Putting together a great defensive game plan can win your football team some games. But what do you do when it’s not so easy to game plan?
Some teams just don’t have an identity. They run a little bit of everything. Or change every week.
That makes it really hard to create a defensive game plan. The good news is, they probably won’t be able to master a new defense in just a few days of practice.
We stick to the rule of staying simple with your defensive game plan when the offense is complicated. Your players execute the scheme better, while they are trying to figure out a whole new way to play.
In this episode, we’re answering a listener question on how to put together your defensive game plan when the opponent runs a ‘Flavor of the Week’ offense. When you just have no way to predict what you’ll see.
This question was sent into my email. You can send your questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me at joe@joedanielfootball.com.
Listen to this episode of The JDFB Quick Clinic to learn about how to prepare your defensive game plan for these opponents. I’ll go through the 3 things you need to focus on most to have success.
In this episode, I also mentioned The 4-2-5 Defense System and my 3 video series on the Foundations of the 4-2-5 Defense. You can get instant access to that download at https://425defense.com/podcast right now!
There’s nothing worse than watching your Middle Linebacker dance around 5 yards from the line of scrimmage, while the opponent runs an Iso right at him. The single most important skill for Linebackers is to get going downhill fast!
Many coaches will try to fill the Linebacker’s head with a million different ‘What If’ scenarios. Then he’s standing there dancing while he tries to figure out which one this play is.
So the coach does the only thing he can think of… he calls a blitz. Heck, at least your guy will be going somewhere!
That’s step one. In this episode of the JDFB Quick Clinic I’ll talk about step two. How to get your Middle Linebackers to play downhill with simple, fast reads. And the ability to make a play even if the ball isn’t run directly at him.
This question was sent into my email from Chris. You can send your questions for the JDFB Quick Clinic to me at joe@joedanielfootball.com.
If you have young linebackers who are not aggressively attacking the run, learning how to simplify your linebacker reads will help get a better result. Listen to this episode now to find out how!
In this episode, I talked about my 4-2-5 Defense System that is part of a JDFB Insider subscription. You can get an introduction to that System with a special 3 video series I’ve put together. And there’s no charge to use it. Visit http://425defense.com/podcast to get instant access to the first video now.
Many coaches are putting their best athletes at Quarterback in High School and Youth football today. You’ve got to have a plan for how to contain the Quarterback to win those games.
Once upon a time, most Quarterbacks were just a distributor of the football. Hand it off. Quick passes. Drop back passing. He wasn’t a weapon. Now, a lot of Quarterbacks are their team’s primary weapon!
This question was sent in by Chris to my email. You can email your questions to me any time at joe@joedanielfootball.com to be discussed on the Quick Clinic.
The issue is those Defensive Ends losing contain on a Quarterback who is more athletic than them. How do we coach it so that we make the best athlete on the team, into nothing more than a drop back passer?
I’ll talk about how teaching your Defensive Line their pass rush rules. This is the first key to containing the Quarterback on your pass rush.
Then we’ll talk about how to drill this skill in practice, and how to work more Scramble work into your Team sessions.
In this episode, I mentioned a really important tool that I’ve started using this year called the Scout Team System. You can get all the details on this at https://www.coachdrive.com/order-sts. I strongly recommend this product, as it has really helped us get more from our scout team on both sides of the ball.
Offensive Line blocking technique is not natural. It’s not something that your players are just born with. You have to teach it.
That means they need to learn who to block, and how to block them. It’s a lot of learning and technical, tedious repetition. Takes a special dude to be a great Offensive Lineman.
And then, somewhere in all that scholarly coaching… you gotta get some kids who want to be a little nasty. Finish the block. Drive their guy to the ground.
This is where I see coaching completely fail. A lot.
Coaches decide to just berate their players into getting mean and being aggressive. And if the player doesn’t do it, it’s because he’s soft.
Not for me. Not good enough. We’ve got a problem, and we need to solve it.
In this episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic, I’m answering an email question from Chris. You can email your questions to me at joe@joedanielfootball.com for the Quick Clinic, too.
The problem is that his guys just aren’t finishing blocks. And it’s a problem that I am very familiar with.
I’m sharing my 3 Step Plan for getting your Offensive Line to finish their blocks. Listen now to learn all about it!
In this episode, I also mentioned my Offensive Line Coaching Formula course. It’s available exclusively as part of JDFB Insiders. You can get instant access right now at https://joedanielfootball.com/membership.
The Shovel Pass and Shovel Option Play are becoming increasingly popular in High School Football. You better have a plan for defending it!
If you're not seeing the Shovel Option yet, it'll be coming to your town soon. This is the trickle down from the NCAA and NFL where the play as gotten a lot of highlights lately.
At the heart of the Shovel Option, though, the play is pretty simple. On paper, anyway. It's just a Triple Option.
Tyler sent this topic in via Twitter @footballinfo to help his 4-2-5 Defense team shut down the Shovel Pass. The scout offense was eating up his 1st Team Defense all week.
In this episode of The Joe Daniel Football Quick Clinic, I'll talk about how you defend the Shovel Pass - whether it's Power blocking or Veer blocking, or anything else - with the 4-2-5 Defense.
We'll also look at the purpose behind the Shovel Option. Where did it come from? Why does it work so darn good? And what should our players be looking at so they are ready to shut it down?
In this podcast I mention The 4-2-5 Defense System. You can get my 3 video series on the foundations of the 4-2-5 Defense System at no charge right now, when you visit http://425defense.com/podcast.