The seven-man line defenses are
defensive alignments in
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
that utilize seven "down
linemen", or players on the
line of scrimmage
In gridiron football, a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line (across the width of the field) beyond which a team cannot cross until the next play has begun. Its location is based on the spot where the ball is placed after the end o ...
at the time of the
snap. While now obsolete as base defenses, these were the most prominent alignments before the
forward pass
In several forms of football, a forward pass is the throwing of the ball in the direction in which the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of the main distinguishers between gridiro ...
became prevalent and remained in use for some time thereafter. The two most common variants were the 7–2–2, or seven-box defense, and the 7–1–2–1, or seven-diamond defense:
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7–2–2 defense
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7–1–2–1 defense
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