The Situation

You’re on defense and your team has continually defended your opponent inside your 40 yard line. It’s red zone defense again as the clock ticks midway through the fourth quarter. It’s 4th and 9, you’re up 14-7 and the ball is on your 20 yard line, set on the (Defensive) right hash. They come out in trips open to the right and have been using slide protection to the strength with the ace back blocking inside-out and releasing if the end gets washed inside. What defensive play would you use in this situation? Scott Cramer, Defensive Coordinator, Verona Area High School (WI). AFM subscriber since 2003. In this situation, we’d play our 30 Defense, a 3-4 with a four spoke secondary. In most instances we would play quarters coverage in the secondary with a 4 underneath zone. As game planning and game observations dictate, we may bring an outside backer into the pass rush. This