The Miami 4-3 Defense was created by coach Jimmy Johnson and his staff at the University of Miami in the mid-1980s. Its original purpose was to stop the Wishbone Option offense that was dusting teams at the University of Miami. Oklahoma, under the direction of coach Barry Switzer. In 2008, at Prince George High School, we decided to implement this defense. We felt he was a better fit for our staff. One of the biggest benefits of defense is that even though it creates a 4-man defensive front, we really only needed two, or even one, true defensive linemen to execute it.
Staff
Miami’s 4-3 front includes two defensive ends and two defensive tackles. We declare our strength to the Tight End. For the purposes of this article, we’ll be working against a Pro-I team, with a tight end and flanker on one side and a split receiver on the other side. In the Over front, the Weak End will line up on a Tech 5, which is off the Offensive Tackle’s shoulder. The Strong End will line up in a technique of 9, outer shadow of the Tight End. The weak Defensive Tackle (we call him the Nose) lines up in a Weak Shadow, or weak shadow in the Center. The strong Defensive Tackle will line up in a strong 3 technique, out of the shadow of the Guard. In our base defense, these defenders are responsible for gaps. Technique 3 handles gap B strong, while the nose takes gap A weak. The extremes are responsible for the weak C gap and the strong D gap. We do NOT use the ends to contain! they are spill players in our aggressive defensive style.
Our defensive ends are not your typical defensive linemen. They need to be able to contain the quarterback, take on linemen, and drop into zone pass coverage through our blitz packs. We’ll use players who are more traditional linebackers in these spots. Our only true linemen are the tackles. If you don’t want the linemen to get strong, then the tackles should be able to play both a 3 technique and a 1 technique. We prefer this as a player can be comfortable playing inside hand down. However, if you only have one True Tackle, you can use a faster “fighter” type player on the nose of 1 technique. This allows us to have even more speed on the field.
player spill
Like spill players, our defensive linemen look to attack the inner shoulder from any attacking blockers or ball carriers into their space. This will force the ball to “spill” to the outside. On the outside, we use our Safeties (quarter coverage) or Corners (cover 2) to contain play. We teach our defensive linemen to spill plays using 6 steps:
- Get Off: Shoot the ball low and hard up the middle, getting close to the crotch of the defender you’re shadowing over.
- Engage: Shoot your hand close to the V of his neck. The outside hand will control your shoulder pad.
- Escape – In our third step, the linemen look to escape the Defender. They will tear inside arm to gain control of their gap and work for football. We are not just taking up space! Our defensive linemen are athletes too and we want them to be playmakers!
- Bend – Faced with any down block, our defensive linemen lean towards the line of scrimmage immediately. We tell our linemen to treat any action away from them as “Run” and start chasing them. If the play comes back, it will run into a shooting blocker!
- Wrong Arm: When facing a shooting lineman or another blocker, we will use our outside shoulder to attack the lineman’s inside shoulder. We are aggressive when attacking the blocker, attacking with the outer 4/5 of our body on the inner 4/5 of their body. We want to blow up that blocker. By missetting the trapper, we are forcing the play to bounce out.
- Chase: When the play has started to spread to the outside, we go into a chase angle down the line. We want to be in a position where once the holding player forces the runner back (usually the Safety or Corner), we can make the tackle.
Fast pass
By using aggressive overflow players up front (players who move laterally vs. lots of blocks) – you will sacrifice some of your quick passing skills. To combat this you need to teach players to read blocks by offensive linemen. If they can learn the difference between a down block, a reach block, and a pass set, they can accomplish more. Reading a pass rush, the defensive linemen are still ripping off the OL in the third set, now using pass rush moves to win the split. These quick passing moves need to be worked on daily in practice so they become a habit when reading pass blocks.
Players must also practice their fast lanes. On a read, linebackers, safeties, and cornerbacks will execute their pass coverage responsibilities. Therefore, defensive ends should become the containing players on a pass read. It’s crucial that they don’t allow the quarterback out of the backfield. The crosshairs for our wingers in the pass rush are the outside shoulder of the quarterback on either side. For tackles, your crosshairs will be the near side eye of the QB. We must rush the passer with active hands and controlled feet to take off the blocker, but not lose control of the QB. We want to force the quarterback to move in the pocket and make quick decisions. If the front four don’t pressure the quarterback consistently, we could be in for a long night.
Conclusion
The Miami 4-3 defense can be an extremely effective run-stopping defense without having to use traditional linemen. We can have more athletes on the field, doing more to confuse the offense. Speed and aggressive play are the name of the game. If the other defenders can trust the linemen to spill the ball to the outside, they can play faster and more aggressively on their responsibilities.