Defending the Double Wing

The Double Wing Offense has been around since 1986, but it’s roots go back as far as Football itself. Don Markham premiered this offense in 1972 at LA Baptist HS in Mission Hills. Since then Many schools have won numerous C.I.F, County, and State Titles. Eighty percent of California, Oregon, and Washington’s rushing and scoring leaders have come from this offense. In 1994 Don Markham led Bloomington High School to a 14-0 C.I.F Title and set the national scoring record with a unheard of 65 point average.
The objective of Double Wing teams is to make you cover 10 gaps. When you spread your self out to cover those gaps, they get more people to the ball then you have to defend. This gives them a HUGE advantage at the point of attack. Their base play the "PITCH" must be stopped to be successful. Double Wing creator Don Markham was quote as saying, "I have ran the PITCH play 30 times in a row one game. If they can't stop the PITCH, the game is over."
The "PITCH" play is simple in it's invention, but overwhelming in it's application. If you don't stack the odds in your favor, you will be ran over. Double Wing teams run up huge scores against opponents, who either have no idea at what they are facing or too PROUD to realize their own weaknesses against it.
One coach was quoted as saying that this offense would not work in Division I. Don Markham took his Colton team to the Big 5 Conference Title game twice with his earlier version of this offense.
I compare the Double Wing offense to a chess game. They get so many pawns in the way, my queen and rooks can not be effective. So like in chess, my strategy is to clear the field and let my queen and rooks play against theirs.
The PITCH’s objective is like coach Vince Lombardi’s famous Green Bay Sweep. They want to create a wall by the FB sealing the outside, the TE/OT’s double team sealing the inside and the Offside OT/OG/QB wedging through the hole, giving the Wing back an alley to run through. Most times this alley is so big, "you could drive a truck through it" The PITCH play works like this, both Wings line up on the LOS. The QB reads the defensive set and d bends done under center. At this point the Wings take their place. One Wing sets up as a Unbalanced second TE. At the same time the second Wing sets up as a Wing Back. He takes a quick motion back 5 yards behind the Guard. The QB snaps the ball and pitches a dead, none spinning ball chest to face high at the motioning wing. He then pulls through the point of attack and seal outside, blocking the CB The Offensive line has foot to foot splits to prevent stunting. The play side TE and OT double team at the point of attack. They are taught to act like Siamese twins joined at the hip. Even though there are no gaps or running lanes they create them with their double team. The unbalanced TE/Wing back gaps down to seal off the LB. The offside OT/OG pull to the POA. The OG responsibility is to seal inside. The Offside OT is to seal up any penetration and help the OG seal inside. The backside TE’s job is to seal off backside penetration. The FB’s job is to kick out the man responsible for Force. He takes a banana route, keeping a inside relationship to the Force man. Because of this banana technique he cant effectively kick out and never have to read the Force and worry about logging him in. This technique allows him to concentrate fully on kicking out the force and creating the seam for the Wing to run in.
The Wing back takes the pitch and reads his pulling OG/OT, many times pushing him through the hole. This adds deception to power of the play. Many times people are there to defend but can not see the ball carrier as he hides behind the pulling lineman. The Wing back has many options as he runs through the holes he can stay on path, kick it outside, or the most dangerous cut back across the grain. This is devastating because most of the pursuit is coming at the POA and do not properly defend the cut back.
The five main objectives in stopping the PITCH are, 1. Cover all 10 gaps 2. Stop the overload at the POA 3. Stop the pulling Lineman 4. Stop the cut back 5. Find the ball carrier
The only way to properly cover the 10 gaps and be sound in pass coverage is to run a 9 man front with a two deep secondary. To stop the overload at the POA we have our defensive lineman cut the Offensive line. Like trading pawns in chess we clear the board by cutting their line. My DT for your OT, my DE for your FB, etc.… By slanting and the pile created from the cutting we hope to stop the backside pulling lineman. Backside pursuit must scrap down the LOS looking for cutback and keep our heads up looking for the ball carrier. Everyone must play responsibility type defense. One mistake will cause a hole and give them a big play.
The way we defense the Double Wing is to line up in a 54 defense. 5 down lineman 4 linebackers 2 Safeties. The main cog in the defense is the Nose Guard. He might not make one play all night but he is vital to the defense. The NG plays head up on the Center and slants to the play side A gap. We determine play side by motion, best back, or tendencies. The NG can see the quick motion by the wing back with his perennial vision. He rips threw the Center trying to get into the backfield. Depending on their blocking scheme he may come untouched into the backfield. Most likely he will be double with the OG. Minimally he needs to impede the pulling OG/OT. Both DT’s will cut at the outside shoulder of the OT. This should cut the double team by the OT and TE. Grab for ankles and cause a pile up. The DT on the pulling side should try and cut or grab ankles of the Pulling DT. If he does not get the cut pursue down the LOS looking for cut back. Keep an eye out for the TE blocking down or trying to cut you. The LB to the motioning side should blitz the B gap. If the OG has blocked down on the NG a lane should open up. The LB away from motion should slow scrap, downhill . Both LB’s should read the FB. If the FB kicks out the DE, PLB should continue his blitz up field, with WLB scraping, looking for cut back. If the FB pauses or delays both LB’s should go at the FB looking for Trap or Reverse. The CB to the motioning side should fill C gap forcing the play outside. The strength of the play is inside so any back running outside is by himself , defeating the purpose of the play. The PCB uses a OLE’ technique, like a bull fighter, avoiding all contact. If the PCB see more than one block cut the pack and cause a pile up. The CB away from motion slow reads and looks for reverse. If no reverse. Scrap, looking for cutback. If reverse comes use the same technique as PCB. The FS to the motioning side reads his TE. If the TE blocks he becomes an alley player filling C gap and contains D gap if the PCB forces the play wide. If he reads pass from the TE he covers the deep � jumping a corner route by the TE. FS away from motion slides to center field and reads his TE for pass or run. If he reads reverse he now becomes the fill/contain man to his side
If every one does their responsibility two things should happen. First we have a RB that has no where to go, running into his line. He ends up trying to bounce outside or falls over his own man. Sometimes the RB bounces out to a open space. While this is usually a problem it is not. The RB ‘s in the double Wing are used to running behind people. They are not open field runners. A usual scenario has our line taking out their line and the CB’s end making the tackle. The Double Wing has many advantages that if left untended will cause the field to tilt in their favor. By using the 54 and evening the odds we are able to compete with this explosive offense.