My last blog post centered on how to teach defensive lineman to defend against one-on-one blocks in a shade 4-3 defense. While these man blocking situations may arise during the course of a game, time also needs to be devoted to teaching defensive lineman how to defend against two-on-one situations, which are more common in zone and gap blocking run schemes.

Defeating gap doubleteam blocks

There are two distinct kinds of double teams that can occur:

A vertical based double team, which means two linemen try to knock a defensive lineman off the line of scrimmage to get to the second level. These are used in gap run schemes such as power and counter.

A horizontal based combination block in which two offensive linemen look to stretch a defensive lineman laterally with the intent to open gaps along the line of scrimmage. These are prominent in inside zone and outside zone schemes.

We’ve found that defenders often feel the difference between these two blocks, so we use two different types of techniques to destruct them. Here are the coaching points for defeating gap doubleteam blocks:

Focus on the presnap key, which is the “V” of the neck of the offensive lineman the defensive player is aligned on. Don’t peek at the adjacent lineman.

Attack the initial blocker as if it is a base block. (Coaching points can be found here.)

Once you feel pressure from adjacent lineman, drop the pressure leg. When players drop the incorrect leg, they tend to roll out of their gap responsibility.

We work the drill for this technique in groups of three. Here’s the video.

Defeating horizontal combination blocks

These blocks are more of a combination block and are common for zone offenses. Known as the scoop block, two linemen look to stretch a first level defender and work to pick up a second level defender.

It’s vital that defensive linemen stay in their gaps and not get cut off when they are presented with this block scenario.

Here are the coaching points for defeating zone doubleteam blocks:

Attack the initial blocker as if it is a reach block. (Coaching points can be found here.)

Use a push-and-pull technique – push with the outside hand and pull with the inside hand – to flatten out zone combinations.

“Get skinny” by turning the hips and dropping shoulder to maintain gap integrity.

We also work the drill work in this technique in groups of three. Here’s the video.

The trap drill

Once we work through combination blocks, we focus attention on how to defend against certain run concepts.

Start with interior defensive linemen – nose and tackles – learning how to defend the trap play, synonymous with many offenses today. Since the 3-technique in the 4-3 defense would be the player most susceptible to getting trapped, focus attention on his technique.

The coaching points of the drill are as follows:

Three offensive linemen line up facing a 3-techinque and a nose guard.

The 3-technique reacts to the playside guard executing a down block. (Coaching points can be found here.)

The center executes a back block on the nose tackle.

The backside guard pulls and traps the 3-technique. The 3-technique must squeeze and spill the blocker by turning his shoulders and driving his upfield pad through the chest of the blocker while keeping his live feet. This is also known as wrong arming.

Note: To provide a change-up and to make sure defensive linemen are reading their keys, I sometimes add a full-scale reach scheme to keep players honest.

Here is the video.

The power/counter drill

Similar to the trap drill, the power/counter drill is used for defensive ends. The same squeeze-and-spill principle is in effect.

Here, a defensive end is asked to squeeze a down block and attack a trapper, whether it is a fullback, H-back or backside guard. We have a coach stand behind the defender to notify which player is coming to trap the defensive end.

Note: We also can add a 3-technique to the drill to get some doubleteam work.

Here is the video.

As a young coach, I got caught up in expecting players to know how offenses were trying to attack them. Years later, I found that this comes only with categorizing blocks and the constant reinforcement of the techniques used to defend them.

Defensive line development comes in two parts: the identification and then the defeat of blocks. Once defenders understand which techniques to use against which blocks, they will become more aware and more successful.

Mike Kuchar is co-founder and senior research manager at XandOLabs.com, a private research company specializing in coaching concepts and trends. Reach him at mike@xandolabs.com  or follow him on Twitter @mikekkuchar.