FOOTBALL IN HIGH HEELS: ON THE DEFENSE
For the past two days, I have been learning and posting about the offense players, terms and meanings on Football in High Heels. Today, I am shifting gears a little bit and moving to the defense. In my mind, defense usually means one of three things: The Secretary of Defense (thanks to my political science degree), someone who defends others (self explanatory) or the defense in a legal case, which again is thanks to my background in law and politics. (I now have the People’s Court theme song stuck in my head.)
So what does the defense in football actually do? It is actually quite simple. Their goal is to prevent the offense from scoring points. They do this by either preventing the offense from advancing the ball beyond the line of scrimmage or by taking the ball away from the offense and scoring points themselves.
In my mind, I am comparing it to the girls on The Bachelor preventing other girls from talking to the main man. Instead of using drama, cleavage and tears to get what they want, the defense in football has their linemen, linebackers and defensive backs do the work. I will get into what each of these players does and then tomorrow we will get into more specifics about what is done.
Linebacker: They are behind the linemen and back up the line, so to speak. There are generally three or four of them in a game and they are usually tacklers who defend the run and pass.
I never knew what this meant, but I always figured tackling was just a way to prevent the other team from scoring. As for a linebacker, I thought they were the ones who stood in the back and helped out when needed.
Defensive Backs: These are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage. They include the free and strong safeties, the defensive halfback, cornerback, nickel back and dime back. We will get into what these terms mean tomorrow. I can’t even comment now because I had no idea any of them existed and I can assume the nickel back has nothing to do with the band.
Defensive Linemen: Their job is to prevent the offensive line from opening up running lanes for the running back or to sack the quarterback. However, this all depends on whether the play is a passing or running play. They usually attack the offensive line but they can also drop back in pass coverage to confuse the opposite team.
I have no clue what any of that means….except that they want to prevent the quarterback and running back from doing their jobs.
Join me tomorrow as we break down the defense! Stay tuned.
