For this thread I thought I’d return to my roots and talk ‘defense’ and especially about the position on defense that I probably know best….the free safety position...often considered the 'quarterback' of a defense.
POSITIONING
In the CFL the free safety is most often positioned 10 to 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage, depending on the safety's speed, the defense's position, the offensive formation, and the tendencies of the opposition offence. For instance, if the defense is expecting a pass, the free safety will often line up deeper. However, if the defense is expecting a run, the safety may be brought closer to the line of scrimmage to assist in run support. Against some offensive formations the free safety is not assigned coverage.
If the free safety has coverage responsibilities he will be put into a pass zone and he can"t double-team, key a runner or show a safety blitz.. If he does not have coverage responsibilities the free safety can be moved to any area on the field. The free safety can be moved into the flat/look-in pass zones, or even be placed on the line of scrimmage or be left free to determine where he thinks it's best to go.
I always enjoyed playing the safety position in the middle of a five defensive back formation in Canadian football rather than one of the two safety positions in American football. In college, in the U.S., I most often played the free safety position rather than the strong safety position but sometimes they were considered interchangeable. At other times I played roverback, where I was moved around all over the place as a hybrid defensive back/linebacker.
In American football there are usually two safeties on defense, and are often placed on opposite ends of a formation in a Cover 2 (two deep zone) defensive formation. Sometimes the free safety position is in the middle of the field in a Cover 1 positon. I’ve discussed Cover 1, Cover 2, Cover 3, and a variety of other defensive man and zone coverages in a previous thread on the Annus Stukus Forum so won’t go into them again.
FREE SAFETY POSITION UNDERGOES MAJOR TRANSFORMATION
In Canadian football, the free safety traditionally played the deep middle but with six, seven, eight, nine, and even the rare situation of ten players dropping back into pass coverage, the position of safety is going through a major transformation. If the offensive formation, or the defensive pass coverage, calls for the free safety to cover a specific receiver, it's important that the free safety adjusts his stance to the one used by a cornerback or halfback. The free safety always needs to practice for man coverage, which requires a different teqhnique.
There is a big difference between playing other defensive back positions than the free safety position. While it’s done, it’s very difficult to make a transition from corner or halfback to free safety in the CFL. A lot of times, even though they are all considered defensive backs, they are distinctively different positions and the techniques and fundamentals of the position, although there’s a lot of carry over, are also distinctively different. The free safety position is the most distinctive of the defensive back positions.
FREE SAFETY RESPONSIBILITIES
The free safety is most responsible for making pass coverage calls or audibles, reading the offensive play, and covering deep passes. Depending on the defensive call, the safety can also be required to provide run support, blitz, double cover a specific receiver, or man cover. The free safety has an enormous amount of territory to cover on a CFL field.. If two players simultaneously threaten his zone, the safety must decide which one to cover. The QB will attempt to read the safety’s reaction and throw to the defender that he doesn't decide to cover in attempting a big pass gain.
Speed is important because a safety needs to be able to cover a lot of territory. Free safeties need to be good tacklers to be able to come up and tackle a shifty running back who has broken free of the first two levels of the defense. However, more important is the free safety is a very smart player who is a leader. The free safety is responsible for strongside calls, down and distance, and making sure the coverage is the right one for the offensive set.
A free safety, more than any other player on the defense, needs the ability to be able to analyze a play, to be able to perceive an offensive play's flow quickly, to have great anticipation skills, and to be mentally tough. Free safeties also need to be players that are willing to put a lot of time into studying film, to learn the tendancies of the opposition offense, and the plays they like to run. We have a great free safety in Barrin Miles who fulfills all these attributes.
FREE SAFETY TECHNIQUE
The free safety can assume a much more upright stance than other defensive backs. The shoulders and feet will usually be parallel to the line of scrimmage, spread no wider than the width of the shoulders. When you’re looking at the safety position in training camp watch that the safety has a slight bend in his knees, and that his head and shoulders are slightly ahead of his hips. His arms should hang down from his shoulders in a relaxed manner, and watch that he looks comfortable as possible in his stance. He should always be on the balls of his feet.
It’s important that the safety look at both the quarterback and the offensive tackle in the first moment of the offence play. The offensive tackle is a key in terms of quickly reading whether it’s going to be a running play or passing play. If it’s a passing play the tackle will need to make a very quick drop step to protect against a rush end getting to the quarterback.
In terms of backpedaling the safety really needs to backpedal with his feet always remaining close to the ground. Safeties that backpedal with feet coming too high off the ground will sometimes get caught needing to react in the middle of their backpedal. It takes longer to wait for the foot, if in mid-air to come down and hit the ground than using a backpedal technique that slide the feet as close to the ground as possible. Quick reaction is critical to the position.
If the offensive formation, or the defensive pass coverage, calls for the free safety to cover a specific receiver, it's important that the free safety adjusts his stance to the one used by a cornerback or halfback. The free safety always needs to practice for man coverage, which requires a different teqhnique. The safety also needs to give the quarterback false reads in this position, similar to other defensive backs. He needs to be able to show press coverage and drop off, play off and then be able to quickly press just prior to the snap of the football, and to be able to give a zone look while actually playing man and vice-versa!
Good quarterbacks are trained to look off the free safety in order not to tip off where his primary look is. Safeties always need to recognize this fact but there are also quarterbacks who don't look off the safety and the free safety can take advantage of this. Quarterbacks will also try to read the free safety by positioning and the early moment of his drop to determine after snap coverage. Free safeties like Barrin Miles of our Leos are outstanding at both giving the quarterback disguised pre-snap reads and also post-snap reads by giving the quarterback a false first step to disguise pass coverage.
THE SAFETY BLITZ
A safety blitz call from the sidelines is one that most safeties love to see or hear. It brings a change of responsibility and with good timing allows the safety to hit a gap in the offensive line and bring down a quarterback for a sack. However, it can also be a dangerous play for the defense and the safety personally. For the defense, prior to zone blitzes, it meant that every pass defender was in man coverage. Man coverage is still used at times but the popularity of the zone blitz has allowed defenses to blitz while doing a better job of not giving up the big deep play. Still the play often involves less coverage in the back end and teams usually like to bring the blitz from the short side of the field or up the middle.
There is a difference between sending a safety after the quarterback and a blitz involving the safety, which means that you are sending more defensive men than the offence has blockers. The safety hits the line at full speed in a safety blitz and a lot of things can go wrong. First of all, if you don’t hit the gap right you’re running through the line of scrimmage at full speed and a monster 300 pound offensive lineman doesn’t need a lot of force to send you flying. Run directly into him and you’ll feel you’ve hit a cement wall. Secondly, the safety may get past the offensive lineman at the line of scrimmage and a fullback can sneak over and send you head over heals or sailing through the air.
However, there is nothing like the feeling of sticking one’s helmet into a quarterback, hearing the loud ‘ooooomph’ as air is expelled instantly, and following through to drive his body deep into the turf. Makes me wish Orange Shoes had played quarterback back in my college days!!
Defenses will sometimes use a delayed safety blitz. While the play takes a fraction longer for the safety to get to the quarterback it also provides the safety with the ability to read the blocking of the offensive line, it provides the time for the offensive gaps to open more, and it also disguises the blitz better in terms of the running back’s read. Garney Henley, the great Garney Henley, who played offence, defense, and special teams was the first to purrfect the safety blitz with the Hamilton Tiger Cats while down south Larry Wilson of the St Louis Cardinals was one of the NFL's great blitzers. Fun to watch if you ever get a chance to watch them on old film! By the way, the term 'blitz' comes from the German word for 'lightning attack'!
BLITZ MIND GAMES!
The safety blitz can be one of many potent blitz calls to nullify a high-flying air attack. However, blitzes must be disguised to insure their effectiveness. If the offense knows they are coming ahead of time, it can easily adjust and burn the defese. Deception represents an essential element of any blitz. The fake blitz has to look exactly like the blitz itself in terms of hand and feet placement. You alwasy want the feet and arms to do the same thing. When a a fake blitz is called it should be so convincing that it looks like the defense missed the call.
The free safety is the quarterback of the pass coverage defense and needs to lead and direct on the field. A lot of defensive backs like to walk into their blitzes, and when they are supposed to fake they jump. Teams pay their coaches good money, and fake blitzes better look very similar to active blitzes, or they aren’t going to fool anyone. There are endless combinations to blitzes, limited only by the imagination,â€
