{"id":4145,"date":"2020-12-09T13:35:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T18:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gridironstuds.com\/blog\/?p=4145"},"modified":"2020-12-09T13:35:15","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T18:35:15","slug":"empower-your-signal-caller-on-defense-vs-hurry-up-offenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/empower-your-signal-caller-on-defense-vs-hurry-up-offenses\/","title":{"rendered":"Empower Your Signal Caller on Defense vs. Hurry Up Offenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Chad Wilson<\/strong>
\nTwitter: @gridironstuds<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

When teams want to throw you off as a play caller for the defense they will resort to the tactic of hurry up offense.\u00a0 There are times that you will be inside of the offensive coordinators head with your calls and you seem to be one step ahead of him.\u00a0 A good offensive\u00a0 coordinator will reclaim his edge by moving to an uptempo offense to change your play calls and get your defense to line up wrong.\u00a0 There’s one good way to counter that counter and this article will talk about that.<\/p>\n

There are three reasons why hurry up offense works.\u00a0 First is it fatigues the defense which leads to blown assignments and missed tackles. Second,\u00a0 is that it causes mis-alignments which leads to big plays because the defense is out leveraged.\u00a0 Third is it causes miscommunication which leads to big chunk plays in the passing game as receivers are left wide open.\u00a0 Regarding number one,\u00a0 thats on you as a coach if your team is not in shape enough to handle an uptempo offense as virtually every team has it in their repertoire.\u00a0 Reasons two and three can be severely eliminated by doing this one thing and that is turning the play calls over to your middle linebacker.\u00a0 Why the middle linebacker?\u00a0 Because he’s typically the brains of your operation and the one who calls the signals in the huddle.\u00a0 If he’s not for some reason then give the play calls over to whoever that signal caller is (aka the guy you trust the most).<\/p>\n

I know what I just said is like a guy giving his girlfriend his cell phone (pretty scary) but it’s a must.\u00a0 Unless you absolutely don’t trust your Mike backer,\u00a0 putting the power to make the calls in his hands helps the defense in several ways.\u00a0 First,\u00a0 it limits the whole defense having to look over to you or the signals coach to get a call while the offense is getting ready to snap the ball.\u00a0 Second,\u00a0 it gets everyone on the same page more likely.\u00a0 Finally,\u00a0 it limits the playbook which is a good thing when teams go fast.<\/p>\n

Against a hurry up offense,\u00a0 the best defense is the one where all 11 men on the field know what the call is.\u00a0 Signaling in the defense from the sidelines in a haste causes problems.\u00a0 First you must choose the defense,\u00a0 next either you or the signals coach has to signal it in.\u00a0 Then the you have to hope that all 11 players see the same thing and echo the same call around.\u00a0 By then the ball is snapped and the players have little chance to decipher their assignments vs. the look to go play with any amount of speed and confidence.<\/p>\n

So how do we set up the play calling controls for the middle linebacker?<\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0 Give Him 3 Options<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a defensive coordinator,\u00a0 I experimented with 5 calls, 4 calls, 2 calls, etc.\u00a0 After trial and error,\u00a0 I settled on three options as the best for the player to choose from.\u00a0 If you have a really smart Mike AND a pretty experienced unit you can throw a 4th call in there.\u00a0 Yes,\u00a0 I know shortening the playbook makes you feel like you are in prison but guess what,\u00a0 the offense has shortened their playbook too.\u00a0 They are simply hoping you line up wrong vs. one of 3 or 4 plays they want to run.<\/p>\n

(2)\u00a0 The Calls Should be One of Each<\/strong><\/p>\n

Within those 3 options,\u00a0 you want to give the MIKE a zone call, a man call and a blitz call.\u00a0 \u00a0This gives him a range within the curtailed set of options.\u00a0 He can now match the defensive type to the situation.\u00a0 This is where you will do your best coaching.\u00a0 Since in this situation you are removed as a coach on game day,\u00a0 you replace it with your coaching during game week.\u00a0 Discuss with your MIKE the possible scenarios that could occur and what call best sets the unit up for success in the given situation.\u00a0 Your MIKE should be able to think like you but given his IQ and experience,\u00a0 let him know he has a certain amount of freedom.\u00a0 Yes,\u00a0 I know for the college coach making $500,000 to $1.5 million annually,\u00a0 the thought of a U-Haul truck pulling up to the front of your house because of calls made by an 19-22 year old frightens you.\u00a0 Relax,\u00a0 that kid might call a better game than you in this situation especially if you have done a good job coaching him.<\/p>\n

Regarding the actually kind of calls.\u00a0 Your zone should be your best zone.\u00a0 Is your team best in a 1 high Cover 3 concept?\u00a0 Is a split safety coverage where you excel?\u00a0 Your man call should be the one where your unit is most comfortable.\u00a0 Remember,\u00a0 they will be fatigued a bit.\u00a0 You don’t want to mix discomfort in with fatigue.\u00a0 Finally,\u00a0 the blitz should match up with the objective.\u00a0 Are you trying to stop a run play with the blitz or a pass play?\u00a0 Is the QB a pocket passer?\u00a0 if so then you might want some kind of double A gap pressure.\u00a0 Is the QB great outside of the pocket?\u00a0 Then you may opt for bringing edge pressure.\u00a0 This call will likely change from week to week.<\/p>\n

(3) Give the Calls Simple Names<\/strong><\/p>\n

Give the play calls a one word name.\u00a0 Trust me on that.\u00a0 Don’t go getting complicated.\u00a0 Remember on offense during uptempo,\u00a0 simplicity works.\u00a0 This applies to you on defense.\u00a0 For example,\u00a0 “Migos” named after the popular rap group can be your Cover 3 call.\u00a0 There are 3 members in Migos.\u00a0 Your young group can appreciate that and will prefer that over you calling Cover 3 “Run DMC” (who also had 3 members) who is old and has two words in it.\u00a0 “Hulk” could be a blitz call and “Lebron” could be your Cover 1 call because to this generation,\u00a0 he’s #1.\u00a0 If you really want to do this right,\u00a0 you let the MIKE come up with the names for the call.\u00a0 \u00a0It will make it more fun and the unit will embrace it.<\/p>\n

Now you need hand signals because on top of calling it out,\u00a0 he must also signal it for the guys that are far away from him like the secondary. The defensive line can look forward at the offense and hear the call while the secondary can eyeball the MIKE for the hand signals in the event that they can’t hear him in a crowded stadium.\u00a0 Simple hand signals are best.\u00a0 Touching a part of the body,\u00a0 raising a hand in a certain direction,\u00a0 etc.\u00a0 If you don’t have ideas,\u00a0 go watch a first base coach signaling to a batter in baseball.\u00a0 LOL.<\/p>\n

(4) Practice, Practice, Practice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now you need the dress rehearsal.\u00a0 In the meetings you must present to the MIKE and the whole defense the scenarios and what you think works best.\u00a0 You must also ready the team for scenarios like the offense switching suddenly from a regular offense to hurry up.\u00a0 Is there a safe call for that scenario that you automatically call just to make sure you are lined up right and in position?\u00a0 It’s probably best to have that and make it known to the MIKE that this is the call on that first hurry up play.\u00a0 Also,\u00a0 cover the objectives each week and go over constantly what calls have changed each week.\u00a0 You don’t want to change all the calls each week.\u00a0 Again,\u00a0 the objective is comfort which brings confidence and allows your unit to play fast.\u00a0 Finally,\u00a0 you have a 2 minute session in practice and let your MIKE go to work.\u00a0 My signal to the MIKE when we were in hurry up was to simply point to him.\u00a0 That meant “your on! It’s your turn”\u00a0 Sometimes it’s best to launch that 2 minute period in practice without warning.\u00a0 This preps the mind for the sudden change, chaos and pace that could occur in the game.\u00a0 Preparation is key.<\/p>\n

Example Calls<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"_______________________________________________________________________\"\"_________________________________________________________________________ \"\" ________________________________________________________________________\"\"<\/p>\n

In closing,\u00a0 the best defensive call in any scenario is the one in which all 11 men know what it is.\u00a0 The biggest plays on offense typically occur when there’s a miscommunication assuming you have near equal talent to your opponent.\u00a0 Closing down the playbook and giving an on field player that ability to choose cuts out the middle man.\u00a0 As we all know,\u00a0 the middle man slows down any process and causes the prices to be higher.\u00a0 In your case the high price is confusion on defense and a 30 yard run off the edge where the ball carrier is untouched because you had three guys in the same gap.\u00a0 Empower your players and watch them excel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Give the power to your MLB and watch the defense go hard during uptempo offense<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":4153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1069],"tags":[1073,1070,760,1072,1062,1071],"class_list":["post-4145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-xandos-talk","tag-defensive-coordinator","tag-defensive-strategy","tag-football-strategy-2","tag-hurry-up-offense","tag-middle-linebacker","tag-uptempo-offense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}