Customer Reviews

Defensive Football Strategies (American Football Coaches Association)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Strengths: The book broadly covers most of the elements of defensive football strategy. Most defensive approaches that have been attempted successfully in the last 40 years are reviewed and explained. Football coaches, especially at the HS level where the athletes' practice time is limited, will appreciate the book's simplicity and its ability to convey the essence of a particular defensive approach. Do these philosophies work? They have, in various forms, for decades.

Weaknesses: The strength of the book is also its primary weakness. It covers so much material that nothing is covered in detail, and coaches seeking the finer points of a particular defensive scheme may have to look elsewhere for assistance. Some of the newer defensive philosophies, especially the incredibly specialized schemes used in the pro ranks (defensive ends dropping off into coverage in short zones, linebackers who only play in running situations, or cornerbacks involved in intricate blitz schemes) are not covered. HS coaches will probably not have the time or athletic talent to indulge in that level of detail anyway.

As for the critique that defensive schemes designed to stop offenses from the 1960s don't belong in the book, I would beg to differ. In many areas of the country, especially the deep south, HS football coaches still employ the offensive systems in which they themselves played in decades before. Perhaps the most prominent example is the use of the triple-option out of a wishbone formation, once a staple of college football (Oklahoma and Alabama in the 1970s), never used in the pro ranks and abandoned by almost all college teams except the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy. It was not unusual to find Tennessee HS football teams still running this offense through the 1990s. In this regard, the book's coverage of defenses designed to stop antiquated offensive game plans is a strength at the HS level.

After buying it and reading it, I can see both reviewer's points. The concepts of playing defense are included in this book, but it does include alot of stuff about defenses that are not played as much today (60, 76, 5-2, 5-3, etc.) in higher levels.

This book is not geared to stop newer offenses, like the West Coast, spread-styles, or pro-style pass oriented attacks. It is essentially combined from articles written in the '60s-'80s, when teams were more run-oriented. As such, the examples shown are good for playing run defense against option offenses like the veer, Wing-T, and various forms of the Bone and other pro-sets (2-backs).

In the lower levels, this book would be very useful, but its application to newer passing offenses is limited and not very helpful. One would need to supplement the information here with books geared to defending these offenses.

This book is great! Has anything a defensive coach could ever want. I bought this book, because I wanted to get different ideas on what coaches thought about defense. It has helped me learn what defense I want my players running. Very easy to follow with all the diagrams and descriptions of the defenses.

Aww come on! This is the best the AFCA could do? Lets call it what it really is THE BEST OF THE AFCA MANUALS (DEFENSE). Now granted some techniques and fundamentals are ageless, but the AFCA has members at every major college and most professional teams. This is not the best it could do.

This book is mostly dated and is made from clinic speeches from coaches. It does cover alot and can give you a decent look into many different strategies. Like someone else said, the depth of each article may not be great but it's still an informative book. I wouldn't use it to put a complete and competitive upper level defense together but it could certainly give you some ideas or adjustments on how to face particular problems you may be dealing with. If you don't have much coaching experience, its a great book to start with.

As head football coach I realized that I was focusing most of my attention to the offense. I needed something to get me more involved with our defense. This book is doing a great service for me. I recommend it highly.

I'm not a coach, but I picked this book up because I am a quarterback and I am trying to get better at reading coverages and gain an understanding of what the defense is going to (might attempt to) do based on their looks and how they line up. I can see where some of the critiques from the coaches writing reviews comes in, but as a player (I'm sure defensive players could gain a lot from this book as well), it's great for developing a deeper understanding of what and why the coaches are telling us to do certain things on the field. I bought this book as a quarterback because my philosophy is the best way to learn to read defenses and pick them apart during the game is to actually learn, if not how to play defense itself (and let's face it, no coach is going to let their QB line up in the D line or in the secondary just to learn the nuances of the positions), at least the philosophies behind each style of coverage. The best way to defeat your enemy is to get inside of their head and know how to exploit their weaknesses.