Positioning for a 3-3 Football Defense

The game of gridiron football is an icon of Americanism. From its roots in early versions of rugby football brought over the Atlantic from England, football takes it place alongside baseball as the most American of sports. Though its name is somewhat deceptive, and in fact logically unsound, football is the most widely watched sport in the United States, and its championship game, whose name is not known only to those who have been living on the moon for the last fifty years, the super bowl is the most watched television event in the United States. The sport is the caretaker of the Greatest Game Ever Played, the NFL championship game from 1958, which hosted 15 then future hall of famers and historic names such as Johnny Unitas, and continues to delight audiences with its mix of complex strategy and physical play.

In this free video series, our expert Billy Kidd will show you how to play a 3-3 defense in American football. He will talk about positioning, the purpose of the defense, and talk about defensive linemen and linemen lanes. Billy will also talk about linebacker lanes and gains, blitzing, blitzing gaps, and controlling the play. He will even talk a bit about traps, screen passes, and combinations in your newly learnt 3-3 defense.

"Hi! I'm Billy Kidd and I'm here on Expert Village to talk about the 3-3 defense. Talking about any defense, or any offense as a coach we have Xs and Os. The Os represent the offense and the Xs represent the defense. In this particular segment we're talking about the 3-3 defense, the 3-3- defense is made up of 3 defensive linemen. Those players play within a yard of the football on the line of scrimmage across from the offense. Typically a defensive lineman is going to be a bigger person, a stronger person one that can take on a battle immediately when the ball snaps. Immediately behind them you are going to have 3 linebackers. And these three linebackers are a personnel whose not going to be quite as big but is going to be a little faster to be able to maneuver 1) to the speed of the running back or 2) to drop in coverage and cover the receivers."