Get Off the Field

Get Off the Field: A Defensive Strategy to Complement an Aggressive Air Raid Offense

If you’re in a situation where you feel the need to be aggressive on offense or that’s just your coaching personality, consider having a complementary defense. Unfortunately, offensive minded head coaches avoid the other side of the ball and abdicate the defensive strategy to the Defensive Coordinator (DC). This may work when you’re as physically talented as your opponents, but this can become a problem when you are not.

Stewart “Red” Faught brought the Run and Shoot to Indiana football. He would tell his DC to “get off the field” if the opponent was driving for too long. He knew the conventional strategy of fewer possessions, bend but don’t break and favor field position over taking risks was not best for his team.

There are teams running a more conventional offense using some Air Raid strategies because they have more talent. You may not be in that situation. Using an unconventional strategy by passing more is out of necessity. It can set the tempo of the game to your style and not the opponent’s. You may need to take more risks on defense to complement your offensive.

Risk Tolerance

A simple test to determine your risk tolerance, as a head coach, is to identify after how many offensive plays in a series, you think it is better to get aggressive to get a stop. Are you better off taking risks before they get to the point where they’ll score anyway?

Quick Score - 1-3 plays

Coaches will agree this is not acceptable and no advantage to the team (Exception: Maybe you need a stop late in the game when you’re behind in the score.). The opponent’s offense hasn’t had to work too hard and your defensive strategy may not account for the lack of athletic talent. The base defense should be expected to work or you need to rethink your strategy.

Moderate: 4-6 plays

You may feel you still have a chance at this point if you have a good defense. Weaker defenses are in trouble. Along with play count, consider the number of first downs in the series. If a team gets 2-3 first downs on you, are they going to score eventually? Determine whether or not you can get a stop if you get aggressive before it gets to this point. Is it better to risk getting scored on at this rate and avoid a longer drive that probably ends up with a score? For an aggressive offensive coach, this is probably where you’re getting ready to say, “Get off the field!” It can prevent the inevitable long scoring drive.

Long Scoring Drive: 7-8+ plays ending up with a score.

Not as bad as giving up a quick score, but this will hurt weaker defenses over the course of a game. Determine how often you are getting stops after this many plays in a series. One stop out of ten isn’t worth it. You may discover your team has a better chance of success by adopting a more aggressive strategy and be on the field less. Running some numbers will help give you a better perspective.

Look at the Film and Analyze the Stats

When does it seem like the other team is going to score anyway? What percentage does it need to be before you change your strategy? Doing a self-examination on defense will give you a starting place. Total the number of series in these situations when the opponent scores and when you get a stop.

1. Play Count

2. First Downs

3. Field Position (Can be broken up into zones: coming out, middle of field, red zone, goal line, etc.)

   -At the Start of Drive

   -Any Point in the Drive

4. Game Situation Adjustments

   1. Score

   2. Clock

   3. Level of the Opponent

Look at your games and determine the effects of long scoring drives compared to shorter ones. Your defense’s ability to recover should determine when it is worth taking the risk of giving up a score in a short drive to avoid a situation that is worse for your team.

Considerations

I don’t advocate blindly using statistics. They should give you a starting point where you can then take other factors into consideration before developing strategies that significantly affect your team.

Culture

The culture you develop has to support your strategy. You DC may not be able to cope with any risk of giving up points. Players and fans can be discouraged as well. Get them to understand that sometimes you may have to sacrifice a touchdown to prevent giving up more scores later in the game. Players will execute aggressive strategies when they are prepared and understand there are risks and avoid the fear of failure.

Strategy

Your defense may improve with an aggressive strategy just like the offense does with the Air Raid. Your players practice playing this way and get a lot of reps. It can help lesser athletes focus on being aggressive, avoid confusion and try to make big plays. The defense is allowed to score. Getting burned on a blitz could be more of an indication your players aren’t prepared instead of thinking complex match quarters coverages work in all situations.

Physical Fatigue

The level of fatigue on your defense is what you’re trying to avoid. Since you can not promise your offense won’t go three and out or score quickly, limit the fatigue on the defense by avoiding long drives.

Mental Fatigue

Frustration levels go up for everyone when faced with the adversity of falling behind. Teams that take risks are more susceptible. The team needs to have confidence that there is a strategy to handle this and minimize the impact of a bad series on defense. This will keep them focused and avoid players giving up or failing to do their job trying to overcompensate. An Air Raid coach understands the benefits of being prepared by giving your players reps and cannot believe that doing things you haven’t practiced will give you a better chance of winning. It applies to defense as well.

Conclusion

Evaluate your team and develop a strategy for difficult situations. Aggressive teams are at risk of falling behind early in the game, but your team can prepare to put out the fire before it gets out of control and confidently stick with your strategy. You probably won’t come up with exact numbers. Use the numbers to create a breakpoint and take other factors into consideration..

Formalizing this process will help you plan your practices and stick with a strategy. Staff, players and even the fans should understand why you’re doing what you’re doing and support you. The DC should be expecting to hear, “Get Off the Field!” and call the defense accordingly.

Getting aggressive on defense may put you at risk of getting scored on, but it may be better to risk getting scored on a few plays sooner instead of suffering the long-term effects of a long scoring drive that probably was going to happen anyway. Getting off the field may be a better choice in the long-run.

Please keep coaching. The profession of coaching football is losing too many members. I think losing games is a big reason, but the struggling programs need a good coach more than anyone. Create your definition of success and strive to achieve it