Sparano-Nolan meeting results in new hybrid defense

I get the sense that Pasqualoni was not a popular guy after reading that piece.

 

Great.... Channing Crowder is the player spokesperson for the new hybrid scheme. Guy is dumber than a box of rocks.
He talks about cover two over man. Has he watched film at all. The cover two has been exposed in this league. Please god don't let us run that coverage. That is worse than the quarters zone garbage.

 

I don't know what you have against Crowder. He's a pretty bright guy. I also don't see where he says anything about us running Cover 2. He mentions it but nothing in relation to the upcoming season.

 

The performance of this D will make or break the season.

As a much despised coach once said, paraphrasing here, "history is the best indicator of the future".

Nolan's history suggests he's a gambler: big play defense that gives up big plays. I suppose we had the same thing last year without the big play defense.

The big question - will the D be more like Jimmy Johnson's or Jerry Glanville's.

 

Well, one thing is for sure....there is no doubt that this is Tony Sparano's team, and he's trying to squeeze every ounce of juice out of it.

A tad OT, but here is another example of it from another article regarding Brandon Marshall.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=capress-fbn_dolphins_marshall-4091032

 

It sounds a bit like Nick Saban's hybrid defense except he didnt blitz as much.

 

Hmm, I have a different take on this.

This is not so much Sparano collaborating with Mike Nolan on a new defensive scheme, though the article suggest it, this is Sparano working with Nolan to make sure he is on the SparanoPhin Reservation so to speak.

McDaniels fired Nolan because he wanted certain things from Nolan's scheme, Sparano is trying to preempt that via working with Nolan before the Defense is even installed.

In Sparano's presser yesterday he mentioned a couple of things about Nolan:

-played against him
-liked his scheme because he found ways to outnumber blocking schemes
-"Mike has been a guy who where ever he went he was able to use what he had already there to build his defense"

As for Crowder..last yr at this time he was calling Pasqualoni a "genius"..take what he says with a grain of salt folks.

 

That's a good point by Sparano IMO. If you watch Nolan against Pittsburgh, there was a play where he basically put a hat on a hat. Almost like a Gap 8 front but his defensive lineman were head up.

 

I thought last year's defense was a 3-4 version of the Wanny defenses we used to run. By that I mean there was no scheming, it relied only on individuals beating other individuals. I still remember Zach Thomas' comment at one of the pro bowl games after being told about the rules in that game that kept the defense vanilla, ie. no blitzes, etc. ZT quipped, "that's what we play in Miami every game". I complained about our vanilla schemes just about every week. That is one area where I thought the NYJ were clearly better last year. Nolan and Ryan worked together and I see some similarities in their philosophies. I'm hoping this will be the year that all the talk about having a more attacking defense actually translates to on the field results.

I think the tweaks that we'll see in this defense will reflect the fact that it has become more of a passing game. I think we're seeing the switch to smaller, quicker DTs/NTs b/c they can get pressure up the middle even though it may give up a bit against the run. I also think the pressure up the middle is far more effective than outside pressure. Last year we relied less on pass pressure from our OLBs than a true 3-4 usually does. I think that trend will continue and even accelerate. I also am not a fan of the quarters coverage we used last year. I expect that we'll see a bit more man-free this year. I heard Sparano say how Clemons had to understand his last line of defense duties after Marshall got deep on that first day of practice. To me that implies that he is going to be used as a true FS more often. I also think we may see the corners play a soft-man and a cover-2 on occasion. I don't agree that it's been exposed. I just think any coverage is easy to beat if you know it's coming. Many teams just got too predictable in their use of it so good QBs took advantage. I also wonder if we'll see the CBs blitz as much as Nolan has in the past. I don't know if we have any great CB blitzers on the team or not. Davis is such a phenomenal athlete that he might be good at it. He has always played better when he is moving towards the LOS.

 

I think its being exposed. Cover 2 is one of the main reasons why tight ends are having such great success IMO.

Regarding Nolan's blitzes, mostly coming from ILB and SS IMO.

 

I think the TE success is a result of the increasing restrictions on coverage players. TE's are match-up problems for everybody. I think that having enough players that create match-up problems should be one of the GM's top goals.

 

That is what Crowder mentioned in his WQAM interview, we were going to be in the traditional 3-4 100% of the time, with Nolan that would be mixed up into percentages such as 3-4..30% of the time..hybrid "X" number of times.

Will Allen was a fabulously effective Cb blitzer, Nate Jones was also good at it.

Remains to be seen with Vontae, I suspect Will Allen when covering the slot will remain a threat to blitz.

 

That's part of the problem. The other part is that teams are still running Cover 2 a significant amount of time IMO.

 

I think the factor that hurts the cover-2 is predictability. If a good QB knows what zone he is facing then it's easy to pick apart.

 

I thought Jones was the best CB blitzer we ever had. I do agree that Allen was good (and hopefully still is) and will be a threat to blitz from the slot.

 

That and the expense of drafting/signing/developing a effective 4 man defensive line that can consistently pressure the Qb is very difficult to assemble and keep together.

That is why I'm hyped over Soliai's light coming on, if Starks can move back to DE, our passrush will be really effective, if Charles Grant has recovered from the injuries along with Cam Wake and Odrick, we may see the crown jewel of defensive schemes, pressure from a 4 man line with virtually any coverage package a possibility behind that passrush.

 

While I'm glad to hear that Soliai has impressed, I really don't want Starks to move back out to end. I think he'll create more havoc from the middle. In fact, while Starks impressed me with his play all year, I thought he was at his best when he moved inside. I'd prefer to keep Starks and Soliai fresh inside and have Odrick, Langford, Douglas and Grant outside (or inside when we go to a 4-man for nickel or dime).

 

man our D this year is going to rape opposing QB's. I cant wait to see Sanchez and Brady get smacked over and over again(noone cares about edwards)

 

We're all up for a good scheme ... but good talent can make any scheme work.

I didn't care much for the D-Coordinator Pasq, but he had a tough job with the players he was given. They couldn't always call & get in the right defense early in the year.

Year before last we looked alot better & went 11-5. I still don't know why we let so many decent DBs go to save a little money. I think the FO would now admit that was a mistake.

We still need talent at several positions before we will have a good D, and need some depth ... cripes we're forced to start rookies to survive. Nolan has his work cut out!!

 

Cover 2 works fine with a very good pass rush. Schemes just go thru phases though

 

I agree though not about against the run... I see our DE's getting bigger.

Also, what I think Crowder meant with the Cover2 crack was that they wouldn't be playing as much man in passing downs but would employ more help over the top. Or that the Offense wouldn't be able to assume it would be man coverage in passing situations. Makes sense to me and I LOVED what Dom was doing in 06. We've got a much deeper roster now though!

 

This would suggest not as much Wildcat....it is still be there, but I dont see it as much as the past 2 years...I can see the cat being a wrinkle in the offense and not a main stay as it has been the past 2 years....

remember Henning/Tony said they were desperate to do something to move the ball, I dont think that is the case anymore.

 

I think Crowder was just saying using zone more often to switch it up. I don't think he was suggesting making cover two our base/staple defense.

In my mind every defense has been exposed in the NFL. You only have 11 defenders there is no magic defense that covers everything. You have to leave something undefended. Just the nature of the game. Cover 2, cover 3, quarters, all those have weaknesses. So I am not sure cover 2 is inherently worse than any other coverage call.

 

Are we talking about cover 2 zone ( 2 deep 5 underneath ) or are we talking about Tampa Cover 2 zone ( which is really Cover 3 - 3 deep, 4 underneath )?

Nice nugget. Thanks Alen1

 

My point being Tampa perfected it and since then teams have been able to exploit it with either a TE in the middle of the field or any receiver in the seam or play action which is a big neutralizer for the cover 2. When they talk about running a 4-3 and the channing mentions cover 2 it makes me very nervous. If it happens we better get constant pressure on the QB or we are going to get carved.

 

Cover 2 Zone. The deep middle.

No problem. All can be found here and here.

 

I am printing those posts out to read damn it!!!

I agree that pressure on the QB is key regardless of whether you are playing zone or man.

I am not arguing that Tampa 2 doesn't have flaws or holes. My point is EVERY defense coverage has flaws and holes. So to call out Tampa 2 for it seems a bit unfair.. to Tony Dungee I guess . Cover 3 gets destroyed by 4 verticals. Cover 2 zone ( 2 deep 5 underneath) has a hole in the deep middle. Every coverage call has it's strengths and weaknesses.

Come on Killer be fair to Tony Dungee!!!

 

TBH, I'd rather run a cover 2 that we have the players to run, then a different scheme where the players are out of position to often.

You can run a Cover-2, the players have to perform in it first and foremost, I'd take a slow FS who can tackle, knows his assignments, and can read routes, over a wonderfully athletic FS who is marginal on the field.

That's why ancient Safeties like Harrison and Sharper managed to play at a high level into their mid 30's, they know what they are doing out on the field.

Heck, any coverage scheme will work as long as the Qb is running for their life..

In all of the years I've watched Football, the most important defensive quality isn't speed or athleticism, it is solid tackling and being in position, eliminate RAC and YAC and EVERY offense sputters.

90% of big plays involve an opportunity to tackle the offensive player that is just whiffed on.

That is what made da Gerbil such a disaster in Miami, dude couldn't tackle well..period.

 

Dungy himself will tell you that the key to the cover 2 is to have speed and athleticism. In fact it is one of the key ingredients. Lovie Smith has the very same philosophy. You have to have S that can run and make up ground quickly.

 

The tight end wasn't the biggest issue for Tampa 2 IMO. It was the fact that teams started running 4 verticals against them. For Cover 2, I think it was the same thing, except tight ends were more involved.

 

IMO the best coverage you can run is Man-Free. You can defend anything against it. You also completely take away the middle of the field passing as well as the inside run game. You force everything and you play picket(sp?) defense. If the cornerbacks play by the Divider then you don't have a lot of room for errors on offense and you have to make great throws IMO. The only downfall of it is that it doesn't really create many turnovers due to the fact that the players are not facing the ball and going downhill.

 

I understand that. I said when teams started exploiting the scheme that was how it was done. Please read the post. I said Tampa perfected it and through the years teams figured out ways to expose it.

 

I read your post, just misunderstood it because you went from Tampa 2 to Cover 2 in the same sentence. Those aren't the same thing, so I assumed you were talking about the Tampa 2. Forgive me.

Tampa 2 teams run mostly Cover 1 on the first two downs.