This mentality includes three goals – averaging three takeaways per game, win the third down conversions battle, and avoid the big play.

We implement our style of defense which revolves around what we call the take-away mentality. The take-away mentality is defined as: the defense will get the ball back to the offense as many times as it can and as fast as it can. We feel that the more times our offense has a chance to score, the more likely that they will. This mentality is something that we strive to implement in all that we do on defense – from individual drills, group drills, and in team situations. We believe if we want the results then we must practice the situations so they become second nature. We consider three areas when we talk about the take-away mentality: 1. Turnovers – a turnover is a mistake made by the offense that we must capitalize on and make sure that we get. 2.  Take-Away – we think of this as when a player(s) actively creates a situation to get the ball back. 3.  Third and/or fourth down conversions – we feel that we must work hard to get off the field when the opportunity presents itself. We include any fourth down stop as a take-away.

The Process: Creating the Mentality

In order for the take-away mentality to take root, we must set the tone in spring football. When we meet, we discuss the drills, techniques and coaching points that will lead to our goal and to make sure we are striving to reinforce the take-away mentality in what we do. To help reinforce this objective, each coach has a chart with the names of his position group on it. On that chart are the categories:  Forced Fumbles, Fumble Recovery and Interceptions (See Chart 1).

Chart 1: Linebackers’ Coach Practice Plan

Whenever a player gets a turnover or take-away, the position coach will make a mark under those categories for that player. At the same time, if a player created that opportunity for another player, we will praise the player for doing so. Again, we’re trying to help reinforce a take-away mentality! We will do this for any group or team periods: Inside Run, 7-on-7 and General Team Periods. We keep a board with all the defensive players names on it and update the numbers after each practice. The player with the most in each category will receive a special helmet sticker for fall camp. This creates a competition among the players and a sense of pride in helping us achieve our goals (See Chart 2).


Chart 2: Spring 2014 Take-Away Chart


Creating a Mentality Through Practice:

Individual Periods

Individual drills are planned and coaching points are designed to help our players understand that our goal is to get the ball back to the offense (See Chart 3). 

Chart 3: Spring Practice Plan

Here are a couple of examples of how we use individual drills to create the mentality we want:

1. Defensive Line – Our D-line understands that what they do directly affects what happens behind them. They are the spear point to creating disruption in the offense, thus leading to mistakes by the offense. We refer to it as the “ripple effect”. What the defensive line does up front creates opportunities for their teammates behind them. We instill the mentality with the defensive line with such concepts as: caging the quarterback on a pass play and practice a drill, “The Cage Drill”. The objective of this drill is to not allow the QB to break the pocket and get outside with a clear view of his receivers. We feel that if the quarterback is closed in and the pocket is forced to collapse around him, he will make bad decisions to get rid of the ball. As we push the pocket back, our players will get their inside hands up. This creates two problems for the QB – 1. He doesn’t have a clear passing window to throw through. 2. Having hands up forces the QB to release high and this causes the ball to float and allows our secondary to break on the ball and potentially intercept. This is a big praising point for us in films and during practice. We will make the defensive linemen feel they had a part of that interception just by doing and believing in the take-away mentality.

2. Linebackers – Our linebackers work extremely hard in their pass zones and make sure they are visual on the quarterback so they can break to the ball. We try to incorporate a football in all our drills. We want them catching the ball as much as possible and teach them how to catch the football properly just like they were a receiver. We believe that if we want to see it out on the field we must spend the time on the fundamentals. We will also practice a cage drill with the linebackers keeping contain on the QB so when/if the QB breaks contain, the linebackers know to take over containment. Again, we do not want the QB to have a clear uncontested throwing lane downfield. If we can get the QB to rush the throw or release high, it increases our chances of positive plays made by our defense in pass coverage.

3.  Secondary – We work extremely hard as coaches to make sure that we incorporate catching a football in every drill. This includes pre-practice drills and during scheduled practice time. All of our feet/hip drills will finish with our DBs catching a ball. We feel that this is a great way to prepare our players to take advantage of a turnover opportunity by catching a ball in as many situations as possible. We also have them work hard to be in the proper place in our zones. We are predominately a zone coverage team so we spend a lot time getting visual to see the QB’s hand come off the ball. This allows us to get a jump on the break and create take-away opportunities.

We feel that group periods offer a great opportunity to instill the take-away mentality. We use a variety of different “tempos” to dictate the manner in which we control practice. One of those tempos is called “strip tempo”. This means during certain segments of practice (7- on-7) we will only be concentrating on stripping the ball for that period. We like the strip tempo in situations like the inside run and 7-on-7 where we don’t want to have a violent period but can still practice at making the take-away. This helps the entire team get better because the defense concentrates on getting the ball out and the offense can work on ball security. Again, any take-away successes are recorded by the position coach and emphasized during and after practice in front of the entire team. We are trying to use positive reinforcement to achieve the defensive goal.

Another way we incorporate and reinforce the take-away is by throwing “bonus balls” to the defense during the 7-on-7 period. We have offensive players or defensive players throwing to all DBs and LBs that are not involved in the play. This way we continue to practice catching the ball and maximizing our chances of capitalizing on a turnover opportunity. We will throw bonus balls during our pre-game warm up, just to get one more rep at catching the ball.

Team Periods

We use team periods to get everyone thinking about the take-away. Our daily team take-off periods are used to practice each phase of the take-away. Tuesdays are used for a take-away circuit where each coach will have a particular station to work on a skill. We have stations and drills that change from week to week in order to keep the period from getting stagnant. These stations can be used to practice a combination of game-related skills such as working the cut block and a strip in the same drill. We use this if we are facing a team that is a cutting team.

The stations can have a combination form tackle and strip at the same time. A second take-away skill we practice during our team take-off period is scoring after an interception. We will usually do this on a Thursday to wrap up the week of practice. This drill is fun for the defense and helps the players practice their responsibilities when an interception is made. We practice this so our players automatically get into a scoring mode and the act of scoring becomes an automatic response. Even if we do not score, by practicing this, it will get us as many yards as possible maximizing the opportunity and putting our offense in better field position.

Building a Take-Away Mentality Through Goal Setting

Each team unit (offense, defense, kicking game) has an equal responsibility to contribute to the success of the team. Our program combines all three in our team goals. We call them our “Big 5 Game Goals”. Our program’s success is usually attributed to accomplishing these goals. They include: 1. Win field position, 2. Win third down conversions, 3. Win the turnover ratio, 4. Have fewer penalties, 5.Win in the red zone.

We feel that the take-away mentality has a direct impact on achieving these goals and our defensive goals are a reflection of what we need to accomplish to be successful. Our defensive goal is to have at least three turnovers a game, win third down conversions and not give up the big play. The take-away mentality is a concept that we use to marry our game goals and defensive goals into one focused objective.
 
About the Author: Joey Mariani joined the Redlands staff in 2007 as an assistant coach, working primarily with running backs. In 2010, he became both Director of Football Operations and Defensive Coordinator. Mariani also coached at two different California high schools.