Then theres the looks that theyre always creating after the snap on first and second down: Heres how that confusing mess looks on the chalkboard: After the snap, Oklahoma creates a 5-1 front with the middle linebacker (Kenneth Murray) blitzing into the place where a 46 defensive tackle would be and the safeties dropping down to match the inside receivers (TE Y and slot H) and clean up behind while the nickel drops as the single-high deep safety. Because the talent level at quarterback and receiver in this league is second to none in my opinion. The Strong Safety, and the Will Safety will need to be able to force the run, and cover man-to-man when called upon. How do you pressure modern spread offenses? - Concerning Sports Buddy Ryan had great success with this system not only in Chicago, but also in Philadelphia. The 4-6 defense was created by Buddy Ryan to stop the ground game in the 1980's as well as provide a pass rush that couldn't be stopped. In other words, the "field" side of the secondary gets a separate call from the "boundary" side of the secondary. We do this with our Hawk (Jayhawk) and Cub (Ace) fronts. Mike: Chris Orr, 6-0, 232. Buddy Ryan was ever the innovator. The weak LB now aligned to the strong side, inside the Tight End with the Sam Backer aligning outside the Tight End. The formation was very effective in the 1980s NFL because it often negated a team's running game and forced them to throw the ball. Since the offense has the ball, they can choose how to run plays. Shut Down the Spread in the Double Eagle Flex Defense (Full Explanation), What is 21 Personnel in Football? The nose tackle will line up directly opposite the center or shaded slightly to the strong side of the defense. Unlike most other defenses, the 46 is not named for the alignment of the DL and LBs. One-on-one match ups in pass rush, pressure defense, and making offenses adjust schemes to block the 46 front were still the main principles. The 46 defense was an innovative defense with a unique defensive front, designed to confuse and put pressure on the opposing offense, especially their quarterback. You can run a simpler iteration that could still make your team famous for its ferocious defense. Similar, Im not sure how often they built bear fronts at Wazzu. The rules and reads stayed the same from front to front, and it was easy to jump into the 46 from the normal Over alignment. The strong safety and Sam will be funneling runners back to the middle of the field, so the Mike needs to see where any hole develops in doing so, and then fill that hole. Since the spread offense is so common, it would be challenging for a 46 defense to succeed. The main responsibilities for all the defensive linemen are to primarily attack, attack, and attack some more. How do you create a safe pressure blitz in the Big 12? He may be required to run all over the field, too, so he should have a lot of speed and lateral adjustment ability. College footballs escape from trench warfare. 46 Defense Playbooks - FootballXOs.com - Free Football Playbooks And thats a major challenge not for Keith Patterson, not for Todd Orlando, but for every D-coordinator in this league every Saturday, which makes it a big challenge to play defense in this league. This allows him to cover the tight end and make it difficult for the tight end to achieve a quick release. 5.The 46 is hard to trap against. One the weak side, the defensive end lines up outside of the tackle. The defense, most importantly, was monstrous. The 46 defense is one of the most famous defensive alignments around, as it was employed by what is considered one of the best professional defenses in history the 1985 Chicago Bears. He. Find holes in our zone coverage. Gates 6946 PoweRated V-Belt, 5L Section, 21/32" Width, 3/8" Height, 46. How do you create a safe pressure blitz for the Big 12? Up front, teams still use the concept of the "T-N-T" alignment, where two defensive ends are covering (lined up directly across from) the guards, and a nose tackle is covering the center. Breaking down the football in Friday Night Lights, Breaking down the football in Remember the Titans, 95 Nebraska and the myth of championship recruiting, Breakdown Sports (B1G Xs and Os) So why is the 46 so uncommon now? But what made the 15-1 Bears so dominant? Strong side, the defense has a 3-2 Mix with the Strong Safety, Mike and CB taking the 2 WRs. BLITZOLOGY: Buddy Ryan 4-3 and 46 Defensive Resources Another major key to the 46 is the ability of the cornerbacks to play man free and bump and run coverage. The "mike" backer lines up directly across from the strong-side tackle and two yards back. The 1985 Bears were arguably the greatest team of all time. On the strong side, the defensive end is head up on the strong-side guard and the tackle is lined up over the center. He found a way to keep things simple from a coaching and teaching standpoint, but could be very multiple in his fronts and stunts to confuse offenses. Still, if youre a coach at the youth level, you dont have to be too scared by the notion that a professional football team made this defense famous. These concepts apply against all offenses, but are magnified against the spread because of spacing. Defending the Spread with the 46 Defense - YouTube A 2-4-5 team that plays quarters and alternates which linebackers are involved in the pressure would be interesting to observe in the Big 12. Lined up on the outside of the defensive end, and the 46, you have two outside linebackers, giving you a seven man front, with the middle linebacker lined up right behind the defensive tackle, who is playing a 0 technique -- meaning he is lined up directly in front of the center. Many a Big 12 QB will see single-high and just fire off a fade route to whichever of his receivers have the best matchup, or whichever one is furthest from the deep safety. Football Offensive Formations - rookieroad.com The best defensive playbooks in Madden NFL 22 | TechRadar In a sense theyve reached something close to what Matt Wells described, where they have an extensive blitz package with multiple concepts. He designed the 46 to essentially be an ultra-aggressive version of the 4-3 defense. In 20 pers., the offense can use the "H" to attack either side of the defense, reading the overhangs to determine . The defensive ends line up at each end of the defensive line. As you can imagine with this alignment, thats a whole lot of bodies up front. This is a Blitz concept, as it will give the illusion of rushing 5. Key Takeaways The 46 defense was created by former Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan in the 1980s. Because of this, the 46 defense has been used in many different iterations at the professional and collegiate levels by coaches who wish to replicate its success. How to Coach 46 Defense Alignment for Your Football Team The Lions bring more but less so because their linebackers are brilliant finishers in the pass-rush but more because their involvement creates 1-on-1 matchups for their DL, who are all quite good. Pronounced forty-six (not four-six), the 46 defense overloads the weak side of the offense and brings up the strong safety as if he were a fourth linebacker. With the ability to rush as many as eight players to the quarterback, it was overwhelming to teams that didnt know how to guard against it. The 46 Defense was made famous by Buddy Ryan and the Super Bowl XX champion 1985 Chicago Bears. These two could either pin their ears back and rush the passer or they could drop back in coverage. ASIN : B000LNUWM2 : Customer Reviews: 5.0 out of 5 stars 3 ratings. There are a few Big 10 defenses executing a lot of zone blitz scheme with much better results than Texas, albeit against Big 10 offenses. The key to a successful 46 defense is having a strong safety and Sam linebacker who can take the every-down punishment of playing close to the line of scrimmage, and the adjustment ability and awareness of a really good free safety. They come hard every play and have very little responsibility. We can also Nickel package a CB for the Will Backer. The driving force of the Wisconsin method is their linebacker corps, they always have four 220+ pound dudes hanging around the box that can quickly involve themselves in the pressure or the zone coverage. ", This page was last edited on 26 December 2022, at 02:00. Outnumber the tackle-to-tackle blocking schemes at the point of attack. Line up the strongest pass rusher against the center. 46 defense - Wikipedia This is the only gap along the line of scrimmage that isnt occupied by a defensive lineman in a 46 defense. This would be the Wisconsin method but backed by quarters coverage rather than cover 3. Texas is ostensibly a positionless quarters defense but theyve been running more single high this season for whatever reason. These players are the second layer of support in the 46 and can blitz. [], K-State and West Virginia, winning with four on defense Concerning Sports, [] tell you that theyre a better overall tackling team than K-State or Texas. When the Miami Dolphins gave the Bears their only loss of the 1985 season, Miami exploited these weaknesses with quarterback Dan Marino's quick release of the ball, and their receivers' ability to beat the one-on-one coverage of Chicago's cornerbacks.[6]. The Badgers have a pretty extensive playbook of blitzes, but a lot of the time theyre bringing four and dropping seven into cover 3: Either from their base 3-4 or the 2-4-5 that they regularly mix in, the Badgers like to keep four linebackers on the field at all times. Instead, Ryan coined the term 46 defense because his strong safety on that Bears team, Doug Plank, wore number 46. The Sam linebacker and the strong safety will each line up on one of the shoulders of the tight end the Sam on the inside shoulder and the strong safety on the outside shoulder. That team was a dominating force, with its defense helping to lead the team to a 15-1 record and a Super Bowl championship. Running Power to Attack the 46 Defense - Joe Daniel Football If the D-line is dominant, and Georgia's was, the defense can use the depth of the Safeties in a two-high shell to counter play-action, pre-snap motion, or RPO passes. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The 46 defense is just a 4-3 defense with a major wrinkle, and as such, it has many of the same strengths as the 4-3 defense does. Offensive formations must have seven players on the line of scrimmage and four in the . Youre on our 46 Defense in Football page. In addition to the four down linemen, one linebacker and the strong safety will both stack the line of scrimmage before the snap of the ball, putting extra pressure up front right at the beginning. running the spread. The free safety lines up more than 25 yards behind the line of scrimmage and is the last line of defense. The two cornerbacks are in isolated man-to-man coverage. The 85 Bears used this defense, known as arguably the most dominant defense in NFL history, to win the Super Bowl XX in 1985 under head coach Mike Ditka. Get us thinking pass and bust us with the run. Is Good in Any Situation - A The 46 defense is not just a run-stopping defense. No other Defensive alignment can do that. A talented crew can make many a defensive formation work well. Rub or mesh our DBS when we are in man. I'll teach you the tips, tricks, and secrets used by some of the best football coaches at the youth, HS, and pro level. The Modern 46 Book is here! 10.5 TFL, 6 sacks, 1 INT. COACHING THE 4-2-5 DEFENSE VS SPREAD TEAMS - CoachTube They cover short routes and runs that get past the defensive line. As a result, offensive lineman must possess the ability to pull outside, receivers must be willing to block, and the quarterback should be able to tuck it and run in certain situations. You can also Jesse the back again with the Jack and Sam, and allow the Mike to be a Low-Hole dropper in Single Coverage. Unlike other defensive alignments out there, the 46 defense is not named for the number of players at each level of the defense. The 46 defense is an American football defensive formation, an eight men in the box defense, with six players along the line of scrimmage. Compared to a 43 base defense, the 46 dramatically shifts the defensive line to the weak side (the opposite end from the offense's tight end), with both guards and the center "covered" by the left defensive end and both defensive tackles. Attacking power sets with the 46 (Bears Defense). (Football). Not adjusted to the offensive formation. The Sooners play some quarters and some cover 3, they aim to win games with their play up front like Wisconsin and they rely in particular on having athletic linebackers around the box all the time. Here is a bit of trivia before we get into how the 46 defense worked, and why we dont see it much anymore: The name "46" Defense didnt come from the alignment of the players on defense; it came from free safety Doug Plank, who wore jersey number 46, and was a hybrid free safety slash linebacker in Buddy Ryans system. Safeties: The strong safety lines up four to four and a half yards off the line of scrimmage and stands directly in front of the weak side tackle. Orlando has tended to make up for that by using fire zones that overload the edge with safeties, like the one you can see Burrow beating above. The 46 was specially tuned to the personnel of the '80s Bears, which is why few teams use the 46 nowadays, and why no one uses it as a base defense. Offenses are going no-huddle, hurry-up, and trying to keep the opposing team in a base defense, with base personnel. This may be harder for inexperienced players to fully grasp and execute. But the fact that the 1985 Chicago Bears team is the one that made the 46 defense famous would suggest that one would be wrong if one made that assumption. The Ryan bros still use the 46 defense and the bear front, but they tend to mix it in alongside zone blitzes, quarters coverages, multiple DB sub-packages, etc. The dual 3-techs will cause a problem for zone blocking schemes, and the outside rushers should cause the QB to give. So, you would have to ask these defensive coordinators but, either you better drop back and try to defend him or you better go after him and try to pressure him. "The Ultimate Guide to Football Defense" Booklet (254 pages), Based on the alignment alone, one might think that the 46 defense is only good at stopping the running game. That leaves two cornerbacks and a free safety to cover the rest of the field. If you do not want to play man coverage, the rotation coverages come into play. 46 Defense Basics - Joe Daniel Football But that tackle has quite the blocking task, as he could see intense pressure from either the defensive end or the Sam on any given play. In the case of a zone-blocking scheme, this makes it difficult for the offensive linemen to reach any of the linebackers on the second level. With Wisconsin that flexibility comes from always having four linebackers on the field, the linebackers are versatile and can blitz into any gap or drop into any (or most any) of the underneath zone roles. Still, the 46 defense has its place in todays game. Modern 46 - real46defense To avoid confusion, the strong and weak side linebackers (who are no longer lined up on opposite sides) are often renamed the 'Jack' and 'Charlie' linebackers, respectively. Even when the Defense is playing coverage, they are going to be able to get one-on-one situations. Pulls and traps were also limited by the formation, as each lineman had to account for the defender immediately in front of him. Thats because the alignment is really just a wrinkle on the 4-3 base defense, and so it uses many of the same principles and all the same personnel. Iowa State isnt really trying to beat people with pressure, they just have a high capacity for utilizing it as a component to their toolkit. Ronnie Perkins and Jalen Redmond are both smaller DL that could get into trouble if regularly caught with double teams and shoved around over the course of the game, but its hard to get double teams against the 5-1/46 defense. That way, the quarterback finds themself in a situation where the pass is the best option. This front forced offenses to immediately account for the defenders lined up directly in front of them, making it considerably harder to execute blocking assignments such as pulling, trapping and pass protection in general. There are four defensive linemen, three linebackers, and four players in the secondary in a 46 defense - but the difference lies in where they line up. The innovation of the Strong Safety now lining up to the weak side allowed for the defense to be more flexible, and adjust to different formations. With so many defensive linemen so close to each other, the 46 defense easily allows for defensive coaches to work in curls or stunts that would switch up the gap responsibilities and confuse offensive linemen even more. Cover all possible pass patterns while continuing to pressure the QB. The secondary is also down a man in a 46 defense, with the strong safety at the line of scrimmage and acting more like a defensive lineman.