We talk so much about offensive signals, but the defense needs a lot of signals and communication methods as well.
In today’s article we’ll look at a couple of different suggestions on how you can use wristbands with your defensive players to make things more streamlined during a game.
Today’s article is taken directly from “The Complete Guide to Football Signals: A Coach’s Handbook“
Using Wristbands for Defensive Signals
Just like with an offensive wristband, there are a lot of different ways to build defensive wristbands. Defenses typically don’t have nearly as many calls or options as an offense does so it can be more practical to put pictures of what your blitzes on a wristband.
Most offenses in game aren’t looking to pick the signs for a defense as much as the other way around, so sometimes simply yelling out the number on the wristband makes it practical in situations like this. Below is an example of what a wristband could look like if you had the calls drawn up and printed off.
Some coaches may not like this method because it does take work to redo them every week, but typically you can adapt them pretty closely week to week so it isn’t overly difficult to redo a wristband like this weekly.
Another way you can use the defensive wristband is similar to how the offense does and put your calls on there without pictures. You can categorize them however you want, but putting them on in a way that has a flow to it can help your players understand the importance of each section.
You will see an example below of a defensive wristband example. There are column headers (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta) and then also down and distances on the side. The coach would call in the section header (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta) and then look at the down and distance and that would give them their call.
This method requires your team to know the down and distance and understand situational football but it can be a way to get calls in very quick while getting everyone on the same page. In a system like this you will still need to have a call to get into something specific that doesn’t fit into the constraints of the down and distance.