Football Glossary

In this modern age of RPOs, shotgun formations, and no huddle offenses, it's becoming increasingly rare to see the flexbone offense in major college football. This offense is sometimes mistakenly viewed as boring, predictable, and too basic to work at the higher levels of football.  After all, many people ask, why run the flexbone when you can just spread your opponents out and attack them in space? Well, it might surprise you to learn that's exactly what the flexbone is designed to do.  Keep reading and learn more about the *original* spread offense. What is the Flexbone Offense? The Flexbone...

Football fields are huge pieces of land, but how big exactly? And what do all those markings on the field mean? In this article we'll talk about the specific measurements of a regulation football field, the most important landmarks on the field, and how they help players, coaches and officials do their job. How Big is a Football Field? A regulation American football field is measured at 120 yards in total length and 53.3 yards in width. This translates to 360 feet long by 160 feet wide, covering approximately 1.32 acres of land. Most of the actual play takes place between...

The 4-3 defense is one of the most popular defenses in the NFL and across football at all levels. Brought to the NFL by Cowboys great Tom Landry originally with the New York Giants as their defensive coordinator, the defense was modernized by Jimmy Johnson at the University of Miami and his modernized version was brought to the NFL, ironically when he replaced Landry with the Dallas Cowboys. The defense again went through a renaissance in the early 2000’s when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers began running the “Tampa 2” coverage winning a Super Bowl in 2003.  So in this article...

Any football team in the country has tendencies. Whether it be situational, personnel, formations, or motions, there are always tendencies that the opposition can key in on. The most successful teams are able to understand what their tendencies are, perceive what the opposition’s answer to that tendency is, then attack that adjustment. One of the simplest examples of doing this is by running the Draw play.  “Oh, you thought we were going to throw the ball? Let’s hand it off instead.” What is the Draw Play? The Draw play is a run play where the offense tries to make it...

The 3-4 Defense has stretched across pro and college football. Between two coaches running the 3-4, 9 College football national championships have been won using a version of this defense since 2005. In the NFL, 7 Super Bowls have been won in that time frame from the same coaching tree. That's 16 major championships from 3 coaches, all coming from the same 3-4 coaching tree. Belichick, Saban, and Smart all use a version of the 3-4 to do their business, and business has been good!  So what exactly is the 3-4 defense, and how does it work? Well, let's find out....