Tony Dungy on Defensive Back Fundamentals

Another classic from the vault, no longer commercially available. 

Enjoy

Tampa 2 Install

Catch-Man Technique

We’ve touched on this trend before and I believe it will be the trend for the future of defenses as they continue to aggressively adapt to passing offenses.  It used to be that when you played man coverage, it was required that you dogmatically adhere to tight or press-man technique and relied on disrupting routes and pressuring the quarterback.  This pretty much meant your defense needed to out-athlete the offense you were facing as well as showing your intentions pre-snap if the offense ever presented a one-back formation.

As defenses adapted through the 90s and offenses began finding more and more success passing the football, zone defenses were forced to evolve to pattern-matching routes.  Matching out of zone with six defenders would leave an extra hole player against five receivers.  The natural progression from this was the fire-zone, adding a zone defender to an overloaded pressure while accounting for all receivers.  Fire-zoning became (and continues to be) a catch-all solution with static pre-snap defensive looks.  The only issue would be the ability to retain alignment leverage without giving away your intentions   For this reason, fire-zones are largely packaged by field and boundary rather than strength of formation.

So what would be the next step for defenses to get a jump on playing a variety of routes while providing the capability of overloaded pressure?  In the perfect world, the defense that could ensure it:

• retained its pre-snap coverage shell (consistent look)
• got the favorable personnel matchup
• was able to generate an overload pressure on the passer

A defense that could do that would be able to hold the chalk last in this new age of offensive football.  "Catch Man" or "off-man" coverage means exactly that; the defensive backs catch the route as it develops.  Because this 'catch' won't happen until well into the route, the overall defense can assume any shape/structure (1-high / 2-high) it wants without giving many pre-snap clues to the offense.  From basic pre-snap zone looks, the defense could be fire-zoning or playing man and very likely will be bringing pressure, but from where?

This ‘answer’ kind of becomes a full-circle evolution, where many successful defenses are returning to a formula that was relied upon 30 years ago.  It isn’t surprising that the leaders of catch-man defenses are protégés of the Buddy Ryan school of defense (Gregg Williams, Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Dom Capers) of the 80s.  Many of the more advanced elements of Buddy Ryan's late 80's-era 46 defenses (catch man, loaded coverage, fire-zones, swipe/thumb coverage, and a reliance on man-free) are what is now en vogue in today's game.  This wide array of skill sets also begets a need to include multi-functional personnel on the field, where a 3-man fronts (or less) are preferred (see psycho posts).

 
In this post, we’ll try to provide some coaching insight into developing the skills for effective catch-man coverage. This concept was admittedly difficult for me to get comfortable with many years ago, as I really believed in the old bump-and-run technique of man coverage. I felt that you had to immediately disrupt routes and out-leverage a receiver before he even began his release. While there are benefits to holding up receiver stems and immediate reroutes, there is limited flexibility in adapting to formations using this technique. The effectiveness of press can be diminished with pre-snap movement from the offense. With catch-man, you can get the best of both worlds because the coverage structure remains consistent, you can effectively play quick and deep passing game, while still disrupting receiver stems.

Added for illustration purposes, this Revis 1-on-1 footage highlights how to leverage a receiver from many different alignments (some off, some press but they all essentially turn into the same type of coverage by the time the receiver makes his break).

 
With the help of video, I hope to illustrate some of the techniques and methods of leveraging routes from an “off” alignment. The skill sets used for catch-man are also helpful in other coverage (press man / pattern-match) techniques, so using these drills will have carry-over (high ROI) for your secondary. The depth of alignment for the defensive back usually starts at 8 yards. From this depth, a defender could essentially stay put and the receiver would likely make his break in front of the defender. As the player gains more confidence (athletic ability allowing), this pre-snap cushion can be shortened and stemmed in and out of. The beauty of this is that just aligning in the path of a receiver’s stem, the defender has already re-routed the receiver; either the receiver runs over the defender (not conducive to actually running the route) or he is forced to make his break early, declaring how the defender will play the route.

Just like pattern-matching in zone, secondary defenders will play routes based on the drop of the passer, then anticipating route breaks based on a process of elimination. Once the route is identified/confirmed, the defender can jump the interception point or secure the tackle.

Catch-man is best delivered to players by staging teaching into depths of the quarterback drop. Just like pattern-matching, you will get specific routes based on the depth of the drop.

• With quick-step or 3-step (quicks 0-5 yards), a receiver could really only run one of the following routes: Screen, slant, hitch, speed out
  
• With 5-step routes (intermediate 10-15 yards), the receiver would likely run: out, curl, hook, dig, comeback
  
• With deeper routes (15+ yards off of 5-7 step drops / sprint out and play-action) you could expect: post, corner, fade wheel

As you’ll see in these videos, defensive backs start at a depth of 8 yards and are keying the quarterback in their initial pedal.

 
While eyeing the quarterback, the corner will slowly come out of his stance in a crossover step (or backpedal). The key here is for him to remain in control of his body with an arched back with the intent to be able to mirror the receiver perpendicular to the line of scrimmage (inside/outside break under 6 yards). If the receiver stems inside, the corner should laterally step inside to mirror him. Again, it should be stressed that the corner should walk out of his stance, reading the quarterback in slow motion, keeping horizontal leverage on the receiver (mirror him). By using this horizontal leverage, he can easily recognize where the quarterback is going with the ball (based on the angle) and attack the interception point.

If the corners are consistently aligning with 8 yards depth, they will likely see a lot of quick game to attack the cushion. When the receiver breaks under 8 yards, the corner shouldn’t attempt to come underneath the receiver for the interception unless he is certain he can get two hands on the ball. Otherwise, he should look to secure the tackle by coming in low, with arms clubbing up and expanding the receiver’s noose. It should be acknowledged that playing 3-step is difficult. The important thing is that the defender doesn’t give up a double-move or lose the 1-on-1 tackle if the ball is caught. In the event the DB gets beat here, he should cut his loses by collisioning the receiver or actually pulling him down (preventing a sure touchdown).

 
Once the defender sees the drop is greater than 3-step, he accelerates his pace and immediately snaps to the receiver, keying the inside hip. The defender will then fight for control of the receiver with leverage (either hip-to-hip or at least be at arm’s length). If he loses this control (out-of-phase), the priority is just to catch up to the receiver and never look back. To help against false stepping or getting beat on double-moves, its important to rep receiver jukes, that a cut can only be made when the receiver’s shoulders rise up. Once the DB recognizes the drop is greater than 3-step his thinking is to “slowly absorb the route” and close any air that exists between the receiver and defender. With the accelerated pace of this deeper route, the defender’s concentration should be solely on the receiver’s inside hip. From this point, there is little that differentiates itself from traditional (press) man coverage. The defender should work for total control of the receiver with the progression of “receiver – recognition point (break) – ball”. Only until the receiver is controlled with leverage and the route break is identified, should the defender actually play the ball for the interception. Always finish – play the man, THEN the ball.

Like I said, this will likely be a defensive flavor we’ll see more of in the future and your thoughts and experiences on the matter are certainly welcome.  For an added bonus, some more video on leveraging receivers (from a press position, but its all relative).  Key points to take note of are the solid base and stuttering of the corner's feet until the receiver truly commits to a release and then the flipping of the hips (and footwork) to maintain the in-phase relationship….

Odds & Ends

Just passing some random thoughts along.....

I've been digging back into the 4D-FTP from Coach Mark Rodriguez again and its growing on me. I don't believe I gave it a fair shake the first time around, likely because I assumed it was something that it wasn't ( a method to replace backpedal or shuffle technique). The video series IS well done and the video quality is exceptional (I would also recommend subscribing to Coach Mark's youtube channel).

http://4d-ftp.com/

The drills of disc two are of important note and I could really see using these as everyday pre-practice routines. Again, the investment in the technique could get 'expensive' (may not see an immediate ROI), but even if you used a T-step or 'run the feet' transition, the 4D drills (Drift, Drop, Dig, Drive) develop fluid hip movement. That is the whole point, as Coach Mark stress again and again in the series, is developing the muscle memory to be an instinctively quicker athlete

DRIFT- The conscious decision / automatic reaction your body’s direction
Positive step in the direction you’re looking to go

DROP- knee drop / body lean in direction to where you want to go, start turning head …..moves shoulders (head turn/ shoulder turn / knee bend….lean forward)

DIG - The shoulder comes on-top of your DIG step to swing your speed
(Drift is a step, Drop is a movement)

DRIVE (from the knee) – The dig propels you, if the drift step holds it just becomes a T-step

CATALOG UPDATE

Its been difficult to finish my 'project' and forgetting what has been copied, what hasn't, and what discs need to be remastered. To help with this (and anyone else attempting it), is just by generating text list of the ISO images captured so far.

To do this, just navigate to the directory location from a DOS command line and enter "dir>(file name).txt" to create a text listing of all files within this directory. A TXT (notepad) file will be generated in the directory you are in.

From here, just open Excel (or any other spreadsheet application), open the TXT file and create the necessary columns to list the files you've created. Now I can stack my DVDs in piles of "done" and "to do" and give me a clear work load of what is left.

4D-FTP Review

I'm struggling through the discs and admittedly I haven't had a whole lot of time to immerse myself in it, but I've watched the 2nd disc twice already. I've looked at this technique before here.....

The first DVD outlines vocabulary and terms that Coach Mark uses to orientate the players with this concept. I wasn't entirely sure this truly was necessary and some of it was reinventing the wheel when it came to terminology and segmenting the field. I watched the entire first DVD intently and never saw the payout.....meaning, I could have skipped it entirely and not have lost any value. Okay, so with that....it essentially becomes a question of "is ONE DVD worth $55?" Well, I probably would say yes, simply because this is a good and valid technique to teach. It would be an investment because I am not convinced (nor does Coach Mark suggest) that this is just something you could install in a spring and have down. This is something I would feel comfortable with introducing at the 9th grade level and progressing a player through the program.

I was much more impressed with the second (drills) DVD. This DVD does a nice job breaking down the basics of the 4-D and provides drills for working on 4-D skills. From basic drills on change of direction to playing the 3-step game and fade routes, the DVD goes through the 4-D progression in good detail.

One thing that we may take from this presentation is utilizing the drift step for changing direction. I'll be watching over and over again until I get this down. I can certainly see the technique actually being superior to shuffle in terms of biomechanic efficiency and certainly more fluid than T-stepping. The only concern would be the expense it would take to get good at it (compared with shuffle). You could be good at the shuffle in 5 minutes (then spend significant time concentrating on not being sloppy) - it would take significantly longer to make 4D (or just the crossover steps) a natural act for average athletes.

http://4d-ftp.com/

The 2nd disc was really nicely done and is high quality (except for some unexpected video breaks? in the bp portion). I would have preferred more specifics on foot placement and body positioning (coaching points to make sure kids avoid common errors). Also, it may help to show how this technique would apply to various coverages. This would be perfect for guys who run their defense like "you cover that guy" and mash various concepts together. This would be something to get started on in spring ball and really just hammer every day, giving something for the kids to use heading into summer passing leagues. Because the transitions taught are directly related to what coverage (leverage) you are playing, it would be nice to articulate in subsequent offerings / clinics how this would adjust and adapt.

I applaud coach rodriguez for presenting these materials and helping the game with an improved technique. The video quality IS top notch, I just wish there was more that we could apply towards coaching the specifics of the technique.

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Order at

http://myonlinecamp.com/camp.cfm?CampName=&sport=24&city=&state=IA&pricerange=&start=1&id=10015

Fundamentals: Defensive Backs

Ran across some great fundamental drills for honing man-to-man skills recently.

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Very basic stuff, but the simplicity of repeating leverage on receivers in these drills and reinforcing the concept (and avoiding the unnecessary movements) is something to take away from these.

Good luck this season.....

TCU Nickel Coverage

Just something to tide you over until hemlock and myself publish the upcoming posts of substance (several articles in the works).....

Continuing a theme/trend exploring Gary Patterson's split-field coverage principles, these clips illustrate the quarters-principled coverage against 2x1, 3x2, 3x1, and 2x2 formations.

Be sure to check out Coach Evans' blog RUNCODHIT and his series of posts on TCU's defense


09TCU @ Yahoo! Video

USE ME UP (blog archives)

Also, be sure to utilize the post tags for subjects previously covered..........(I'll try to better organize some of these)

The "drills" is a great one to check on and has helped me refresh my memory on some drills to run during the season.

Also, sick of my meandering posts? Click on 'hemlock' for a filtered view of nothing but his posts (and hit the print button!). This may really come in handy when he gets rolling on the Run 'n' Shoot series, that way you can get all his stuff in a concise package.

4D-FTP Update

As posted earlier, the 4D-FTP method, provides an alternative to defensive back play.

2010 4D-FTP CLINIC & TRAINING Events will be focused on answering pre submitted questions for the clinic, technique specifics and rapid fire training routines for development of the athlete for individual and group involvement. Group rate available. Events costs are determined by facility charges and may differ from event to event. Unconfirmed event dates subject to change.

NEW JERSEY CLINIC & TRAINING

JUNE 6 2010

TURF TRAINERS INDOOR FACILITY

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

ATLANTA, GEORGIA CLINIC & TRAINING

JUNE 12 2010

SCORE INDOOR SPORTS, FAIRBURN

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

NEW EVENTS2 DAY DB SCHOOL-ADVANCED TRAINING

Get 2 full days of technique, philosophy training and film study.

For coaches, trainers and athletes.

CONTACT COACH MARK FOR MORE INFORMATION

Late June Los Angeles, California

Early July Northern Virginia

Late July Orlando/Tampa, Florida

Early August Austin, Texas

Late August Phoenix, Arizona

Jan 2011 Las Vegas, Nevada

MORE BEER

Sorry, Abita.....I love me some Gulf Coast beer, an industry that truly suffered after Katrina, but you just aren't cutting the mustard save a Purple Haze or Turbo Dog. New buzz of quality hops coming from the Lafayette area, Bayou Teche, and Heiner Brau from Covington. I'm excited to begin exploring both breweries in the not-to-distant future.

http://bayoutechebrewing.blogspot.com/

Shuffle / Match

There has been some inquiry into how to play shuffle (replacing the backpedal) in Cover 3, so here is a quick example of shuffle work with a run-through demo of the back-5 pattern-match drill discussed earlier.
Now, although this player is good at shuffle, he is extending with the downfield foot. Ideally, it should be a push off with the upfield foot (left) and a catch with the downfield foot (right). Because he is extending / reaching with the upfield foot, he will be prone to over extending and consequently clicking the heels (bad leverage position/base). This also makes the transition more efficient and fluid. When the trail foot is the downfield foot, you can use it to direct the body like a rudder (rather than it being the 'drive-train'). Force is initiated by the upfield foot, after the 3 pushes (and come to balance) from the upfield foot, all the defenders needs to do to bail is pivot the downfield foot 45 degrees and this will pivot his hips and put him in a running position downfield. This is not unlike a handoff transition in a relay (baton).

Also, we flew through the 5-DB drill for the sake of filming it (as a visual). We went about 3/4 speed. In practice, this will be full speed and a little more intense.

Cover 3 - back 5 guys

Entering Week #2 of spring ball (practices #4-7), we are making better determinations on what roles players are best geared for. With so many numbers out, we have a legitimate option of going full 2-platoon (with the occasional 2-way specialist).

I have been afforded a great opportunity to take the back 5 defenders in the secondary in our Cover 3 defense and rep every player on playing corner, strong safety, and free safety. This is going to be extremely beneficial for these young (and some veteran) players towards understanding their role within the coverage (and support) and seeing the big picture.

We will probably stick to the following format for the remainder of the week, but it breaks down to two separate groups (of 10+ players) with 20 minutes of instruction (for all spots).

I've been using this time to work at a break-neck pace in going over (as quickly as possible) the basic tenets of initial movement, then progressing into pattern-matching the 2-man game. We've only covered basic concepts because most of the players we have are freshmen.

For simplicity's sake, I set up 3 different stations to quickly drill the initial movement (at the snap) for each position.

These (cone) drills are set up on the field based on the position landmarks to better orientate the players to where the position exists on the field.

• Free Safeties rep through a (3 step) backpedal at 12 yards in the middle of the field
• Strong Safeties rep through a steep 45 degree zone drop 5 yards from the hash (to the curl), then reverse turn (back into the hash).
• Corners rep through a (3 step) shuffle at 7 yards from the LOS, 1 yards inside the numbers. 3 step shuffle then turn and run downfield.

After getting basic movement reps in, we go right to cramming pattern-matching down their throats.

The fastest way to facilitate this was to work a 5-point rotating circuit.

We align a #1 (outside the numbers) and #2 (outside the hash) receiver on cones. Then set up the corner (inside #1), strong safety (on the hash/splitting the difference), and free safety (in the middle of the field) respectively. The players 'enter' the circuit as a free safety and after each route run (1 & 2 running a concept), the players rotate to the successive spot, as follows;

• 5 - free safety
• 4 - strong safety
• 3 - corner
• 2 - #2 (inside) receiver
• 1- #1 (outside) receiver

We just coach the kids up on the fly from here in an effort to keep them all moving, relating and conditioning the key factors (alignment with the divider, movement technique, reading 2-to-1, responding to vertical stem, etc).

We will see about getting them to digest more concepts through the week, but if we can handle verticals and smash (out of Cover 3), we should have our work cut out for us this spring.

UPDATE:

After two days of this routine (M&T), we broke off into segments of FS & Corners, and I got the Strong/Weak Safeties ( I just found out about this at practice, but whatevers clever ). This was great because it allowed me the opportunity to focus work on developing the safeties to handle job #1 - primary run force and tackling. Later, we joined up for skelly and scripted team sessions and I was pleasantly surprised at how well many of these first-time players (current freshmen) were picking up their roles and doing it methodically, driven by technique. No more cringing on watching #2 receivers running up the seams or perimeter players getting reached (see last season).....I just thought it was amazing, refreshing, reassuring to see how big of an impact the little things can make in a defense's performance. The corners (only one is a returning varsity player) were recognizing smash and verticals (instead of being 'man-conscious) - the point being we were able to throw a lot at the kids in 2 days to reduce our coverage liabilities.

In related news, the Spring Handout (DVD) is ready to be published and I'll probably distribute it next week.

This spring is helpful because we are able to add our 2 freshmen coaches to the varsity staff. By joining the varsity, they get a better idea of how we teach the scheme, drills to use, (to translate next season) and they can be utilized to handle some of the responsibilities (making it possible to split up the back 5 guys). With this DVD, even the other guy (who is primarily a basketball guy) can figure out precisely what it is we want to teach and identify what a DB is doing incorrectly in technique (here's a hint....it isn't just backpedalling to the endzone and 'keeping everything in front of you').

here is just some Cover 3 clips of Penn State

Spring Handout

I am nearing completion on this spring football's video handout/playbook.
Once I get this completed, then all I have to do is show up and sip margaritas at practice for three weeks.

I hope this ends up even better than previous handouts .

[Powerpoint animation captures courtesy of Camtasia ]

The only thing left is to add the important narration and some Easter eggs for the players (incentivizing watching the material). We will likely have no returning players to the secondary, so getting this new (sophomore-heavy) group ready (and avoid many of the unnecessary mistakes) right away will be a welcome challenge.


Introduction of alignment, assignment, keys, and leverage. Then followed up by pattern matching examples of common concepts we will face. The DVD will also feature the C1 and C3 video clips of NCAA teams, as well. I intentionally included clips of when a DB was 'wrong', followed up with a clip of correctly playing a route, so they could see what kind of common mistakes to avoid.


UPDATE:
Here is the 10 minute overview with narration. Yahoo couldn't take the entire clip, so I had to break it into thirds. The audio was forced and I tried cramming a lot into short amount of time, but this is something the players can review again and again (ala a crash course in 'whats important').

4D FTP (DB movement)

Coach Mark Rodriguez's method for efficient movement in the secondary...(the following is from Coach Mark)

http://4d-ftp.com/

No, this isn't a tech post on transfering files.... its actually a jump-off point for exploring a new secondary technique to replace the backpedal and shuffle methods.

View on YouTube

THE 4D TRANSITION

Transitioning is safely moving from one full speed direction to another with confidence, smooth agility, rhythm and balance. “4D” is the 4 quick movements that comprise the transition. The idea guiding the 4D Transition is to program the body to continue its running motion through the transition by using the “opposite leg” concept. Simply put, to move left you bring the right leg and visa versa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JARtiIGtNRk


Drift Drop Dig Drive

Drift step – The initial move into the new direction when a conscious decision or automatic reaction is executed to alter your body direction.

Drop – Knee bend and forward lean while turning the head midway through the Drift step compacting the arms close to the body to not swing out of balance. By turning the head the shoulders will turn, when the shoulders turn it will allow your DIG step to drop ahead of you and not behind.

Dig – The next “step” after the drift step, this is a quick step because it’s a pivot step. Leaving the dig step too long will slow your momentum. Come out of the pivot quickly with driving quickness not force. You are swinging your speed not creating more force.

Drive knee – Come out of the swing with a quick knee lift driving it toward the direction you want to go with good body lean not to over or under stride and lose balance.

View on YouTube

SCOPE OF THE FTP SYSTEM

Take a look at the combine video at 1:06.

The player number 34 does a great transition that is more like the 4D and less like the T-STOP but he stops his drill and does it over the way everybody else is doing it (hard T stop). Not sure why but take a close look.

Also in the REINVENTING THE DB video at 5:11 the DB #4 is in the position I teach.

Together the system is quite effective.

I dont teach press man I only teach loose but not 7yrds loose only 3-5 yards loose.

The purpose of press man is to take away the timing route. My method of taking away the timing route is to see the ball first before the receiver does. Basically baiting the QB. When the DB can get a break on the ball by seeing it first it totally eliminates any timing whatsoever.

In a nutshell this is my positioning method.

Some like it & some dont but I've never seen it fail since I started teaching the basics in 2003.

1. -- (FTP) back to the sideline head facing the QB anticipating a quick pass
2. -- 3-5 yards depth from the WR, inside shoulder of WR forcing the DB to get out quickly. In red zone situations the DB moves closer. The closer to the goal line the less speed that is required at the snap.
3. -- on the snap I teach a technique called "speed react", a full speed take off to not get burned keeping the receiver under the DB, and in a faster plus better position than backpedal to react to the ball, the same positioning that last DB (#4) on the INTRO video is in and similar in the "NEW" video all the NFL DB' s shown in the first 30 sec. Their eyes were on the QB but every 3 steps scan the WR then back to the QB.(I have a few drills that build the instinct/sense called PROPRIOCEPTION in association with the coverage)
4. -- As the DB sees or feels the receiver change/adjust his direction just DRIFT or lean (back or forward like zig-zag) in that direction unless you SEE BALL.... then and only then the DB willreact to the pass. This will keep the DB from committing to a fake.

Here is a recent example from 1/4/09

http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80de1b09

This is the only technique I use and it replaces press and looseman and for zone.

This does several things.

1. -- WR is taught to read the hips of the DB.. once the DB commits then the WR breaks opposite and the ball is already in the air unseen by the DB. Now the DB is in a 'catch up' position instead of a position to have a fair shot at the ball. This FTP position eliminates DB manipulation, DB hard committing and hip reading.
2. -- Gets the DB in a position to see the ball before the WR and makes the DB more opportunistic for a poor pass. By looking at the hips of the WR you cant see anything but hips. I dont think thats a position for this day and age. We need to advance our methods and they've never changed. Developing our natural sensory ability PROPRIOCEPTION and using or DB athleticism to 4D transition we will advance.
3. -- This technique allows coaches to use team depth more frequently because its solid and dependable and safe.
4. -- Bigger DB's can be use in this method especially in goal line situations and not rely on foot quickness and use their height and size more dominantly for fade routes and run support.
5. -- Pulls the DB immediately out of a position to cause pass interference because he is playing the ball
6. -- It can be used for man or zone coverage with the offense not automatically knowing the cover.

UPDATE
2-disc video now available for ordering

Get Back To Fundamentals: Defense

EVERY DAY DRILLS FOR DEFENDERS

C/O Coach Charlie Means & Texas Tech

Defensive Line


Linebackers


Corners


Safeties