With football season approaching us, it is important that you understand some of the more reiterated parts of the game. So today’s look into the strategy of the game within the game is a detailed analysis of the Nickel defense.
The Nickel defense is a defense designed primarily to defend the pass. The term nickel is used because of the insertion of the “nickel back,” or what is the 5th defensive back on the field. The logical thought process is that having an extra defensive back on the field will allow the defense to better defend the pass, as opposed to having the usual 3 linebackers or 4 defensive linemen on the field.
Position-wise, the Nickel defense can derive from several variations of positions. The most popular variation of the Nickel defense is made up of 4 defensive lineman, 2 linebackers, and of course, 5 defensive backs to make up the necessary 11 players on the defense. However, some variations, mix the 5 defensive backs with combinations 3 linebackers and 3 defensive linemen, 4 linebackers and 2 defensive linemen, or even 5 linebackers and 1 defensive lineman. However, the deeper you get into these variations, the more ambiguous they become, because you almost always will have 4 people rushing the quarterback in Nickel back sets, so any Nickel combination involving 3 or more linebackers is just a ruse to disguise where the rush is coming from.
More often than not, Nickel defenses usually involve zone pass coverage. This is because the use of a zone coverage allows the defense more control over where the Nickel back lines up and how he is deployed. When defenses use man coverage in Nickel back sets, then sometimes the offense can manage to get the receiver they want against a linebacker, effectively defeating the defense’s purpose of bringing in a linebacker. However, while zone is used more often, man coverage is still deployed out of Nickel defenses, especially when there are two backs in the offensive set.
When man coverage is used in Nickel defenses, it is the defense’s prerogative to get a cornerback on any 3rd wide receiver the offense may have inserted into the lineup. The 3rd wide receiver isn’t necessarily covered by the nickel back, as many teams prefer to put one of their starting corners on slot wide receivers, because defending the pass from the slot is typically more difficult than defending the pass way out on the sidelines. Also, in man coverage Nickel defenses, the nickel back is usually going to be a cornerback instead of a safety.
However, in zone coverages, the nickel back can be a safety. Many teams, especially those that run Cover 2 defenses, like to deploy a safety or hybrid defensive back at the nickel back position. The use of the zone, means that the extra safety usually doesn’t have too much responsibility, and having a safety, instead of a cornerback, in or near the box, gives the defense a better chance to defend the run or make the tackle on a short pass.
That by and large is the nickel defense. There are many different defenses that a football team can run with the extra defensive back on the field. It gives the defense a chance to be very creative in rolling coverages and disguising the blitz. Many coaches are starting to like the nickel defense so much that they are using five defensive backs on 1st down or even in their starting lineups to counter the growing trend of the NFL as a passing league.
