The Football Coaching Podcast with Joe Daniel

"There's levels to this, man." That is true, there are levels to calling a defense. Every play in your playbook fits a certain level of play calling, and has a specific task. Calling defense isn't hard, if you have an understanding to your system, and use the tools to solve problems. In this episode Joe Daniel and Daniel Chamberlain discuss the finer details to defensive play calling. They talk about the Three Levels of play calling, how you can always know what play to call, and how to use your own weakness to stay a step ahead. 

The Double Edge Blitz, or the laziest call in Joe's terminology, can help you when you're in a pickle or when the offense just has your number for a series. But, there are better and worse places to call it. On this episode Joe and Daniel discuss the Double Edge Blitz, what they are fundamentally, the benefits they bring to your system, and coaching points to ensure your players know it and execute it to perfection.

Protect your passing game using slide protection. Get the details of how to coach slide protection in the quick game and drop back pass to give your quarterback time to throw the ball.

Defensive Line Stunts are a great way to be aggressive up front in your defensive calls without weakening your coverage packages. This episode takes a deep dive on Defensive Line Stunts including slants and twists. Every episode in Season 8 is a deep dive into a particular play call (or family of calls, in this case). I'll share origins of the call, why you run the call and how to coach your players to execute it. Then we look at how coaches on the other side of the ball can attack the call and defeat it.

Deep Dive on the Counter Trey run play made famous in the NFL by the early 1980's Washington run game! This play is a feature of the One Back Offense. Learn the origins of the play, how to execute it, and how to stop the Counter Trey.

Part 1: Origins of the Call Where did the Double A Gap Blitz come from? Blood, Sweat and Chalk credits Jim Johnson as DC under Andy Reid's Eagles teams in the early 2000s. Credit to Cincinnati Enquirer article, Mike Zimmer as Defensive Coordinator in Cincinnati really popularized it (with Paul Guenther?). Teams have been attacking the A Gaps since the start of football. Johnson developed the double A gap scheme to force the Offensive Line to adjust protections by putting immediate pressure up the middle. Zimmer article mentions using the blitzes to disguise coverage. I guess?    Part 2: Execution of the Call   How do you run a Double A Gap Blitz? Blitzing two linebackers (or a linebacker and a safety) in the A Gaps. The Defensive Tackles have to get out of the A gaps, so you're probably lining up in a 40 front with either 2's, 3's or 2i's that will stunt out.  Walking the linebackers up on the line forces the Offensive Line to either check protection to a slide or gap protection, or let the back handle one of the linebackers on an immediate rush with no help.   An adjustment I like is to stack the two rushers. This is because our guys are not NFL, and so the back guy has a better chance of dropping off for either zone or man blitzes. You can also drop both and play traditional cover 3 if they know how to zone drop. With both guys up, drop the man the center steps to, and blitz the other one. You end up with a 3 under/3 deep Crossfires are great for pass blitzing in High School.    Part 3: Attacking the Call What do you run to attack Double A Gap Blitzes? Teams are primarily running double A gap blitzes to attack a pocket passer. It's a great blitz in the NFL, but you probably aren't seeing drop back passers 8 games a season. You can also attack interior run plays like a midline or trap play. Run the ball off tackle. Just run an outside zone play, those backers are locked into the A gap and can't scrape to build a wall against the edge runs. A toss play or jet sweep takes them completely out of the equation. Linebackers aren't adept at keying down blocks the way a defensive lineman is. Try to trap one of them. If you can pop to the second level there's no one there. One on one with the safety.  Slide protection is your best bet, but get the ball out quickly. If you've got a 3-step quick pass called, use a slide protection to get the ball out.  Screens!  Get the QB in shotgun (no matter what), and then get him on the move. Sprint out or roll out. Don't bother with play action, the backers are already sucked up. Hit a quick drag route or TE pop pass, or any sort of moving route. 

Season 8 of The Football Coaching Podcast is focusing on deep dives on individual play calls, so what better play to start with than the Zone Read? In fact, we've come full circle - Zone Read Option was the topic on the very first episode of the podcast back in 2012! The deep dive series will take a look at play calls from every angle. We look at the origins of the play, the details of execution, how to attack or defend the play, and how to evaluate and evolve the play within your playbook.

The season kicks off and that call you've been working on for 6 months just is not working. Run plays, passing concepts, blitzes, stunts or coverages. Whatever it is… it's not working. This is the 5 step process to evaluate that football play call before you just kick it to the curb. You're always smarter in February than you are in September and October (or whenever your season happens this year!), so let's figure out what the problem is!

There's an old saying among option football coaches. OK, really it's among all football coaches… mostly old football coaches. If you can't block 'em, read 'em. Pretty simple. When you don't have anybody that can take that guy 1 on 1, you always have another option. Just make him wrong, no matter what he does. That's the premise behind option football. Make one guy wrong, no matter what he does. For coaches running a true option football system, this is a way of life. Let nothing get in the way of reading the guy that's causing problems. Then there's the rest of us. We run an offense that is not based solely on reading defenders. Are we left out of the option offense goodness? Nope. In this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast, I'll show you how to expand your offensive playbook using option football principles. Without confusing your players and causing a total disaster in the backfield.

Any time you decide to install a new playbook for your football team, you could run into trouble. It takes time to teach the skills your players need. It takes time for the coaches to understand how to teach those skills, too. The knee jerk reaction when your team isn't firing on all cylinders in the first few weeks of the season is to panic. Go back to what you were doing before. But that's not the answer. This week's Football Coaching Podcast looks at how to make in-season adjustments when your brand new plan of attack isn't working like you expected. This is how to get your team back on track with the changes you need to make to reach a whole new level of success.

Football drills are a big favorite among coaches. It's our thing. Standing there holding a whistle, watching your guys run around hoops and over bags. That's what coaching football is all about. Except that most defensive drills are a waste of time for high school football players. They end up never translating the drills to the field. Today you'll find out the football drills that really matter at every defensive position to get your players ready to win on game day.

Using a creative evolution in the coverage package leading to a modified 2-Read Coverage in his 4-2-5 Defense, Hollis-Brookline High School Defensive Coordinator Fred Hubert helped lead his team to a New Hampshire State Championship in 2019. Find out the keys to the team's success and how this take the 2-Read Quarters Coverage package can work for your 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!  

Simple doesn't mean Elementary… but it does mean reducing the clutter and eliminating inefficiencies. Everything about your program can improve with the Coach Simple Philosophy. In this episode Joe and Daniel jump feet first into Season 20 with a deep dive into the Coach Simple Philosophy. What it is, how it can help you reduce, and how it can set you up for future evolutions of your program.

Daniel Chamberlain and Joe Daniel discuss the significant changes in college football due to NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals and the transfer portal. They reflect on the challenges and pressures faced by athletes and coaches under the new system, the destabilizing impact on smaller programs, and the evolving landscape of college athletics. Key topics include the history of athlete compensation, potential future regulations, and the shifting dynamics between traditional fans and modern expectations.

The 4-2-5 has a lot of answers to common problems in high school football. If you're team is struggling to stop the opposition, you'll likely find the answer somewhere within this playbook and scheme. In this episode, the guys are doing a crossover episode on the Coaching 101 Podcast with Kenny Simpson. Check it out to find the basics of installing and running the most hybrid defense in football.

3rd downs on defense are the magic number. This one play, especially if it's the first 3rd down of the drive, can add or subtract several percentage points from the offenses' chances to score. So, how can we get better at stopping our opponent on these critical downs? In this episode, Joe and Daniel discuss situational practice planning to better prepare your players for 3rd down, how you can call your defense to be in better position to stop your opponent, and what we're doing to motivate our players during crucial downs.

3rd and Long is the ultimate, we don't have a great play here, offensive situation. The deep pass is already covered, the run hasn't been great or you likely wouldn't have been in this mess to begin with. So, what are your options? In this episode Joe and Daniel discuss the reality of 3rd & Long, what your real options are to convert, and how you can use situational practice plans to better prepare your players for the tough down and distance.

We've hit that time of year that guys go back "into the lab." This year you've diagnosed some other needs for your team, and the lab is changing from just being the weight room, to needing some speed development. In this episode, Joe and Daniel discuss the benefits of Athletic Speed and Movement to get your team faster and more explosive this offseason. They talk through Football Speed Training Progressions, how to coach speed without being a guru, and dveloping the correct skills for football speed.  

The screen game is a mighty weapon wielded by offensive coordinators across the land. But, it doesn't have to be your demise anymore. In this episode Joe and Daniel discuss the ways to counter screen plays next season by practicing the screen retrace drill, using the system you're already in, and reading and reacting to any and every screen with your fundamentals.