coverage

All posts tagged coverage

#7 DISRUPT TIMING ROUTES

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/03/08
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Defense, NFC East, NFL, The 12, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

EARLIER in the THE 12, I covered taking away a TE’s clean release. Here we’re going to get into disrupting a QB’s rhythm with his WR’s. The idea is to get one of two things to happen:

1) The QB either holds the ball a little longer, as he goes to his next read, giving the pass rush time to get to him.

or

2) The QB forces an ill-advised pass, in an attempt to “make something happen”.

Again, disrupting the TE was covered earlier. That said, trying to treat a WR like a TE can set an entire secondary on fire. So the approach has to be different. It has to be more cerebral. Generally a defender cannot rely on one approach all game long, but here are just a few that they can mix and match for 30 minutes or so.

Man Press gets a CB in the WR’s face, and makes the QB sort out whether the WR can win that down and get open. As long as the CB can keep the WR in front of him, this approach is golden. Problem is, when the WR gets past the CB, the defender is left in the trail position. Given the speed, and leaping ability of many WR’s, man press played wrong, could be a death sentence. (High risk/High reward)

Darrelle Revis demonstrates top-shelf, Man Press vs Calvin “Megatron” Johnson.

Hand-fighting is for WR’s who like to stem their routes to get the defender off balance. Hand-fighting at the line of scrimmage, gets the defenders hands into the chest/shoulder area of the WR. It doesn’t allow the receiver to lean quite the way he wants. This erases the time the receiver would use to stem, and forces him to go directly into the route.

Hand-fighting is not quite the same as press, because hand-fighting “feels” the route and bails sooner than press. All a defender is doing, is taking away what the early part of what the receiver wants to do. The idea isn’t to stop, it’s to delay, and maybe get the QB to look elsewhere. (Moderate risk/Low reward)

The next two are a one-two combo, that not only affects the receiver, but it can make offensive coordinators question how they utilize their players, and call the game.

The 100 Yard Defender. The sideline is a defensive player. Stepping on it end plays, and a receiver who steps on it prior to catching the ball, can’t catch a forward pass on that down. If the WR lines up close enough to the sideline, shoving him out of bounds (within the first 5 yards), is totally legal, and basically takes him out of the play. (Low risk/High reward)

Lowering The Boom comes with a great deal of risk, since refs are very aggressive about throwing flags for the same hits that used to comprise the entire opening sequence of a Madden game. Still, a CB taking away the sideline, basically “opens up” the middle of the field for the receiver. Which is where beasts like LB’s and S’s roam.

While a ref may throw a flag and award 15 yards as a result of that play, coaching staffs may think better of running that player into harm’s way again. Question: Is a potential 15 yard penalty during the first possession, worth limiting how the opposing team calls the rest of the game? Answer: You bet your ass! (Just don’t do this in the second half.)

Not to mention how rattled the QB would be for getting his buddy fucked up, to start the game.(Sky high risk/Sky high reward)

So there are tools. We just have to be willing to use them.

NO CLEAN TE RELEASES

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/03/02
Posted in: breakdown, Coaching, Conversations, Defense, NFC East, The 12, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

THIS is not a new gripe for me. Too often we’ve let TE’s into their routes with little or no challenge. The results are high completion percentages, and easy scores. In fact, until OLB Nate Gerry went on IR last year, he was being victimized on a weekly. Some of it was his slow feet, but most of it was the scheme that told him to allow clean releases.

Here’s hoping that a new Defensive Coordinator means asking new things from the OLB’s. Specifically, not letting TE’s routinely set up for quick passes, within 3 to 6 yards of the line of scrimmage. A ball coming out of an opposing QB’s hand that fast, means that our pass rush won’t have time to get home.

It also means that we aren’t seeing that the opponent is using a timing or rhythm based passing game. Or even worse, maybe we are seeing it, but refusing to adjust to it. If an opposing QB keeps executing ‘1, 2, throw’, ‘1, 2, throw’ then it behooves us to slow up that TE, and take away that quick pass.

This can be done with all receivers (later article!), but the TE has to be played a little differently. Their position lets defenders beat-up on them more, but being physical with them can backfire easily. So TE’s have to have their routes disrupted in few different ways.

Jamming can and should be used, but it needs to be used sporadically. Trying to jam a TE too often, will tell an opposing coach to run the ball, since the defender is putting himself in position to be blocked easily. We should jam primarily on long downs. The run risk decreases, and it allows the SS to not have to immediately crash down to pick up that TE.

Re-directing in Man Coverage. All a re-direct is, is aggressively pushing a receiver (within 5 yards!) to an area where you have help in coverage. While a defender likely won’t know the route, if the TE is escorted to a more populated area of the field, the odds of a completion go way down, and the chances for big hits, tipped passes, or quick fumbles, go way up.

“Holding”. Used to be if your hands were inside the shoulders, you were allowed that grasp. Today, at no point are you allowed to hold. That said, TE’s get held all the time near the line of scrimmage. Particularly if they line up tight to the formation.

In that situation the refs can’t know if a held TE was supposed to run a route, or was supposed to block, and did a good job. Holding a TE has to be a quick, grab-pull-release, right around the line of scrimmage, and look just enough like fighting off a block. Just long enough for the QB to decided to go elsewhere with the ball.

Chipping is thought of as something that only offensive players do, but that’s a myth. In Zone Coverage, an OLB delivering a hard bump to the TE, then settling into a shallow area as the SS patrols the intermediate, is generally enough to cause a QB to think “Nope”, before progressing to his next read.

If the idea is to rush the passer with just our front four, then taking away the opponent’s quick and easy options, will give our defense the best chance of forcing their plays to run off-schedule. Plenty of tools here. We just need to finally start using them better.

PLAY COVER TWO

Posted by The BEAST on 2021/02/23
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, NFC East, The 12, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

SINCE the days of Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson, the Eagles have been a Single-high Safety team. That started in 1999. Stated plainly, the Eagles have been almost an exclusively Cover One, for the last 21 years. It’s time we went to a more Cover Two based system.

Some of you may be new to football. Some may not know, and have been ashamed/afraid to ask. So let me start by quickly, and very basically explaining what Cover One and Cover Two are. Trust me, no matter how new you are to football, these concepts will be super easy to follow.

Cover One

Lots of teams like to walk the Strong Safety “into the box” (closer to the line of scrimmage) to help take away the run. That leaves the Free Safety back in coverage. In theory, he’s sort of a Center Fielder, keeping the action in front of him, acting as the last line of defense.

Sometimes he’ll cheat towards one side or the other, to help a CB “bracket” a particularly talented WR. While that CB has some help, the other CB is mano-a-mano with his assignment. Every mistake there is potentially a killer, so that CB has to play the assignment, and not gamble. Lest his desire to make a big play, cost his team six points.

Cover Two

In this alignment the Strong Safety comes out of the box, and plays about as deep as the Free Safety. Instead of a single “center fielder”, these two can now each take half of the back end. Even better, they can each help a CB cover a WR. This can allow the CB to gamble on interception opportunities, while still having someone back there in case he misses the ball.

While Cover Two takes a man out of the box 1) That man shouldn’t be there anyway, and 2) It means the LB’s have to be able to handle their business up front, instead of stealing a man from the Secondary to get their job done.

*****

If Single-high was working, why change it? The thing is, it’s been working less and less for us. On the one hand, interceptions have been really hard for us to come by. Especially in recent years. Our Super Bowl win? We gave up 505 passing yards, which is both a Super Bowl, AND a playoff record. Guess how many of our stating Secondary players missed that game? Zero. That was done vs our starters.

Jim Johnson. Sean McDermott. Juan Castillo. Todd Bowles. Bill Davis. Jim Schwartz. Six coaches over 21 years. Imagine that each was a chef, and they have all tried to improve dessert by serving the same vanilla ice cream (Cover One), in a different bowl.

In the meantime, how many good, free agent CB’s did this team spend big money on, only to have pretty much every one of them flop? How many bad CB’s did we draft? Contrast that against how many Pro Bowlers we’ve produced at that position since CB Asante Samuel in 2010. That number by the way is zero.

I’ve been saying for years now: The CB’s aren’t bad, the scheme is. They can’t gamble, undercut some routes, and make plays, because they frequently have had no deep help behind them. The result is the Eagles, year in and year out, hemorrhaging passing yardage. The result is hurries and hits that should have been sacks.

Switch to a Cover Two base. Give the Defense a chance to be truly dominant again.

#4 FEWER CLEAN RELEASES

Posted by The BEAST on 2020/02/13
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, NFL, Players, Rants, stats, The 12, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

THE 12 2020.4

OUR pass rush took heat this year for having lost something, even though we had 38 sacks in 2017, 40 in 2018, and 43 in 2019. There’s some truth to us having lost something, and I do cover that later in this series. However, the issue isn’t sacks.

The issue is opposing QB’s being able to throw the ball off of a three step drop, because their receiver is unchallenged to the spot. Most NFL offenses are timing based and our Defense scarcely ever disrupts passing game’s timing.

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Most Eagles fans don’t know this, but during our Super Bowl year (2017), we were ranked 4th in points allowed per game (18.4). The following year (2018) we ranked 12th (21.8). This last year (2019) we ranked 15th (22.1). Raise your hand if you see a pattern. Stand in the corner and face the wall if you don’t.

And so despite an increasing number of sacks, we allow an increasing number of points. These are facts. They are absolutes. They cannot be argued. Let’s keep going.

We play a lot of soft man coverage. However, what we’ve seen over the last few seasons, is that unchallenged routes lead to easy completions, high completion percentages, and an increasing number of points surrendered.

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Last year’s 22.1 points allowed, also factors in two division games against two rookie starters, a game against QB Case Keenum, and a game against now retired QB Eli Manning. All of whom we made look very good. The passers in this division will only get better. We need to figure out a way to keep them in check.

The knee-jerk response is always: “More pass rush.” “We need to be more aggressive with our pass rush.” Give me a BREAK! We roll these platitudes out every year, generally to similar numbers from the year before. Really, HOW can we be more aggressive when we rarely blitz, and still routinely only rush four? So stop. Just stop.

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The problem is that we make the game too easy for opposing passers. We need to play more Bump and Run, to throw receivers off their routes, so that when the QB looks in that spot…his guy isn’t there yet. That makes the QB have to look elsewhere, which means (ABRACADABRA!), that he has to hold onto the ball a little longer.

Now pass rushers get a shot at him. Now passes get rushed. They aren’t pinpoint. They get tipped! They get juggled! They get intercepted! That’s how to generate turnovers, kill drives, and snuff out hope. But none of that happens if we keep allowing receivers free releases into their routes.

THE 12: #4 PLEASE PLAY SOME PRESS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/03/04
Posted in: Defense, Rants, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Any idiot can say “Hey let’s sign every high-priced Free Agent on the market”. The 12 focuses on what we can do with what we already have, to fix or improve our team.

************

WEEK 15 against the giants. Our Defense was beaten for one uncontested Slant route after another. It looked almost like Eli Manning was out there playing catch with his receivers. Oh yeah, it also looked that way Week 2 vs the Chiefs.

The rest of the season didn’t look nearly as bad as those two weeks, but during the season two things became clear. 1) That the Slant was 7-11, if an opponent wanted it, and 2) That they could use the Slant, to set up the inside-out double-move on Go routes.

Our inside-out/double-move weakness, became glaringly, unsettlingly apparent in Week 15. It got to the point where we kept seeing teams try to exploit it, (especially against CB Jalen Mills) in the playoffs. Expect teams (especially division rivals) to write plays designed to attack that very Achilles Heel, in 2018. If we can’t take away the Slant, we’ll be setting our Secondary up for failure this year.

The best way to stop the Slant is to (PLEASE, DEAR GOD!!!!!!) play some man-press at the line. Yes, after a couple moments of press, the receiver will get into his route. That’s true. The Slant however, is a timing route. If the receiver is late to the spot, the QB is already on the next read in his progression. Pass rushers are closing in. The pressed route is defended.

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Rookie CB Sidney Jones presses WR Dez Bryant, keeping him pinned outside, despite Bryant’s clear desire to run inside. This is near-perfect coverage.

The other way to defend the Slant is with a LB with no brakes, arriving just as the ball does. The message gets clearly sent, and receivers look for other ways to make money. Also opposing coaches would be less reckless with health of their QB’s favorite targets.

However, since the NFL likes handing out fines and suspensions, The smarter option is to focus on option one. Play some press. Disrupt opponent’s timing. Force opponents to learn the Eagles Defense all over again, then exploit their ignorance.

WHAT NEEDS FIXING?

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/08/11
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Offense, Players, Reviews, X's and O's. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

BELIEVE it or not, there were a few positive things to take away from last nights game vs the Packers. QB Carson Wentz looked fully in command of what was happening around him, despite Green Bay being total assholes and blitzing so much (given that it was a preseason game). Our Defensive Line also handled business both as the starting unit and as the “back-up” unit.

There were some good things that happened last night, but this is the preseason. The preseason is for focusing on what we need to tighten up. Judging from what we saw at Lame Beau last night, our Eagles have quite a bit of tightening to do, in some key areas.

The first area to tighten, is coverage. We’re still using 5 yard cushions and allowing wideouts quick releases inside. That inside release puts the receiver between the ball and the defender. It creates a no-brainer, easy completion for even the worst QB. We played this same technique, and gave up these same releases last year, and we ended up 7-9 for our troubles.

On the other hand, if the CB forces the receiver outside, then the defender would be between the ball and the receiver. A QB thinks twice about throwing a ball to that receiver, so he holds the ball longer while looking for a different receiver. That gives the pass rush time to get home. We need to do more of that, and that cannot be done from a 5 yard cushion.

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Photo courtesy of USA Today

Another thing we need work on, is communication in our run game. Last night, no matter who carried the ball, running in between the Tackles wasn’t something we could do. I get that the assholes were bringing extra men all night long, but even high school Offensive Linemen have checks, calls and counters for that.

What you saw in that game, was a unit not communicating like they should be. Maybe it’s because one Guard is a new starter, and the other was filling in. In either case it’s still inexcusable. Learn the checks. Learn the calls. Be able to communicate. When the communication stops or gets messed up, everything gets messed up. The unit cannot and will not function as a team, if they don’t communicate. Communication is a must.

Blitz hot routes also need a looksee. The Cheesies came with the blitz on what seemed like every down, but the only time I recall them getting spanked for it, was on that 20 yard pass from QB Matt McGloin to RB Corey Clement, in the second half.

While it looked like our QB’s (even Wentz) weren’t great against the blitz, the truth is that the routes we ran, went outside. (In contrast to what the Packers did with inside releases.) It’s nearly impossible to hang the ball accurately when the receiver still has his back to you. This is a problem with the way a route drawn up. Better play design would go a long way to helping out the QB.

I could name a few more things, but today I’m just going to focus on the things which stem into other things. Focus on the fundamentals, first. Not being able to cover, run, or give your QB a quick option all are stem issues. We’ll see what takes place this week in practice.

WHY IS PHILLY BOASTING?

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/06/24
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Fans, NFL, Offense, Players, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I’M excited about the mental development of Carson Wentz, as he makes an effort to be a legitimate franchise QB. I’m ecstatic over the acquisition of G Chance Warmack. I’m extremely happy with the extensions given to T Jason Peters, and C/G Stefen Wisniewski. The addition of DE Chris Long makes us deep with talented pass rushers, and DT Timmy Jernigan will make sure you won’t miss Bennie Logan. We added a ton of proven NFL talent during this offseason.

That all being said, what is with all this boasting already? It’s true. Last week I said we were about to undergo a massive evolutionary jump as a team, but pump the brakes, folks! Pump the brakes! Didn’t we just go 7-9? (Wait no.) Didn’t we just go 7-9, twice? Look, I’m all about optimism and whatnot, but talking to Eagles fans these days, you’d think we were already 14-1 and heading into Week 17. Let’s keep this **** in perspective shall we?

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Most of the talk right now is on how WR Alshon Jeffery will come in and change the Offense by giving Wentz a “big time #1”, “a legit go-to guy”, and “a stud WR”. Well what the fuck? Wasn’t Jeffrey all those things in Chicago when they went 8-8, 5-11, 6-10 and 3-13? This is the same Jeffrey with 26 career touchdowns in 63 career games, right? (This is the part where people blame Jay Cutler, without realizing that in Chicago, Cutler with Jeffery (2012-2016) was more of less the exact same QB without him (2009-2011). Proof you say? Take a look here.)

Let me hip you all to something very important. How Jeffery plays is neither here nor there. It’s not the big issue. Nope. Not even close. The big issue is coverage. (Not pass rush as Sal Palantonio said it is, but coverage.)

Last year, because our CB’s couldn’t even stay with their shadows, our pass rushers didn’t get as many sacks as their talent would indicate they should have. Oh sure, we got a ton of hurries, but a hurry is what they call it when you get to the QB a second too late. (Either that or a penalty.) This season will come down to how consistently (key word!) our coverage can buy 3 and a half seconds for our pass rush. That’s it. That’s the whole season, right there.

Better coverage equals more sacks and turnovers, equals shorter drives, equals fewer chances for opponents to get into scoring range, equals fewer points by touchdown OR field goal, equals fewer points allowed, equals improved chances to win any game we play. All of that starts with coverage, because even great rush (as we saw last year) will be thwarted by quick and easy completions. Not quick and easy throws, but completions.

Unfortunately, no one (but me) seems to want to have that discussion. In a division with Eli Manning, Kirk Cousins, and (to a lesser extent) Dak Prescott, the idea of Defense hardly seems to be a subject around here. That’s disturbing, given it’s importance to the Eagles 2017 season.

Let me repeat a few points I made in my last article. I said to sit back and enjoy the next few years. I said this team’s evolution is a process. I said what we must undergo and undertake cannot be faked, nor simulated. While it would be nice to ride this offseason to a playoff berth, it would be foolish to go around expecting it. (At which point people will act like the Eagles somehow let them down again.)

There is much left to be done before we fans can strut around like we own the division. It’s been years now since we won the East. Years. We don’t own any form of valid bragging rights anymore. You claim bragging rights when you win, and NOT before. That doesn’t mean you can’t talk trash, but until our team can break .500 again, it might be wise to pump the brakes with the boasting.