Defending the Option With the 4-3 Defense

The modern 4-3 Defense was originally designed by Jimmy Johnson and the Miami Hurricanes to stop the Wishbone Option that Barry Switzer was running in Oklahoma. The Miami 4-3 Defense, or 4-3 Over Defense, as it is known today, is one of the best defensive fronts to try to stop the Option in football today.
The main reason that the front is so good against the Option is the clear Option fits that are built into the defense. Knowing who is going to be responsible for the Dive Back, Quarterback and Pitch Man on every Option play is crucial to stopping the offense.
The Dive Back
In the 4-3 Over Defense, the 4 Defensive Linemen and the Mike Linebacker are going to be taking away the Dive Back. This may seem like overkill, but the Dive Back is the only person who has players blocking specifically for him. Everyone else, the Quarterback and the Pitch Player, are going to be reading and taking advantage of the defenders.
In the 4-3 Defense, the Mike Linebacker always keys the Dive Back. He is a 2-gap player, responsible for Strong A Gap or Weak B Gap. Whichever way the Dive Back goes, the Mike Linebacker will fill hard in that direction. He is the toughest Linebacker used in the defense, because of the war he will be in with a fullback all night long against power running games.
The Defensive Ends will be the player that the Quarterback is reading. In traditional defenses, he is expected to be a Quarterback player, because he is aligned in the C Gap.
In the 4-3 Defense, the Defensive Ends are taught to bend hard to the inside and tackle the dive back if they are unblocked. They are taught that being unblocked should be read as "Run Away" and the Defensive End needs to fly straight down the line of scrimmage, where he will collision the dive back.
The Quarterback
The Quarterback is going to be accounted for by the Outside Linebackers, called the Sam (strong side) and Will (weak side). They will end up on the Quarterback by performing a gap exchange with the Defensive Ends.
A gap exchange means that while initially the backer appears to have the inside gap, and the End have the outside gap, when the play develops and the End is unblocked, his bending run will put him in control of the inside gap.
The Linebacker sees this, and expects it because it has been practiced hundreds or thousands of times, and fits to the outside of the Defensive End. Here he will take away the Quarterback, forcing the pitch.
Defending the Pitch Man
The 4-3 Defense always wants to force the ball to the pitch. As long as the ball is moving sideways, there is a chance to run it down with team speed.
When the ball is pitched, there is always the possibility of a fumble as well. Even though a perfect pitch can be extremely dangerous if not defended properly, a bad pitch can be disastrous for the offense.
The pitch will be defended by the force player, or outside contain player. In the 4-3 Defense, which is a 2-High Safety Defense, this will either be the Cornerback (Cover 2) or the Safety (Cover 4 or Quarters).
The pitch is also going to be defended by the other inside players recognizing that the ball has continued to move laterally, and pursuing to the football. The foundation of the 4-3 Defense is team speed. Team speed can defeat any Offense, and by getting your fastest players on the field and teaching them to properly run the 4-3 Defense, you can stop the Option.

ExperTrans language - multilingual services
ExperTrans voice-overs services
ExperTrans interpreting translation services