The 4-2-5 vs.

Flexbone

The one topic not talked about much is the 4-2 and the way it defends the flexbone. I have some insight into the
way TCU does it, and some insight in to the way I did it this past season and at other places I've been. I want to
share with you these methods, as it appears good ol' option football isn't going anywhere for a while!

TCU
What I can gather from my research on TCU, is that they will remain in a 2 high look vs. flexbone teams, which
purely makes sense, due to the fact that the offense presents 4 vertical threats out of the basic double slot
formation. Georgia Tech. has shown the ability to have a very prolific passing game from their flexbone, so I
do agree with Patterson's philosophy on keeping an even shell coverage. Let's see how they defend it and then
move on to the way I would suggest you defend the offense at the high school level.

TCU, simply put, kicks the front to mirror the famous Over front of the Miami 4-3. The linebackers (LB's) will
slide opposite of the read side (which is exactly what Patterson teaches vs. your standard 2x2 sets, you can go
here to see more about how TCU handles 2x2 formations) giving them the traditional look of the Over front.
This allows them to keep 7 in the box, while having a 2 high shell with safety support behind it. The free safety
(FS) still aligns inside of the #2 receiver and plays traditional robber coverage (what TCU calls cover 2). The
kicker here is the alignment of the FS, it allows him, on motion, to attack both sides of the offense, being what I
call the "plus one" player. On motion by the slots, which simply turns a 2x2 set, to a 2x1 set, the FS will change
the read side on the move. This is very important, as it allows you to have 2 players on the option QB, a
MUST when playing against this type of option offense.
The read side is exactly the way it would be vs. a standard 2x2 set. To the read side, against your typical inside
veer (ISV) play, the SS is the curl/flat/swing deep of 3 player, and will take pitch on option, as he's the force
player. The FS will rob the #2 receiver, and will play quarterback (QB) to pitch. The read side LB, will play
dive to inside 1/2 of QB, with the defensive end acting on his block down, step down (BDSD) rules. No big
deal here right? Right! The other thing Patterson will do with the front is he will keep a 3 technique to the field
most of the time. The B gap lineman makes life a little more difficult on triple option teams. Patterson will also
play slant games with the line based on field and bench tendencies (which I will not go in to for this post).

2 Blue vs. Flexbone

The away side is in Blue coverage. Now, Patterson can also play a coverage he calls "25" (said two five) where
the read side plays robber (their cover 2) and the away side plays 5 (squat 1/2's, corner force). Most of the time,
they are going to play 2 blue, to keep safety force. Anyhow, the weak safety (WS) will align 10-12 off #2 and
will play his normal blue reads of 2 (to see these reads go here). The WS is the force player to the away side
and will play the pitch. The away side LB is playing outside 1/2 of QB to pitch, and the read side LB, on option
flow to the away side, will play dive to inside 1/2 of QB (if this sounds familiar I already went over how the 4-3
defends the option here). That's basically it!
 ISV Strong

ISV to the away side does not change much, the away side LB will take outside 1/2 of QB to pitch, the read side
LB will go dive to inside 1/2 of QB, and the WS rolls down to take the pitch. The FS then rotates over and will
execute his robber technique to the "new" read side, which changed because of the motion by the slot. The FS
will play outside 1/2 of QB to pitch. The SS will slow play the cutback and look for counter iso, GT counter or
counter option coming back his way.

ISV Weak
All of this information is great, but to be honest, how useful is it to convert to high school football? Some of
the college schemes adapt very well to high school, and some do not. With that being said, I want to share with
you another method of defending the flexbone offense from the 4-2-5. Please, I'm not knocking TCU, by all
means, their success speaks for itself, I just wanted to post something I did last season that had good success
against the flexbone.

Background
Several years back, we used to play a wishbone team that ran the triple option, and they ran it good. We were a
4-3 team, running Quarters coverage back then, and they used to get the best of us for some reason. Sadly, they
didn't usually have better athletes than us, for some reason we struggled at making their QB indecisive (which is
key when facing good triple option QB's). My defensive coordinator (DC) at the time, kept begging me to get
into a 4-4 look and play robber coverage. Well, I was against, but after getting tagged 2 years in a row by the
same team, I felt we needed a change. His front, moved the Sam and Mike in the 4-3 to 30 techniques over the
guards. The Will LB moved to 3x3 outside the weak slot, and the SS did the exact same. The FS would play
over the center of the formation, and would rotate based on action (he keyed the QB). The corners were
essentially in man coverage, except if the #1 receiver went inside. Again, we were not facing flexbone, but
wishbone. Anyhow, our base reads for the ISV were that the DE took the dive, the ILB would take dive to
inside 1/2 of QB, and the outside linebackers (OLB's) would take pitch, while the FS filled the alley and played
the outside 1/2 of the QB. The first way we switched things up, was to send the ILB straight to the dive, almost
like an auto blitz. The DE sat for the QB and the OLB took the pitch. The second adjustment we made, was to
send the DE directly up field for the pitch, the ILB still had the dive, and the OLB slammed down the line of
scrimmage (LOS) for the QB.

In the game we played against them, we ran the first set of reads (our base reads) for the first quarter. We did
very well however we did give up 1 big run by the QB that had them up by 6. In the second quarter, we
switched to the second set of reads, and all hell broke loose! We force 2 turnovers on back to back possessions,
and scored off both of them to take a 14-6 halftime lead! In the second half, we switched to the third set of
reads, and blew their minds, we force 2 more turnovers and scored of both of those to lead 28-6! We ended up
winning the game by the final of 42-6 and they had less than 150 yards of total offense. After that night, I
swore I would always give my defense at least 2 sets of reads to defend the triple option.

8 Man Front Defends the Option

So, how did I do this past season, facing 2 flexbone teams out of the 4-2-5? Well, here's what we did! For the
most part, we set the front to the field, putting the 3 technique to the field, making ISV somewhat tougher to
run. We utilized our "Ted" stunts along the line (for more about these stunts go here) to help discourage
midline and QB follow. The LB's aligned the same as we had before, both in 30 techniques over the guards (I
treat the Flexbone as a 2 back offense, because of the motion so I do not slide my LB's). The two outisde
safeties (which are named Spur and Whip) aligned 3x3 off the near slot. We put our FS over the center 10
yards off the ball. The corners played 8x2-4 yards INSIDE the #1 receiver and were deep 1/2 players. That
was our basic alignment to the offense.

"3 Robber"
The Base Reads
The base reads did not change for our front. The DE's would still execute the "Ted" reads and play the dive on
ISV. The LB's would play dive to inside 1/2 of QB. The outside safeties (OSS's) would slow play the pitch.
It's very important that these players do not over commit to the pitch too early, as it will not allow enough time
for the FS to get his reads. The FS, would key motion, and then slide over to inside leverage on the #2 receiver
on the side that motion was GOING to. The reasoning for this, is that once this offense motions, it's basically a
pro set. I know many critics will argue, but it is going to be very difficult for the slot that motioned to run down
the seam, after he's motioned into the backfield (I've never seen it). So, we were basically back to a 4-4 robber
concept. The FS keyed the #2 receiver and if he blocked down inside, he filled the alley and played outside 1/2
of QB to pitch. The safety away from the action was critical in defending the counter game employed by most
flexbone teams in our area (GT counter and counter iso). He was to stack the DE to this side and look for
boot/reverse/cutback (counter is included in his cutback reads). The crux of the defense is the FS's ability to get
to either side of the offense, to allow your defense to be "plus one" against the triple option.

Vs. Inside Veer

The reasoning behind the coverage is simple, I liked the ability to switch up our front 8's responsibilities (which
you will see later) and still have a middle of the field safety (MOF) that play the QB or pitch to either side of the
formation. I also have not seen a high school flexbone team that could pass their way out of a wet paper bag, so
the 4 vertical threat did not concern me. For those that it does, by all means, play 2 Blue, and have a great day,
as it's a VERY sound method of playing the flexbone. However, if you look, 4 verticals out of the flexbone, is a
slight misnomer, in that the 2 inside vertical threats are so close to the FS. Even if they work to the hash, they
can be collisioned enough by the OSS's and LB's that their routes are altered. Most of the time this rerouting
allows time for your pass rush to pressure an offensive line not used to pass blocking. All of these things add
up to wins for the defense.
We call our coverage "3 Robber" as that is exactly what it is. In my defense, any coverage tagged with a
number is a 1-high safety coverage, that is NOT split field. The reason we double name the coverage is that if
the offense does not motion, then we play standard cover 3 (what some would call "country cover 3") which is
basically all you need to defend the flexbone. If the offense motions, then we simply slide the FS over to the
side motion is going to, and play robber coverage. My robber coverage is an automatic "sky" structure on the
away side of the coverage. Since I called the coverage by number, both OSS's know they are in "low"
(inverted) alignments. I will play the OSS's anywhere from 5x5 to 3x3 (the latter being more common) off the
near slot. I do this differently than TCU for 2 major reasons. First, our run fits are consistent, no matter what,
both OSS's are "fitting" identical to the other. During game week you are not going to have much time to work
two different fits (even though they are similar), so these cuts down on some learning, AND this scheme means
you can plug any OSS in at either position. Secondly, it is easier to play the "switch" game with option
assignments from this look than from the way TCU does it.

3 Robber pass reads vs. motion

 3 Robber vs. 4 Verticals

Switching Assignments
When facing good option teams, it is critical that the defense be able to switch their assignments to keep the
offense on it's toes. So introduce my three stunts against this offense, Switch, Sift, and Slice. Each of these
three change which defender takes what assignment against the triple option. Now a word of caution, I have
these in my arsenal, however I usually go into a game with a base way of defending the triple option, and one
major chageup is all. Three are a bit much for high school kids, however I have gotten away with playing with
two extra stunts in some cases. Let's take a closer look at these!

Switch
Switch is exactly as the name implies, two defenders are "switching" assignments. In my defense it is the FS,
and the OSS to the side the ball is being run to. All the other defenders react in the same manner, however the
OSS to the side the ball is being run, will come down inside and play outside 1/2 of QB to pitch. The FS will
overlap the OSS and rally to the pitch. This is a good stunt to run if your FS is having trouble getting to his
normal assignment, or getting "cloudy" reads from the slot that is load blocking down inside. The OSS is
taught "quick to the line of scrimmage (LOS), then settle and feather". This gives the QB the illusion of some
sort of outside blitz, but allows the OSS to maintain leverage on both the QB and the pitch.

Switch

Sift
Sift is a stunt that I commonly used against read option teams (to see how I run it vs. spread run teams, go here)
with excellent success. Against the triple option, this involves the LB and the DE to the side the ball is being
run. The DE, will mash the offensive tackle (OT) down inside on a veer release, however he will "squat" on the
LOS once the OT is at his inside hip and play up field for the QB. The LB to the side of action will come hard
down off the hip of the offensive guard (OG) and play the dive. The FS and OSS to the run action side will
execute their base assignments vs. the triple option. This has been good to me against teams that like to run the
point mesh method, or "no mesh, mesh" method of reading the triple option (for more information on this
technique read these posts, or go here). This creates a "cloudy" read for the QB, which usually results in a pull
read, leaving the QB running right into the hands of the DE.

Sift
Slice
Slice is an aggressive stunt that is extremely effective against option teams that either do not pitch the ball
much, or are not adept in the pitch phase of the triple option. This stunt involves the DE to the side the ball is
being run, blowing up field after jamming the OT. The DE will disrupt the pitch after a quick shiver is applied
to the OT. The LB to the action side, will still slam down off the hip of the OG to his side, just as he did in the
"Sift" stunt. The OSS, however, will come screaming down the LOS in order to force a hard and quick pitch by
the unsuspecting QB. The FS will overlap this stunt, and will take pitch all the way.

Slice
Now, I usually take two of these into a game with me on game week. Three, in my opinion, is too much for the
high schooler to memorize in 1 week. I have even done this with just 1 stunt in my game plan. No matter, you
need to be able to have a way to "switch up" the reads or an option team will eventually pick at your perimeter
run support and find a way to outflank you.
 Looks like 1 too many stunts...

Let's Review
Whichever way you choose to play this offense, the key player is the "plus one" player. The defense must
always have a sound way for getting the extra defender across the midline of the formation to help in playing
the option. This is done in robber coverage with the FS. He has to be able to react to motion, and move to the
new read side and play the QB. If you do not have 2 players on the QB, you will not have success against this
offense. I hope this helps, and keep checking back here for more. Please, keep hitting me up on the emails and
comments, let me know what you need and I'll keep digging to find it.
 "We're gonna keep digging..."

Duece
Posted by Duece at 11:00 PM 2 comments
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Labels: Blue Coverage, Defending Flexbone, Robber Coverage, TCU defense