How to Defend the Spread Offenses in Football

The spread offense is a common offensive philosophy in football, especially high school and college football. The spread aims to stretch the field and "spread" the defense, creating clear, wide spaces in the field for wide receivers, tight ends and running backs to catch or run the ball. It requires quick athletic players to run effectively. To defend against the spread, your defense must match up well against the offense.

Instructions

    • 1
      Open-field tackling is important in stopping the spread offense.

      Play your most athletic and quickest defenders. The spread offense relies on speed and space to outplay the defense. A quick defender must be able to keep up with a receiver's speed, close the gap and make great open-field tackles without help from his spread-out teammates. This is why the spread offense isn't as widely used in pro football. Only the elite players make it to the pros, and skills and ability are equalized.

    • 2

      Stop the run. As with any type of defense, stopping a spread offense's running game is essential. Athletic run defenders are just as important as your quick athletic pass defenders. With your defensive backfield busy defending the pass, the defensive front will have less support to shut down an offense's running backs. Therefore, quick pursuit and sure tackling are of utmost importance to stop the run.

    • 3

      Pressure the quarterback. In a spread offense, pressuring the quarterback may force him to pass the ball before he wants to and to make bad decisions. Spread offenses also rely on one-on-one blocking. By blitzing the quarterback with two or more defenders coming from the same area, it breaks down his protection and will force him into more bad situations than good.

    • 4

      Disguise your defensive coverages. A defense can use many different "packages" throughout a game. If you use the same defensive formations repeatedly, an offense eventually will be able to figure out your defense, find weaknesses and take advantage of them. You can use various combinations of defenses. You can clog the open spaces spread offenses need with a nickel package -- five defensive backs defending receivers -- or a dime package with 6 defensive backs. You can use a 3-4 -- three defensive lineman, four linebackers -- or a 4-3. By mixing up your defenses, you can also mix up what you want to do. You can drop more players back to defend the pass, or blitz the quarterback from different spots on the field.