it out to be. Sure, at the heart of the matter you just find the football and get the guy to the ground. But if that was all it took, we’d all be geniuses.
On this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, we’re looking at how to call you defensive fronts to effectively stop the offense. More than play calling, we’re talking about how to game plan the fronts you want to use.
I’ll even give you a 6-Step Process for choosing your defensive fronts when you game plan for an opponent. This is a great to figure out how to put your players in position to succeed!
Doesn’t matter what your base defense is, either. No matter what defense you run, this podcast will help you game plan your fronts to shut down the run.
Check it out! And if you want to go even deeper in learning defensive fronts, start your JDFB Insider subscription right now! You’ll get access to 4 Complete Defensive Systems instantly. Click here to get started right now.
It’s just 3 yards. How hard can it be? 2 Point Conversion Plays seem like easy points. But they won’t be unless your team is prepared.
If you have a good field goal kicker, the 2 Point Conversion may be something you only use when you need it. For other coaches, it’s an absolute necessity.
There’s a lot to think about when you put together your 2 Point Package. How many plays do you need? Do the come from your regular offense? Or will you use special plays?
In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, we’re going to go into preparing a 2 Point Conversion package. From basic philosophy behind 2 point plays, to specific plays that you can use in your offense right now.
At some point, you’ll have a football game that will come down to the 2 Point Conversion Play. Listen to this episode now to get the jump on your preparation for that moment!
In this episode, I mention the Power Pass and other parts of our Pistol Power Offense System. Visit http://pistolpoweroffense.com to find out how you can get Instant Access to this complete Offensive System right now!
The 3-4 Defense is one of the most popular schemes being used in High School, College and the NFL today. Unfortunately, just saying that you 'run a 3-4 Defense' won't tell anyone else a whole lot.
Sure, you use 3 down linemen and 4 linebackers. But they can be arranged in a huge variety of ways. And flexibility is one of the strengths of the 3-4 Defense.
Within JDFB Insiders, I teach The 3-4 Defense System as my own preferred brand of the scheme. It's not too complicated, and grew from our 4-2-5 Defense playbook.
Find another coach running the 3-4 Defense. It's likely that his version will look different.
You might 2-gap the defensive linemen. Or base out of a different coverage.
Or you might not call it a 3-4 Defense at all. Maybe you call this a 5-2 Defense. They're the same.
Check out https://joedanielfootball.com/80 for my entire rant on how there's only 4 defensive schemes in football. Plenty of people have argued with me, no one has convinced me I'm wrong yet.
For this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, we're talking all about The 3-4 Defense. Advantages, disadvantages, and how we teach the scheme inside of JDFB Insiders.
You can get Instant Access to my Complete 3-4 Defense System right now for just $1! Plus you'll get access to 4 other complete football coaching systems inside of JDFB Insider. Visit https://joedanielfootball.com/tryit to start your 14 Day Trial for just $1 right now! Available only during the month of October!
Playing Center is not the most glamorous position. It’s the opposite.
In the NFL, the Left Tackle gets all the glory on the Offensive Line. Probably the only position to consistently get recognized up front.
Sure, there’s a few Centers who become well known. They usually have a high command of the offense and play for many years. And they’re snapping the ball to some of the top Quarterbacks in football.
In High School Football, the Center will rarely get that kind of recognition. His recognition is more likely to come from a bad snap, than from anything positive he contributes to the team.
Offensive Line Coaches know the truth. The Center is often the single most important guy in your blocking scheme.
Within our Pistol Power Offense System, there’s a lot of variation. We don’t always line up in Pistol (less than 1% of snaps this season). And Power isn’t always the top run play (it’s been Zone most of this season).
The one consistent factor in our System is that we are as good as the Center. His talent, work ethic, effort and mastery of the offense go a long way.
Rarely the most talented blocker. It’s more likely the opposite.
How you coach your Center is critical to score more points. In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I’ll break down just what you need to do to get more production from your center.
Want to learn more about The Pistol Power Offense System? You’ll get instant access to my exclusive 3 Video Series on the Power Series at no charge, when you sign up at http://pistolpoweroffense.com/podcast.
Links
Jock Sutherland Snap taught by Ted Seay: https://youtu.be/gtboAyXHl_k
Things might be going well. They may not be.
For whatever reason, you feel like you need to make some changes. Big one’s.
It’s time for the playoff push. Or you’re just trying to salvage the season from disaster.
So you’re thinking about making drastic changes. You want to change you a whole new defensive scheme. Right now. In the middle of the season.
In today’s episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I’ll explain why you should not change your defensive scheme right now!
At least… why you shouldn’t make any big time, wholesale changes. There’s always room for adaptation and improvement. It’s absolutely necessary if you want to be successful!
If you’re running a well designed defensive system, none of this will be a problem. A good coaching system is easy to adapt and adjust. Game to game and year to year.
But if you aren’t doing that, you may be tempted to make some major changes right now. I’ll help you decide what changes to make, and which changes to avoid. And how to get your team’s defense back on track for the second half of the season.
Don’t forget to visit and follow my Twitter Profile Page @footballinfo to vote for next week’s poll topic! We’ll be talking about Offensive Line, so don’t miss it!
Want to check out the newly updated JDFB Insiders right now? You can get a 14 Day Free Trial for only $1 for a Limited Time. Sign up at https://joedanielfootball.com/tryit.
In a big runaway win from our Twitter Poll this week, the Veer Option received 35% of the vote! And I’m excited about that.
This episode won’t cover the entire offense, of course. That’s impossible. We’ll be focusing on The Split Back Inside Veer play.
Two whole episodes of old school (sort of) Option Football in a row! What a treat.
All the Spread Offense guys have left us by now. But we’re still having fun.
In today’s episode I’m going to go deep dive on the Inside Veer play. Everything you need to know.
We’ll talk about how to line up your offensive formation to get in the right places to attack. Then I’m going to talk about the basics of the blocking scheme for the Inside Veer.
After that, it’s all about the Option mechanics of the backfield. The dive, the keep, and the pitch.
I’ll close out the episode by talking about some of the counters and play action you can run off the Split Back Inside Veer play. It’s everything you need to get started with this Offense, and decide if you want to do more research.
If you decide to go further, you’ll want to check out these resources (I used these for this podcast)...
I love college football. That doesn’t mean I’m glued to the TV all day every Saturday. However, I’ll usually stop to watch Georgia Tech’s Flexbone Option Offense on the field for at least a series or two.
Not because I love Georgia Tech, let’s make that clear. I’m a lifelong UGA fan. But man, that offense is a thing of beauty.
Most people I talk to don’t understand it. They think the Flexbone Option Offense is boring to watch. Makes no sense to me.
How could anything be more exciting than Option Football!?
Oh well. At least there’s still a few schools out there doing something to excite us football coaches (and probably infuriate some of their boosters) every Saturday.
On this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I’m going to look back at the foundations and origins of The Flexbone Option Offense.
Where did it come from? How did it get to where it is today?
Truth be told, there’s not a ton of information on this. Paul Johnson doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s interested in writing a book. At least not yet.
We’ll take it back to the days of the Wishbone Option. And even before that. On up to those 1-AA National Championship teams at Georgia Southern in the 1980s and 1990s.
I’ll also talk about the basic concepts of the offense and what makes it unique. The Flexbone Option Offense is a lot of fun to watch, and it’ll be a lot of fun to talk about on this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast!
The mark of a great coach is the ability to adjust during the game. It’s not easy, and it takes a lot of experience. Adjusting your football run defense is no difference.
Unfortunately, a lot of the football run defense adjustments you make won’t work, just because the team you’re playing is flat-out better than you. Those game winning adjustments will be few and far between, no matter how good you are.
But there’s a chance. You will win some games in your career because of great adjustments for your football run defense.
Paul “Bear” Bryant is a coaching legend. There’s not much question about that.
He won 6 National Championships as the Head Football Coach at the University of Alabama. The image of his houndstooth hat is unmistakeable.
But we’re football coaches, and we’re not just interested in the story of a coach who won a lot of football games (323 games, to be exact). We want to know how. And why.
In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, we’ll take a look at the early year of Paul “Bear” Bryant’s coaching career. How did he come to be the legend at Alabama?
Starting with his upbringing in Arkansas, to his playing days at Alabama, we’ll look at the rise of one of the most legendary figures in our profession. On to his time in the Navy during World War II, and his first head coaching job that followed, at the University of Maryland.
Then on to Kentucky, and of course, to Texas A&M. The site of the famous Junction Boys.
Don’t get too excited, I plan to leave the Junction Boys story for another time.
When this went on the Twitter Poll @footballinfo, I had every intention of covering Coach Bryant’s entire career. But after doing my research, well… there’s just no way.
Instead, it’s time to lay the foundation on one of the greatest coaching legends of all time! I’ll share my thoughts, my own personal (though pretty thin) connection to Bear Bryant, and a few interesting stories on Episode 210 of The Football Coaching Podcast!
This episode is sponsored by JDFB Insider, where you can get access to all 5 of my Coaching Systems, plus a whole lot more. Check out https://joedanielfootball.com/membership for all the details on how you can get instant access, right now.
The Overhang Safeties in your 8-man front defense set the edge. Defend the flats. They are critical to shrinking the field for your defense.
Overhang Safeties are a major piece in your 4-2-5 Defense or 3-3-5 Defense. If you call it a 4-4 Defense or 3-5-3 Defense, they’re your Outside Linebackers. The principles are still the same.
Episode 209 of The Football Coaching Podcast will go in depth on coaching the Overhang Safety position. This won our Twitter Poll @footballinfo this week. Check in each week to vote for the next topic.
I’ll talk about the alignment of the Strong Safety and Weak Safety. We’ll look at why you use variations in alignment and how to align your defenders to maximize their effectiveness.
We’ll look at the most effective stance for your defenders to execute their assignment.
In this episode, I’m also going to address the most common question I get about the Overhang Safeties. What keys should they read? My answer is a little different than most, but something I have found to be very effective from week to week and season to season for these guys.
Finally, we’re going to dive into how to coach the technique for your Strong Safety and Weak Safety to perform their job within the defense to help you shut down your opponent.
There’s a lot of variation in this topic based on coverage. We could probably break it down by coverage, and again by Strong and Weak Safety. I’ll talk about these guys in as much detail as possible without getting too specific to your coverage. But there will be some differences.
I also focus a lot on the 4-2-5 Defense System and how we teach our defenders in there. You can get all the details on the System and get instant access today when you check out http://425defense.com.
Special Teams are one-third of the game. Every coach says it. Most of us don’t actually spend that much time on it, though.
In fact, a big part of special teams comes down to execution. Limiting mistakes. If you can do that, you can make big things happen.
I posted 4 Special Teams units on our Twitter Poll @footballinfo. The winner by a big margin was the Kick Return schemes.
And why not? Kick Return is a huge key to scoring for your football team. It’s probably the single special teams unit where you have the highest probability of scoring (PAT/FG not included).
Plus this is what’s going to set up your field position on the next drive. Or the opening drive!
In this episode we’ll break down kick return schemes for handling deep kicks, sky kicks, squib kicks and onside kicks. You’ll also learn how to use the right personnel on your Kick Return unit.
And last but not least… we’ll talk about practicing your Kick Return team. How can you get the most from these guys in the necessarily short amount of time that you have?
In this episode, I mentioned Coach Lew Johnston’s Put the "Special" in Special Teams by Being Unconventional video. Coach Johnston has been a huge help to me this year, so… buy his video!
Want more podcasts? More football coaching videos? Support The Football Coaching Podcast on Patreon!
The Playbook. It’s like the Holy Grail of football coaches.
We dream of putting together that amazing playbook. With just the right selection of calls.
You’ve probably drawn up one or two in your time. If you’ve been dreaming of this job for long, you at least drawn up a few plays.
Almost every football coach has downloaded a few playbooks from the Internet, too. Good and bad.
The truth of the playbook isn’t nearly as sexy. Playbooks don’t win games. Players do.
What else do players do? Leave their playbook in their locker (or worse). Forget to study it.
And execute the plays completely wrong. No matter how many times you drilled it.
In this episode, we’re going to talk about putting together your playbook, so that it actually gets translated to on-the-field success!
Want to have a successful playbook? Check out JDFB Insider where I supply you with the playbook, but more importantly teach you how to teach your players so that your team executes on Game Day. Visit https://joedanielfootball.com/membership for more information.
Press Man Coverage is our Twitter Poll winner at http://twitter.com/footballinfo for this week. I’ll look at some of the myths and reality of coaching Press Coverage. We’ll also talk about technique for coaching press coverage to your athletes.
I used to be one of those guys who shied away from press technique. Always thought you had to have some kind of freakish athlete to do it.
Now I’m going to share with you why that’s just not true. Why you can use press coverage for your football team, even with average athletes.
This episode is brought to you by The 4-2-5 Defense System at http://425defense.com. Visit there to get all the details on this complete Coaching System, including how to put together a coverage package that matches your defensive front. Whether you’re going to run Cover 3, Cover 1, Quarters, Robber, or Split Field Coverages, The 4-2-5 Defense System gives you complete instruction on how to do it.
Plus you get base run fits, change-up fronts, blitz package, game planning, practice planning and more. Everything you need to dominate on defense this season with The 4-2-5 Defense System. I’ve worked with over 1,000 coaches on installing the System around the country and around the world. At every level including High School, Middle School, Youth, College, and Semi-Pro.
Check out http://425defense.com for all the details on The 4-2-5 Defense System and how you can get instant access, today.
The Wing-T Offense has always been a fascination of mine. Even though I’ve never really coached the system.
For this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I’m indulging that fascination by exploring the origins of the Delaware Wing-T Offense.
You might know the story. You probably don’t. I didn’t.
Tubby Raymond is not a major part of this tale. In fact, he marks the end of the story.
Instead, we’ll talk about the true origins of the Delaware Wing-T Offense. A story that begins with Dave Nelson, Harold Westerman and Mike Lude.
And it doesn’t even start at the University of Delaware. Nope.
This story starts in Maine.
A few key resources for this episode…
I’ve had a blast gathering information for this episode. Here are the key pieces so you can read them for yourself:
In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I’ll talk about advantages of Press Quarters Coverage, the basics of coaching Press Quarters, and adjustments that you’ll need to be ready to make if this becomes your base coverage.
You can use press quarters coverage with any traditional defensive front. I’m focusing on the viewpoint of a 4-3 Defense, since that’s where we have used Quarters most often.
You can run this with your 3-4 Defense, 3-3-5 Defense, or your 4-2-5 Defense. If 4-2-5 Defense is your thing, I’ve got a special 3 video series that you can get instant access to right now as my special gift. Just visit http://425defense.com/podcast to sign up for that series right now.
Links
Visit and follow my Twitter Profile Page @footballinfo to vote for next week’s poll topic!
Coaches are always struggling to create an identity for your football team. We don’t need to create it though - you should be trying to develop the identity.
It’s an important distinction, and the biggest takeaway from this podcast. You need to build around the strongest positive character trait that the majority of your team possesses.
To find your football team’s identity, you need to examine the community, parents, tradition, and your current players. You also need to look at yourself and the coaches around you.
In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, find out just what the Team Identity really means, and how you can develop one that will take your football team to the next level of success.
I’ll also share several examples of Team Identity for you to look at, to help you decide what direction your football team’s identity needs to go in.
This isn’t about X’s and O’s, but if you want to give your team’s defense a new identity, I’ve got a free gift for you. Visit http://425defense.com/podcast to get instant access to my Foundations of the 4-2-5 Defense video series.
Visit and follow my Twitter Profile Page @footballinfo to vote for next week’s poll topic!
It’s the single most searched term on Joe Daniel Football. “Linebacker Reads.”
So it’s about time we do the definitive podcast on coaching linebacker reads. Of all styles.
Because I coach them all. It’s about finding what works best for your players, in your defense. And every player is different. Heck, every game is different - but we only have an hour (well, 70 minutes).
I’ll talk about backfield keys, guard keys, and the 2-man surface read for your Inside Linebackers. What it is, and how you can read it.
No matter what defense you coach, we’re going to talk about Linebacker Reads that you can use for your football team this season.
Check out http://425defense.com/podcast to get instant access to my Foundations of the 4-2-5 Defense video series. This is my special gift to you and you can get access to these videos right now at no charge.
Visit and follow my Twitter Profile Page @footballinfo to vote for next week’s poll topic!
This week's winner on our Twitter poll @footballinfo was Defending Trips Formations. We look at multiple ways to defend 3 by 1 formations no matter what defense you're running.
In any game plan, you'll need 3 ways to defend Trips Formations. I'll give you plenty to think about.
As with any other defensive plan, it starts with deciding what the offense is using that formation for. What's their purpose?
Then you've got to make some decisions. Man or Zone? Or a combination coverage?
6 man box, or 7 man box? Or 5 man box when they're really trying to sling it all over the place?
In this episode I also mention that special gift, my 3 Video Series on Coaching Football's 4-2-5 Defense that you can get access to right now at http://425defense.com/podcast.
The Red Zone is the Scoring Zone. When you get there, you've just got to put points on the board.
And a field goal isn't good enough. No, in fact, a field goal represents a failure for the Offense in the Red Zone (still a positive for the team!).
Red Zone Offense needs to be one of your top priorities for the Offense to be successful.
In today's episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I'll tell you how to make it a priority. And a success.
In this episode...
Don't forget to VOTE in our Twitter Poll for next week's FBCP Episode Topic @footballinfo.
In this episode, I also mentioned a free gift for listeners of The Football Coaching Podcast on Coaching the 4-2-5 Defense. You can get access now at http://425defense.com/podcast.
Cornerback technique is often neglected. If you focus in on the fundamentals of the position, you can make some huge improvements with these athletes in a short period of time.
I'm breaking down the position by coverage and using the A.S.K.A. model.
A.S.K.A. is Alignment, Stance, Key and Responsibility. It tells the story for every position on your defense. It is the pre-snap checklist every defender should go over in his head before every play.
Whether you're Cover 2, Cover 3 or Quarters you'll get some great ideas from this week's Football Coaching Podcast.
Get your coaches in the right place is going to be critical to the success of your football team. This takes a lot of thought to get it right.
Every coach on your staff is at a different level. A different person. We’re not all great field generals, or great motivators. We each have strengths and weaknesses.
And of course, every coach on your staff has a different level of experience. At different positions.
Time to get it right. Listen to Episode 193 of The Football Coaching Podcast to find out how to make sure you’re using your football coaches right!
Don’t forget about my 3 video series on The Pistol Power Offense System. Those videos are my gift to you. Register and watch the first video right now at http://pistolpoweroffense.com/podcast.
The Offensive Line takes more attention to details and technique than any other position on the field with the possible exception of Quarterback. Your asking big men to do unnatural things. Players can’t just rely on their athleticism.
In today’s episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I’m going through the key blocks you will use in a Gap Blocking Scheme. That’s plays like Power, Counter, Iso and Trap.
This is a detailed look at blocking. Footwork, aiming points, and the upper body.
If you want to learn more about Offensive Line play, and every football coach should, I strongly recommend two books:
Coaching Offensive Linemen by Dave Christensen and James A. Peterson
Complete Offensive Line by Rick Trickett
I mentioned that 3 video series on The Pistol Power Offense System. The videos on Power and Counter will show you where I apply these blocks in our System. Those videos are my gift to you and you can access the first video right now at http://pistolpoweroffense.com/podcast.
It’s the longest wait in football. The time from the end of school to kick-off on Friday night. Seems to take forever.
Don’t waste that time. You can get a lot out of your pre-game routine!
This week’s Twitter Poll winner was Pre-Game Warm Up’s. From the pre-game meal to the opening kick, I’ll go in depth on how you can get your players ready to play.
How should you handle your meetings? When do you flip the switch?
And on the field, how much contact are you going to have? This is the complete guide to get your players ready to perform from the first drive through the fourth quarter (and Overtime if needed!).
I also told you about a 3 video series on The Pistol Power Offense System. Those videos are my gift to you and you can access the first video right now at http://pistolpoweroffense.com/podcast.
There’s a lot of ways to get your Offensive Formations to your players. None of them are the right way, you just need a system. One that’s consistent.
Learning football terms like formation calls is like learning a foreign language. So you can’t be too complex (I don’t know how good your kids are doing in Spanish, ours struggle).
Formations are usually called using a combination of words and numbers. But nothing is universal.
Then there’s the tags. You can get really complicated with tags.
Oh, and motions! Shifts! Trades! It’s endless.
In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I’m going to go into all of that. A whole bunch of different ways you can align your players. And how to put it all together.
One of the formation systems I talked about in this episode is from our Pistol Power Offense System. You can get a Free 3 Video Series on one of the core schemes of that System at https://joedanielfootball.com/ppo.
Don’t forget to visit my Twitter Profile Page @footballinfo to vote for next week’s poll topic!
On this edition of The Football Coaching Podcast, it’s a deep dive into Pattern Read Coverage. What is it, and why should your team run it?
And also… why shouldn’t your team run it? We’ll talk about making the decision.
I’ll talk about the 4 Critical Keys to Coaching Pattern Read Coverage. Then we’ll dive into all of the communication your players have to learn to run a successful pattern read defense.
In this episode I mentioned quite a few resources, and they’re listed below:
Don’t overcomplicate your coaching. Keep it simple so your kids can execute. That’s what The 4-2-5 Defense System is all about.
To get access to free videos on The 4-2-5 Defense System, visit http://425defense.com/podcast.