The Situation

You’re on defense and facing a spread shotgun passing attack with trips to your right side on the wide side of the field. A lone receiver is also flanked to your left. You are up seven, 35-28, late in the fourth quarter. Now you face the most critical play of the game: fourth and eight on your 18-yard line. What defense do you use and how do you play the four wide receivers so you can get the ball back? Don Smolyn, Head Coach, Lenape Valley High School, Stanhope, NJ. AFM subscriber since 1995. We have a six-man rush with a straight, tight-man coverage package that we employ at this point of the game. Our thinking is be that we want the ball thrown as quickly as possible with very little time for the quarterback to make any adjustments or to be able to scramble. We substitute our six fastest rushers into the game with the two fastest being the edge rushers. We will either have 2