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shade

3 meanings

also: shading · shade the center · a shade

Standing on a defender's shoulder rather than head up on him. A number in one room and a word in the next, and occasionally a verb.

3 meanings, all below. Jump to the one you heard.

Defense

shade, the alignment

Any alignment on a shoulder instead of directly across from a man. On the technique scale these are the odd numbers, so a one technique is a shade of the center and a three technique is a shade of the guard. Being a half-man off is the whole point: it declares a gap before the snap and lets the defender attack it rather than read.

Also calledshading, a shade
Not to be confused withhead up, technique numbers
Defense

shade, the nose specifically

In ordinary conversation a shade with no other qualifier means the nose is on one shoulder of the center rather than head up, and a defense described as playing a shade is usually being described by that one player. This is the sense a coach means when he says the front is in a shade. It is narrower than the general alignment sense above.

Also calledshade nose, one technique
Not to be confused witha zero technique, which is head up
Defense

shade, the verb

Used as an instruction rather than a description. Shading a safety toward a formation's strength, or shading a linebacker toward a gap, means moving him a half-step that way without changing his assignment. Nothing to do with the line at all. It is the sense most likely to be heard in a secondary meeting.

Also calledcheat, favor
Not to be confused withthe line alignment

Where you will hear it

  • essentially every defense

By level

The number and the word are used interchangeably by most staffs and are not interchangeable across staffs, which is the practical problem: one coach's shade is another coach's one technique and a third coach's move him a half step over.

Related terms