Briefly discussing gaps, techniques and other terminology

Coaches: these are basic terms that most of you will already know. However, it is a good refresher. If you are not a coach, this post is perfect for you. It will greatly help you understand what a defense is trying to accomplish in a football game.

This post will seek to lay the groundwork for everything I will discuss in future defensive and offensive posts. In defensive line and linebacker play, gaps and techniques are crucial to understand. Let's get started.

Gaps

Gaps is a way to create a sound and effective defense. It gives a letter to each gap between each offensive linemen, starting with A and moving up the alphabet, stopping at D. Running backs can't run through their own linemen, so if each defensive player is in the proper gap, then the runner has nowhere to go. Every defense, in one way or another, will have a defender accounting for every gap on the field.

As a brief explanation, in a one-gap defense, the defender will have only one gap he is responsible for. In a two-gap scheme, a defensive lineman will have a two-gap responsibility. As a general rule, a one-gap defense is more an attacking, get-up-the-field kind of defense, while a two-gap wants to contain the offensive linemen and free up linebackers to make plays. The technique is different for a one-gap and two-gap linement and I will discuss that in a future post. Here will tell a bit about the origination of the 3-4 one-gap and two-gap defenses.

Now, this is a generalization, and several defenses combine both one and two-gap principles to keep offenses off guard. In a future post, I will look at how certain college defenses combine elements of these schemes.

That said, let's look at what the gaps principle looks like on the field.

With the tight end on the left side, this current formation is strong left. Strength just indicates how a defense should line up, and specifies gaps even further. The strong B gap is the left B gap, and the weak B gap is the right B gap. The tight end were on the left, it would be the opposite. In a one-gap defense, a defensive tackle lined up on the offensive tackle would have the C gap, whereas in a two-gap defense, a tackle might have the C and B gap.

The gaps principle is also very helpful in describing who should blitz and where exactly they are blitzing. Defense coordinators will use simple and easy terminology to describe this. For example, a coordinator might call a Mike Attack, which would mean the middle, or Mike, linebacker is blitzing into the strongside A gap. And that can be made for any gap, with names like Blast, Clash, Dog. And if the call is tagged with weak, the blitz goes to the weakside, or away from the tight end. In our above diagram, a Weak Will Blast means the weakside, or Will, linebacker is going into the right B gap.

Now, just to sum up: In a one-gap defense, a defensive tackle lined up on the offensive tackle would have the C gap, whereas in a two-gap defense, a tackle would have the C and B gap. These are two different types of defenses, and it is important to understand the distinction.

Now that we are all clear on gaps, let's look at how a defense will line up and how the players know where to line up.

Techniques

This refers to how a defensive lineman lines up, but also to his assignment, meaning how he is supposed to play. It is excellent because a linemen knows how to line up and how to place his hands on the blocker without any further instruction. If a player is lined up in the middle of the opposing player, or head up, he should place his hands in the center of his chest. If he is lined up to the inside of the player, his hands go on the inside part of his chest and his inside shoulder. If lined up on the outside of the blocker, his hands go on the outside part of the chest and the outside shoulder. Once we have taught our players about techniques, we can simply say, "Get in a two," and they know exactly how to play and where to line up. For us, a 2 is head up on the guard with his hands in the center of the blocker's chest.

However, confusion can surround what the definition of technique is, and how to describe. There are two main types of techniques, the first of which we will call the old style of technique, and the second the new style of technique. We will look at both of these, as well as application of this in TV analysis.

Old techniques

Much like gaps, technique is always in relation to the center. Using numbers, it goes from 1-9, going up the further out a player gets from the center.

You will notice the inside shade of a tackle is called a 4i, or a 4 inside. You will also notice that a 6 technique doesn't exist in the old version of techniques. Why? I have never heard a clear explanation. It just doesn't.

When you hear a technique referred to on TV, it typically will refer to the old style of techniques, with a 4 technique being headup and 5 being on the outside of the tackle. Analysts will also refer to the ubiquitious 3 technique, which simply refers to a defensive tackle being lined up in an outside shade on the guard.

New techniques

This set of techniques logically makes much more sense. It goes one through nine all the way out, without the 4i and neglecting 6.

 

This is what we use at Thurston HS. It makes the most sense in our students heads, without the random 4i and no 6 technique. As always, we want to simplify and make things easy.

Now, both of these techniques are describing the same thing, just with different terms. A 4 in the old set of techniques is the same as a 5 in the new set of techniques. The numbers are just different, but one plays the position the same.

Putting the "Wide 9" to rest

Last year, many NFL analysts batted around a term called Wide 9, often associated with the Philadelphia Eagles. This was treated like some fancy new scheme that would put a ton of pressure on the quarterback without given up anything in the run game. Well, that wasn't true. The defensive end lines up outside the tight end in a 9 technique, and he lines up out there whether a tight end is there or not. This gives a defensive end a great angle to the quarterback and allows him to use his speed on a slower offensive tackle. Now, this technique, when used every down, has drawbacks; the defensive ends essentially remove themselves from inside runs just based on their alignment. It's just too far out for the ends to get to the ball carrier before he hits the second level of linebackers. The Eagles were gashed on runs because of this alignment (and a poor linebacking corps) so it didn't last long. So that's what a wide 9 is, and again, not as complicated as analysts will make it seem.

 Final Thoughts

Gaps and techniques are vital to creating an effective defense and understanding these concepts is crucial for any coach. This is not anything revolutionary or difficult to understand, but every position group needs to get this terminology to run any defense.

Questions? Leave a comment or hit me up on Twitter at Coach_JPhillips. Have a great day and God bless!