Football 101: The Box

The casual NFL football fan constantly hears the announcers talk about the box. Usually it is in reference to how many players are in the box, or what changes the offense is making to adjust to the number of players in the box.

So what is this thing they call "the box" in football? It's an easy concept to understand. Allow me to break it down for you:

"The Box," in football terms, is the area of field incorporating the defensive line, linebackers and any secondary players in close proximity to the line of scrimmage. The parameters of said "box" are usually defined by the defensive line as a base, the line backers the opposite base, and with safeties or outside linebackers representing the edges, or the "sides," of the box.

This area of the field is particularly important, because the players in the box are generally the only players that can have an impact on the offense's ability to run the ball. The less people the defense has in the box to defend the run, the easier it is for the offense to run the ball. The more people the defense has in the box, the harder it becomes for the offense to run the ball.

Now that we have gone over the box and its role in the game of football, let's discuss how it operates. The offense will always have 5 offensive linemen in their formation.

The offense will always have a "quarterback," which could be any player set to receive the snap, but in general it is usually the team's actual QB, who the defense does not typically account for in the running game.

Now, to account for the offense's ability to run the ball, the defense counters with enough people to defend against the offense's 5 offensive linemen and however many people the offense puts in a position to run or block for the fun. If the offense has a fullback, tight end and a running back in the backfield and/or on the line of scrimmage, that means the offense has 8 people in a position to run or block for the running game.

In order not give up a deep pass play, most defenses would like to defend the run by putting 1 less person in the box than the offense has involved in their running game. So in the case where the offense has 8 people in the running game, the defense would like to only put 7 in the box.

However, as you can envision, the offense wins a lot of battles when it is has 8 players versus 7 defenders in the box, because that leaves one of their men free, and that could be a blocker who can then double team a defender in the box, or it could even be the running back who might go untouched en route to scoring a touchdown. Whoever it is that is unaccounted for by the defense, having one more man gives the offense an advantage. Thus, if the defense can't stop the run with 1 less player than the offense, they will usually go on to equal the number of players that the offense has in the box. Thus, in the case where the offense has 8 players in the run game, the defense will put 8 players in the box. This gives the defense the advantage, as they have the ability to account for everyone involved in the run game. However, equaling the number of players the offense has in the box does come with its disadvantages.

If the defense counters the offense's number of players involved in the run game with an equal number of players, that means the defense no longer has enough players to use two players to defend the deep pass on both sides of the field. Thus, if the offense notices the defense's trend of countering them man-for-man in the box, they will either call or audible to more pass plays, because now they have more one-on-one matchups against the defense's secondary. And in most cases, 1-on-1 matchups favor the offense when it comes to passing the ball.

So there you have it! Those are the basics of the "box" in football. It is quite simple to understand, and it is where the fundamentals of football strategy begin. When the defense has 1 less player in the box than the offense has in the run game, the offense wants to run. When the defense goes man-for-man in the box, the offense wants to pass. From there, teams get tricky by calling audibles, doing the unexpected, and using weird formations, but at its core, all football strategy starts with this basic premise of the box and the number of players in it.