Dissecting the zone.. 1. What they do is they bump at the line with a cornerback initially throwing the wide receivers off line and off their route allowing for more time for the pass rush to develop. 2. Drop a middle linebacker back in zone to protect over the middle, and usually drop him DEEP, so that the safeties don't have to worry about it. Middle linebackers need to be very fast at backpedalling into their deep slot. 3. Cornerbacks rotate to a zone coverage near the sideline from 1-10 yards covering all backs and tightends usually that come into their zone. They usually defend curl routes effectively because they are placed in front of the 7-10 yard marker. Cornerbacks need to have strong arms and good lateral hip movement. 4. Safeties rotate over to take receivers one on one in deep ball situations. Safeties need excellent ball skills. 5. Mix up blitz packages among the front seven. Rarely will you see cornerbacks or safeties (outside Harrison) blitzing, because they use such a precise zone to stopping the pass. 6. One outside linebacker blitzing at nearly all times. This year it was McGinest and Colvin. They need to get around the corner quickly and just make the quarterback feel the pressure. If you watch tape, Wilfork, Seymour and Warren all got good pressure once McGinest or Colvin collapsed the pocket. They didn't always finish though, which is key because that leads to interceptions. It's really all about the safeties and defensive line. You can work around average corners and linebackers. You can't work around good safeties or d-line. So what does this mean for us? Our defensive alignment will probably look like this.. Kimo - Robertson - Ellis Barton - Hobson (SILB) - Vilma (WILB) - Drafted Miller & Barrett/Strait at corner. Rhodes & Coleman at safeties. Since the safeties are pretty interchangeable in the scheme, but we have two different personalities, I'm assuming Rhodes will play on the crowded or strong side of the defense since he has more range. Coleman will play the weakside so he can focus in more on one or two guys to defend deep. I'd like to see Rashad Washington in there as well since he has very good dimensions and speed for his size, he just needs to learn route recognition in my book and we'll have a safety core for many years to come. Miller is probably going to be locked in at corner since Mangini being a former d-backs coach is going to recgonize Miller's cover skills. Barrett and Strait are going to battle it out for the remaining spots and I'm not so against having Strait playing since he was a zone specialist at Oklahoma. Recovery speed isn't that key for a zone defense like a Belicheck guy will run, but initial burst will be which is good for Strait. As far as linebacker goes, it is essential that we get a rush backer, and it would obviously be a good thing to upgrade at nose tackle. I think Robertson will be able to hold his own playing the nose though. Someone like Stanley McClover, or Frostee Rucker would be mid round steals to play rush backer for us. They're both big, and solid at rushing the passer. If we got McGinest it would only complete our alignment. Barton compliments McGinest well. Hobson & Vilma is the ideal setup for inside linebacker. I know I was a supporter of Hawk if we went with a 4-3, but not so much for a 3-4. Hawk and Vilma are too similar to roam in the same formation. Hobson stuffs the run and will stuff the run for us much like Larry Foote does for the Steelers. Clog the holes up and help take on blockers so our rush backer and WILB Vilma can roam the field and wreak havoc. If we traded down a few and didn't acquire McGinest, Lawson really wouldn't be a bad investment. He's the Shawn Merriman of this year except a bit faster and a bit smaller. No worries though if Hobson plays the same side. Lastly, I really think all eyes are pointing towards a quarterback in this years draft if we stay put. Abraham is near one hundred percent gone so we can factor in the extra draft picks and use them to rebuild while taking a quarterback to build around at 4.
I would rather have someone besides Barrett/Strait on the other corner. But nice post...we aren't really in that much of a defensive pickle as everyone makes out.
i really like the idea of switching to a 3-4 i think if we can get a solid LineBacker in free agency or in the draft i will be happy.. i think however though we might need to bring in a corner back however just incase miller or barret does not work out.
Glad that we agree on Robertson at NT :up: That pass rusher might not neccessarily be a rookie though. We're supposed to meet with McGinnest and I wouldnt be surprised to sign him as a transition player As for scheming, I dont know if anyone remembers, but I posted a similar thread last year, where I said more or less what you did, that their successful scheme depends on having two stud safeties and a strong front seven that can stuff the run...the corners dont have to be anything special, just have to get the job done. But I disagree in one thing...you say its more important to have solid dlinemen, but I think its more important to have a solid LB corps. The dlinemen arent really responsible for making many plays, they just tie up blocks...but its the LBs that are responsible for flying around, making tackles, blitzing, making plays, etc. Sure, they cant do it if they dont have a successful dline, but Id put a bit more of a premium on the LB corps than I would on the DL
Gonna bump this to get a few more darksider opinions on it, and hopefully stop the arguments about cornerback depth. Yes we need to sign or draft a guy in the 5th-6th but that's about it.
Great post, explained it the best I've heard anyone do it. I'm uncertain about Barton at OLB. He's played what the team used to call a "jack" linebacker and he was fairly deep and outside putting him in alot of space. His second to last year in Oakland he recored 6 sacks but other than that he's never had more than 3. He'll be playing a distinctly different position and I'm wondering how he'll adapt. He's almost more suited to play ILB with his speed and size.
I know this might come across as a stupid but why dion't the Jets make a push for Julian Peterson. He is a bad ass LB experience, at FS, DE and LB. He would be a perfect pass rushing OLB. I remember in the 2000 draft i wanted him over Abraham. But right now I really like the idea of moving John Abraham to OLB and make him be a passing rushing specialist
