Defensive line stunts are a great way to be aggressive up front in your play calling without weakening the coverage behind it. We’re going to take a deep dive look at defensive line stunts, including slants and twists.

Every episode in Season 8 of The Football Coaching Podcast is a deep dive into a particular play call, or in this case a family of play calls. I’ll share the origins of the call, why you run the call, and how to coach your players to execute it.

Then we look at how coaches on the other side of the ball can attack that call to defeat it.

The term for defensive line stunts goes back to the 1960s. It refers to a way to trick the defense. We’re not going to try to trick the defense with these line stunt calls, though.

This episode looks at defensive line slants, which can be a base part of your call package, and defensive line twists which mix up responsibilities of defensive linemen.

These calls can be used to attack the pass and defend against the run. See exactly what you should be trying to achieve when calling stunts.

Defensive line stunts are usually run by one player or by two adjacent linemen like an end and a tackle. Whether slanting, just crossing the face to an adjacent gap, or twists using a penetrator and a looper, we’ll talk about the execution of all of these calls in the playbook.

The key is that you are not trying to trick anybody. You want to get an advantage for your offensive linemen. Think about twist calls more like the rub routes your receivers run.

Finally we look at attacking stunting defenses. How do you block them? Pick them up? Can you get an advantage for your offense when teams are doing a lot of defensive line stunts?

Learn the 90-50-10 rule of defensive line alignment to be alert for changes in alignment against teams that like to use stunts and twists. Then we look at pass protection for handling twists, whether you are zone protecting or man protecting. Learn to pass off the penetrator and the looper, or stay with them, so you do not get unneeded pressure on your Quarterback.

If you want to run more line games and be aggressive putting pressure on the quarterback without taking away from your coverage package, check out JDFB Coaching Systems.

​Right now you can get instant access to the 4-2-5 Defense System, 4-3 Defense System, 33 Stack Defensive System and the 3-4 Defense System. All of these feature multiple defensive line stunts. Click this link to start your trial access right now: https://join.joedanielfootball.com