4-4 Stack Vs Double Wing And Wishbone

[Coachjim1971 0]

I've been coaching youth football in northern Wisconsin for 6- going on 7 years but this is the first year in which our league has adopted any kind of defensive restrictions. With a new high school coach, we have been asked to limit our defensive formations to 1, that being the 4-4 stack with no defender allowed in the A gap. We are also a no blitz league. What I'm interested in is any suggestions anyone might have for using this defense to stop double wing and wishbone offenses. I'm particularily interested in suggestions regarding option assignments, ie. who takes the pitch man, who takes the qb. Also, any ideas as to how to drill the idea of backside pursuit into players. Over the years, that has been biggest problem I have run into on defense.

[BulldogJim 1]

I have been running a 4-4 Attack defense for many years. The strength to my defense is the many blitz options that I have available to me. Without the blitz, you need to control the DE. Rather than an upfield push, have the end control C gap inside out getting only about a yard or two penetration. (Will and Bandit would have contain) The DE's sitting in C will stop the counters and skinny reverses that are such a large part of the bone and Dwing. DT's have A, ILB's have B, DE's have C, OLB's have the edge, and Corners support open to the ball. If you can teach your LB's to read step and recognize the proper keys, and keep your DE's disciplined, you can have a lot of success.

I teach my boys that this is a "MIND YOUR BUISNESS" defense and each position has a primary and a secondary responsibility that they must be accountable for. Get them to beleive in the system as a team, show them how it works and your backside pursuit problems will cure themselves.

With this scheme, DE always has QB and OLB has pitch.