The Defender You Control

You control one defender. Play him like a player.

• A linebacker or a defensive back playing off the ball — never a defensive lineman. Winning at the line of scrimmage is leverage and hands, not reflexes.
• Move only the man you are controlling. Everyone else moves through the team-level defensive adjustments, not by you walking defenders somewhere one at a time.
• Play the assignment you took. Blitzing, blitz. Dropping, drop.
• An off-ball linebacker lines up off the ball. If you want him in a gap at the snap, call the pressure that puts him there — do not walk him down and time it up.
• Switch-Stick — flicking control to whichever defender is nearest the ball — is against the spirit of one defender, one job.