Coaching Youth Football Tips & Talk

My 4th grade pee wee football team ran variations of the 6-2 defense last season.   To be honest, we should have stuck to our 7 Man Front Eagle Defense variation.  But, my new defensive coordinator wanted to try the 6-2, and he had not heard of the Eagle 7, so we gave the 6-2 defense a shot.  In most situations it works, but for teams that figured out our “C” gap was weak, we had to rely on our offense to score points.  A double lead block run to the C gap with a guard trap on the D-End will kill you in a 6-2.  We had a very tough time defending this play in our 6-2.  Our two losses last season, both by 8 points or less, were from two teams that attacked our “C” gap.  Below is our 6-2 Base Defense.

6-2 Defense – Base

To address our C gap weakness, we would move into a 6-2 Wide defensive formation, which moved the two linebackers into the C gaps.  See below.

6-2 Wide Defense

I probably should have moved the D-tackles wider also to stunt the C Gap.  But, I moved back into our Eagle 7 Defense, which plugged the strong C Gap hole with a big D-Tackle. 

There are many types of blitzes you can run out of the 6-2 Defense with Linebackers and Defensive backs.  I ran mainly LB /Lineman stack cross blitzes to the gaps or a Corner blitz to one side. I would also occasionally Blitz the safety up the middle. 

I am not going to run the 6-2 defense in 2008.  I am sticking with my Eagle 7 variations and testing out the Gap Air Mirror Defense for short yardage situations.   

Coach Wade at his website has some great info on the 6-2.  You may want to visit his website.

Good Luck this season.