Noots wrote: ↑Wed Aug 30, 2023 3:06 pm
karhu wrote: ↑Wed Aug 30, 2023 2:31 pm
Weird how we chose a Cover 2 coach who prefers Dick Jauron's line. Robinson-Washington-Traylor-Daniels clicked like mad that one year when they were all healthy, but we also blitzed like crazy: our starting LBs had more sacks than our entire line and our safeties had just half a sack fewer than our entire LDE rotation. That's not going to happen this year.
Jauron ran more of a 2-gapping DL with big bodies all the way across, including Daniels at one DE and BRob at the other, with 700 lbs of ass in the middle. What was really unique and a key was that our SLB was R. Colvin, and he dropped in at DE in sub packages and racked up like 10 sacks a year. They also got like 7-9 Sacks outta Daniels. That 2 gapping should keep your LBs cleaner, and often the DTs would be sacrificing stats and their bodies so the guys behind them could get the glory.
Got a bit cute with the wording, but I was looking mostly at the size and function of our DEs there. It was a charmed season for a lot of guys, and outside of it Daniels was a dependable 5-6-sack, edge-setting DE wherever he went. In retrospect, that might be the rich man's version of what our coaches are looking for at the position.
Colvin would come up to the line, but I don't recall him replacing anyone there. Long time ago, but I remember him strictly as a blitzing LB, not as a replacement DE. Nothing about our personnel or our coaches' history suggests that we're going to do that this year.
Cover 2 is typically more of a one gap get off the ball slanting scheme. All that talk about Dexter and Pickens converting from read/react to firing off the ball is indicative of converting from more of a 2 gap to a 1 gap scheme. If you have all undersized quick guys in there across the board you're going to get bowled over (see Wanne's defense with guys like Zorich, Flanagan and Thierry in there). Even Lovie had big under tackles/NTs that were the DTs opposite 3 tech Tommie Harris. I think they're hoping Pickens/Dexter can grow into a player like KC's Chris Jones (is he in camp yet? Is he in OUR camp yet?).
Yes, fine. Jones and Billings should be able to command their gaps well enough to keep O-lines honest and to let our LBs focus on their primary assignments. I really like both of those guys, and while I still think we'll see them at their best if they flip roles, I like the rookies a lot, too.
But in standard sets, that still leaves one guy double-teamed and the rest free to take advantage of one-on-one matchups. Last year, that guy was our most effective pass-rusher, because nobody else made sense to double. And now we seem to be moving deliberately away from even
that level of pass-rushing performance. Walker, to beat a dead horse, has always been more effective inside. The backups, who could've added some wrinkles, apparently save their good play for practice. Much as I like him, I don't know if Jones has the upfield juice to make teams pay for leaving him alone with a guard. Billings is a born NT for a defense like ours, and he has a sack a year to prove it. That leaves the hired gun, the proven double-digit sack artist...and the guy who's going to see a phenomenal amount of double-teaming this year.
Hope it all adds up on the 10th. Don't see it from here, though.
So much road and so few places, so much friendliness and so little intimacy, so much flavour and so little taste.
Friendship is better than fighting, but fighting is more useful.
