On Passing Zones and Coverages

This is my first post in a long time, so pull up a chair and listen to Boss Hogg Riff it. I made some diagrams for you so feel free to download them and use 'em well.

Defense: The main idea of pass defense and defense in general is this: to defend one area of the field, you must relinquish defense of another area, but mask that fact from the opponent.

The idea is to attack the offense and disrupt their timing and / or execution before the open area of the defense can be located. The whole purpose of play-calling, and signal calling (audibles) by the offense at the line are to anticipate where the opening in the defense will be as there will surely be one and to get the right player into that area. This is why the Patriots and Spy Gate is such a serious issue in terms of cheating the process of reading the defense by knowing thier hand signals in advance.

A good defense's greatest trick is smoke and mirrors. To appear to have no weaknesses and to appear to give up nothing on the field. The best friend of pass defense is a good front four. The front four is useless if coverage is broken. Penetration and good coverage are useless with out strong fundamentals like speed and especially tackling.

The only way to have total dominance on defense is for one of the following: (a). an inaccurate quarterback who will hand over the game to the defense i.e., Rex Grossman (sorry Rex). (b). undisciplined skill position players who will fumble the ball, or have stupid penalties (i.e., Baltimore last Monday Night (11/5/07). (c). Apply so much pressure so as to force the offense to play defense i.e., 1985 Bears. (d). and most importantly, the ability of the 11 defenseive players to individually dominate the offensive players so that there is no blocking, no broken tackles, and no yards after the catch (i.e., Steel Curtain, or Baltimore 2000).

Football is 11 players executing in perfect concert just as in a symphony orchestra. A single sour note ruins the entire piece or play in this case. In order to be a championship team, you must be in perfect concert more often than your opponent. The first one who blinks, slips, or fatigues, looses.

Look at the diagrams below and give feedback if you please. I wrote this in response to another post about pass coverage.