The Football Coaching Podcast with Joe Daniel

I love playing Cover 1. With our 4-2-5 Defense System, it's my favorite coverage to run. But not everyone is comfortable. In this episode, I'll talk about why you should think about Cover 1 coverage and why you should be even more comfortable than you would be with a lot of zone coverages. We'll look at elements to consider when your athletes are not 'man cover' guys, and how to adjust for it, too. All in this week's episode of The Football Coaching Podcast!

This is a special interview with Rick Stewart on his Read & React 4-2-5 Defense.

What's the best plan for attacking Man Coverage? Here's how to beat Cover 1, Cover 0 and 2-Man Coverage with your passing game. Nothing fancy. I'm not going all 'Air Raid' on you just yet. This week's Football Coaching Podcast is about attacking man coverage with sound principles that can work in any offense. There's nothing more frustrating than getting a loaded box, blitzing linebackers, and not having a way to make the defense pay for it. But all that pressure can really cause chaos for your offense. To get the balance back and return to your running game, you have to be able to throw simple concepts against man coverage. And you must be able to protect the Quarterback. The concepts discussed in this episode are all part of the Pistol Power Offense System. You can get access to the System by becoming a JDFB Insider client right now!

Coach Flawless Linebacker Blitz Technique to Get All the Reward of Aggressive Play Calling, with Less Risk. Too many coaches use blitzes as a way to just 'make something happen.' That something could mean either your band, or their band, is going to play. And the outcome might be 50-50 at best. Defensive Coordinators can minimize risk in two ways. One is obvious. Study the other team, and call your blitzes with intent and purpose to stop specific actions by the offense. The other way to minimize risk, is coaching linebacker blitz technique. Coaching techniques that are going to give your blitzing linebacker the chance to make a play. In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, we're going to look at 7 keys to Coaching Linebacker Blitz Technique. Each individual phase of the blitz game is an opportunity to improve your defense.

In the 2000's, the West Virginia 3-3 Defense was one of several Odd Stack fronts turning heads across the nation. Along with Georgia Military College's 3-5-3 Defense, these two variations became the most popular for High School Football teams to emulate. In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I'm breaking down the West Virginia 3-3 Defense playbook from 2002. We'll look at the philosophy behind the defense, base fronts, alignment, adjustments, blitzes and coverages in this 192 page playbook (download available at the top of this page). Looking for more ideas to expand your Odd Stack defense or add the front in as a change-up? The breakdown of the West Virginia 3-3 Defense in this episode, along with my previous episode on Coaching the 33 Stack Defense, will get you going.

I started running the 33 Stack Defense in 2006. At the time, it was just gaining in popularity. Many coaches criticized the defense because "you can't stop the run." But the defense gained a foothold. Coaches liked the aggressiveness and the idea of a defense built for smaller players. More speed on the field. Unfortunately, a lot of myths sprung up around the defense in that era, too. High School Football coaches have done a better job learning the intricacies and executing the defense in recent years. In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I'll talk about the basics of the 33 Stack Defense. We'll also look at those myths and how you can use the 33 Stack Defense for your football team today.

Your football team will have more success, and you will be a happier coach, when you give an identity to your offensive play calling. Everyone has that team on the schedule. You know exactly what they are going to do on offense. You just can't stop it. It's a great situation to be in. One that seems so simple and obvious. But so many High School football coaches are putting way too much time into coming up with the next great thing. Instead, work to establish your offensive play calling identity. Listen to this podcast, and download the document above, to get the steps to establishing your own offensive play calling identity.

Hopefully I won't forget these Football Coaching Lessons again before next season... For the final Football Coaching Podcast of 2017, I wanted to talk about the football coaching lessons I learned this year. I sat down and started hammering out a list. It's a good list. Learned a lot this year. Unfortunately, several of the things on this list are football coaching lessons I have learned many times before. And just seem to forget them. So for you, and for me, this year's list is not only on The Football Coaching Podcast, but you can also download my 10 Football Coaching Lessons Learned in the box above. I'll be pinning it up on the wall somewhere, and hopefully looking at it. Before I make the same mistakes again.

Do you need your 4-2-5 Defense to dominate? Take a deeper look at one that has already done it. We're going deep into the pages of the 1999 TCU 4-2-5 Defense Playbook. This playbook was used when Gary Patterson was still the Defensive Coordinator for the Horned Frogs. It's a great playbook to look at for any football coach. But 4-2-5 Defense coaches should be intimately familiar with it. I'll point out what you should take from it, and what you should probably leave alone. And a few things that I'd like to steal, but haven't done it yet!

Your defense must be ready to stop any RPO the offense can run at you. Getting your defense ready to defend Run-Pass Options isn't as hard as other coaches will make it sound. At least, the X's and O's side of things isn't so hard. In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I'll give you a plan for shutting down RPO's with your 4-2-5 Defense. Just by running your base scheme. Plus, I'm going to share the 5 Keys to Defending RPO's that every defense must follow. If you can take care of these pieces, your defense will be ready to shut down any RPO.