Nose guard

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Nose guard, or NT, is a defensive position in American football. In five-lineman situations, such as a goal-line formation, the nose guard is the innermost lineman, flanked on either side by a defensive tackle. More often, the nose guard will be employed as the interior defender in the 3-4 defense. The nose guard lines up directly opposite the offensive center, or over the center's "nose". Nose guards tend to be shorter than most other defensive linemen. They are very strong and their responsibility is to stop runs down the middle and draw double teams.

Extremely quick nose guards are sometimes used to shoot through the offensive line before it can react. They then sack the quarterback or make a tackle shortly after a hand off. However, this is rare because most defensive linemen are not quick enough to consistently shoot the gaps between the individual offensive linemen.

Current nose guards of note include Jamal Williams of the San Diego Chargers, Ted Washington (6'-4" 365 lb) of the Cleveland Browns, Vince Wilfork (6'-2" 325lb) of the New England Patriots, and Casey Hampton (6'-1" 338 lb) of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"Nose guard" is often a term incorrectly applied to the defensive tackle in a 3-4 defensive scheme. This position is known as a nose tackle. Nose guards are sometimes also referred to as middle guards.