Tag: football practice

Having a set routine throughout the year alleviates the stress of creating a practice plan every week. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel every on a weekly. Even if an opponent’s scheme changes drastically from week to week, it is in the best interest of the staff and players to keep a consistent thought process throughout the season and build towards “Game Day.” When creating a weekly schedule a defensive coach should approach it much like teaching a class.

The early part of the practice week should be focused on getting to know the opponent’s base plays and formations while reviewing how the defense’s base alignments and calls line up against an opponent’s scheme. Towards the middle of the week is when the pressures and “stop calls” designed to shut down a particular offense are worked, and later in the week slow it down and review before the final test – Friday Night. There should be a build up of knowledge, all built off the foundation – the base defense.

Each day should also be set aside for a certain theme (1st down, 3rd down, Red Zone, etc), all accumulating on the Thursday walkthrough (think of it as the review before the test). By Wednesday there should be no more tweaking of the call sheet. The worst thing a coach can do is create doubt by changing alignments or add calls the day before the game. The only thing that should be changed is the elimination of calls that the staff doesn’t trust or the players couldn’t execute during the week. Below is a sample work week for a defense. Continue reading “Weekly Defensive Practice Plan”