94 Playing Defense Quotes
Following is our list of playing defense quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about defense.
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Famous Playing Defense Quotes
If you're not talking, you're not playing defense — Doc Rivers
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
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
Stop by stop by stop. Play aggressively. Sprint back on 'D' and pay attention to how we're supposed to guard as a team — Gregg Popovich
The best defense is a good offense. — Jack Dempsey
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
Criticize on defense and encourage on offense. — John Brady
Good defensive play is as much a matter of hustle, desire and pride as it is anything else. — Tex Winter
It’s how I’ve been playing my whole life, guarding the best player on the other team. — Kawhi Leonard
Goals have never defined me as a player. What has defined me is my impact on the team. If that means passing or playing defense to win, I'll do it. — Mia Hamm
Defense is superior to opulence. — Adam Smith
Whoever I’m playing against, I go in and try to stop their best scorer and try to get myself going on the offensive end. — Kawhi Leonard
It's important for us, if we're going to be a good team, to be a good defensive team in the fourth quarter. — Steve Nash
Best defense, thorough analysis, margin for error — Howard Marks
Short Playing Defense Quotes
- Defensive and offensive lineman control the game and true sports fans know that. — Dante Hall
- There is no such thing as a successful defense. — George S. Patton
- Before you can win a game, you have to not lose it. — Chuck Noll
- To be a great player, you have to affect the entire unit. — Nick Saban
Playing Defense Basketball 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
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
If you want team play, you must stress defense. Defense makes players unselfish. — John Brady
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
That’s how I grew up. Just play defense – and make a basket. — Kawhi Leonard
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
I blame Riley for my broken thumb, not Matt Geiger. That ain't defense Miami is playing. That's just chopping. I have no idea how his team gets away with it. I guess when you've been in the league 30 years you can do it. Respect, he gets it - he's like John Gotti. — Shaquille O'Neal
I'm one of the best defenders to ever play basketball, so I'm still the first option on defense. — Metta World Peace
I knew Rick Pitino was going to make them play that outbreak, monkey defense. He's been doing it all his life. — Shaquille O'Neal
Defense Quotes
If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim. — Jeff Cooper
When a government betrays the people by amassing too much power and becoming tyrannical, the people have no choice but to exercise their original right of self-defense — to fight the government. — Alexander Hamilton
Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace. — James Madison
If you find yourself under lethal attack don't be kind. Be harsh. Be tough. Be ruthless. — Jeff Cooper
Karate is not a game. It is not a sport. It is not even a system of self-defense. Karate is half physical exercise and half spiritual. The karateist who has given the necessary years of exercise and meditation is a tranquil person. He is unafraid. He can even be calm in a burning building. — Mas Oyama
Education is, quite simply, peace-building by another name. It is the most effective form of defense spending there is. — Kofi Annan
Brave men do not gather by thousands to torture and murder a single individual, so gagged and bound he cannot make even feeble resistance or defense. — Ida B. Wells
We are the only people on Earth asked to guarantee the security of our occupier...while Israel is the only country that calls for defense from its victims. — Hanan Ashrawi
I don't think I was awake for much of my childhood. I did a lot of napping. This might have been a defensive measure against encroaching depression. Until about the age of eleven or twelve, I had zero interests other than trying to steal gumballs from supermarket gumball machines. — Michael Ian Black
Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who kept their swords. — Benjamin Franklin
Military Defense Quotes
A people who mean to be free must be prepared to meet danger in person, and not rely upon the fallacious protection of armies — Edmund Randolph
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. — Martin Luther King, Jr.
We will strengthen our security by building missile defense, restoring our military might, and standing by and strengthening our intelligence officers. — Mitt Romney
These are the strategic dialectics of anti-imperialist struggle: through the defensive reactions of the system, the escalation of counterrevolution, the transformation of the political martial law into military martial law, the enemy betrays himself, becomes visible. — Ulrike Meinhof
Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can complel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. — Dwight D. Eisenhower
(God) gives the weak a weapon for self-defense that the strong, despite his military and nuclear arsenals, can do nothing against. There are clerics who condemn this and even say that these are suicide operations that are not allowed in Islam. — Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Strategic air assault is wasted if it is dissipated piecemeal in sporadic attacks between which the enemy has an opportunity to readjust defenses or recuperate. — Henry H. Arnold
Let us hope our weapons are never needed - but do not forget what the common people of this nation knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. — Edward Abbey
Now this brings me to my main topic - our military strength - more specifically, how to stay strong against threat from outside, without undermining the economic health that supports our security. — Dwight D. Eisenhower
Putting together a counter- terrorism policy, it's very easy to look at law enforcement or defense, military action or stopping the money flows or whatever, but the really difficult part is integrating all aspects of the policy, and I think she put a lot of emphasis on that. — Lee H. Hamilton
People Writing About Playing Defense
More Playing Defense Quotes
Each and every Notary Public plays a crucial role in combating identity theft. They serve as our front line of defense and the public is safer because of the job they do. — Ken Salazar
We have to get better at that. All of the Stanley Cup winning teams throughout the past few seasons, when they needed to play defense, they did it. If you can play defense, that's when you know it's game over. — Steve Yzerman
Withstanding hardships is a sort of sport. You can’t control how life plays, but you can control your defensive strategy. — Isaac Mashman
If you are going to have to play defense all the time, you cannot have the kind of ingenuity, assertiveness, independence, and intelligence which is what has made our country strong. — Arlen Specter
I really like to play inside. I really like being able to go one-on-one with an offensive lineman every play. At defensive end, you're more running up the field and containing more than you are just against an offensive lineman. — Darrion Scott
The accent in the counter attack style of play lays on the defensive team function, with the emphasis being on the defender's own half of the field and letting the opponents keep the initiative of the game. This is to take advantage of the space behind their defense for the buildup and the attack. — Rinus Michels
When you play against an experienced opponent who exploits all the defensive resources at his command you sometimes have to walk time and again, along the narrow path of 'the only move'. — David Bronstein
It's a game of making great pitches at the right time, being opportunistic by getting a run at the right time and playing good defense. — Mike Candrea
I try to be a smart quarterback. I'm not the fastest or the best athlete, but if I can know what the defense is doing and stick to my job and what needs to be done I can make the plays needed to move the ball and score. — Eli Manning
When you play against different people from all walks of life you can't do the same thing against every player defensively or offensively. You have to change up the way you go at a player. — Oscar Robertson
My mental approach is totally different. My coach predicated everything on defense. He always talked about defense, defense, defense. I took it to heart that if you play defense, you can take the heart from an offensive player. — Eric Williams
I feel more comfortable with the ball in my hands, playing the point guard. But I like playing the 2, too. I think I bring tough defense and the ability to score and also get my teammates the ball to score. — Willie Green
I don't ever want it to be a question whether I'm a Pro Bowl-caliber player, I believe I'm the best at what I do, and it's my responsibility to play like I'm capable of playing and help this defense as much as possible. — Derrick Thomas
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
Among top grandmasters the Dutch is a rare defense, which is good reason to play it! It has not been studied very deeply by many opponents, and theory, based on a small number of 'reliable' games, must be rather unreliable. — Bent Larsen
I probably visualize myself, the shots I'm going to get in the game, how I'm going to play defense, what we have to do to stop the other team's best player, what it's going to take out of me, the whole aspect of the game. — Paul Pierce
And we ask the American people to play an important part of our layered defense. We ask for cooperation, patience and a commitment to vigilance in the face of a determined enemy. — Janet Napolitano
When I come off the bench, I'm looking to add energy, and then I play defense and rebound. Also, at the end of the game, I have the experience to go out there and help us win. — Sue Wicks
Neurotic identity crises come when our defense mechanisms have been too successful and we're encapsulated in the fortress we have constructed with nothing to refresh us in our solitary confinement. So we play the old movies with their stale fears and their unrealistic hopes until we become bored enough to risk disarmament and engagement. — Sam Keen
Defense to me is the key to playing baseball. — Willie Mays
We've been playing ugly. Without all of our bodies, we've been kicking it all over the shop, but fortunately we've been able to make the big buckets and rely on our defense for once. — Steve Nash
Before, shortstops and second basemen were mostly defensive guys that made all the plays and didn't really hit that well. But now it's beginning to change a little bit. Now, shortstops and second basemen are very productive in terms of run producing. — Chase Utley
You could have a season where you hit .330 and did all these great things, but nothing ever materialized from it and you went home October One. Or you could hit .260 and have key hits and key plays on defense that help your team get to the playoffs and win the World Series. — Andre Ethier
I think when you play a role, you always have to be a defense attorney for that character. — Matt Bomer
A good football team plays offense and defense. You have to be aggressive and disrupt. — Vince Flynn
I think every time I go in a game, I have added something positive. I have gotten a rebound or made a defensive play. That is what I try to focus on. — Rebecca Lobo
I loved to make a great defensive play, I'd rather do that than hit a home run. — Bill Dickey
I wasn't sure of the exact mindset you should have when you go into a Test match. So I probably became too defensive when I played my first Test match. Short balls in one-day cricket, I have never thought of just defending. — Virat Kohli
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
I've never had a quarterback run-driven offense. We don't run designed plays where we snap the ball directly to the quarterback and he's just running it. If the defense is cheating and overcompensating for your running back, then the quarterback needs to keep (it) honest. — Chip Kelly
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
I think Barcelona and the Spanish national team have been good for soccer because there are a lot of teams that come up playing from the back : with the goalie, the defense, moving up a defender to midfield, playing attacking soccer. I think fans want to see that. They want to see beautiful soccer, a spectacle, and Barcelona does that. — Xavi
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