Tight End Coverage

[Soonerhawk 0]

Who is primarily responsible for the tight end on pass paterns.

It is something we struggled with last year.

Currently we have the corners take the first player in. If it is WR then they take him. If it is TE, they cover. If the WR and TE both go out we had the OS LB cover the TE. Is that right? Who takes the first back to the side then?

[dbcoach 0]

Hey coach, I think it depends on your D. Do you run a 43? 44? other? Having Sam or Will (OLBs) take the TE's can work as long as they are not your primary contain. If you ran a 43, you would have 4 DBs. Your safeties could handle the TE's then your LB's could worry about the backs.

What ever you decide, you can make it work. I've seen all sorts of coverage schemes where OLBs cover inside recievers. Whatever you dicide to do, I think the most important thing is to have a systematic approach to deciding who covers who. I like to keep it simple:

CB takes #1 (widest) reciever

Safety takes #2 (second widest)

Closest non containing LB (Will or Mike) takes #3 when needed.

Now, I coach 12 man ball so I can run a 44 and still have a CB and a Safety on both sides.

dbc

[Soonerhawk 0]

Thanks db. We run a 53 and 44. We normally only use only 1 safety. But this year we were discussing going with a 43 or 34 and using two safeties. Any recommendations?

[dbcoach 0]

Thanks db. We run a 53 and 44. We normally only use only 1 safety. But this year we were discussing going with a 43 or 34 and using two safeties. Any recommendations?

Hey Sooner. How old are your kids again? I'd stay away from the 34 until they get up to the older levels. That's just my opinion. I ran a 34 a couple of years back with wee ones (12 yr olds). In my experience, you just don't have enough bodies on the LOS to stop most runs before giving up at least a few yards. I think a 43 is more forgiving in that respect.

Perhaps though, the 34 problems were more of a coaching issue. I found that I needed to blitz at least two LBs every play just to force them to mind their gaps, and also to provide a significant pass rush. When you start blitzing kids to stop the run, it becomes a crap shoot. Blitz the wrong gap and you just took a valuable defender out of the play. Don't blitz it and you probably give up a few before the play is made.

Can anybody else tell us how to make a 34 viable for the young ones?

cheers

dbc

[jag1872 0]

Thanks db. We run a 53 and 44. We normally only use only 1 safety. But this year we were discussing going with a 43 or 34 and using two safeties. Any recommendations?

Hey Sooner. How old are your kids again? I'd stay away from the 34 until they get up to the older levels. That's just my opinion. I ran a 34 a couple of years back with wee ones (12 yr olds). In my experience, you just don't have enough bodies on the LOS to stop most runs before giving up at least a few yards. I think a 43 is more forgiving in that respect.

Perhaps though, the 34 problems were more of a coaching issue. I found that I needed to blitz at least two LBs every play just to force them to mind their gaps, and also to provide a significant pass rush. When you start blitzing kids to stop the run, it becomes a crap shoot. Blitz the wrong gap and you just took a valuable defender out of the play. Don't blitz it and you probably give up a few before the play is made.

Can anybody else tell us how to make a 34 viable for the young ones?

cheers

dbc

The easiest answer is don't use a 43 or 34 at those levels. They are not designed to stop a youth offense which runs the ball 75% or more out of power based schemes. The 43 and 34 are used at the pro, college, and HS level because it allows a defense to play both the pass and run equally against a variety of formations. They are really not good at stopping either; basically a jack of all trades defense for facing a "balanced offense concept" that is utilized at those levels.

43 defense -

Must have stud defensive ends, stud safeties, and stud backers...how many youth teams can do that.

34 defense - all the LB's must be studs (two are really acting as DE's), the NT must be a stud, and the safeties must be studs.

In both cases you have to have a coaching staff that can teach various techniques to all the positions. That is not easy to find on most youth teams and often on most MS and HS teams. To run a true 43 or 34 you need to have a coaching staff that can coach the positions...otherwise you are dead in the water.

At that age group the 52, which is better at stopping the run, but you still have only a 7 man front is better. You can go to a 52 rover/monster but then you are really playing a 53. At the youth level you need to play an 8 man front (at a minimum) to be successful. I run a 43 press with my spring team of 6th and 7th graders but that is because we face upper level offensive schemes (multi I, spread, shotgun veer and things like that). If I face a run based offense I switch to a 63 and that is the defense I use with my youth teams as I want to stop what they run 75% or more of the time.

So no I don't think the 34 or the 43 is viable. Often what most youth coaches that say they run a 43 are really running is a 43 with the corners rolled up or the safeties inverted..in that case they are not running a real 43 but a 63 or a 45 defense.

Jack

www.gregorydoublewing.com

[tkerch 0]

Thanks db. We run a 53 and 44. We normally only use only 1 safety. But this year we were discussing going with a 43 or 34 and using two safeties. Any recommendations?

man coverage can become a challenge ILB's, especially if the tight end flys. Also, if the wide out, cuts inside, wouldn't that put your corner right in the mix with the LBs? i think that could spell disaster, especially if the opposing OC sees you are in man.

consider zone coverage. i personally think that is easier to teach to kids and they know were they are suppose to be. with 3 Dbacks, each has deep thirds. OLB's have flats and ILB's have curls or ins. For LB's, if someone passes through your zone, stay with them, until they leave your zone, then let the DB take them. The only time this needs adjustments, is if you face a spread offence, with 5 wide recievers and a QB with a cannon for an arm.

[Titanscoach 0]

We run a 7-4 defense with no safety (9-10 yr olds). We have our CB take the widest man but if there is only a TE then our OLB takes the tightend. I'm coaching an aggressive defense and I have my DE get a piece of the TE if he releases and I have my LB's rough him up as well (within the 5 yds). If you are gonna do this, your LB's must be smart enough to know when the TE releases for a route. Our LB's are the smartest and most athletic kids on the team so it works well for us. The team we played this last weekend tried a pass on us and our LB was right there in good coverage and picked it off.