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X's and O's question

driegner

driegner

Well-Known Member
Jun 9, 2010
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Columbus, OH
Not having ever played football I was wondering if someone could explain what the difference between a strong and free safety is? For as much football as I've watched, in person and on TV, I'm kind of surprised that I don't really know the answer, nor have I heard it explicitly explained.

Just speaking in generalities for a generic defensive scheme. I'm asking about body type, coverage, alignment, pass vs. run, etc. Just general curiosity.
 
The FS (in our defense) is more free to come up to stop the run on running plays and drop off in coverage and read on pass plays. Also in our defense we tend to move the FS up with the LB's and let the SS play deep coverage.
 
isufbcurt said:
The FS (in our defense) is more free to come up to stop the run on running plays and drop off in coverage and read on pass plays. Also in our defense we tend to move the FS up with the LB's and let the SS play deep coverage.
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Isn't that kind of the opposite of a typical defense? I was always under the impression that the SS is usually bigger, lines up on the strong side of the set, and is more a run stopper while the FS drops into coverage.
 
It depends on your defensive scheme. Pretty sure teams that run a lot of nickel/dime defenses (like us) the FS is more of the run stopper and more conventional 3-4 or 4-3 defenses the SS moves closer to the line of scrimmage. I hope I'm not wrong in that because that is what I have always thought.
 
SS is the safety that brings the 8th man in the box in run support or short yardage. Some teams will bring a safety down against a spread a run a 1 deep structure. That safety could go either way depending on alignment/motion or matchups. Generally a SS is bigger and better in run support, FS is faster and a better cover man.
 
You are all correct. But with us JW was the FS and because he was bigger we dropped him down in the box and let DB the SS cover. I wanted to explain it with how we did it because that is what I know.

But it all really depends on the coverage. For example if we went cover 1, DB would be man on man and JW would play center field. It gets really complicated when you get into our special coverages in which we would play zone to the play side and go man on the backside.
 
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Our defense is weird. The FS is the SS for our defense and vice versa.
 
isufbcurt said:
You are all correct. But with us JW was the FS and because he was bigger we dropped him down in the box and let DB the SS cover. I wanted to explain it with how we did it because that is what I know.

But it all really depends on the coverage. For example if we went cover 1, DB would be man on man and JW would play center field. It gets really complicated when you get into our special coverages in which we would play zone to the play side and go man on the backside.
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Wally was talking about JW in a radio interview before the WV game and commented that he plays more like a linebacker than a safety for us.
 
In the most basic sense the SS lines up to the strength of the offensive formation and the FS lines up to the "wide" side. In a balanced set (2x2) the strength is usually called to the field.
This is in a 7 man front defense. In a lot of the "newer" defenses ie the 3-3 and the 4-2 there is only a FS who patrols the middle of the field and the SS is replaced by a 2 LB/DB types who need to be stout enough to be run stoppers but also have decent coverage skills
 
Position responsibilities vary based upon what the scheme ask them to do. This stuff has gotten muddled in recent years as teams move away from pro sets and more into spread formations. From what I can remember the "strong" safety played to the strong side of the offense and the free safety was "free" because he doesn't have anyone to cover 1 on 1 in the typical set up, he was accounting for the QB who normally stays in the pocket so he gets to play center fielder for the defense. Strong safeties have to pick up a blocking tight end or a tailback out of the back field, so they are usually bigger.
 
isufbcurt said:
You are all correct. But with us JW was the FS and because he was bigger we dropped him down in the box and let DB the SS cover. I wanted to explain it with how we did it because that is what I know.

But it all really depends on the coverage. For example if we went cover 1, DB would be man on man and JW would play center field. It gets really complicated when you get into our special coverages in which we would play zone to the play side and go man on the backside.
Click to expand...

Good stuff Curt. I think with what Seattle is doing (really disguising their S' and playing that Triangle cover 3 with 4 under) you will begin to see less and less difference between SS and FS. Basically you want a guy that has good size and speed that is great in run support and great in coverage for both S spots.
 
There is no general rule for Wally's defense this year. I don't think you can label JW or Broom in a traditional sense of FS or SS. Sometimes Broom goes to strength and sometimes JW does. JW does roll up more frequently but he will do it from both the strong or weak side. It's sometimes tough to even figure out what coverage we are even in. In one series Saturday on 3 consecutive plays you had
1. JW rolled up on weak side with Broom in a deep 1/3
2. Broom roll up behind a brackens blitz and JW in deep 1/3
3. Both in deep half or maybe a cov 5 (qtr-qtr-half)

Wally did very little nickel this year compared to prior years. He just did a lot of funky stuff out of base.
 
This is great, thanks guys. I love the X's and O's stuff, and it's more fun than bickering.

Based on the responses I probably didn't know because: 1.) there's multiple "right answers," and 2.) my perception of which was which was pretty much correct but our defensive sets are apparently backwards.
 
In today's defenses, both the SS and FS have to be interchangeable. Typically, one of the safeties is a little better vs the run game and one better in pass coverage, but with motions, shifts, no-huddle by the offenses, both safeties are becoming more and more similar. ISU plays mostly Cover 2, 3, and 4. In cover 2 and 4 the safety's responsibilities are very much the same, whereas in cover 3 you have one of the safeties spinning down into the box to support the run, while the other safety plays middle 1/3.
 
isufbcurt said:
The FS (in our defense) is .................................
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Exactly every position no matter what it is called has different responsibilities in different systems. IE: The Mike Linebacker may be a middle linebacker, but yet line up on the line of scrimmage at certain points of the game depending on the system. A believe a pointless football terminology argument might ensue later in this thread. Making up a cool name for a position is for coaches to sell their system to players and then announcers pick it up because the term sounds unique and makes them sound knowledgeable. Heck I am old enough to remember when the term nose guard was the cool position on defense and the pro set veer offense was all the rage.18-veer-option.jpg
 
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mkadl said:
Exactly every position no matter what it is called has different responsibilities in different systems. IE: The Mike Linebacker may be a middle linebacker, but yet line up on the line of scrimmage at certain points of the game depending on the system.
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Mike Sam and Will are just names tied to Middle Strong and Weak linebackers in a 4-3...it's what everyone uses
 
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The SS is the traditional "eighth man in the box" for run defense, and covers receivers who run short to medium routes over the middle on pass plays.

The FS covers post routes and usually is the top defender on double coverage.

Using softball as an analogy, think of the FS as the center fielder, and like the CF, is the captain of the defensive backfield (the outfield) and usually calls any changes in coverage after a read on the offense; and the SS as the fourth outfielder that usually plays shallow and backs up the front seven (the infield).
 
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