Your defense will save you on the nights that your offense isn't working. — Adolph Rupp
Defense is what matters. Scoring doesn't interest me. — David Robinson
The best defense is a good offense. — Jack Dempsey
Criticize on defense and encourage on offense. — John Brady
If you're not talking, you're not playing defense — Doc Rivers
Defensive and offensive lineman control the game and true sports fans know that. — Dante Hall
Fighting football, not serenity football - that is what I like. — Jurgen Klopp
The strategies of offense and defense are very similar between chess and football. Chess really brought closeness to the team back in those days. — Rubin Carter
Best defense, thorough analysis, margin for error — Howard Marks
Football is a game played with arms, legs and shoulders but mostly from the neck up. — Knute Rockne
It takes brains. It's not like a forward, where you can get away with scoring and not play defense. On defense you have to be thinking. — Chris Chelios
A great defensive effort. The one thing we have to do is make it hard for people to beat us. We're not worried about winning and losing, we just have to make the game hard — John Calipari
We should play free football, defend lively with a passion, and have the best understanding in offense. — Jurgen Klopp
Football is a game about feelings and intelligence. — Jose Mourinho
Defender Football Quotes
Daei's all alone here, with four Chelsea defenders for company. — Peter Drury
He's a wizard with his feet and is blessed with a gift for scoring goals. His best quality is his speed while the ball is at his feet. He may be the fastest man ever to lace up a football boot. No defender in the world can keep up with him. — Lilian Thuram
We scored a goal and defended until the end with great spirit. We have a lot of young players and I hope we can keep on like this. — Lorik Cana
Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.
In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender. — Sayings
If you look at the whole package, with everything Henry has, I don't think you can find that anywhere else. You give him the ball in the right place and his acceleration will take him past any defender in the world. — Dennis Bergkamp
The score is high and very brutal but does not reflect what we saw on the pitch. The first shot on goal was a goal. The second was an own goal. The third was straight after half-time. They defend like mad and they catch us on the break. — Arsene Wenger
Football, beer, and above all gambling, filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.
He's showed him the left leg, then the right. Where's the ball, the defender asks? It's up his sleeve. — Clive Tyldesley
Some coaches spend their time trying to get an overview of all eleven defenders. I prefer to zero in on one guy at a time to get the right clue. — Sid Gillman
You get hit the hardest when trying to run or hide from a problem. Like the defense on a football field, putting all focus on evading only one defender is asking to be blindsided. — Criss Jami
Boxing was on the one hand barbaric, unconscionable, out of place in modern society. But then, so are war, racism, poverty, and pro football. Men died boxing, yet there was nobility in defending oneself. — Ralph Wiley
Football Team Quotes
You can change your wife, your politics, your religion, but never, never can you change your favourite football team. — Eric Cantona
A team is not made up of isolated individuals. Always stay in the game. Don't be passive. Football is a team game. No one plays alone. Success depends on your whole team being a single unit. — Pele
Hungry is a word that I've been analyzing here of late. It's not hunger that drives me, it's not hunger that needs to drive our football team. Hunger and thirst are things that can be quenched. We have to be a driven group, we have to seek greatness. — Mike Tomlin
That's the beauty of sport. Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you cry.
When you start supporting a football club, you don't support it because of the trophies, or a player, or history, you support it because you found yourself somewhere there; found a place where you belong. — Dennis Bergkamp
A football team is a like a beautiful woman, when you do not tell her, she forgets she is beautiful — Arsene Wenger
I've got a Championship game to play and I'm excited about the opportunity of my damn strong football team to play in it. — Les Miles
Of course, my father was a soccer player. He used to play very good. Then I was young, eight or nine years, ten years old, I just want to be like my father.
It's time for the New England Patriots to move on and that's what our job is. And as I said, our goal is the same: to have a winning football team, to be a pillar in the community. That's what our direction is; that's what we're going to do. — Bill Belichick
The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven. — Knute Rockne
I'm the head coach at LSU. I will be the head coach at LSU. I have no interest in talking to anybody else. I got a championship game to play, and I'm excited for the opportunity of my damn strong football team to play in it. Please ask me after. I'm busy. Thank you very much. Have a great day! — Les Miles
It's never an upset if the so-called underdog has all along considered itself the better team. — Woody Hayes
Nfl Football Quotes
A champion is simply someone who did not give up when he wanted to. — Tom Landry
The quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence. — Tom Landry
A good football coach needs a patient wife, a loyal dog and a great quarterback - but not necessarily in that order. — Bud Grant
You fail all the time, but you aren't a failure until you start blaming someone else. — Bum Phillips
Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck. — Don Shula
If I could start my life all over again, I would be a professional football player, and you damn well better believe I would be a Pittsburgh Steeler. — Jack Lambert
I believe the game is designed to reward the ones who hit the hardest - If you can't take it, you shouldn't play! — Jack Lambert
Hey fellas! This is what you work all off season for. This is why you lift all them weights! This is why you do all that! — Bill Parcells
Being stubborn is a virtue when you're right; it's only a character flaw when you're wrong. — Chuck Noll
American Football Quotes
Somewhere inside, we hear a voice. It leads us in the direction of the person we wish to become. But it is up to us whether or not to follow. — Pat Tillman
Don't ever promise more than you can deliver, but always deliver more than you promise. — Lou Holtz
Football is just a game. What matters is what you play for. — Ernie Davis
Remind your critics when they say you don't have the expertise or experience to do something that an amateur built the ark and the experts built the Titanic — Peyton Manning
But when I look back I can't call myself unlucky. My 23rd birthday was December 14. In these years I have had more than most people get in a lifetime. — Ernie Davis
True loyalty is that quality of service that grows under adversity and expands in defeat. Any street urchin can shout applause in victory, but it takes character to stand fast in defeat. One is noise - the other, loyalty. — Fielding H. Yost
Greatness is a lot of small things done well. Day after day, workout after workout, obedience after obedience, day after day. — Ray Lewis
There's no substitute for hard work and effort beyond the call of duty. That is what strengthens the soul and ennobles one's character. — Walter Camp
If my mother put on a helmet and shoulder pads and a uniform that wasn't the same as the one I was wearing, I'd run over her if she was in my way. And I love my mother. — Bo Jackson
Alabama fans love Alabama football. Auburn fans love Auburn. — Pat Dye
Sports Football Quotes
Football is the only sport where you put people together, it doesn't matter if you are rich, or poor, or black, or white. It is one nation. This is the beauty of football. — Pele
Some succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined to. — Henry Van Dyke
It's not the will to win that matters-everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters. — Bear Bryant
Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man. — Pele
I had no interest in fashion when I was younger. I was such a tomboy. I loved soccer, as you call it, or sports in general. The first time I was a bridesmaid, to my auntie, I refused to go down the aisle without my football shorts underneath my dress. — Cara Delevingne
The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb. — Knute Rockne
My only feeling about superstition is that it's unlucky to be behind at the end of the game. — Duffy Daugherty
If you're in the penalty area and don't know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we'll discuss the options later. — Bob Paisley
If you're willing to put yourself and your dreams on the line, at the very least you'll discover an inner strength you may not have known existed. — Kurt Warner
I want to be remembered as the guy who gave his all whenever he was on the field. — Walter Payton
Basketball Defense Quotes
I asked them if it wasn't too much trouble, if I wasn't being too pushy, if they could execute what we were trying to do. And if it didn't make them too angry, if they also wanted to play some defense on the other end, that would be great. — Gregg Popovich
I thought we were aggressive across the board defensively, and you could just see it grow. As the game went along, you could see the confidence grow. It showed in the fourth quarter. — Bill Laimbeer
Once the Hack-a-Shaq works once, you know I'm going to see it again. The only thing worse for basketball than that defense is the Lack-a-Shaq offense, where I have to go to the bench because of foul trouble. There is no fun in that. — Shaquille O'Neal
If one of our players gets his second foul in the first half, then he must come out of the game and not re-enter until the second half. To play defense and not foul is an art that must be mastered if you are going to be successful. — Chuck Daly
When we're playing a good scoring center, we tell our team that it is not our defensive man's job to stop the center. It's the responsibility of our perimeter people to stop the ball from going inside. — Bobby Knight
You have to make shots to win basketball games and we didn't do that. You also have to get back on defense, so it was a double-whammy. — Gregg Popovich
Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up. — Red Auerbach
Good defensive play is as much a matter of hustle, desire and pride as it is anything else. — Tex Winter
Defense doesn't break down on the help, it breaks down on the recovery. — Chuck Daly
If you are a good team, your offense is born on the defensive end. — Don Meyer
Defensive Backs Quotes
It is true that a victim who fights back may suffer for it, but one who does not almost certainly will suffer for it. — Jeff Cooper
You are most powerful when you are most silent. People never expect silence. They expect words, motion, defense, offense, back and forth. They expect to leap into the fray. They are ready, fists up, words hanging leaping from their mouths. Silence? No. — Alison McGhee
Only in time of fear is government thrown back to its primitive and sole function of self-defense and the many interests of which it is the guardian become subordinate to that. — Jane Addams
The one who fights back retains his dignity and his self-respect. — Jeff Cooper
The Berlin Defence suited my strategy for the match. I had a defensive strategy - Actually, I had in my pocket some other sharper stuff to fall back on - but first I wanted to try the defensive strategy with Black and it worked so well. — Vladimir Kramnik
The victims of social injustice, since time eternal, have always been without the resources and the ability to fight back. They are defenseless and voiceless. Thee sad aspect of social injustice is that the defenseless and voiceless are the ones who most need a defense and a strong, vibrant voice. — Tommy Makem
I am disappointed, but I am realistic too. When you put your defense back on the field repeatedly, the offense needs to do its job and the defense needs to get itself off the field. — Les Miles
The criminal does not expect his prey to fight back. May he never choose you, but, if he does, surprise him. — Jeff Cooper
It's well known that the greatest defence against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back. — Vince Vaughn
Probably the most important aspect of individual defensive play is the 'close-out.' This approach to the ball should be made in a 'step-drag action' with advanced foot moving forward first and then the back foot in a boxer's type shuffling of the feet. — Tex Winter
Football Game Quotes
Football is about joy. It's about dribbling. I favour every idea that makes the game beautiful. Every good idea has to last. — Ronaldinho
Mike, did you ever see the movie 'Cast Away?' In that movie, Tom Hanks' only friend was a ball named Wilson. In this game, Russell Wilson's only friend is a football. — Jon Gruden
Football is one of the world's best means of communication. It is impartial, apolitical and universal. Football unites people around the world every day. Young or old, players or fans, rich or poor, the game makes everyone equal, stirs the imagination, makes people happy and makes them sad — Franz Beckenbauer
The grid is like the lines on a football field. You can play a great game in the grid or a lousy game. But the goal is to play a really fine game. — Wim Crouwel
I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose. — Woody Hayes
Money is not a motivating factor. Money doesn't thrill me or make me play better because there are benefits to being wealthy. I'm just happy with a ball at my feet. My motivation comes from playing the game I love. If I wasn't paid to be a professional footballer I would willingly play for nothing. — Lionel Messi
If the psychic energies of the average mass of people watching a football game or a musical comedy could be diverted into the rational channels of a freedom movement, they would be invincible. — Wilhelm Reich
If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead. — Erma Bombeck
Football is a game you cannot play without making mistakes. — Jurgen Klopp
Touch Football Quotes
Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate. — Sayings
I don't understand referees. It appears like some players can't even be touched, but in my case, everyone can hit me as hard as they can. — Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo can do whatever he wants as a footballer. There are some things he does with the ball that make me touch my head and wonder how he did it. — Cristiano Ronaldo
For years Paul Scholes has been one of the best players in the Premiership. He's incredible. He has always been under-rated throughout his career. He's a team player, a one and two-touch footballer who makes good decisions on the pitch and makes his team play. — Thierry Henry
You know how in sports baseball players, they hit home runs. Football players, they throw and they score touchdowns. I get to do something that very few people get to do - I get to touch the human brain, and every day I get to hit home runs, I get to score touchdowns. — Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa
When all the girls were getting all made up and getting into all that girl stuff in junior high I was out playing softball or touch football with the guys. — Catherine Bell
I know I had been successful in football. I had been successful in broadcasting. I didn't think that anything could touch me. I thought, I can beat anything. — Pat Summerall
There is a broad cultural current that conveys the idea that a film is like a football team, it represents a nation, it is illustrated literature, filmed radio. These are outdated concepts, totally out of touch with today's realities. — Jean-Jacques Annaud
As a kid, I played my share of football in the street or in a vacant lot. When we were playing in the street, it was more touch football, so we didn't hit each other into cars. — Barry Sanders
I also developed an interest in sports, and played in informal games at a nearby school yard where the neighborhood children met to play touch football, baseball, basketball and occasionally, ice hockey. — Steven Chu
Football Season Quotes
I played football for a team called the East Dragons on the east side of town. We only had six regular season games. And six games I played tail back and I had 18 touchdowns in six games. That's when I knew I had some athletic ability. — LeBron James
Alan Shearer has done very well for us, considering his age. We have introduced some movement into his game because he has got two good legs now. Last season he played with one leg. — Bobby Robson
There's two times of year for me: Football season, and waiting for football season. — Darius Rucker
Men, I want you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only: Super Bowl. — Bill Peterson
Pro football is a game; not a war. It's for win or lose, not life or death... but say that in the summer, for winter brings the playoffs, and a season is at stake. — John Facenda
I've been consistent in patches this season. — Theo Walcott
In international football you have 10 games a season, with players from different clubs. There's no time for proper coaching; they're just recovering from playing on the Saturday. — Graham Taylor
Football season: The only time of the year when a man can walk down the street with a blond on one arm and a blanket on the other without encountering raised eyebrows. — Bennett Cerf
I always wanted everyone to like me. I wanted the city of Pittsburgh to be proud of me. But my first few seasons, I could to count the number of people on my bandwagon on one finger. — Terry Bradshaw
The football season is like pain. You forget how terrible it is until it seizes you again. — Sally Quinn
My advice to defensive players: Take the shortest route to the ball and arrive in a bad humor. — Bowden Wyatt
People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society. — Vince Lombardi
Now that I'm retired, I want to say that all defensive linemen are sissies. — Dan Fouts
The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.
People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.
Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. — Vince Lombardi
Basketball also helps you learn to move your feet by playing defense and guarding guys, and that all carries over to playing football with staying square and having good footwork. — Calvin Pryor
Football is one-third offense, one-third defense, and one-third special teams. — George Allen
I’m concerned that if one of those two areas doesn’t play up to par – if they give up some points or they can’t run the football – and it gets stuck on Russell Wilson’s shoulders…if he has to stay in the pocket against good defenses, read coverages, make the right plays, see the field, that’s where I worry. — Kurt Warner
Go back through football, and you will see that the team with the best defense wins. — Vince Lombardi
Being a running back helped me tremendously. It taught me judgement in the defense and how to judge the football. — Tommy McDonald
A good football team plays offense and defense. You have to be aggressive and disrupt. — Vince Flynn
God bless those runners because they get you the first down, give you ball control and keep your defense off the field. But if you want to ring the cash register, you have to pass. — Sid Gillman
I didn't play in the NFL, and I didn't play defensive line. But football, at the fundamental level, is football. It's about motivating people and getting the best out of them. — Brendan Daly
It was fun, having speed and being able to jump. Especially playing football. I played wide receiver and defensive back. — Jacoby Ellsbury
Have we become a cupcake league? We already have better helmets and gear. Wonder how the old school players feel about this. Not in the back of minds when talking about 18 game season so let's play football please... Even guys using shoulders to hit are getting flagged for helmet-to-helmet. Defense is getting sloppy because guys are avoiding fines and will get worse if suspending comes into play. — Phillip Daniels
The Seahawks defense has to go balls deep to win this game. — Jon Gruden
You know how in football, guys throw defenses, and the defense throws you a look, but the look is not really what it is - it's only made to fool you. It's the same thing with drugs. The drug is only an illusion to draw you in. — Rick Ross
We always try to mix it up-three-step drop, five-step drop, seven-step drop, naked bootleg. We spread out all these kinds of things to keep the defensive pass rush unbalanced. — Drew Brees
The positions I played in football, being a quarterback and a defensive back, you had to kind of have a little independent thinking. — Hale Irwin
It actually took me a year to learn how to play running back - to understand what they were doing defensively and then what our guys were doing every single play. — Marcus Allen
The offense sells tickets and the defense wins the games. — Lindsey Nelson
Chess is a very positive way to exercise your mind. It makes you look at the whole picture...what are your options and what is the best thing to do? In football, you are mostly reacting from a defensive point of view...but you always want to be counterattacking...a similarity with chess strategy. Chess and offensive football are quite similar; you sacrifice something now to get something back later. — Barney Chavous
...chess is "a lot like football because you have to set up your offense and your defense, every once in a while you need to give up a piece of your team in order to make the big play. It's a game of patience, and that pretty much defines how I run the ball. I'm patient, always looking for the opportunity and always trying to capitalize on the other person's mistake." — Priest Holmes
The open side Defensive End has to be one of your best football players. Size does not matter as much. We want an athletic player who can move around. — Pete Carroll
There's a famous saying: "If you pass the square ball in your own defensive third it must not be intercepted." — Graham Taylor
Playing against a defensive opponent is just as bad as making love to a tree. — Jorge Valdano
The Cowboy's defense has more holes in it than Ronny Milsapp and Jose Feliciano after a game of lawn darts. — Dennis Miller
In Conclusion
Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of football defense quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about football defense to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of football defense quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.
