How Does A Football Team Defend Against Counters?

How do you defend against counters and misdirection plays? A counter is when the running back takes a step or two to one side, then comes back the other way. This is a misdirection play we use to take advantage of aggressive linebackers. So how do you stop this?

We teach our linebackers to flow in the direction of the running back if you are on the same side. For example, the running back gets the ball and is running a Sweep to the left. You are the left outside linebacker, you flow left.

If you are the right outside linebacker, you stay and wait for a counter. That’s it. Easy right?

No. Most linebackers want to stop the play and it’s hard to coach this out of them.

Again, if you are the outside linebacker on the side where the running back is going, you flow to that side. The backside linebacker stays and waits for the counter. Practice this with an adult scout team and watch if they defend it correctly.

In the above, if the running back is going left (black arrow), the MLB and LLB flow to that side, while the RLB stays and waits. If he counters (red arrow), the RLB will be in position to make the play. The LLB in this case would trail the play.