Juan Rodriguez

After the Ducks 2021 Season there was a merger of two teams. The Ducks Merged with another Chicago team called the Cardinals. Together we formed BirdGang.

Based on the new coaching staff alignment; It was brought to my attention that Defensive Coordinator would be a position that needs to be filled, I had no problem stepping up and filling that role even though I had always been an Offensive Coach.

In 2 Seasons as the Defensive Coordinator we accomplished

#1 Defense in the league back to back seasons

2 Championship appearances.

1 Championship Victory

2 National Bowl Game Appearance's

1 National Bowl Game Victory

Top 5 Minor League Football National Ranking

Defensive Philosophy= We ran a 2 high structure as a base defense. Quarters defense with a built in pre snap check system that allowed the defense to be flexible vs various offensive alignments and we utilized gap exchanges in our defensive front to allow for us to be able to stop the run without needing to always line up in an 8 man box.

The philosophy was to be a stagnant defense on early downs prioritizing gap integrity and pursuit to the ball as a unit. High Emphasis on alignment and assignment; pursuit to the ball and good tackling technique.

Our 3rd down/passing situation defense was a lot more creative. That's where we would deploy odd fronts and disguise coverage. Show two high but roll into a cover 1 man with a robber while the defensive front is showing pressure with the ability to bluff and only send 3 or 4. With the occasional all out blitz.

Situationally we want to stop the run on early downs and make the Quarterbacks life hell on passing situations. Force the offense into 1 dimensional football and unleash a variety of fronts and coverages based on attacking the offenses weak spots on the offensive line. Make the QB hold the ball with the disguised coverage while simultaneously manufacturing a rush that focuses on their weak link in pass protection. We can rush 4 and drop 7 if we have the personnel to get home with 4, but i have no problem using scheme to generate pressure. twists, stunts and simulated pressures.

Had success with wrinkle pressure packages weekly. Always having a new alignment to throw off the opposing offense on passing situations. Double A gap alignment; loaded fronts; 5 man fronts ect. The alignments would change weekly but the philosophy remained the same, infiltrate the pass protection without having to blitz in high volume, disguise the coverages in order to buy your pass rush another half a second.

The position group i was most hands on with was the defensive line, We were fortunate enough to earn a bid to a national bowl game in Florida. We won in overtime and the MVP and co MVP of the game were both defensive lineman.

From 2016 to 2022 I Was Offensive Coordinator for the Chicago Ducks.

Accomplishments include: 6 Straight seasons of top 3 scoring offense in the MSFL league which was the most competitive Semi Pro League in the midwest. We also had 2 Championship Appearances with 1 Championship Victory. As the OC I was responsible for designing the offense and installing the offense in practice. I always dictate the scheme based on the personnel. My philosophy is PLAYERS over SCHEME. With that philosophy in action I design the offense through the Offensive LIne and Quarterback. I believe in finding our best run plays based on our offensive line strengths and building out the offensive attack from that.

We install our run game and find a variation of ways to run the same run play from different formations. The more ways you can run the ball will produce more ways you can throw the ball. Utilizing motion in the run game with identical motion in the pass game allows the offense to force the defense to play honest.

Another key piece to my offensive philosophy is to break down scheme through situational football. I believe the plays are only as good as the situational execution. So we have a game plan installation process that is very thorough and allows the players to not only learn the actual play but also understand the objective of the play based on situations.

1st Down Offense= I call this *Drive Starters* This will be our bread and butter run plays for the week along with our base quick passing game concepts for the week. This allows us to have an early down plan to ensure we are in advantagous 2nd and 3rd down situations.

shot plays; Every week we have a couple game plan specific shot plays lined up in case of a sudden change situation, our defense causes a turnover and we want to catch the defense off guard with a shot play. I define a shot play as a play action pass built off of our break and butter run plays of the week, So we intentionally design plays off of our 1st down play calls. Shot plays also can be great for 2nd and short yardage situations.

3rd down: we install 3rd downs based on distance, 3rd and 3 or less. 3rd and medium (4-8 yards) and 3rd and long which is 3rd and 9+. Typically we have a motion in the 3rd down package as a *coverage indicator* 3rd down is all about identifying the coverage and making life easier for the QB

Redzone: Redzone install is broken down into 3 phases. High redzone-15+yardline. mid redzone inside the 10 Yrd line, and low redzone which is inside the 5/ goalline.

2min offense: 2 minute drill, We practice the 2 minute drill with an emphasis on clock management, Run through situations where we have all 3 time outs and situations where we have 0 timeouts.

4 min offense: Run through our 4 min offense script which consists of a plan to sustaining possession of the ball with the mindset of ball security and moving the chains'

Aside from handling OC duties I was also hands on with the QB position. Within those 6 seasons my QB Andre Locke was a 3 time League MVP.