Joe Daniel Football

Coach Simple. Play Fast. Win.

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Why You Coach Run Fits, Not Gap Responsibility

Attack ball carriers and additional blockers through the inside half. Photo by Huskies Football
Attack ball carriers and additional blockers through the inside half. Photo by Huskies Football

The term ‘Run Fits’ gets thrown around a lot. It’s not exactly clear to everyone what it means.

It’s probably the toughest term to explain. Hardest for new coaches to grasp, too – maybe because there’s so many bad explanations out there.

Many coaches keep it too simple when they talk run fits. They only talk about gap assignment.

I’m all about the K.I.S.S. philosophy when we’re talking to our players. As a coach, though, you need to know some detail.

In my very first year as a Defensive Coordinator, we took on the leading rusher in the region. Our team was running a 3-3-5 Defense with a pattern match Cover 3 as the base coverage.

The game was a shootout. Our offense stayed step for step for 3 quarters. But we couldn’t keep up for all 48 minutes.

I tried every adjustment I could think of. We played a 4 front. A 5 front. A 6 front. We blitzed like crazy. Blitzed no one. You name it, I called it.

Nothing worked. Why wasn’t it working?

In the film room, it became pretty clear. Their base offensive play was Power. You know… down-down, kick out, wrap to the backer. That old thing.

We were in the right gaps every play. But the wrong side of the gap. Especially the Linebackers.

When Linebackers blitzed, they blitzed wide. And got kicked out. Over and over again.

When I talk about run fits and how the spill players are responsible for the inside half of the gap, that’s what I’m thinking about.

The medical term for thinking about it is probably “flashback”. It happened over and over again (did I mention that?).

When you teach run fits, you have to teach a whole lot more than gap responsibility. Where do they it in relation to the gap? What do your guys do if another blocker shows up in the gap?

I want our spill defenders (that’s your defensive linemen and inside linebackers in most defenses) to scrape paint with the Offensive Lineman to the inside of their gap.

Scrape paint with the Offensive Lineman, attack the ball carrier's inside half! Photo by Arielle Brown
Scrape paint with the Offensive Lineman, attack the ball carrier’s inside half! Photo by Arielle Brown

An A-Gap defender is going to fill his gap with his shoulder pad brushing the Center. That forces the running back to go outside.

If a new blocker shows up in his gap – usually a blocking Fullback or a pulling Guard – he’s going to fit inside of him.

Think it through and this is natural. If he’s staying on the inside half of his gap, he must end up inside of a new blocker coming to the gap.

Teaching run fits to your defense is so critical. You run fits should never change. That allows you to defend absolutely any running play.

When planning your defensive scheme, spend more time on defining your run fits in your base front than you do planning elaborate blitzes and multiple coverages. It will pay off for you!

How do you teach your players to fit the run? Leave a comment!

 

 

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  2. Bo says

    I run a 4-3 with a cov 4 pattern match as a base and teach the DL to spill everything by attacking the outside hip of their “key” and chasing it down if it down blocks or goest othe next level. They have inside of A to the weakside, inside of B to the strength and the inside of both C’s. The LB’s are all fast flow “Attack” run players from 5-6 yards of depth. on the snap they take their hard run read step straight ahead then attack one of their 2 possible gaps based on flow. against “21” personnel and flow strong, the Sam shows is almost an extra player showing up where the FB does, Mike has strong A and Will has weak B and the SS has force/D. If a back side safety has Reverse/PA. when a the Power has a “G” with it, it pulls the LB’s one gap farther (I teach the puller brings his gap with him). This way my LBs are down hill and gives undersized LBs an advantage. The spill by the DE on the FB in power changes the angle of the Sam on the ball carrier. If the FB gets inside the OT that comes up field has the angle on him, when the DE wins the RB bounces to a head up position with the Sam and now Sam has the angle advantage on the OT. That is where the play is defeated, since now the SS comes outside in and the Sam is inside out with the OT on his inside.

    on a weak side ISO play against “21” personnel, the DL plays the same attacking the outside hip of their “key” and trying to squeeze the base block back to where it came from. The Will attacks the outside of the FB in the B and the Mike has the inside of the FB in the B. Sam has Strong A, the FS has D/force and the SS has cutback/PA.

    I like the “breaking it down”, but to me it is still gap responsibility and inside/outside of a gap is technique and angle work but I guess it is “six of 1 and a half dozen of another”.

  3. Tony says

    The best information I have heard since I been a DC. This year know the run fits (knowing where to be) made the difference for my team. Great article!

  4. Tommy Acklin says

    Hello Coach Daniel, we Teach gap assignmnets by way of Attack Points and Redirections. Our DLineman ahs the option of aligning on the Interior or Exterior of the gap they have been assigned to. for example, if we have a B gap assigned DLineman that gets a Wide split between the Guard and Tackle, he can align in a 3….If the split is tight, he can align in a 4……The Redirect responds by what the Guard does…If the Guard blocks down, the B gap DLinemane will squeeze….If the Gurad steps out, the B gap DLineman will play the assignment from inside out by Attacking the near shoulder of the Guard….

    To meet this objective, we Teach Shade, Slant, Head Up techiniques…
    Our Backers are Taught to Window Read….If the window is open, we fill it….If the window is closed we scrape to the next open window in the direction of the Football….For example, if we had a 5tech, 1tech, and B gap Backer wo one side, and the offense Zone Blocks AWAY with Run action coming TO……Our 1 and 5 would stay on the near shoulders of the Center and Tackle, and the Backer would scrape to C for 2 reasons….1/ His window closed 2/ The action was to him