S1 E4: Will British Guys Understand a Fans Guide to American Football Defense?

[@DNReacts]

NFL PATREON RELEASES - Quarterback (Netflix), 30 For 30s, 85’ Chicago Bears, 72’ Dolphins, All Blocked KZbin Videos and Plenty more! www.patreon.com/DNReacts

[@gregorywilliams1308]

It's refreshing to see you guys taking the time to learn the game as opposed to just simply reacting to highlights. Also, you are fast learners

[@oneupper666]

Really sets them apart. It isn't a blank slate every video with regurgitated reaction faces. Its two guys genuinely trying to learn and experience things. Fun to watch every time.

[@DNReacts]

Thank you Gregory! Great to see it’s coming across. We’re loving this journey

[@DNReacts]

@@oneupper666 Thank you for this, great that you’re enjoying our content.

[@brandonbp122]

I like it, too. These are good videos. I subscribed today. It's enjoyable to watch other nationalities enjoy Am. Football instead of poopooing it. I think that if someone just took 5 minutes to explain the basic rules then more people would enjoy it. The game makes no sense if you've just turned on the TV and start watching. Like what is 3rd and 4? When I was a little boy this always confused me and then one day someone took time to explain it. And football suddenly became something I enjoy.

[@TheodoreBrosevelt]

​@@DNReacts On the 5-2 defense against a 3 wide receiver set, the coach of the defense team would more than likely call a time out. The match ups would be bad, they would have linebackers and defensive linemen trying to cover people way faster than them.

[@ComedyJakob]

It's funny watching this video because as it goes on and gets more and more complex, I start to realize how much information about football is just a given to me because I've grown up with it. To someone who is just learning, there really is a lot going on.

[@Peakfreud]

You know what 😮 I never even thought about that or looked at it that way.. It feels like I've known what a Q.B was my entire life. I think I learned who George Washington was after I knew who Joe Montana was. Definitely could recognize Zone Coverage, before I could recognize whats under a girls dress.

[@__vx3]

@@Peakfreud You know "I think I learned who George Washington was after I knew who Joe Montana was" is a funny comment but thinking about it really I definitely knew Peyton Manning and Tom Brady before I knew what a president even was lol

[@HomeDefender30]

Yeah I realized this once my sons where old enough to ask about the game…. So much information that we just take for granted because we have been around it all our life.

[@JDezOfficial]

My pops grew up watching basketball and soccer…he never knew what American football was until he noticed me watching it as a kid (he was about 35). At first he didn’t like it cause he didn’t understand it, but then we made it a father-son bonding experience. He would watch and learn through me explaining what’s going on and I would practice explaining different coverages and schemes. It was a win-win and American football is one of his favorite sports now!

[@cavaleer]

Yeah, I'm thinking the same. Football, Baseball and Basketball are universes on there own. I'd say football the most because 22 guys are moving at once and almost anything can happen on any given play but watching foreigners watch and react to our sports is kinda eye-opening.

[@TheGriffinjr9]

There's many players you'd ideally want to keep in man at all times or even double them to hopefully prevent a big play. Calvin Johnson (aka Megatron) was someone you double or watch him destroy your secondary. Also who the QB is makes a considerable difference. It was a known fact that you didn't want to play zone vs Tom Brady or Drew Brees because they know every zone and when they see it they could immediately recognize where the gap was.

[@jeddineen2185]

as a Patriots fan, I was always stunned at how often Rob Gronkowski was single teamed in the Red Zone

[@yal100]

@@jeddineen2185 His route running. Gronk had exceptional route running abilities, he could find the open seam and spaces. And when you have a QB like that, its shredding time. Kelce is very similar. Im a Giants fan and I just couldnt understand how these guys were open all the time. First 10 yards of a play Gronk and Kelce have you, after that you're just playing catch up.

[@jeremystrickland348]

I was planning to use Calvin Johnson as a double man coverage example as well. Absolute beast.

[@AhuTighter]

Also, when a team has a great CB, like Darrelle Revis, they usually put him in man coverage against the other team's best receiver, while the rest of the defense plays zone coverage.

[@NemoGreen]

Great example you could also use hill as one cause you don’t simply want to have him in man you’ll want to have a man on him of course but you’ll want the cover 2 or even Tampa 2 cause his speed would kill just one man in man coverage

[@daveygivens735]

Defensive schemes (ex: 4-3, 3-4 etc) are not usually swapped to match every offensive lineup. It's more of a philosophy set by the Defensive coordinator based on his preference and the strengths of his players. Typically this is established before the season begins and is practiced for the duration of the season. There are some changeups but committing to a scheme allows players to focus on their position and leverage their experience.

[@billbliss1518]

Yes, Ray Lewis was a Middle linebacker. LT was an outside linebacker. Deion Sanders was a cornerback. This is a really good defensive video! And yes you are right, the defense tends to mirror the offense. 3-4 versus 4-3 is usually a set scheme based on the defensive coordinator and the personnel on the team.

[@garrettlyman919]

Great day to have a great day Bill

[@jesses5463]

More specifically, LT was a linebacker in the 3-4. The outside linebackers in a 4-3 don't rush the QB nearly as much.

[@drew1964able]

3-4 sucks unless there is a legit game changing linebacker and very athletic outside cornerbacks. Otherwise, offenses move at will against the ordinary 3-4 defense. 3-4 uses disguise and confusion but that means the defense changes to a 4-3 to pressure the quarterback. Perfect example: my fav team The Vikings used a 3-4 and though their record was 13-4 they had the worst defense in the league. With an average 4-3 defense they might have gone to or even won the Super Bowl.

[@Nick_4i]

​​​​@@drew1964able ​@Drew Lowfner This is just false. Of the top 10 defenses last year, 5 ran a base 3-4, while 4 ran a base 4-3 and the Bills ran a nickel base. The problem with the Vikings defense had nothing to do with their base scheme, but with poor usage of their players (why is zadarius smith covering a receiver?) and refusal to mix up their approach throughout the game. The vikings never would have made it to the super bowl with only a scheme change. They were the biggest outlier in point differential in the league with 13 wins and a negative differential (possibly the greatest outlier of all time in that regard) also worth pointing out that the Vikings were 7th in points per game. The 7th best offense and a middle of the pack defense is not a superbowl team in all but the rarest of circumstances. The Vikings were not a good team last year; they were a very lucky mediocre team. Hell, they had 1-score games against the Lions, Bears, Saints, Jets, Colts, Commanders and Patriots, all of whom didn't even make the playoffs.

[@jordonez42]

I really enjoy when foreign sports fans come at American football with an open mind, setting aside all the stereotypes, and realize how complex and frankly beautiful a sport it can be. Loving these videos guys

[@DNReacts]

Thank you for the support Jose, appreciate it!

[@supersoulty]

The 5-2 is rarely used these days, but it was the base defense used by most teams for the first 40 years of NFL history (when the game was more run-offense heavy). I’m surprised they even mentioned it among the base defenses. These days, you would mostly see either 4-3 or 3-4. 5-2 is typically only used in short yardage situations when you are fairly confident the other team will run or short pass, such as near the goal line.

[@christophermckinney3924]

The 5-2 is essentially the same as the 3-4. But instead of two defensive ends you have two outside linebackers.

[@DNReacts]

This is great, thank you for the context, appreciate it

[@RyTrapp0]

@@christophermckinney3924 Which inevitably brings you to 'tweeners' like Micah Parsons, who essentially go be "DE" just because it means they'll get a bigger contract than if they went by "LB" lol

[@theemaygoogleme151]

The 5-2 went away with the Wing T and wishbone offenses it defended well. You only see it in short yardage situations in todays NFL.

[@jamesdakrn]

@@DNReacts Lol the 5-2 and also the I formation on offense is a loooot like the whole "4-4-fackin-2 Big Sam Brexit-ball" kind of thing loool

[@cjpreach]

Loads of information to absorb for anyone with limited experience with the sport. You guys seem to have good instincts about how American football might work. Well done, guys!

[@DNReacts]

Thank you, really appreciate the comment and the support. Definitely a lot to take in learning so much at once but excited for the challenge.

[@TheodoreBrosevelt]

​@@DNReacts Appreciate the love for our sport. Come on down to Texas and get some BBQ and football 😂

[@sorenbush9267]

​@@DNReacts one thing the video and cjpreach didn't mention is when to assign a Blitzer to try and disrupt the pass before it even happens. There are some players where sending a Blitzer is a bad idea because the QB's instantly recognize the blitz and exploit the hole the blitzer left. So that's why defenses have gotten good at disguising who gets sent after the QB and when to do it. Tom Brady was a guy you'd only ever send 4 men to try to disrupt him, since he will recognize the 5th and more blitzers and get the ball thrown quicker than a blink of an eye, but if you can disrupt him with 4 players, and say, have a Nickelback blitz and drop a DE in coverage, it helps confuse the QB to making a bad decision

[@knightu1642]

Yes the defense will try to mirror or match the offense but a lot of other times, the D mirrors the offense then changes because they expect the offense is giving a formation that's just a bait and then changes it once the ball is snapped. It's amazing how many hundreds of plays many offenses have that defenses then have to try to match up. Great video guys! Cheers form Orlando!!!

[@DNReacts]

Thank you Knight, appreciate the info and glad you enjoyed the video. Love the support!

[@DTG_LOCKETT]

@@DNReacts when you see an offensive player run parallel to the line of scrimmage prior to the snap he is checking to see if a defensive back is going to mirror him. If a defensive back mirrors him then that means the defense is in man to man. If no one mirrors him then they're in zone. The Miami Dolphins is a team that you would never play man to man. It has the two fastest players/ wide receivers in the NFL, Waddle and Hill. Hill is a straight up freak of nature because no one has ever been that fast in pads and Waddle was being called Tyreek Hill 2.0 in college. Waddle made a play this past season where his acceleration is so fast he split 3 defensive backs so perfectly the corner back accidentally tackled one of the safeties.

[@mayoluck]

​​​​@@DNReacts before each play the defense has an amount of time to do a substitution. There is no limit to the amount ppl unlike European football. Also offensive teams will run a no huddle (means they just keep going with out stopping like rugby, but the ref has to get the ball after each play and put it down like normal) this keeps the defense from substitutions or when the clock is running out and you need to hurry, why its called the Hurry Up Offensive or 2 minute drill bc this happens at the end of the game.

[@AtheistPirate]

​@@DNReacts The middle linebacker (also referred to as the "mic/mike" because he wears a headset) is responsible for defensive pre-snap adjustments. He typically has a little dot on his helmet to indicate this, although it might be hard to spot on TV.

[@aj71169]

@@DNReacts Mayo stole my thunder. To add to his first point, when you watch a game you will often see an official standing over the ball preventing the play from starting. This is the officials giving the defense a chance to match the offensive personnel. I don’t often do live streams, but I might consider it to have us all watch a game with you. The information overload would be off the charts!😄

[@skii1410]

Answer to 6:31 , the defensive coordinator who calls the plays on defense waits until they see what offensive players are on the field and if the offense has 4 receivers, 1QB, and 1 running back come on the field, the defensive coordinator will call a defensive play from their “dime package” most likely

[@macdavidson3814]

The team on defense does look to see how many running backs, wide receivers and tight ends the offense has on the field when determining their package. There are rules that protect the defensive team’s ability to make substitutions. If the offense substitutes any players they must allow the defense some time to sub before they can snap the ball. And if the offense huddles, they need to be finished with their substitutions before breaking the huddle.

[@DNReacts]

Thank you Mac, this makes sense. Appreciate the context

[@Scholarstorm]

Defense in football has a ton of soccer parallels. Excited for this video

[@oneupper666]

Tried to lay this out in another comment of mine. It is kind of like Football every play is a set play (free kick, corner, throwin) each and every play. There isn't a 1-1 for players but zone and man coverage has a lot of equal comparisons in those situations. Marking a man, trash man, wall etc.

[@phunkjnky]

I absolutely applaud the effort you two are making. The more I watch these, the more I realize what a specialized game this is, and I only see some of the nuance involved because I've been watching it all my life. I'm glad videos like this exist, because while I can add on all the extras, I can't talk down to basics like they do. I'm tempted to dive straight in to the 4-3 vs the 3-4 (pretty standard defensive schemes named for the number of defensive lineman, followed by the number of linebacker). Then we can get into gap assignments, and before long I'm in the weeds with completely unnecessary exposition.

[@DNReacts]

Thank you Mark, love this, appreciate the support!

[@Pete_Finch]

Once you guys are full fledged American Football fans, I'd love to watch a video on how your thoughts on the game have changed from before making your first video to then (and I don't think you guys are too far off from getting there)

[@DNReacts]

Will definitely do something like this Pete. I reckon after properly watching 1 season through, it’s going to complete reshape our knowledge. We’re getting there, but a season of action is going to elevate us

[@billbliss1518]

I played football for 10 years and just today I learned what Cover 2 meant 😂😂😂. I was a defensive linemen and never knew what the hell the defensive backs were doing unless they were blitzing

[@lucrative6477]

That’s pretty funny. I played center and learned 99% of my football knowledge from watching it on tv lol. Playing was a lot more simple, just either run or pass block lol.

[@slightslice3120]

I played football my whole life growing up. Went to college and worked for the football team in the video department. I realized even though I played my whole life I literally knew nothing about football🤦🏾‍♂️😂😂

[@CC-oi9mc]

Cover 2 means you’re about to throw an interception in madden

[@zacharysmith2983]

My first day as a college receiver in our meeting we were being quizzed, my coach told me to come up to the board and draw a cover 2 defense... I said I didn't know how and he lost his mind 🤣 that wasn't even the quiz, I had to draw the defense before he had me start drawing routes. Learning the playbook was my hardest college class lol

[@JoeyVatavuk]

that’s bad man😂

[@pierregibson6699]

I played Cornerback and free safety loved reading a play and picking off a quarterback….

[@doomtho42]

I dunno what channel created that video but if all of their content matches the quality of this one I would definitely encourage you guys react to more of their stuff. I was impressed with the sort of moderately paced progression in complexity and especially their ability to explain things simply without oversimplifying the concepts themselves (which is a major issue I have with most educational content in general; sports or otherwise - simplify the language, not the idea).

[@Peakfreud]

Brilliant

[@JustyHakubi]

There is one position that has been utilized over the last few years with the rising prominence of running QBs and that is 'the spy'. It is usually a middle-linebacker or free-safety assigned to watching a run happy QB.

[@zh2184]

Hi Guys! At about 14:00 you asked when it is best to use man-to-man pass coverage defense, and when is it best to use zone defense. This is usually determined after evaluating an upcoming opponent, and what they prioritize on their offense. If an opponent has a very large offensive line and do most of their plays using their running backs (a rushing offense), they may use only one or two wide receivers who are not a priority. For that you would likely use physical cornerbacks to play man-to-man up close (called 'press-man'), and attempt to physically disrupt any passing routes by the receiver to give the defense a chance to pressure the quarterback. For opponents that have lots of athletic receivers that set up in three or four wide receiver sets before snap, a zone defense would be preferable because, as you said, one receiver who shakes his guy loose in man-to-man coverage has no support.

[@hergetp]

I’d also say it’s employed based more so on the field situation vs the player or team. On a 3rd and 20, you’re likely going mid-deep zone coverage. 3rd and 1, it’s the opposite

[@pithon1438]

in general also if the other team has good revivers you play zone and if they have a good quarterback you play man

[@o_sch]

@@pithon1438 and if they have both then you give up your firstborn son to the football gods and resign

[@geoffreyconnolly7790]

There are a lot of good answers to this question, and @Coach John does a very nice job giving a quick response. But of course, the answer is much more nuanced than this. One important difference between European football and American football is the fact that there is a stoppage between every play. As the video indicates, teams change situationally, but beyond that, it's important to vary what you are doing frequently enough to create some doubt for the offense. If you always play a zone coverage on third and long, it does not take teams long to figure that out. For that matter, most quarterbacks begin "reading coverage" before the ball is snapped. For example, teams use pre-snap motion to help determine whether you are in man or zone before the ball is in play. If your defensive back follows across the formation, it suggests man to man coverage, while if he stays put it tells the offense that you are in zone.. But defenses know this, and will sometimes disguise what they are doing by sending a defender with the motion man and then sliding into zone at the snap. It is a constant game of cat and mouse. Great defenses that are well-coached communicate what they are doing seamlessly. When you see a guy running wide open, you know that there has been a "busted" coverage, meaning that somebody thought the defense was playing coverage A while they were actually in coverage B. This is why having a good quarterback is of paramount importance. The ability to read a defense between the time at which a team breaks the huddle and snaps the ball can mean the difference between having a play likely to work against a given defensive alignment and not. People frequently talk about how good Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are at this. But the next step is even more difficult: verifying in the 1.5-2 seconds -after- the snap that you read the defense correctly, and knowing where to go with the ball while enormous hostile men come flying at you like they were fired out of a cannon. And -that- is the prime difference between a Hall-of-Famer and everyone else.

[@jasonnevel4142]

When u guys were asking about the difference between a 5-2, 4-3 or 3-4, i think the guy making the video could’ve been more descriptive at this point. If you recall, these formations are known as “base” formations. A team will have 1 base formation that they play for the entire season. 5-2 is almost never seen in the NfL. So the most common base formation would be 4-3 followed by 3-4. The team will actually build their playbook (to the defensive coordinator’s liking) around the players that they have signed. For instance, my favorite team: the cleveland browns, ran a base formation of 4-3 the entirety of last season. While a team like the LA rams ran a 3-4 base defensive scheme the whole season. This is because the rams have a star at the nose tackle position, being Aaron Donald. A nose tackle plays on teams that run 3-4 defensive schemes. The “packages” he mentions are what situationally come up throughout the game. Nickel and dime packages come on the field when the defense is predicting heavy pass attempts. I know that was a lot, but i felt i could be of assistance!

[@loganleroy8622]

Another thing I’m surprised they haven’t mentioned is that the numbers the players wear on their jersey give you a good idea of what their normal position on the defense is. 40-59 is usually linebackers, 90-99 is usually the defensive line, and 20-39 is usually the defensive backs. Not always but generally the combination of the player number and how big they are tells you what position they typically play.

[@Blizzard0fHope]

that was always a thing. . but its becoming increasingly less and less

[@DaGuys470]

Admittedly the NFL has really made it difficult with their rule changes regarding numbers. Now you might see a CB wearing No. 1 (Sauce Gardner), a safety wearing No. 14 (Kyle Hamilton) and an Edge Rusher wearing No. 7 (Haason Reddick)

[@imalwayslast3170]

They changed up the number rule. Look at the Cowboys. Micah Parsons playing LB and EDGE with the number 11, and Trevon Diggs play CB with the number 7.

[@wisey105]

That was mostly an NFL rule. Most players in college would sort of follow it. But for defense in college, there are no position restrictions for numbers except offensive linemen must wear 50-79 and you can't have two players with the same number on the field at the same time.

[@DNReacts]

I wish it wasn’t becoming less and less of a thing as this would’ve been quite useful. Thanks for the info Logan

[@rileyblack7160]

You would generally use a 4-3 defense if you have an abundance of large and talented defensive linemen. If you have pass rushers who are very talented, but also very lean, you would run a 3-4 so that you could take some run defense responsibility off of them. You would run a 5-2 if you're stuck in 1964

[@NannerBrams]

I was very fortunate to have a dad that would sit down and watch football with me. My math brain loves this type of stuff. I was probably like 12 or 13 and I could already explain back to my dad if an offense was using a 00 personnel or 10 personnel or whatever. These videos can be a lot at first but once you see it in a game it starts to make a ton of sense

[@andrewreimer9160]

Love your reactions, guys!! Since you're learning more about all sides of the ball, you should watch "Charles Woodson Becomes Only Defensive Player to Win the Heisman." Although he was primarily a defensive back, he also played wide receiver and returned punts on special teams. He's also in the Football Hall of Fame.

[@DNReacts]

Thank you Andrew, really appreciate the support! Thanks for the suggestion, have added that one to our list.

[@patrickvillafuerte7943]

Defenses will change based on what an Offense is doing, but usually the "base" package is established by the team culture early in the year. Your team roster might consist of more linebackers/less linemen with a 3-4 culture than it would if you run a base of 4-3. The changes are usually these packages the video describes, where you might change to counter the Offense bringing out extra receivers.

[@brandontruby6366]

Love that you guys absorb knowledge and kinda pass it on along in other videos. One of my favorite channels for sure

[@koda4247]

You guys have great takes in this. The game essentially is very simple but the things done at a professional level are just insane. The schemes, assignments, the knowledge of studying the opposing team the week of your game, there is just so much information.

[@rodneysisco6364]

Back in the stone age ,when I played high school football ,we ran a 5-4-2 defense with 5 defensive linemen 4 linebackers and two safeties . I played outside linebacker ,which in that defense was sort of a hybrid linebacker-cornerback

[@areguapiri]

That's what we ran a lot in pop-warner through high school also. The 5-4 defense was popular back in the day.

[@rodneysisco6364]

@@areguapiri Where and when was that ,fellow old guy ? I played in Alabama around 1960 .We had a hell of a defense . We were undefeated ,untied ,and un-scored upon ,state AA class champs . We actually held one team ,which I won't disgrace by naming to NEGATIVE 227 yards total offense in one game .

[@rukus9585]

Just subbed. It's not only because I'm an American football fan, and also not only because you guys are entertaining... But more because of your dedication to understanding, and working to get the basis of the sport, instead of just saying WOW! As you clearly demonstrated here, learning about the inner workings. Well done!

[@DNReacts]

Thanks so much Rukus! Really appreciate it. Great you’re coming along for the journey with us.

[@hardtackbeans9790]

The situation of downs, score/time remaining, & field position usually (def not always) dictates the offensive formation & play call. Which in turn, dictates the defensive formation. You will play a passing team one week & a running team the next. One team you face will have at best, an average offensive lineman that you will 'double team' to exploit. But you will also 'double team' an outstanding offensive lineman to try to 'contain' him. One running back will like to run to the left hand side. Some quarterbacks like to scramble. It can be quite complicated. One reason successful coaches are paid so much. Using man to man: As they said, man coverage is rare now but if you were playing a weak passing team, you would probably consider it. That would probably free one or two backs to contain their running game. The old wishbone option teams would rarely throw at all. I would keep one or two deep just in case. But it was DAMN hard to stop them running. There is also no huddle needed for wishbone since it was run the same way every time. Unless they ran the same play just in the opposite direction to mix it up. There also is no 'TELLS' in the option plays. American football is full to 'tells' that a sharp coach will pick up on & he can tell exactly what the opposition is about to do. Like playing poker with someone that sweats too much with a bad hand. 🤣But that is a whole other story.

[@everettmike96]

Love y'all's channel guys! It's really cool as someone who has just started watching a lot of the EFL, seeing you two guys diving into our sports too. You can really tell that y'all want to understand what's going on when you're watching and not just the same reaction to big hits every time lol. Welcome to Wrexham and you two have showed me how similar our love for our sports are. Cheers fellas, and keep up the great work.

[@DNReacts]

Thank you Wil, love that you’re enjoying the channel, appreciate the comment. We’re loving this journey! Welcome to Wrexham is a great story, I think most of us are Wrexham fans now too

[@natf6747]

Yeah. As someone has already mentioned i will just dive in a wee but more. Most of the time the defensive structure will be based on the players and the knowledge of the coordinator. There are times when you might have a limited coordinator where whats best player wise might not be whats best as a whole because of the weaknesses of the coordinator. But thats overcome in college by recruiting specific players for your scheme and in the NFL by drafting or trading to fit your scheme. But with that being said defenses may look at the strength of an offense and create a defensive strategy that might not fit the strength of their defense in order to try to cancel out the strength of the offense. The best example i can give you is army. Army is one of the few teams to still run a triple option (a fairly old ideology of football with a run heavy approach). Because of this many teams will switch up their normal defense to get more guys in the box. Meaning either adding more DLs and LBs or bringing their DBs into the box. Or the opposite may be true. Especially in the late 90s and early 2000s. The sec was run focused defenses but the big12 had pass focused offenses. In order to cope sometimes the SEC teams added more DBs. But basically this is well thought out before hand. Most strategy is decided pregame, then except in blow outs, only minor altreations are done in the game.

[@PopularNobody]

This is so interesting to see people genuinely try to understand American football. I'm going to subscribe to watch yall journey. I hope you guys grow to enjoy the game. Fly Eagles Fly go birds!

[@dmoe6]

The formations defenses use tend to vary team to team based on the players and coaches. But when these changes in formation or plays occur “should” be based on scouting of the offense. Offensive coaches usually have tendencies on down and based off personnel (the offensive package) good defenses scout those tendencies and try to anticipate the best play based on down and distance tendencies.

[@mdf4200]

Zone vs Man coverage by player and/or opponent is a much deeper conversation than a simple KZbin comment. There are a lot of things that go into what a defense will do against specific offensive players or offensive schemes. I love you guys enthusiasm to learn American sports.

[@DNReacts]

Thank you for the support!

[@chonzen1764]

Yeah you can play zone on one side man on the other. This is common when a team motions to trips. If in cover 2, which is fundamentally unsound against trips, defense auto checks to cover 3 to the trips side and man on the backside, might even auto-check to a backside blitz.

[@christidwell10]

@@chonzen1764 Also most defenses try to disguise their coverage, whether its man-to-man or zone, to bait the QB into making a poor decision. Offenses try to disguise their formations or what they are doing to try and put the defense into bad positions. And all of this happens pre-snap. It can get pretty complicated.

[@ajrocks44]

Defense gets to substitute last on every play they get 15 seconds after the last offense substitute. If offenses wanting to go fast they won't substitute on that play. An offense can substitute all the way up until they break the huddle and get set. You will see the ref stand over the ball untill the defense has had enough time to sub guys on and off. All that happens pre-snap with a 40 second play clock on everyplay, plus the play is called. Which dictates the formation, substitutions (if any), and where everyone has to be in less than 3 seconds after the ball is snapped. When we hear people from around the world say they don't like how they start and stop we know they don't know the first thing about football.

[@kristopherkraakmo9041]

Enjoying your videos and the journey the both of you are taking in learning about America’s past time 😃

[@mitchellwilliams3548]

6:52 the answer is in modern day football, the offense has certain players for certain formations. The coaches are able to recognize who is on the field for the offense to guess what formation the offense will be in, and in turn create a defense that best counters the offensive formation.

[@shafiabbasi340]

Really fun to see that, as you guys learn more, your learning has become sorta exponential. Every new video shows a better/quicker understanding than the last!

[@DNReacts]

Thank you for this, glad you’re enjoying the content

[@LeskoBrandon2x]

Listening to someone speaking in a British accent, enthusiastically learning American football, brings a tear to my eye. Good shit!

[@bamachine]

That was a pretty decent explanation of the basics and formations on defense. The offensive version will be a bit longer or more in depth, if it covers all the different formations.

[@DNReacts]

Thanks, we’ll keep an eye out for a good offensive video. Unfortunately the creator of this defensive video doesn’t have one for offensive.

[@dankline7091]

At 7:20, you ask the key question (which shows how sharp y'all are and how quickly you're getting the game): How does the defense know what to do or what personnel package they want at a particular point in the game? This is exactly where the the coaches and players hard work in the off-season and from week to week comes into play. Each team analyzes every play the other teams have made, sometimes going years back, and each player reviews film of the players he will face, and at each point the defensive staff creates spreadsheets of the opposing teams tendencies and personnel in every situation. It's the same for the offense (and you can see the coaches holding large color-coded spreadsheets on the sidelines as they call the offensive plays or defensive 'sets' - personnel packages and special twists to throw the other side). And for both the offense and the defense, the coaches are looking for 'match ups' or situations where they believe their player has an advantage over the opposing player that they can exploit (height, speed, experience, quality, and so on) - a faster wide receiver against a slower linebacker. That all gets communicated in the 'huddle' and then everyone lines up (and then players can shift to throw off the opposing side, though there are rules for who can shift and when). And as you asked, there are teams (and players) who become so dominant that the opposing team might change their entire game plan to account for that player. Lawrence Taylor was so dominant as a middle line backer that offenses were rethought to account for his ability to disrupt offensive play. The same goes for great quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers (who might be double-teamed by two defensive backs). Bill Belicheck, coach of the New England patriots, was a master of finding these mis-matches. I just have to add: George Will, a conservative political commentator and baseball fan, once wrote: Football combines the two most offensive aspects of American culture: committee meetings punctuated by violence! 🤣🤣🤣

[@bryanhenchik6580]

Hey guys brilliant video as always. In college there have been a number of teams that were or are known as a man coverage or zone. Man can be a great defense as long as there are superstars on the defense, because it is easy to get burned by the offense, especially with crossing routes of the receivers. I am a Michigan fan and from 2016 to 2019 we had a great man and blitzing defense. The team was in the top 5 for those years. But, in 2019 Indiana university and Ohio State clobbered our defense with crossing routes. So as long as the team has outstanding talent it can be great, but once the talent decreases ever so slightly the crossing routes will burn a man team. A number of teams will use a man and zone mix if they can but zone helps to keep things in front of the defense. Then as the offense gets closer to the end zone the smaller the field and that can give advantages to the defense. This video is great though as the guy really did a fantastic job explaining the defense. Keep up the great reactions!! 👍👍

[@DNReacts]

Great read Bryan, thank you for the comment. Appreciate the support for the channel. We do like this creator, second time we’ve used him now and we’ve been impressed both times

[@stapleboss]

For your question at 7:00 - the base defense is usually based on the coach's football philosophy. They literally need different players (body type, size, skills) to run a 3-4 vs a 4-3. So if they have built a team of base 4-3 players they can't just switch. The packages are what they use to switch on the fly during a game. And most of the switching has to do with the physical size and skills of the players - fast but small vs. big but slow. Also - they have limited practice time and lots of injuries, so they can't practice everything. Regarding man-to-man vs zone - basically, if your defensive players are good enough to play the other team's receivers man-to-man (run with and cover them) you do it. That frees up another guy to do something else, like rush the quarterback. Whether you use man or not has much more to do with the defensive skills than the offensive skills I'd say. A good offensive player can beat man or zone. If there is a really good offensive player you can double team him. You put your best defensive back on him and have a safety also cover him "over the top" or deeper down field. But that can leave your other defensive backs in a man-to-man situation. It is a chess game.

[@ajdembroski7529]

Your question regarding zone vs. man and personnel: YES! All of the yes. Nnamdi Asomugha vs. Richard Sherman. These are two of the best cornerbacks of the last generation, both retired now, but fantastic in their day. Nnamdi was a pure press-man corner. All you had to do was tell him what receiver you wanted out of the game, and you were playing 10 man football. He left the Raiders and bounced around to a bunch of teams that wanted him to play zone, and he was out of the league shortly after. Richard Sherman is one of the best pure zone corners ever. He wasn't particularly fast, but he was crafty and observant and understood positioning and baiting better than any corner in the league. Pure zone guy, you locked up a 3rd of the field with him. But he was never going to cover Moss one on one in Man, he just didn't have that kind of twitch. Very rare are the ultra greats like Deion Sanders, Darrell Green, and Derrelle Revis. These guys could actually mix-and-match techniques within a play. For instance, both Deion and Green extensively played outside leverage in man (quite uncommon, as inside leverage allows you to use the sideline as an extra defender). This allowed them to see the ball sooner, as their man was between them and the QB. They had the speed and the talent to undercut inside breaking routes despite bad positioning. As far as what your opponent does, yes it makes a difference, but defenses tend to do what they're good at over what might counter the opponent. There are few man-coverage focused teams in the modern NFL, and those who are deploy it strategically (the Dolphins are known for their cover-1 blitz, which is a man scheme, but they use it sparingly so it's a surprise). If your opponent has a particularly good receiving corps this might make you shy away from Man coverage, but since most teams are in zone the majority of the time anyways, it's hard to see the difference.

[@DNReacts]

Great comment, thank you for this info, really appreciate it!

[@gryphoncompanion]

@@DNReacts Shut down corner is the term that comes to mind as well.

[@Newbobdole]

Very good synopsis! Always love it when someone gives Darrell Green his due for how great he was!

[@UseADamnCoaster]

7:19 yes. When you watch an NFL game or even college games between 2 elite teams, you'll see the offense and defense come out in certain formations and you'll see the QB for the offense change the play at the line of scrimmage using a combination of hand signals and coded verbal cues. This is called an audible. The shot-caller for the defense, usually either a LB or DB with the most experience and understanding of offense formations, will adjust accordingly by calling an audible of his own and prompting defensive players to move around and match what the offense has done with their audible. All players at the highest level, in the NFL, have an intricate understanding of offensive and defensive formations programmed into their heads from years of experience. The game often is decided based on who can adjust better between the offensive and defensive units of both teams. This dynamic is fascinating to watch unfold on the field during a game. It's one of the reasons that I, as an American, have always loved watching football and playing it during my youth.

[@Darth_Lunas]

Defense was my personal favorite to play. Defense wins championships. I played cornerback and free safety.

[@imalwayslast3170]

Absolutely. I played safety and defensive end. I had 2 goals. Sack the QB or get an INT. I may have sacked our QB during practice and injured him...oopsie. He was a D-bag anyway.

[@Darth_Lunas]

@ImAlwaysLast lol...what? No red jersey...LOL!

[@HeyItzMeDawg]

6:50 Whether a team runs base, nickel, dime, etc. depends almost entirely on what the offense comes out on the field with at any given play. When the offense changes personnel before the start of each play, the defense's coaches look at who is coming on and off on the offense and perform their own personnel switch to match it. With 1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR formations being most common offensive personnel groups in high level college and NFL, nickel (3 corner 2 safety) is the most common defensive personnel group. If the TE is particularly good at catching, you will also see a dime (4 corner 2 safety) or a "big nickel" (3 corner 3 safety) package used with the extra corner or safety assigned to the TE. Dime is also used for more unorthodox formations like 1 RB, 4 WR. With heavier offensive formations like 1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR (or 2 RB, 1 TE, 2 WR), base is typically employed. Heavy/Goal Line (i.e. 3 defensive backs) is used when the offense only needs 1 yard or so for a first down, or is close to the end zone, and comes out on the field with one of the aforementioned heavier formations. Prevent or quarters (i.e. 7+ defensive backs) is typically used on the final play of the half or the game when the opponent only has one play left before the game ends and must try for an all-or-nothing pass into the end zone to score. 7:23 Whether a team runs base 5-2 / 4-3 / 3-4 typically depends entirely upon what the defensive coordinator prefers and what kind of players they have. Some defenses switch their base defense depending on the opponent, particularly if they have versatile veterans who can handle different responsibilities. Other defenses stick to one specific arrangement as best as they can, trying to keep things simple for their players (and if you've got a bunch of really good players, sometimes a simple "try and beat us" is best). An incredible reference for modern NFL defenses is Tom Kislingbury's Defensive Handbook (google search for the 2022 edition; unfortunately youtube tends to auto-delete any comments with links in them as a spam filter, so I can't link it for you). 14:14 It's hard to tell as fans because most fans don't have the knowledge or ability to evaluate how to counter teams at a high level, but coaches and teams are definitely studying that stuff. In general, man is a test of athleticism and zone is a test of brains. Granted you need both athleticism and brains to play football, but not every player is the best at both, so defenses tend to prefer either man or zone more depending on what players they have. With man coverage, the players aren't looking at the quarterback, they're watching their man and trying to stick to them like glue. This requires a high degree of athleticism. You need to physically disrupt the receivers ability to run their route without drawing an interference penalty, stay close to them despite the fact that you don't know what direction they're going to move in, and read the receivers body language to know when the pass is coming so that you can make a play on the ball to knock it down or intercept it. So if your players are better athletes than your opponents, or more specifically they match up well (e.g. you have a tall player for their tall players, you have a fast player for their fast players, you have an agile player for their agile players) you can play man coverage against them successfully. If you don't match up well, the offense can target the weak link. With zone, every player is watching the quarterback instead. The way to make a play in zone is mainly to trick the quarterback by making them think you're in one type of zone (or even in man) so that when they throw the ball "with anticipation" (aka throwing the ball before a receiver is actually open so that it arrives when they get open) they accidentally throw it towards a player they didn't realize was there, who can intercept it. Generally this requires the defender to anticipate the throw and jump in front of it before the throw happens (because its very hard to react once the ball is already in flight). So zone coverage is mainly about fooling the offense with rotations, tricks, and schemes, and having really good instincts and preparation so that you can read the QB. However, at high levels, you don't ever want to be predictable on defense because that makes it easy for the offense to come up with a play that can beat it. So teams will switch between man and zone from play to play. But generally zone is used more often in general, as its very hard to put together a defense that can match up against an opponent in man coverage successfully for the majority of the game.

[@DNReacts]

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[@JudasMaccabeus1]

The question you asked at 7:12 is like this: Say the defense calls a nickel but the offense comes out in a run formation, the defense can shift formation depending on what they see from the offense. The defense has a captain, who takes on the roll of the coach basically, and if he sees the defensive package is wrong he will adjust accordingly

[@TangoNevada]

Most of the decisions are situationally dependent. IE: How many yards does the offense need to gain on any given play. If they need only a yard or 2 for a 1st down (Which I assume you understand). The defense will use more large linemen and line backers to try to prevent an offensive running play that only requires a couple yards or less. But if the situation requires the offense to gain 10 or more yards, the defense will use more defensive backs and be willing to give up 5-8 yards, but not the 10 required for the 1st down (That's very simplified). To answer one of your other questions, normally the players are designated typically by number, as to whether or not they are a DB, LB or Safety, etc. It's not just the same 11 guys lining up in a different location, they have actual 'Specialists" for each position. I believe the number is still 53 active players on each team for a game. Anyone can go in at anytime allowed. That being said, they can go wherever they want once the play starts. So there are players that are assigned as Defensive lineman, defensive line backers and Defensive backs (Same with offense, mostly). Where it gets tricky and this video doesn't go into it is swapping players out for other specialized positional players. The defense can only swap in or out players if the offense does. So if the defense was expecting a run heavy selection of plays, but the offense just keeps passing the ball and the defense is getting beat, the defense will need to call a timeout to be allowed to put in more pass defenders (DB's) and Timeouts are extremely valuable, so you don't want to be caught in the situation. It can work the other way around, if the offense is just pounding run after run, the defense can tire, but they can't swap in run defenders unless the offense swaps in players or again, they need to call a timeout. So many times the Strategy can be for the offense to put in a run heavy offense and just stick with it. And if it keeps working, the defense needs to either call a timeout to swap in larger players to stop the run, or the just keep getting run over. But the second they do, the offense can switch to a pass heavy offense. And it goes back and forth. Hence the strategy and love of the game. I think you mentioned, something to the effect, does a player become a DB, or DL or LB just by where they line up? In theory sort of, but in reality, each player has a position and role and typically both the offense and defense will swap out players based on the situation and yardage required. Unless the offense is just running over the defense, then they will stick with what they have. Because in general it's much harder to play defense, physically. reacting to what someone is doing requires more effort than initiating the action.

[@mossman3636]

In High School we never did anything fancy on Defense we usually had a 4-4, but we would go to a 5-2 something and we played a simple cover 6, and to answer your question about a 3 receiver set since we ran a zone didn’t matter if we covered a man at the start of the play but we had a defensive play called Ed, Ed (was when we were in a 5-2 and the other team had 3 plus recevier) and what Ed did was it had the Edge Rusher cover the flat zone to the side with the most receivers allowing for our SS/OLB (our SS was called a strong safety but he lined up has an outside liner back that’s why I called it a 4-4) to cover the Curl.

[@crashburn3292]

I feel like I should return the favor and learn about futbol, rugby and cricket.

[@mossman3636]

Rugby and Cricket are worth learning and watching, really entertaining

[@davidculp6266]

That's a great video. I've been watching the NFL since 1970 and I still learned some things. One thing not covered in the video is "double coverage", where two players are assigned to cover one receiver (whichever receiver the defense considers the most dangerous).

[@DNReacts]

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[@hia5235]

its the penalties that take years to learn.

[@hia5235]

You play man to man if your defense is more athletic then their offense. Zone if their offense is more athletic than your defense. Not every play, but its common.

[@michaeljcarneyjr.6187]

you failed to tell they why it is called a nickle back, Brits have no idea that a nickle is a US coin worth 5 cents.

[@victorwaddell6530]

@@michaeljcarneyjr.6187 Right . A US nickle is a five cent coin .

[@philaunitebirdgangtakeflig5453]

7:08 yes players frequently change plays before anything ever happens. These changes or adjustments are called "audibles". Sometimes they will be referred to as pre snap adjustments.

[@bryanw4637]

6:40, question about personnel groups (3/4 vs 4/3). Personnel groupings are determined by the down and the distance the offense has. If it is first and 10 likelihood is, it’s going to be a run play. Therefore, you would have your run defense in there which would be the 4/3 because you would have four down lineman and three linebackers. If the down were say something along the lines of third and 10, it’s going to be a passing down, therefore, you are going to use 3/4 or Nickel or Dime because you want more defenders, dropping back to prevent the pass. Just remember it this way; 4/3 is to stop the run, 3/4 is to stop the pass.

[@Phyde4ux]

7:09 To answer this question: Defensive players aren't generally told how to line up each play. They choose how how line up based on how the offense lines up. Often an offensive player will move positions prior to the ball being snapped (in motion). Linebackers and secondary players are allowed to follow the offensive in-motion player. This gives the defense an option to adapt quickly to changes the offense may make. There are some exceptions such as a blitz, where the defense plans to overwhelm the offensive line and quickly rush the quarterback. In this case, they will disregard how the offense lines up and just line up heavily on the line of scrimmage. The advantage is, sacking the QB behind the line of scrimmage results in a loss of yardage. So a 2nd and 10 play will turn into a 3rd and 20, or possibly even a fumble. Obviously the risk here is if they take too long to get to the QB, he will have several undefended receivers down field to throw to. Hope this helps.

[@brandongillette6463]

Around the 07:00 mark, you have a great question about defensive personnel. By rule, if the offense substitutes players, they cannot snap the ball until the defense has had a chance to make its own substitution in response. So the defense will generally wait until after the offense substitutes (which usually happens quickly after the completion of a play) to make their own substitutions and play call. A "hurry-up" offense, then, does not usually substitute players between plays.

[@Yeti_Squatch]

7:20 Teams have a coach in the press box calling down what package and players the offense is subbing in each play. So if they see 3 WR they call spread, def coordinator calls a nickel package.

[@mchrisbrooks]

This is great! I'll have to check out your other videos and subscribe. I did not read other comments. At 14:20, That's a game-to-game matchup puzzle that earns some coaches millions of dollars to get right! In fact, that is coaching; It is designing plays and formations based on the matchups at each position on each team. Similarly, lower-level teams choose their BASE defense on the capabilities of the personnel on the roster. At upper-level colleges and professional levels, generally, players are recruited/drafted/signed that match the characteristics desired for the positions within whatever defense the coach or organization prefers. Same for the offense... but both will mix and disguise packages and coverages play-to-play and (for instance, when time is rushed and no play can be called) use the BASE defense as the scaffold for most plays.

[@AlmostJordan]

This is a very well done video of the person explaining it. Once people explain positions in football it makes a LOT more sense to casual viewers

[@MichaelMikeTheRussianBot]

@7:15, in the case you bring up, where there's an obvious mismatch , the defense may change play ("audible" - prearranged signal to a different defense - the middle linebacker is usually the one to do this. Btw, the offense does this too), but if it's really disadvantageous, especially in an important situation, they're likely to call a "Timeout" , & stop the play. (each team gets 3/half, & 1 in each overtime).

[@reedbunnell8154]

I've been watching American Football my whole life and I learned a couple things from this vid. Also loved how simple they made it

[@DNReacts]

Love that you enjoyed and took something from this one Reed

[@BigMac072]

Congrats! You guys now know more than most American NFL fans! In all seriousness, your effort to learn the game is awesome. In regards to your question about defenses "adjusting", the offense makes substitutions before the play. The personnel that the offense chooses ultimately determines what formation a defense will play. If an offense comes out with 2 wide receivers, the defense will most likely be in base. 3 or 4 wide receivers and the defense will play nickel or dime. If the offense subs any personnel, the defense gets a chance to match. Great question and I hope this helps explain it some.

[@izthizalrdytkn]

The question you had around 7:10 is interesting. A defense usually tends to "mirror" with their secondary as it's not good to leave a receiver uncovered on the edge. Conversely, the offense are the ones who have to respond to what the defense does around the line. If you ever listen to audio from the line of scrimmage you will hear the QB and center call out who they think the "mike" is on the opposing team (middle linebacker). In addition, they may need to change the way their line is blocking. The best QBs are able to identify what an opposing defense is doing and respond in real time. That's what makes football a game of chess.

[@MrJeddYoung]

Great choice of video to learn from - i'm 54 years old and i've been watching American football since i was 5 - 6 years old - and while i hear many of these terms from the announcers - it was informative to have it explained the way it was - so if you're still a bit confused - don't feel badly - most American fans could also learn a lot from this video. Most fans don't have this level of understanding. I remember as a kid on the school playground in the 1970s - where we just ran wildly around in circles with the ball until someone could tackle us - how sophisticated professional football is by comparison. Hope there's a "guide for offense" for a future reaction. Thanks for posting this one.

[@MrJeddYoung]

Just one more thing - my favorite player (in the last 30 years) was a defensive back named Troy Polamalu - who was a strong safety for the Pittsburg Steelers. I hope you get a chance some time to take a look at his career highlights - he played the game like a wild man - the way all us kids back on the school playground dreamed of playing the game. He was a one-man wrecking ball. i'm sure you get many requests / suggestions for individual players - so please keep Polamalu in mind. Thanks.

[@DNReacts]

Thank you Jedd, really appreciate your support. We’re going to keep an eye out for a good Offense video. Funny that you mention Polamalu, he’s been mentioned to us a lot of times. We’ll definitely be watching him and hopefully soon. I’d be playing football now the way you played in the playground 😅

[@jeffhampton7405]

This is great stuff. You guys seem to pick it up quickly and are asking good questions. The more you know about football, the better it is. The game gets almost as intricate as a chess match.

[@LintEastwood21]

6:54 to answer your question the the defense will substitute players to be in a certain defensive scheme depending on which offensive players are on the field. For instance, a defense will go into a 5-2 defensive scheme (5 defensive linemen) if they think the offense is more likely to run the ball which is determined by who the offense has on the field. Since you can substitute players after every play on both offense and defense the scheme will consistently change play to play but the defensive substitute is usually a reaction to whom the offense is substituting out

[@LintEastwood21]

14:12 yes there are defensivebacks that specialize in man or zone coverage but will play both coverages in a game. It also depends on the defensive coach's scheme and defensive player personal which will determine if a team as a whole, play more man or zone coverages. regardless a defensive coach will switch to either, depending on the flow of the game and if adjustments are needed. Teams even use a hybrid of both in 1 play. so some guys will play zone ( linebackers and safeties) and others (cornerbacks and slotcorners) play man and vice versa

[@DukeofGames50]

14:20 the 2021 Detroit Lions (3-13-1) were a zone defense because they were a young team of players, and a learning Defensive Coach. Zone defenses seem more likely to get interceptions, but also more susceptible to giving up deep pass plays. High risk, high reward.

[@alexhorton7845]

Good question at 7:18. The answer to your question is, no, it's not a simple to change personnel in a formation as just switching who is covering who. The situation will dictate what formation you would run. In your example, you asked if you could switch from a 5-2 to a 4-3 by just shifting individuals. In numbers, you can, but the people you have on the field wouldn't put the team in the best position. In a 5-2, you have five down linemen - a nose, couple of DTs, and a couple of rush ends. You only have two linebackers, and four defensive backs at this point. If you're running the 5-2, usually a couple of things have happened to get to this point. If you're in a 5-2, you are trying to stop a short yardage run OR you are very close to your end zone and you are defending against a wide running play. If a team comes out with four wide receivers, against this 5-2, then you're trying to cover four really fast guys (who run sub 4 second 40 yard dashes) with guys that possibly are not quite athletic enough to keep up. One way around this is with the actual personnel packages. You can put guys who do have the athletic talent to cover and be physical enough to stop the run in your 5-2, so that if you need to shift out of a 5-2 (audible) into a 4-3, you can do so. This is a lot, but I applaud you guys trying to understand the game that so many thing is very easy to understand, but they realize that there's so much strategy behind the game. I used to coach youth football at a very elementary level, and would be happy to join you guys to have more explanation at a learner's level :)

[@twansolo]

You guys have become one of my new favs on KZbin. I love your appreciation of sports, particularly American football.

[@DNReacts]

Thank you so much for the support. Glad you’re enjoying the content!

[@Mattyoftheboy]

To answer a few questions: 6:43 Usually yes because they get a certain amount of time to get set up before the play starts. In some cases they'll keep a certain package out there because the coaches think that they'll run a certain play. 14:13 Defensive coaches (usually called defensive coordinators), have a certain style of defense that they specialize in, so they usually get players during the offseason to fit said style.

[@deano4138]

7:00 You pretty much nailed it. Offenses are required by rule to give the defense a "reasonable amount of time" to make substitutions IF the offense makes a substitution. If the offense does not change any players in between plays they are allowed to go as fast as they want and try and prevent the defense from subbing. But the second they change a player the refs will prevent them from starting until the defense sends out the players they want (within reason, they wont tolerate intentional stalling) Each coach has their own defensive philosophy they teach and use. Some swear by the 3-4, other the 4-3. Some teams change year to year or game to game depending on matchups and their own personnel. Some teams will only ever play a 3-4, its up to the coaches. Nickel and Dime defenses have become extremely more common than they used to be, as passing offense has evolved.

[@lngsrp4612]

Question at 14:00. YES, especially in college football, since there is a wider variety of offensive schemes and philosophies. For example, if your team have two badass, future NFL corners, we know that they are likely to get away with playing man coverage. Or if you know that you have quality defensive linemen who can win battles consistently up front, that will free up a LB for coverage responsibilities. But remember, the offense is looking to take advantage of defensive weaknesses, so playing more defensive backs could open up running opportunities. And vice versa.

[@smithsonian2464]

As an avid college football and nfl fan (Roll Tide and Titan Up), this breaks down the defense to the average viewers level. The viewer knows the defense has stop the offense from gaining yardage and scoring, but this allows the average joe to watch the game with an analytical perspective in mind. Very well put together video

[@spennymoney]

@6:48 exactly right, defence will always match

[@IamBIGuUS]

At 7:00 you ask about subs and mirroring. There's a rule in the game that mandates the offense give the defense time to substitute IF the offense substitutes. Meaning if the offense wants to put three WR's in the game, the defense must be given time to substitute accordingly. And because there are strict rules about the numbers different positions can wear the defense will always be able to mirror the offense's personnel

[@A_Name_]

@7:12 you got it, any time the offense subs players in and out of the game they have to let the defense do the same. So when they bring more speed onto the field the defense will do the same or if it's right at the goal line and they bring in extra linemen the defense will do the same (normally, obviously there are always exceptions). On the flipside of this if the offense likes the matchup of the players they put on the field they can go what is called the hurry up where after each play they don't bring in new players and try and get each new play off as fast as possible so the defense is stuck with an unfavorable package. Players can still be exchanged on defense if the offense doesn't change players but they run the risk of having to many players on the field or just players out of position if the offense is snapping the ball as soon as they can.

[@jinthao00]

Watching your reaction makes me realize why I fell in love with football. I didn't grow up in a sports family and didn't get to sports until college, but man was it fun playing even just flag football with the guys. I started out as the center bc everyone wanted to be the wideout, but eventually became the MLB calling plays.

[@JeanDumas24601]

I am an NFL fan and have watched it for decades and was still able to learn a few things from the video. Btw, yes, Ray Lewis was middle linebacker. Other notables randomly chosen from the top of my head are: Deion Sanders a cornerback and Troy Polamalu strong safety. Looking at the difference and their body types and physical abilities kinda help illustrate what skills are needed for a given position.

[@Oldsnowballs]

You are correct Damo! Ray Lewis was a Middle Linebacker. He was the perfect MLB because of four main reasons: 1. Power, hard ass hitter. 2. Speed, for a guy who was 250lbs. 3. Vision, to see an offensive formation and due to watching film or intuition was able to snuff out plays before they could develop. 4. Communication. As a MLB he had the Defensive Coordinator in his ear (only one Defensive player gets to have an earpiece and it is normally a MLB or a Safety, someone who can see the whole Offensive Formation) and Ray Lewis with his booming voice would be communicating with his teammates things that the coaching staff were telling him and observations that he was seeing based on his own knowledge. He also used his communication skills expertly via trash talking to get into offensive players' heads. Love the channel! Keep up the good work!

[@DNReacts]

Thank you James, appreciate the context. Had a great read. Love that you’re living the channel, thank you for the support.

[@kevinperkins3710]

Hey guys to help with the question at 7:30(ish) the defense is going to go off the coaching staffs "most common" in that given situation. Teams will watch film of past games to learn those things. Say it's 3rd down and the offense needs 15 yards just about every coach will call a passing play so the defense will most likely have a nickel or dime package ready.

[@a55a55inx]

Many teams mix up zone/man coverages and sometimes have a hybrid of both. Like everything, there are pros and cons: Zone Pros: - The defenders are facing forward most of the time (because the players behind them should be protecting their respective zone). Facing forward allows the defenders to see what is going on with the offense and allows the DB's to help stop the running back, a running QB or a short pass, and makes it easier to intercept a pass. Zone Cons: - It's easier to find openings in the coverage, especially when a defender makes a mistake on their zone assignment or if the safeties fall for a fake run. Man Pros: - Receivers are less likely to be wide open because they are being followed by the same defender during the entire play. Man Cons: - Many of the DB's will have their backs turned, so they won't see what's going on. This makes it easier for the offense to run the ball or get short completions.

[@brianmulholland2467]

~14:30 - Yes, there are definitely teams that specialize in zone vs those that specialize in man. Most teams play at least SOME of everything and try to disguise which they're doing to fool the QB because the routes receivers are running tend to work better against one type of coverage vs another. For example, crossing routes are typically man beaters. There are a million things that can influence this choice, but the most prominent is whether your secondary tends to have more smart/physical players vs more athletic/fast players. The more athletic you are, the better you'll do in man, whereas the smarter and more physical you play, the more zone helps you. In the modern NFL, most teams right now play more zone because there's just more really athletic WRs than there are really athletic DBs. And so playing zone is safer. The advent of the more mobile QB has also influenced this as zone players have their eyes facing the offense for more of the play and are therefore more likely to notice a QB who starts running. This is not to suggest that man defense is dead or rare, it's just less popular right now. But again, the best defenses mix it up and disguise what they're doing.

[@Wolky324]

7:22 if the offense makes a substitution then they have to allow time for the defense to also make a substitution, and then they could put in the package they want. The offense could snap the ball right away if they did not make any substitutions, but if that's the case the defense already has the players they want on the field, usually.

[@landiahillfarm6590]

@14:20 - I think it's rare that you would see a team head into a game with a specific defensive plan other than one that suits their own strengths, yet at the same time any GOOD defense will change their arrangement multiple times during a game based on what the offense is presenting. In fact in the process of a single offiensive drive down the feld you can see the defense shift its formations several times based on down and distance. Ex. 1st and 10 you likely to play you best base defense. 3rd and long [anything over 10 yards] youre almost guaranteed to see the defense shift to a nickel or dime package because percentages are the offense is going to throw the ball to pick up the needed yardage to keep the drive alive. Lots of fun teaching the game, my son in-law came from Australia and had a ball learning the game.

[@portee9113]

7:11 Thats a good question. In the rules, the offense has the disadvantage in that they must be "set" before snapping the ball per the rules. Before snapping the ball hey can reform on the line to a new formation, typically the quarterback calls something out on the line and everyone shifts... but they are against a play clock that starts when the last play ended, so they are limited in how many times they can reform before being set, then snapping the ball... lest they get a penalty for false start or delay of game. The defense however can jump and move around before the snap as much as they want. They have advantage in the formation matchup minigame. Also typically if you think they are gonna run the ball you stack the box with lineman and backs. If they form up with lots of receivers you have to loosen the box to account for that show. Lots of trick plays in the NFL, where a formation will show one thing, but the play performs another.

[@Cashcrop54]

I enjoyed that. I was going to make a few points about how the MLB usually calls the defense and how things change if the QB calls an "audible". That's when he changes the play call at the line of scrimmage. It gets so complicated. Maybe do a video on play calling. If there is one. Thanks for the great videos!

[@DNReacts]

Thanks Mark, for the ongoing support. Really appreciate it. We’ve got QB Language high on our list, definitely one we want/need to take a look at

[@bgwinn]

I was travelling for business once with a man from Yorkshire. We were at a hotel bar in Texas and the NFL was on TV. He looked confused and asked for a basic explanation of what was going on. The bartender heard this and came over and flooded him with tons of detailed information beyond what he was asking and at that moment it occurred to me that learning American sports is really quite confusing if you didn't grow up around them. When it comes to detailed rules which vary between professional levels (for example, when the clock stops), even those of us who have watched for years get confused. I love how in soccer the rules never change.

[@djmclaughlin8363]

14:56 zone coverage also can be advantageous if the play is a running play or a QB Scramble, because the defender’s eyes often aren’t on a particular player, but on assessing the overall situation. Man defenders are more likely to be turning their back on the ball and might miss the opportunity to help as quickly.

[@tonysteele2735]

You guys are asking great questions. I love these videos, and I'll jump into the comments to try and help out when I can. The standard around the league right now for base defense is a nickel scheme, as the video stated. The best NFL teams today can score quickly by throwing the ball deep, so having five defensive backs on the field does help level the scales a bit. As a result, safeties and linebackers are staring to resemble each other in body type because both are expected to provide pass coverage and run tackling. Traditionally, linebackers were taller and heavier and safeties were skinner, faster and quicker. They look pretty much the same now. Also, the play calling role on the defense used to only be the responsibility of the middle linebacker, but many teams are having one of the safeties pick up that duty due to the implementation of more complex secondary schemes. Against really great pass teams like Kansas City, Dallas, or Philadelphia, the average team might start the game playing at least cover two out of nickel, or "two high". That means you have two safeties over the top who can roam around and break up deep pass plays, and the other three DBs play man against three wide receivers. There are some downsides to having two high players. It is easier to run on and easier for quarterbacks to exploit soft spots in the zone with short passing plays. From there, teams will adjust the players on the field between drives, but not necessarily between plays. Defenses are reactionary, so they don't need to swap out players in direct response to the offense. Most schemes have some amount of build in flexibility that can tailor coverage to what they see when everyone lines up. Defenses will typically play one deep or even a cover zero, which is just straight man to man, if they think blitzing the quarterback will be effective. In a cover zero, the defense will line up 10 players on 10 players, the opposing quarterback will have the ball, and one defensive player will be free to create a mismatch or rush the QB. This doesn't make much sense against a quarterback with elite movement who can throw on the run like Mahomes because he plays so well under pressure. Against less talented, less mobile and less seasoned QBs, blitzing out of a cover zero or cover one can really disrupt an offense. Against run-first teams like the Titans, defenses might opt to play a cover three or cover four zone so they can have more players line up in the box to stop the run. Cover three has one deep middle safety and two corners drop to split the width of the field into deep thirds for coverage. This frees up the other safeties and the linebackers to quickly crash down into the box if they think a run play is coming. A team could have a nickel package on for the first few drives of the game and play cover two, but then switch to a cover three with the same personnel if they believe the opposing team is going to try a run play. Cover four is interesting - the cornerbacks will line up on the sidelines like they are in man coverage with receivers, but they will let their man run past them deep and pass them off to a safety in real time. This can create confusion for a quarterback, and he might walk right into a bad throw to a safety switching onto a player. That is just one of the many ways that the defense can disguise their coverage to create confusion. Another thing to consider is that man to man and zone will typically look different before the ball is snapped. In m2m, you'll see the corners and even a safety or two right on the line of scrimmage or a few yards back to lessen the distance between the guy they are covering. Conversely, zone schemes will have the corners and DBs starting the play seven or ten yards back before the ball is snapped so that they can keep everyone in front of them and cover their zone more quickly. But once again, defense can and do get tricky with their pre-snap looks, so you can't always rely upon what you see before the ball is snapped to figure out the coverage. Defenses might line up very aggressively on the line, and then drop into a really conservative zone coverage to trick the offense. You are probably getting a sense of how important good coaching and good game planning is by now. Games between high level teams are literal chess matches. Also, a team like Kansas City is so hard to stop because Mahomes is elite at almost everything, and they have both a deep game and an incredible shallow passing game with Travis Kelce. You have to pick your poison. Bill Belichick, as you probably know, is the legendary Pats head coach who won six rings with Tom Brady. He has always been a more defensive minded coach, and his philosophy was to always stop the greatest threat first. Against KC, that would probably mean putting a DB on Kelce in man coverage all game and figuring the rest out when you stop him. For good defensive study, I would recommend watching a full game or two of Kansas City losing against any other team from the past few years - maybe check out them verses the Bengals in the AFC championship game from 2021. KC has such a balanced passing attack. Only high level coaching and tricky defense has been able to stop them.

[@ryananderson1518]

@7:31: The defense will generally be allowed (referees will prevent the ball from being snapped) to sub personnel after the offense does.

[@Tinfoilnation]

There is an incredible amount of strategy before each snap which isn't always clear to new observers to the game. The defensive coordinator for the team will call down one or more packages for the defense to use on each play (which sometimes means a personnel change) but the defensive captain, usually one of the linebackers - can "audible" a change to that package on the fly if needed. He literally yells it out to them - and this is done if the offense comes out of their huddle and lines up in an unexpected formation that the current package wouldn't work well (or at all) against. Worse, the offense will come out of their huddle and deliberately line up in a formation that they don't even intend to use, just to confuse the issue for the defense. That formation will change just before the snap - with wide receivers, running backs and tight ends individually or collectively changing their position. The quarterback is watching to see what the defense does in reaction to that shift... because it can tell the QB whether he faces man-coverage, or zone, or a blitz is coming. The QB can then audible a change to their play in reaction to that -- and all of this happens in *seconds* Basically the best description I ever heard of what's happening on the field is the coaches are playing a game of *Battle Chess* Edit: To your last question - whether you can use man coverage depends totally on how *good* your cornerbacks are, how good their receivers are - and most importantly of all: How good your pass rush is. With an exceptional pass rushing team the QB is only going to have 3 to 5 seconds, at most, to get the pass off before he gets *killed* by a 300+ pound defensive lineman... so that's how long your corners have to cover their man. If your pass rush is bad, or their offensive line is exceptional at stopping the pass rush - then man coverage is much harder to use because your corners have to stay with their man for 5 to 8 seconds, sometimes even longer, and that's a very tough Ask. Then the quality of the players doing that coverage comes into play. Richard Sherman in his prime? Was considered a "lockdown" corner, because he could smother *any* receiver and if you tried to throw to a receiver he was covering it was, 8 times out of 10, an interception waiting to happen. See it happen at 0:55 in your video - that's him they featured as the Stanford track & field star - and that's also him intercepting that pass from Tom Brady. There were other games that if they threw against him 2 times - he would get 2 interceptions. It got to the point that opposing offenses just literally gave up trying. Entire games where they never *once* tried to pass to his side of the field he was just that dangerous. Similarly on the offense Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Travis Kelce - or old school Jerry Rice - were/are almost impossible receivers to cover against. Often the defense would have to assign 2 men, called Double Coverage, to cover them because they were just so damned good at getting open, and despite having 2 men on them AND knowing full well the QB was looking to pass to them? They'd STILL get open.

[@ObelixCMM]

Good video to learn from, short and to the point but not oversimplified.

[@qt14.]

Yeah there is like at the end of games during hail Mary’s the defense plays zone at a 3-4-4, or a prevent defense which is where all or most of the defenders go and try to stop the receivers getting into the endzone

[@ryanadverderada3973]

The shot at 12:53 isn't a defense in man coverage. Their essentially playing a matchup zone with the giveaway of the nearside cornerback passing off the receiver to the safety. He does this because there is a receiver over the middle that looks to be entering his zone.

[@lmelior]

Fun video! As someone who grew up living and breathing American football, one thing that tripped me up a bit when playing adult league soccer was that the way we number our formations is flipped. In an American football team's 4-3 defense, the 4 refers to the forward-most players, whereas in a soccer team's 4-3-3 formation, the 4 refers to the rear-most players (minus the keeper). It took me an embarrassingly long time to get that straight. Defensive strategies in American football have definitely evolved over the past couple decades, mainly due to players' increasing athleticism, size, and strength on both sides of the ball. Quarterbacks are more athletic and more accurate, so passing has become far more dominant, and so defenses often can't afford to keep five huge defensive linemen on the field that can neither catch the quarterback nor cover even a tight end. Even 4-3 defense is less common these days at the highest level. I'll also point out that defenses are often not as symmetrical as they seem. Some teams use a "strong" side defensive end and linebacker with different responsibilities than the "weak" side defenders, and what determines the strong and weak sides may change from play-to-play based on some combination of where the tight end is, field position, quarterback blind side, planned blitzes, etc. Like a weak-side defensive end may focus on penetration, whereas the strong end may focus on containing the run (i.e. forcing runners to stay in the box). And then the two ends may flip responsibilities if the offense shifts formations or goes in motion. It can definitely get complicated!

[@pfury67]

3-4 setup usually has a linebacker that is mostly a pass rusher (eg Lawrence Taylor). 4-3 is more static in this regard, but as mentioned at the end, the Tampa 2 has it's own hybrid linebacker that specializes in pass coverage (such as Urlacher). The base scheme does make a big difference in the type of player you want. 4-3 has less "tricks" in general. But your base defense is only that, what you use most of the time.

[@rickwelch8464]

Definitely those zone/man decisions are made and entered into the game plan and practiced during the week.

[@Boog1137]

To address your question at 14:25 (which is a fantastic question, btw. Yall never fail to impress): There absolutely are countless situations where man or zone is preferred. Defensive backs, especially corners, are usually described as being more capable in either zone or in man coverage. So, a team that runs a zone heavy defense might prioritize signing players who are more adept at that type of coverage. Furthermore, the position groups complement each other. For example, a defense that leans into man coverage or some variant of man will often benefit from having a prolific pass rush (less time for a QB to throw benefits man coverage more than zone. This is because man coverage generally is most effective early in a play). So, such a team might prioritize signing players who excel in rushing the quarterback. Certain base formations further this goal. For example, the 3-4 family of defenses often utilize outside linebackers as an extra-athletic defensive lineman (this role is often called a "speed rusher"). A good recent example of this style of defense is the Super Bowl champion 2015 Denver Broncos. Their defense was blessed with an embarrassment of riches in the pass rush (spearheaded by OLBs Demarcus Ware and Von Miller, the latter of which is the quintessential "speed rusher", and are two huge names yall should check out) complemented by three corners who excelled in man coverage (CBs Aqib Talib, Bradley Roby, and slot corner/nickel corner Chris Harris Jr.) Of course, there's much more nuance to all of this than that, but in general, individual skill sets are a major consideration, as is team composition, scheme, and defensive philosophy. To briefly speak on some of that nuance, in modern NFL defenses, it is extremely common for an individual player to have both man and zone responsibilities on the same play. This is sometimes called "match" defense. Whether or not a defensive back has man or zone responsibilities at a given moment in the play depends on certain keys from the offense, particularly the receivers. The last thing I'll say is this: Yalls progress in learning the game has been fantastic to watch. While American football has this "dumb meathead" stereotype attached to it, it's an incredibly intricate and precise game. Truth be told, most fans have a rather simplistic understanding, myself included, of its workings, because it's inner machinations are so complex, and have a tendency to be opaque (the evolution of offensive and defensive schemes is, after all, something of an arms race). This makes the speed with which you two have caught on all the more impressive. So, kudos to yall.

[@Tunda2]

I love that you guys seem to be understanding my football far better than I understand yours. Keep it up boys

[@DNReacts]

Thank you Jon! Really appreciate your support

[@nflfan02]

I think a lot of your coverage may be dictated on the weaknesses of your opponent and strengths of your defensive line. For example if you have a really good pass rushing defensive line and you're going against a team with a weak offensive line then you'll likely want to blitz more and do man to man coverage. Additionally, you'll want to play to the strengths of your team. So if you have really fast and agile corner backs then they can typically play man to man a lot better. If you have less athletic corners that can read and react better then going zone more frequently is ideal. You'll also typically want to do more zone concepts to take away more deep throws by the opponent. If you have more guys in deep zone then you'll be better at stopping deep throws by a good QB or take away a faster receiver on offense.