Process Essay: The Role Of Defense In Football

Coaches and analysts on the gridiron always use the old adage that defense wins championships, but in an era where offensive strategy and athleticism continues to evolve, the latter is putting the former to the ultimate test. An area that many look at is how necessary a formidable defense is in order to secure a victory in any football game since pass-happy explosiveness radiates from many offenses of today. That is usually something a football coach has to contemplate in his career, whether to go to the fun and sometimes fancy offense or go to the more tough side of the ball in defense. Offense can be the more flashy one that brings the fans excitement. It is most often the one that gets people to come to the games, but if you are a coach you don’t care who comes to the games all you care about is winning. Defense, however can be more of the smash mouth, hard hitting, tough football that people who love and understand the game like the most. It can cause those big hits that sound like they could be heard from

a mile away. With the way that football is evolving, why would someone try and make the defense the focus of their team when they could create a powerhouse offense?
Now, if a coach picks an offensive focused team their practices will look a little different than a defensive team. So, naturally if it is an offensive team practice will focus more towards them. They will give more time for the offense and really spend a lot of time working on making them the best they can be. It is not like it is skewed terribly to the offense where they get 75% of the time, but maybe more like offense is 60% and defense is 40%. Also, it is likely that while the scout team defense is running the opposing team's defense that more plays are run in that situation. While in practice, this type of team would probably work on strategies that take advantage of this offensive focus. Because they spend more time on offense they can get into more of their offense. What I mean by this is that the other team might not be able to get to all the different plays and formations they can do. They can add those little plays that are fun to run, or serve a purpose to set the opposing defense up for a big play. This is all possible by a capable coaching staff. The offensive coaching staff is usually better than the defense in this situation and often have backgrounds in college or even in the pros.
In addition to how practices and such work, a coach also has to think about the roster management and position selections that center around an offense. One of the key things to think about during this is who are the best athletes or the ones that have most athletic ability or potential. They have to think about if they are best suited for offense or defense. Most times what makes them the best athlete is that they are fast, quick, coordinated and agile. This happens to help offense out the most therefore they get put on offense and put at skilled positions most often. Also something a coach can do is have guys who are specialized for one position on offense. Instead of having them work on a defensive position or even another offensive position, they can become a elite at one thing such as fullback and being able to block. With all of that, a coach has to set their roster to the offense they want to run. The offense they want to run also is dependent on offensive focus or defensive focus. If they are offensive focused they want to run an offense that exploits that but at the same time helps the defense because they aren't as strong.
Another thing that happens with an offensive focused team is how it affects game management and in the moment decisions. Coaches have to think about because they are better on offense how that changes their choices in a game. They can typically be more aggressive on both sides of the ball. On offense they can run plays that are high risk, high reward because those plays have a better chance of working with a better offense. On defense, a coach can be aggressive because if they let up a big play or a score, the offense is good enough to get that back. Also if the defense is aggressive than they might get a turnover or big play for them and change the course of the game. Additionally, the offense can more easily get good field position to help not only them but the defense as well, to make it easier to win. A coach will more than likely put his faith in their offense at the end of the game. Say the situation is that their team is on the opponent's 20 with a minute left in the game and they are down 3 and it is fourth down and 5. Some teams might kick the field goal and hope it goes in to try to go to overtime but an offensive focused team might try and go for it so they can score a touchdown and give themselves a better chance to win.
Being offensive minded can be enjoyable and really open up a lot of options for a team. It comes with downsides like not having a strong defense but being able to score more points than the other team most of the time takes that away. But is that really that much better than being able to stop any offense and control the game completely with a defense? Is being offensive minded really better than being defensive? A strong defense can really create more options for a coach. The hard hitting side can change the whole tone of the game. It’ll create the kind of atmosphere a coach really wants. Imagine instead of a fancy feel to the game that an offense can give, but more of a shoulder pads popping every play type of game. Pads popping is what the people come to see and what leads to wins. The game of football is a violent one and defense is the most violent and quite frankly fun side.
If a coach goes defensive, the areas they have to look at stay the same but the choices become different.

Like on offense, a defensive minded coach will plan practice around the choice they made to be defensive. They will give defense more time for individual position drills and maybe more reps when they go up against the scout team, which is similar to an offensive team. Now obviously like offense, defense would have better coaches on their side who had played before and played a defensive position and would coach that. They probably would have some experience playing after high school, but not necessarily. Their experience could be at any college level or possibly even in the NFL. These coaching abilities would be used to implant a scheme great for this defensive focus. They could have aggressive tendencies involved with it because those would have a greater chance of working or they could just play back and give the weaker offense good field

position.
Roster management and position selections become crucial to a defense. It’ll make or break the team. Putting the best athletes on defense is better than offense. On offense, they can make big plays but only if the playcall is to set them up for a big play. On defense however, they can make a big play on every play just by their athletic ability and just flying around to the football. Having specialized players helps more on defense than offense as well. There are certain situations where a coach knows that the other team is passing and can take out a slower linebacker for a faster, better pass coverage linebacker or defensive back. This all comes to making the roster suit the defense by making more players just play defense. Making the roster that way creates better schemes to run on the defensive side and puts the team in a position to succeed unlike offense. Sometimes no matter what a coach does to prepare an offense, they just don’t show up and play well or get any scoring done. But, with defense, as long as they are giving 100% effort, they will play well and stop the other team.
Game management is where a coach can really make a defense shine. What they can do is endless. They can really focus on limiting the yardage the opposing team gets to help the offense have good field position and have a better chance to score. They can also be more aggressive by trying get more fumbles and interceptions and taking those for touchdowns. They have way more versatility than an offense in what they can try to do. What is really great about a defensive minded team is that a coach can trust them late in games. A coach can put them in difficult positions at end of games and know they will most likely hold their own and give their team the ball back with a chance to win.
Whether a coach picks offense or defense, they will still be able to win. Offense of course is more exciting and possibly appealing to the eye. All the different ways to put the ball in the end zone and get the best athletes the ball is endless. Defense however, is the hard hitting part of the game that gets a lot of people to start playing. It is much easier to win as well, as it is easier to stop an offense than for an offense to beat a defense. When a coach has to pick between the two, it is clear to see that defensive focus leads to more success and enjoyment.