TFP 20: Learning Match Quarters Defense with Coach Cody Alexander

4 Comments

Are you a defensive coordinator that is struggling to defend the Spread Offense? Do you want to know what kind of defense gave Art Briles’ offense the most problems? Do you want to learn the mystical Palms coverage, but don’t know where to go to learn it?

Then do I have a great interview for you today’s episode of Talking Football with Coach McKie.

Why? Because today I talk with the amazing Coach Cody Alexander.

Who is Coach Alexander?

The author of the amazing Cautious Aggression: Defending Modern Football book and the blog Match Quarters.

Why did I bring him on? Because I realized I need to know more about the defensive side of things. Yes, I started my coaching career on the defensive side of things, but I didn’t really study it as well as I should.

So I decided to devote this off-season to learning everything I can about the defensive side of the ball. Especificly the dreaded Palms coverage made famous by Michigan State.

You’ll learn from this episode:

  • What defense gave Art Briles’ offense the most problems.
  • Everyday drills you need to run with your secondary in order to be successful in Match Quarters.
  • Who Coach Alexander breaks down in the off-season to get better.
  • How he uses his blog to get himself better in the off-season.
  • How he secretly loves trashy reality TV.

Thanks for Listening!

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Show Notes:

Air Raid Mesh Route Conecpt

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Leave a Reply 4 comments

Jeremiah - February 15, 2018 Reply

Coach McKie, what sorts of strategies do you use against palms/cover 4? We ran into it last year and were lucky that we just had a better line than they did. We stacked our wideouts, put them a bit wider, and just nickeled and dimed up the middle with a dive or a QB Iso. My initial reaction is just to run the football, but we’re not always going to be able to just overpower dudes.

To me it looks like I’d want to run mesh, or shallow with a Mills post to the side you run the hunt route (just to try and put the middle safety into conflict). What would you do?

    Coach McKie - February 17, 2018 Reply

    Coach Jeremiah,

    We do the same thing you do. We will stack our receivers or go two back and push motion. I really like to run the ball when defenses stay in two high. I have talked to people who have been in Art Briles offense and they have told me he will run all day against teams that stay two-high. You don’t have to overpower the other team either. You can run inside zone, outside zone, one-back power, counter, dart. Anything you want, really.

    If I have to pass then I love the Y-Stick concept. Find the side they play their Sam to and throw the Y-Stick off of him. He can never be right. They start to creep down in the box then take a shot or go Y-Stick and up. I also love running 2 x 2 Y-Cross and have the F receiver run a 10-yard out. This is always open because the safety that is responsible for him is on the hash. So the receiver always has the grass on the out route. If the safety comes off the hash then the Y-Cross route will be wide open.

Larry Howell - February 14, 2018 Reply

Great interview! How can i download it?

    Coach McKie - February 17, 2018 Reply

    Coach Howell,

    Thank you for your kind words sir. There should be a little arrow pointing down on the audio player.

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