is TE our weakest
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Id put LB's right up there tho .....we only have 2 "known" LB's and neither one is a killer......we need a star and depth....But, until someone emerges(Wilson, TakiTaki, Taylor?), Id say our LB's are a very weak group.....
Mud I have believed all along that as soon as we had a very quality D-Line the LB's would be free to play up to the level they need to be. No more OLs running past DLs to get to the LBs on running plays. This is gonna be fun to watch this year.
Mud I have believed all along that as soon as we had a very quality D-Line the LB's would be free to play up to the level they need to be. No more OLs running past DLs to get to the LBs on running plays. This is gonna be fun to watch this year.
Well, I definitely agree that their job should be easier this season, mainly due to the improved d-line. It also sounds like we will be playing only 2 LB's a large amount of the time(though Im certain our depth has helped make that the best way to get the best players on the field, more often than not) IE - if we had 3 great backers, they'd be playing 3 man more....
And dont get me wrong, I like our 2 guys and this years picks.....but, in RE to the OP's question, I think this group is the weakest and am glad they will be getting help....they are the only group that I dont see obvious all pro potential anywhere.....(OL a very close 2nd)....
every other group has obvious stand out(all-pro ish)type players, as well as good developmental players....
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While LB is a weak room for us.... weaker than TE... like TE it's going to be a deemphasized position in 2019.
I see a lot of Spread Offense coming in 2019 and with our WR room only Njoku is going to see the field in that set.
We've got a helluva DL payroll for them to free up LBs....
We've assembled a disruptive DL... vs. run as well as pass... and disruptive DLs penetrate and make plays. They don't set up LBs. Garrett and Vernon cut off everything wide for Richardson, Ogun and LBs to stuff 4-on-3 in between.
"When you have a shared vision it is a lot easier to make unpopular decisions." - Paul DePodesta "When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less." - Paul Brown Complete 2017 Browns Board Mock: http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46196 -
11 personnel with be our staple and if we can assume Baker takes that next step, then you're going to see quite a bit of 10 mixed in vs teams with weaker LB's and DB's... See - Steelers, Bengals, Dolphins & Cardinals.
Looking down the schedule, the Bills secondary actually might be the most stacked. Good blend of talent, youth and veterans.
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While LB is a weak room for us.... weaker than TE... like TE it's going to be a deemphasized position in 2019.
I see a lot of Spread Offense coming in 2019 and with our WR room only Njoku is going to see the field in that set.
We've got a helluva DL payroll for them to free up LBs....
We've assembled a disruptive DL... vs. run as well as pass... and disruptive DLs penetrate and make plays. They don't set up LBs. Garrett and Vernon cut off everything wide for Richardson, Ogun and LBs to stuff 4-on-3 in between.
While LB is a weak room for us.... weaker than TE... like TE it's going to be a deemphasized position in 2019.
I see a lot of Spread Offense coming in 2019 and with our WR room only Njoku is going to see the field in that set.
We've got a helluva DL payroll for them to free up LBs....
We've assembled a disruptive DL... vs. run as well as pass... and disruptive DLs penetrate and make plays. They don't set up LBs. Garrett and Vernon cut off everything wide for Richardson, Ogun and LBs to stuff 4-on-3 in between.
LOL! You do realize that you just described setting up the LBs, right??
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While LB is a weak room for us.... weaker than TE... like TE it's going to be a deemphasized position in 2019.
I see a lot of Spread Offense coming in 2019 and with our WR room only Njoku is going to see the field in that set.
We've got a helluva DL payroll for them to free up LBs....
We've assembled a disruptive DL... vs. run as well as pass... and disruptive DLs penetrate and make plays. They don't set up LBs. Garrett and Vernon cut off everything wide for Richardson, Ogun and LBs to stuff 4-on-3 in between.
LOL! You do realize that you just described setting up the LBs, right??
LOL! You do realize that you just described setting up the LBs, right??
Nope... and I still don't. DL shooting gaps to make tackles while leaving OL free to flatten the back 7 is about as far from that as can be.
DL set up LBs by "occupying OL", e.g., a single DT tying up two OL. Put another way te DL "block" for the LB(s).
"When you have a shared vision it is a lot easier to make unpopular decisions." - Paul DePodesta "When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less." - Paul Brown Complete 2017 Browns Board Mock: http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46196 -
Forget it, Tour. He's rolling.
Let's all look forward to TexasAg's strategery lectures on DB technique and the finer points of the 4-3 Over.
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Forget it, Tour. He's rolling.
Let's all look forward to TexasAg's strategery lectures on DB technique and the finer points of the 4-3 Over.
Forget it, Tour. He's rolling.
Let's all look forward to TexasAg's strategery lectures on DB technique and the finer points of the 4-3 Over.
I will seek assistance from my defensive coaching son who has to go up against the modern passing game that HS coaches in Texas want their defensive players to learn to defend while in MS. My mama raised no fools and this old fool still learns new things about this game every season.?
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lol... I know that the older I get the more brain farts I am permitted.
If you need my agent's number, let me know...
"When you have a shared vision it is a lot easier to make unpopular decisions." - Paul DePodesta "When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less." - Paul Brown Complete 2017 Browns Board Mock: http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46196 -
lol... I know that the older I get the more brain farts I am permitted.
If you need my agent's number, let me know...
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lol... I know that the older I get the more brain farts I am permitted.
If you need my agent's number, let me know...
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LOL! You do realize that you just described setting up the LBs, right??
Nope... and I still don't. DL shooting gaps to make tackles while leaving OL free to flatten the back 7 is about as far from that as can be.
DL set up LBs by "occupying OL", e.g., a single DT tying up two OL. Put another way te DL "block" for the LB(s).
Nope... and I still don't. DL shooting gaps to make tackles while leaving OL free to flatten the back 7 is about as far from that as can be.
DL set up LBs by "occupying OL", e.g., a single DT tying up two OL. Put another way te DL "block" for the LB(s).
I'm waiting to see what our new DC prefers to do with the personnel. I've always agreed with your perspective above.
In the past, 1 gap schemes aimed at penetration up front haven't always been favorable for our LBers especially against the run. While Marty had a lot of critics for his asss pucker post season offense/prevent-a-win pass defense - his regular season defense was sound against the run. In fact, it was #1 against the run in 86 which was our only season in the last 5 decades that we won as many as 12 regular season games. The biggest thing that defense lacked was a Derrick Thomas nobody could block off the edge even though Chip Banks was drafted to perpetuate that kind of impact. That said, Reggie Camp/Sam Clancy and the 34 year old Carl Hairston (9 sacks) were very efficient at maintaining outside leverage on the containment funneling everything inside. Bob Golic wasn't a BIG dude by any means; but man did our 2 ILBs play some really good football from his consistent 2 gap integrity.
Here comes a temporary exception to the rule or 2. When Bud Carson came here with his up-field 1 gap scheme, the 37 year old Carl Hairston kicked inside and gave us 6.5 sacks, MD Perry gave us 7 sacks, Al Bubba Baker gave us 7.5 sacks at LDE while Robert Banks added 4 sacks. MLB Mike Johnson made the Pro Bowl as did OLB Clay Matthews meaning 2 of our 3 LBers were efficient enough for acknowledgement. Our defense was ranked 4th out of 28 teams at points allowed at 15.9 points per game. 1 year later the ship capsized and sunk. The defense ended up ranked 28th out of 28 teams at points given up. Bud Carson was fired with a 2-7 record; while the permanent look on Jim Shofner's face after the 911 operator asked him to hold said "No habla." The other example I can think of was D'Qwell Jackson playing his best/most instinctive football in terms of making most of his tackles at the line of scrimmage in lieu of 20 yards down field more of the time. In fact, he only averaged 2.5 tackles for loss prior to moving into MLB in 2011 when he enjoyed 12 TFL. Defense ended up ranked 5th out of 32 teams in points allowed with just 19.2 per game.
The thing that used to drive me nuckin futs was watching us try to copy teams that were running a 3-4 Defense without anywhere near their personnel to pull it off the same. Some would say "well, it takes time and growing pains." While true, asking a fan base to repeat their patience with square pegging round holes via scheme all the time made little sense when the newbies in charge were just going to get fired. Too many bad dejavues for comfort. There's talent in this defense even somewhat at LBer if we can just keep Kirskey and Schobert healthy. Schobert wasn't a Pro Bowl alternate because he sucked. For the last 2 years, we've worked around injuries to at least 2 of the 3 LBers starting for significant portions of the season. You can vary 1 gap and 2 gap schemes up front. I've seen defenses do this where they slant the line to a wide side or to an offensive formation strength via 1 gap penetrations while they scraped the LBers the other way. You can also mix in an inside or outside X stunt where the LBer blitzes 1 gap and the dlinemen seals the other. It's not that tough to vary stuff up front. Know your chess pieces and treat us to the sic em, sock em and sack em we deserve!
I welcome the only Defensive Coordinator to earn a Superbowl Ring in New Orleans while understanding Revenge of the Nerds is a sequel. "Come get some!" -
Nope... and I still don't. DL shooting gaps to make tackles while leaving OL free to flatten the back 7 is about as far from that as can be.
DL set up LBs by "occupying OL", e.g., a single DT tying up two OL. Put another way te DL "block" for the LB(s).
I'm waiting to see what our new DC prefers to do with the personnel. I've always agreed with your perspective above.
In the past, 1 gap schemes aimed at penetration up front haven't always been favorable for our LBers especially against the run. While Marty had a lot of critics for his asss pucker post season offense/prevent-a-win pass defense - his regular season defense was sound against the run. In fact, it was #1 against the run in 86 which was our only season in the last 5 decades that we won as many as 12 regular season games. The biggest thing that defense lacked was a Derrick Thomas nobody could block off the edge even though Chip Banks was drafted to perpetuate that kind of impact. That said, Reggie Camp/Sam Clancy and the 34 year old Carl Hairston (9 sacks) were very efficient at maintaining outside leverage on the containment funneling everything inside. Bob Golic wasn't a BIG dude by any means; but man did our 2 ILBs play some really good football from his consistent 2 gap integrity.
Here comes a temporary exception to the rule or 2. When Bud Carson came here with his up-field 1 gap scheme, the 37 year old Carl Hairston kicked inside and gave us 6.5 sacks, MD Perry gave us 7 sacks, Al Bubba Baker gave us 7.5 sacks at LDE while Robert Banks added 4 sacks. MLB Mike Johnson made the Pro Bowl as did OLB Clay Matthews meaning 2 of our 3 LBers were efficient enough for acknowledgement. Our defense was ranked 4th out of 28 teams at points allowed at 15.9 points per game. 1 year later the ship capsized and sunk. The defense ended up ranked 28th out of 28 teams at points given up. Bud Carson was fired with a 2-7 record; while the permanent look on Jim Shofner's face after the 911 operator asked him to hold said "No habla." The other example I can think of was D'Qwell Jackson playing his best/most instinctive football in terms of making most of his tackles at the line of scrimmage in lieu of 20 yards down field more of the time. In fact, he only averaged 2.5 tackles for loss prior to moving into MLB in 2011 when he enjoyed 12 TFL. Defense ended up ranked 5th out of 32 teams in points allowed with just 19.2 per game.
The thing that used to drive me nuckin futs was watching us try to copy teams that were running a 3-4 Defense without anywhere near their personnel to pull it off the same. Some would say "well, it takes time and growing pains." While true, asking a fan base to repeat their patience with square pegging round holes via scheme all the time made little sense when the newbies in charge were just going to get fired. Too many bad dejavues for comfort. There's talent in this defense even somewhat at LBer if we can just keep Kirskey and Schobert healthy. Schobert wasn't a Pro Bowl alternate because he sucked. For the last 2 years, we've worked around injuries to at least 2 of the 3 LBers starting for significant portions of the season. You can vary 1 gap and 2 gap schemes up front. I've seen defenses do this where they slant the line to a wide side or to an offensive formation strength via 1 gap penetrations while they scraped the LBers the other way. You can also mix in an inside or outside X stunt where the LBer blitzes 1 gap and the dlinemen seals the other. It's not that tough to vary stuff up front. Know your chess pieces and treat us to the sic em, sock em and sack em we deserve!
I'm waiting to see what our new DC prefers to do with the personnel. I've always agreed with your perspective above.
In the past, 1 gap schemes aimed at penetration up front haven't always been favorable for our LBers especially against the run. While Marty had a lot of critics for his asss pucker post season offense/prevent-a-win pass defense - his regular season defense was sound against the run. In fact, it was #1 against the run in 86 which was our only season in the last 5 decades that we won as many as 12 regular season games. The biggest thing that defense lacked was a Derrick Thomas nobody could block off the edge even though Chip Banks was drafted to perpetuate that kind of impact. That said, Reggie Camp/Sam Clancy and the 34 year old Carl Hairston (9 sacks) were very efficient at maintaining outside leverage on the containment funneling everything inside. Bob Golic wasn't a BIG dude by any means; but man did our 2 ILBs play some really good football from his consistent 2 gap integrity.
Here comes a temporary exception to the rule or 2. When Bud Carson came here with his up-field 1 gap scheme, the 37 year old Carl Hairston kicked inside and gave us 6.5 sacks, MD Perry gave us 7 sacks, Al Bubba Baker gave us 7.5 sacks at LDE while Robert Banks added 4 sacks. MLB Mike Johnson made the Pro Bowl as did OLB Clay Matthews meaning 2 of our 3 LBers were efficient enough for acknowledgement. Our defense was ranked 4th out of 28 teams at points allowed at 15.9 points per game. 1 year later the ship capsized and sunk. The defense ended up ranked 28th out of 28 teams at points given up. Bud Carson was fired with a 2-7 record; while the permanent look on Jim Shofner's face after the 911 operator asked him to hold said "No habla." The other example I can think of was D'Qwell Jackson playing his best/most instinctive football in terms of making most of his tackles at the line of scrimmage in lieu of 20 yards down field more of the time. In fact, he only averaged 2.5 tackles for loss prior to moving into MLB in 2011 when he enjoyed 12 TFL. Defense ended up ranked 5th out of 32 teams in points allowed with just 19.2 per game.
The thing that used to drive me nuckin futs was watching us try to copy teams that were running a 3-4 Defense without anywhere near their personnel to pull it off the same. Some would say "well, it takes time and growing pains." While true, asking a fan base to repeat their patience with square pegging round holes via scheme all the time made little sense when the newbies in charge were just going to get fired. Too many bad dejavues for comfort. There's talent in this defense even somewhat at LBer if we can just keep Kirskey and Schobert healthy. Schobert wasn't a Pro Bowl alternate because he sucked. For the last 2 years, we've worked around injuries to at least 2 of the 3 LBers starting for significant portions of the season. You can vary 1 gap and 2 gap schemes up front. I've seen defenses do this where they slant the line to a wide side or to an offensive formation strength via 1 gap penetrations while they scraped the LBers the other way. You can also mix in an inside or outside X stunt where the LBer blitzes 1 gap and the dlinemen seals the other. It's not that tough to vary stuff up front. Know your chess pieces and treat us to the sic em, sock em and sack em we deserve!
Whether or not people want to admit this or not..... Joe Schobert is the QB for our defense and in my view.. And does a very fine job at it.. Kirksey still looks slow and average to me... I gotta believe we replace him with something better down the road...
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Another chimes in on Garrett and the d-line. Apparently Merriman is going to work some with Garrett too.
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Nope... and I still don't. DL shooting gaps to make tackles while leaving OL free to flatten the back 7 is about as far from that as can be.
DL set up LBs by "occupying OL", e.g., a single DT tying up two OL. Put another way te DL "block" for the LB(s).
I'm waiting to see what our new DC prefers to do with the personnel. I've always agreed with your perspective above.
In the past, 1 gap schemes aimed at penetration up front haven't always been favorable for our LBers especially against the run. While Marty had a lot of critics for his asss pucker post season offense/prevent-a-win pass defense - his regular season defense was sound against the run. In fact, it was #1 against the run in 86 which was our only season in the last 5 decades that we won as many as 12 regular season games. The biggest thing that defense lacked was a Derrick Thomas nobody could block off the edge even though Chip Banks was drafted to perpetuate that kind of impact. That said, Reggie Camp/Sam Clancy and the 34 year old Carl Hairston (9 sacks) were very efficient at maintaining outside leverage on the containment funneling everything inside. Bob Golic wasn't a BIG dude by any means; but man did our 2 ILBs play some really good football from his consistent 2 gap integrity.
Here comes a temporary exception to the rule or 2. When Bud Carson came here with his up-field 1 gap scheme, the 37 year old Carl Hairston kicked inside and gave us 6.5 sacks, MD Perry gave us 7 sacks, Al Bubba Baker gave us 7.5 sacks at LDE while Robert Banks added 4 sacks. MLB Mike Johnson made the Pro Bowl as did OLB Clay Matthews meaning 2 of our 3 LBers were efficient enough for acknowledgement. Our defense was ranked 4th out of 28 teams at points allowed at 15.9 points per game. 1 year later the ship capsized and sunk. The defense ended up ranked 28th out of 28 teams at points given up. Bud Carson was fired with a 2-7 record; while the permanent look on Jim Shofner's face after the 911 operator asked him to hold said "No habla." The other example I can think of was D'Qwell Jackson playing his best/most instinctive football in terms of making most of his tackles at the line of scrimmage in lieu of 20 yards down field more of the time. In fact, he only averaged 2.5 tackles for loss prior to moving into MLB in 2011 when he enjoyed 12 TFL. Defense ended up ranked 5th out of 32 teams in points allowed with just 19.2 per game.
The thing that used to drive me nuckin futs was watching us try to copy teams that were running a 3-4 Defense without anywhere near their personnel to pull it off the same. Some would say "well, it takes time and growing pains." While true, asking a fan base to repeat their patience with square pegging round holes via scheme all the time made little sense when the newbies in charge were just going to get fired. Too many bad dejavues for comfort. There's talent in this defense even somewhat at LBer if we can just keep Kirskey and Schobert healthy. Schobert wasn't a Pro Bowl alternate because he sucked. For the last 2 years, we've worked around injuries to at least 2 of the 3 LBers starting for significant portions of the season. You can vary 1 gap and 2 gap schemes up front. I've seen defenses do this where they slant the line to a wide side or to an offensive formation strength via 1 gap penetrations while they scraped the LBers the other way. You can also mix in an inside or outside X stunt where the LBer blitzes 1 gap and the dlinemen seals the other. It's not that tough to vary stuff up front. Know your chess pieces and treat us to the sic em, sock em and sack em we deserve!
It's not that tough to vary stuff up front. Know your chess pieces and treat us to the sic em, sock em and sack em we deserve!
Bingo...
"When you have a shared vision it is a lot easier to make unpopular decisions." - Paul DePodesta "When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less." - Paul Brown Complete 2017 Browns Board Mock: http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46196 -
Our TE's are good enough, especially since it will be a fairly non-featured position except maybe in the red zone with Njoku's length. It is probably going to be more of a check down option for Baker, and he doesn't check down all that much.
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Our TE's are good enough, especially since it will be a fairly non-featured position except maybe in the red zone with Njoku's length. It is probably going to be more of a check down option for Baker, and he doesn't check down all that much.
Our TE's are good enough, especially since it will be a fairly non-featured position except maybe in the red zone with Njoku's length. It is probably going to be more of a check down option for Baker, and he doesn't check down all that much.
If our coaching staff is worth their salt, they'll have far more than that in the works for utilize a promising young TE (Njoku)
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I didn't mean to minimize things....Njoku caught around 60 balls last year. I just don't see him being featured like a gronk
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I didn't mean to minimize things....Njoku caught around 60 balls last year. I just don't see him being featured like a gronk
I didn't mean to minimize things....Njoku caught around 60 balls last year. I just don't see him being featured like a gronk
Who knows, im praying our coaches are flexible week to week given the depth of our personnel and the ability to attack in different ways.
That's the beauty of a coach like Belichick, he is beholden to absolutely no mindset of play calling. He'll call 40 runs as easily as he'll dial up 40 pass attempts.
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I didn't mean to minimize things....Njoku caught around 60 balls last year. I just don't see him being featured like a gronk
Who knows, im praying our coaches are flexible week to week given the depth of our personnel and the ability to attack in different ways.
That's the beauty of a coach like Belichick, he is beholden to absolutely no mindset of play calling. He'll call 40 runs as easily as he'll dial up 40 pass attempts.
Who knows, im praying our coaches are flexible week to week given the depth of our personnel and the ability to attack in different ways.
Yep, I don't want the pros scouting our games and being accurate on what we will be doing in any one game. I want to see game plans developed week by week geared to what our strengths can do against various weaknesses.
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Nope... and I still don't. DL shooting gaps to make tackles while leaving OL free to flatten the back 7 is about as far from that as can be.
DL set up LBs by "occupying OL", e.g., a single DT tying up two OL. Put another way te DL "block" for the LB(s).
I'm waiting to see what our new DC prefers to do with the personnel. I've always agreed with your perspective above.
In the past, 1 gap schemes aimed at penetration up front haven't always been favorable for our LBers especially against the run. While Marty had a lot of critics for his asss pucker post season offense/prevent-a-win pass defense - his regular season defense was sound against the run. In fact, it was #1 against the run in 86 which was our only season in the last 5 decades that we won as many as 12 regular season games. The biggest thing that defense lacked was a Derrick Thomas nobody could block off the edge even though Chip Banks was drafted to perpetuate that kind of impact. That said, Reggie Camp/Sam Clancy and the 34 year old Carl Hairston (9 sacks) were very efficient at maintaining outside leverage on the containment funneling everything inside. Bob Golic wasn't a BIG dude by any means; but man did our 2 ILBs play some really good football from his consistent 2 gap integrity.
Here comes a temporary exception to the rule or 2. When Bud Carson came here with his up-field 1 gap scheme, the 37 year old Carl Hairston kicked inside and gave us 6.5 sacks, MD Perry gave us 7 sacks, Al Bubba Baker gave us 7.5 sacks at LDE while Robert Banks added 4 sacks. MLB Mike Johnson made the Pro Bowl as did OLB Clay Matthews meaning 2 of our 3 LBers were efficient enough for acknowledgement. Our defense was ranked 4th out of 28 teams at points allowed at 15.9 points per game. 1 year later the ship capsized and sunk. The defense ended up ranked 28th out of 28 teams at points given up. Bud Carson was fired with a 2-7 record; while the permanent look on Jim Shofner's face after the 911 operator asked him to hold said "No habla." The other example I can think of was D'Qwell Jackson playing his best/most instinctive football in terms of making most of his tackles at the line of scrimmage in lieu of 20 yards down field more of the time. In fact, he only averaged 2.5 tackles for loss prior to moving into MLB in 2011 when he enjoyed 12 TFL. Defense ended up ranked 5th out of 32 teams in points allowed with just 19.2 per game.
The thing that used to drive me nuckin futs was watching us try to copy teams that were running a 3-4 Defense without anywhere near their personnel to pull it off the same. Some would say "well, it takes time and growing pains." While true, asking a fan base to repeat their patience with square pegging round holes via scheme all the time made little sense when the newbies in charge were just going to get fired. Too many bad dejavues for comfort. There's talent in this defense even somewhat at LBer if we can just keep Kirskey and Schobert healthy. Schobert wasn't a Pro Bowl alternate because he sucked. For the last 2 years, we've worked around injuries to at least 2 of the 3 LBers starting for significant portions of the season. You can vary 1 gap and 2 gap schemes up front. I've seen defenses do this where they slant the line to a wide side or to an offensive formation strength via 1 gap penetrations while they scraped the LBers the other way. You can also mix in an inside or outside X stunt where the LBer blitzes 1 gap and the dlinemen seals the other. It's not that tough to vary stuff up front. Know your chess pieces and treat us to the sic em, sock em and sack em we deserve!
You can also mix in an inside or outside X stunt where the LBer blitzes 1 gap and the dlinemen seals the other. It's not that tough to vary stuff up front. Know your chess pieces and treat us to the sic em, sock em and sack em we deserve!
I was considering a new thread for the following, but I'm going to piggy back off of your comment here into a post that is 'you' length worthy. You kids can follow along if you like.
- I've been giving a good deal of thought about what the Browns defense will look like. Ended up watching some film from the Vikings for inspiration. It's interesting noting some of the similarities in personnel between our respective team and I'm hoping Wilks has seen the same. Besides the obvious given of Richardson now playing in Cleveland. I mean in the way of having a franchise pass rusher - Garrett/Griffin and a player that can move between backer and edge rusher - Avery/Barr. Saw a few curiosities in a short clip of SR's 2018 season.
- I would like to call the attention of the jury to twoplays in particular at 1:07 and 1:38.
The first is at 1:07 is pretty straight forward, it's an under front that brings Barr right onto the line as the strong side edge defender. From here he has the option of 2 gapping once he see's the offset TE scrap down to the weakside for a possible kick out block. For those at home not keeping track, the initial run action is off an inside split zone. Becoming all the more common in the NFL (yes, it's often run under center and not exclusively from the gun) and something the Brownies will be doing a great deal of moving forward. Get used to seeing this from us, just hopefully better blocked and executed.
The Hawks just added the wrinkle of the end around... poorly, I might add. The design on that is strange to me especially to the boundary when you're liking facing an edge defender there that will get upfield forcing your runner to take the ball and take a steep cut inside. Getting off track again - point being, the responsibility and alignment here is a role that Avery can and should fill in this defense beyond being a simple 2pt pass rusher. Check Barr's alignment, if that action comes his way he attacks the outside shoulder of the TE and the DB fills the lane. Provided he doesn't stack the blocker and start creating his own havoc before help arrives. If that were to be an outside zone, Barr would maintain his outside leverage, work off the block and turn it all back inside to the DB and the linebackers flowing down the line. When you ask what personnel we have that gets a base defense and Avery on the field, that right there is a prime example of such a look.
- The next at 1:38 is a bit more complex but a fun breakdown but before you go any further, just check out the block Richardson beats at 0:18 for me and keep that in mind.
When I talk about defenses "attacking" an offense, this might be one of the best examples of implementing looks up front that cause an offense far more headaches to solve and block than it does taking the time to install these in your playbook. I'm not sure what the Vikes staff calls it but the closest I've personally seen to this being run myself it was tagged as Monster Over TX (we had a TT stunt but we'll ignore that for now)
This look, without getting into further complexities at the moment accomplishes a few things.
* With the numbers shifted so heavily in shade and split, forces the offense either by designed of the OC or by a check at the line, to call a slide protection to that side.
Why? Unless there is a monumental failure in communication, this look will almost ALWAYS see such an adjustment. No, the QB will not be dealing with the strong side edge as a "free rusher" because that would only be his responsibility in 6 man, and in rare cases, 5 man pressure packages. That is where sight adjustments and throwing hot come into play. No offensive mind is going to give that man a free shot at the QB because the defense is seemingly in a zone look and not offering any other blitz threat. Therefore the defense looks to be dropping 7 into coverage and uhh... beating a non existent blitz isn't a thing. Back to it...
* When forcing the offense to slide protect, that means you're getting the bigs up front having to communicate the adjustment and to do it correctly in terms of assignment, you're getting them moving laterally because of the wide split from the edge and the shading of the interior lineman.
Forcing the offense to think more pre-snap is always good. The last thing you want is an Oline getting comfortable with what you're doing up front or even worse, coming out and base blocking your stale looks. The RG in this case (#69 ) see's the shade of Richardson and such an alignment lends itself to an outside move. This is where you combine having a superior football player and then putting them into a position to win. THIS is the result you get from such work as a coach. The guard on the slide picking up Richardson finds himself oversetting. Richardson see's it so he hits a little rip and swim and wins to the inside for the QB takedown.
Don't get me wrong, I liked coach Williams and I'm a big believer in man coverage. But his ability to generate pressure with 4 man fronts and at times getting creative with his looks was lacking. If you've seen me mention Jim Schwartz' name before (D-coord for the Eagles), then go check out their pressure rates with 4 man pass rushes. The man is one of the best in the business at getting after a QB without the use of the blitz. Our 4 man rushes last year were incredibly hit and miss as a collective unit. I pray Wilks can help remedy that.
* Puts your best edge rusher on the opposite side into a lock for having a 1 on 1 look vs his blocker unless there is chip help present. In the case of this video, Staley vs Griffin, there is not. Not ever team has a Staley, hell... many don't even have a Greg Robinson. Want to make someone in pass pro sweat bullets? Try having to deal with this look a few times a game but instead of it being Griffen, it's now Myles.
Let's say Myles wins a 1on1 like this early, you now force the offense to assign chip help to that side. TE? Cool, you've taken a fast threat and either removed him from the pattern or you've delayed him getting into his route. RB? Outstanding, your most logical outlet receiver/checkdown has been taken away without the defense having the need to do anything more than use 4 bodies.
Before you ask me about what the LG is doing, this is the final bind something a bit more exotic does to the Oline.
* Forces the LG to identify where he is to lend help and make a decision in pass pro.
The LT is every bit in danger of oversetting just like you saw the RG do. Especially if the edge rusher has a wide(r) split. In this case if he is beat inside, the LG might be expected to pick up the slack. But look where his eyes are going first? To the linebacker overtop of him, then (head on a swivel/good coaching) he checks for the inside move from the corresponding edge. Finally getting his head around in time to help the center with Linval Joeseph crossing his face. The LG is in a hell of a spot here. If he goes to immediately help his tackle, he might reach for nothing but air and possibly have a delay blitz walk right past him. If he spends too much time expecting the 5th man, he might already see his LT being beaten inside. And finally if he does any of the former, he could end up being late to help with a TT (tackle tackle) stunt and find himself having a 300+ lb lineman getting under his pads and sending him back into his QB. Or worse, Myles on a loop from the far side blowing right by him.
These are examples of little things I expect to look forward too. Wilks is doing some new stuff with the secondary and that's great. But the help they really need comes from up front and this is where I'm hoping we can see a coach let the big dogs do their thing. And maybe getting them into some winning spots along the line would be cool. What I've been able to dig up on our new D coord so far is encouraging. But I haven't had time to go back and start watching last years Cardinals defense itself all that much (yet). I'm merely trying to highlight a microcosm of my concern - finally having talent and now maximizing it.
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