What is a Nickel and Dime Defense?
If you’ve ever watched a football game on TV, you are likely to hear one of the announcers mention that the defense is in a nickel or dime formation. This means that the defense is predicting that the offense will pass the ball instead of run. Nickel means there are five defensive backs playing (since defensive backs cover the offense’s wide receivers), and dime means there are six. Normally, the defense only has four defensive backs on the field.
