Defending the Wing-T The wing-T is probably the most difficult of all offenses to defend. The wing-T is a four back offense that attacks the defense with a variety of motion, misdirection and play-action passing. If your defense does not read their keys and starts to fast flow, they will have a long night. When defending the wing-T or any offense you cannot make any major changes in your defensive system. Everything discussed today will be adjustments made from our base defense. I hope some of the concepts and schemes introduced today can be used in your defense.

Secondary Responsibilities Man to Man -100

Wing Motion Rover /Wing F/S Bump to HB

Robber CB ½ field F/S read the release of #2 #2 Goes to the Flat Rob curl #2 Vertical past 8 yards play man

Philosophy of where they will attack Understand where they will attack and how the motion effects the defense. Eighty percent of the offense will attack the tight end/wing with no motion. The majority of the offense attacks three major areas, the right tackle flank, left tackle flank and internal runs. When designing a defense one must understand where they are most likely to attack. With motion the area of attack changes

With Motion With motion 80 percent of the offense is directed to the open end side. Two concepts motion to and no motion With these two concepts in mind, the principles of our defense were constructed. With the understanding of these two principles, we developed a aggressive and penetrating eight-man front defense with man or robber coverage to attack the wing-T.

NO Motion

Motion

Defense broken down into five areas Defensive line Ends Inside Linebackers Outside Linebackers Secondary.

Alignment of Defense

Tackle The tackle will align head up on the offensive guard. We align this player head up because, in the wing-T, it is difficult to attack B gap because of the absence of a dive back to the tight end side. There is little threat of the reach block enabling us to play the tackle in this technique.

The tackle must be able to counter four different blocking schemes. Offensive guard pulls across the center’s face – Wipe Technique

Trap offensive guard blocks down

Gut/ Influence

Buck Sweep Takes down BSG

Down FB off the midline Try to restrict the hole

Nose Nose will follow the same guard/fullback reads as the defensive tackle. When the guard pulls outside the play to the nose guard will be different. If the fullback is on the midline, it’s trap or sweep and the defensive tackle must tackle the fullback or wrong arm the backside guard. If the fullback is off the midline, redirect outside running the circle, its belly or waggle. This technique will eliminate the cross block and force the offense to base block the nose.

Nose Reads

Ends The end will flip-flop with the stud or the strong end aligning to the tight end/wing side. The end aligns to the open end side. The stud’s technique will be to align head up, toe-to-toe on the tight end. The tight end will step or block down most of the time. The stud’s primary responsibility is to keep the tight end off the inside linebacker.

Three things can happen when the tight end blocks down: Belly Down: The guard pulls flat to kick out the stud. The stud should wrong-arm the guard and bounce the play to the whip.

Sweep The guard pulls deep and the tight end/wing block down. When the stud feels pressure from the wing, he must stop and hold his ground.

Power Sweep Kick Tight end blocks down and the fullback attempts to kick out, the stud will attack the fullback using the wrong arm technique attempting to bounce the play outside.

Linebacker – 2 LB’S Backer - The backer is the runner, or the quickest player. Plays on the TE/Wing Mike- The Mike is the plugger, and the strongest. Play away from the TE/Wing

LB’S Reads Linebackers read FB to BS Guard LB’S will read the angle of the FB for their scrape/Fill FB away read BSG for counter key

LB Reads FB on the midline Stack the inside foot of Stud Head of Center C B A A B C Scrape Contain Waggle

FB Off the midline Sweep to Run Behind Block Stack Stud ,read scheme Head of center Run Behind Block

Reads Flow away from TE Mike – Scrape to Heels of End Backer – Scrape to Head of the center ; read BSG scrape contain Waggle Head of center Scrape contain

Down Read Blocking scheme

XB Mike reads Belly Step Blow up HB

Counter Mike & Backer on flow away Down hill to the head of the center Beat the offensive tackle: OT Rule 1st Backer from 5

Whip & Rover The whip aligns to the tight end/wing side. He aligns head up on the wing toe-to-toe mirroring the wing’s release. The rover aligns away from the tight end/wing four yards outside the tackle and four yards deep, reading the near back for direction when back is in back field If the back aligns in the slot, walk up toe to toe

Whip Technique The whip reads the wing, and three things usually happen. 1st when the wing blocks down the whip must blitz off the butt of the wing looking inside for the pulling guard or the fullback. Collision the guard or fullback, creating a stalemate while squeezing the running lane. Wing outside release. When that happens, the whip must collision him and disrupt his path. Wing goes in short motion – Original HB position

Whip /Rover Alignment 4 X4

Whip Technique

Wing Motion Away Original HB position 3 Down LM Slant to head of adjacent LM

Wing Away There are two major plays back to the tight end. Waggle and Counter

Waggle Whip read the FB – TO = Waggle – beat pulling guard Backer FB Man Beat BSG

Counter Wing motion- FB away = counter flatten and Spill.

Rover No Motion Rover reads the halfback. If the halfback goes away, the rover now looks at the fullback. If the fullback comes toward him, he plays him man-to-man and the play is probably waggle. If the fullback and the halfback both go away, the rover now shuffles at a 45 degree angle and stacks the end looking inside for counter. If the halfback runs towards the rover, it is most likely a pass and the rover must collision the halfback and play him man-to-man.

Waggle

Rover Dog Mike and Rover switch responsibilities