Type Defense
There are many good defensive schemes in football today. What is the best defense for your football team to use this season?
Whatever you know best. Or whatever fits your personnel best. It really depends on who you are, how you operate, and what you believe. What the landscape of your league and the teams on your schedule looks like plays a factor, too.
Type Defense Game
Maybe you need to make a change. Will your defensive scheme still be a good one in the future?
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What defensive innovations will we see in the next ten years? There’s really nothing new in football. Some tweaks and adjustments. A few cool nicknames. But they’re really just new twists on the old game.
Here’s my Top 5 Defensive Schemes for your football team:
5. The 46 Bear Defensive Scheme
I’m no expert on the true 46 Defense. I know enough to know that it is not a 4-6 Defense. 46 was the number of Doug Plank with the Chicago Bears under Buddy Ryan when the defense originated.
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What I consider to be a bear front is just about anything with two 3-Technique Defensive Tackles and a head up Nose Guard. That is the simplest way to identify the front.
The Bear Defense relies on Man Coverage most of the time. It’s a great run-stopping front and effective against the pass because of the pressure you can create.
Not a big time Man Cover guy? You may not be excited about running this. The true Buddy Ryan-created Bear Front also does some funky things with the backers and Strong Safety that I’m not going to get into, here. You can investigate the 46 Defense adjuster yourself (that was Doug Plank by the way, hence the name).
A great resource is Rex Ryan’s book, Coaching The 46 Defense. Even if you don’t coach the 46 Defense, you need this book. The chapter on Defensive Line is the single best resource on coaching that position I’ve ever run across.
It’s a great defense, but you don’t see many teams running this as their base defense. There’s a high level of adjustment needed to run the front against the variety of offensive attacks we see today. I really like it as a change-up front, though.
4. The 3-4 Defense
The 3-4 Defense has become increasingly popular after disappearing for a while. It’s the same as a 5-2 Defense, giving more flexibility to the Outside Backers.
The defense is centered around 3 down linemen – normally a head up Nose Guard and two head up Defensive Ends over top of the Tackles (4-tech).
There are two middle Linebackers aligned over the Guards. Finally, the front features two Outside Linebackers. These guys are going to be more athletic than the old stand-up 5-2 Defensive Ends. They are hybrid players, a role that has become the standard on most High School Football defenses today.
It’s a great way to maximize your speed on the field. And the 3-4 Defense is unmatched for its flexibility to create fronts and get great blitz angles.
You can roll into a simple Cover 3 and play the defense like a 1-high front, or play from Quarters with a 7-man front for more effective pass coverage.
While there are multiple variations on the 3-4 Defense, the front I teach in the 3-4 Defense System is a Coach Simple, Play Fast, Win version that can get your players attacking from all over the field.
Modern defenses need to get the maximum number of athletes on the field, and be completely adaptable. The 3-4 Defense fits the bill, so we’ll put it at #4 best defensive scheme.
I can’t argue that the defense could be higher on the list. But in working with many coaches and moving toward the Coach Simple, Play Fast, Win philosophy I’ve found it just gives a little too much flexibility to some coaches. The Top 3 defenses have more rigidity to them, and may be a better fit unless you’re an experienced 3-4 Defense coach.
3. The Miami 4-3 Defense
The Miami 4-3 Defense is the greatest defense there is, in my opinion. An attacking 40 front with the great versatility of the Over Front and Under Front.
You really need one true Defensive Lineman, the 3-Technique strong side Tackle in the Over Front. On the weak side, you can play another DT if you’ve got him, or a wrestler-type kid at the 1-tech Nose, a weak shade on the Center.
The ends are aligned outside shade of the end man on the line, either an Offensive Tackle or a Tight End. They’re crashing hard, spilling everything to the outside, rushing the passer, and causing havoc. These guys are linebackers, freakishly fast for the defensive line.
The other linebacker-type on the field is in the middle, at the Mike Backer. He’s over top of the Nose Guard, two-gapping the weak side B-Gap and the strong side A-Gap. To be a good 4-3 Defense, you’ll need a strong Mike Linebacker.
The strong and weak backers are more like Strong Safeties, that hybrid position everyone loves. One is probably more of a backer than the other. They, along with the two-deep safeties, make this defense so adaptable.
Speaking of those Safeties… you better have two good ones. Their ability to force the run will make or break the success of this defense for you if you’re running Quarters Coverage.
Type Defense Game
I love the blitz angles the 4-3 Defense creates. Nothing matches the Zone Blitz package out of this front.
Yes, I love the 4-3 Defense. I understand it better than anything else and can adapt it however it needs to be adapted. It works great with any coverage, but most importantly Quarters.
I still feel you can get more speed on the field in a 4-3 Defense (or 4-2-5) than you can with a 3-man front, because of the way the Ends play.
But I put it at #3 because even though I love the Miami 4-3 Defense, I do not think it’s the best defense for most High School Football coaches. And especially not for most Youth coaches.
The Miami 4-3 Defense is the best defense for coaches who have the talent. There are 4 positions that must be above average to succeed. You also need a coaching staff that can learn and teach some of the more complex principles.
If you’re coaching at a college where you can recruit your athletes, or at a large high school, this may be perfect for you.
2. 33 Stack Defensive Scheme
For today’s Spread Offenses that are putting so many speed threats on the field, the 3-3-5 Defense (or the 3-5-3 Defense, same thing) is a great way to answer. Whenever someone is looking for the best defense to run with their undersized defense, they seem to always turn to the 33 Stack.
Just like the 3-4 Defense, you’ve got a head up Nose Guard, and two guys lined up head up on the Tackles, usually called Ends. The defense is called the “Odd Stack” because of the alignment of the Linebackers – 3 of them, stacked directly behind the Defensive Linemen, or stacked.
The two outside linebackers, or overhang safeties, are going to be the force defenders on the defense. They must force a change of direction in the ball carrier. Cut it back inside, or bubble to the outside.
They’re the contain guys. And responsible for the flats – the natural fit, once again.
The limitation of the 3-5-3 Defense is that it really fits with Cover 3, and running it with Cover 4 or Cover 2 is more difficult than doing it with the 3-4 Defense (or the 4-3).
It can be done and lots of folks do it, but it isn’t the natural fit. The advantage is that you can bring blitzes from all over the place.
Most teams running the 3-5-3 are blitzing on every play – at least bringing one guy. Those who know what they’re doing don’t just blitz at random, either. They’re creating fronts.
With a combination of slants on the defensive line, and blitzing backers, you can create almost any of the other defensive line fronts under the sun – but do it all from the same initial alignment. The masters of the 3-5-3 are playing the ultimate head game with the offensive coordinator.
This is a great, highly flexible defensive scheme at any level. For youth football coaches, this is the same as playing a 5-3 Defense (don’t get caught up in the numbers).
1. The 4-2-5 Defense
If I had to pick one of these defensive schemes from scratch tomorrow, train some assistants, teach the kids, and have them going in a week – this is what I’m going to run. There’s nothing simpler, and nothing more effective. You’ve got the advantages of the 4 down linemen, with the ability to plug in those faster defensive ends mentioned in the 4-3.
In fact, I wrote about installing the 4-4 Defense in less than 30 minute. Read it here. The 4-2-5 Defense is the same as the 4-4 Defense. All that changes is what we’re calling the outside linebackers.
You’ve got the advantages of the 4 down linemen, with the ability to plug in those faster defensive ends mentioned in the 4-3 Defense.
The responsibilities for the backers are simpler. The overhangs (if you want to call it a 4-4, call your overhangs Linebackers instead of Safeties) have contain responsibility, and cover the flats. Plus you’ve got a Free Safety screaming downhill on outside runs.
The only difference between the 4-2-5 and the 4-3 defensive schemes is that the strong side Defensive End will play head up or shaded inside against a Tight End, handling the C-Gap, as opposed to crashing from the outside of the Tight End. Otherwise, you’ve got your athletic weak side End, crashing hard on the play.
You need one true Defensive Lineman, your strong-side 3-Technique. Your other Defensive Tackle that can be a smaller and quicker guy, playing the weak shaded nose.
The backers are aligned 5 yards off the ball, outside shade of the Guards, playing the open gap to their side. Everyone plays one gap. That’s different from the 2-gap Linebackers in the Miami 4-3 Defense.
That 6-man box is solid. Alignment doesn’t have to change against many offensive formations.
The coverage in the 4-2-5 Defense is the same as the 3-5-3 Defense. Its not impossible to run a 2-high coverage, but the natural fit is the Cover 3. For a better understanding of Coverages and Fronts, listen to this podcast on the only 4 defenses in football.
The blitz angles aren’t as good as they are with the 3-5-3, but the presence of a consistent 4-man front lends itself to better run stopping ability. In theory, anyway.
Most teams are going to face everything from Spread Offensive attacks, to Wing-T, Double Wing, I-Formation and anything else.
The 4-2-5 Defense is easy to adapt to all of these. And that 6-man box never has to change a bit. You can use a wide variety of blitzes. And whatever Coverage package fits your needs.
Types Of Defense In Law
Simple for your guys, complex for the opponent, and adaptable to anybody… the #1 Defense in Football today is the 4-2-5 Defense.
Want to learn more about the 4-2-5 Defense System? Check out my exclusive Video Series on Foundations of The 4-2-5 Defense. Click here to learn more about it.
Honorable Mention:
5-2 Monster Defense – Who still runs this? I don’t know. But they’re out there. After all, its not that different from the 3-4, so you can adapt it. I like the “Monster” part.
Double Eagle Flex – Who runs this? I don’t know that either. But it’s interesting and Coaching Football’s Double Eagle Flex Defenseis worth a read. If nothing else, you’ll get some good ideas for adjusting your defense.
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Edit: This article was originally written in 2010, but has been updated for the 2020 football season. High School Football has changed with innovations like the RPO, but the basics of defense have not changed.