Chuck 54
10-31-2004, 04:31 PM
Posted this in an earlier thread today:
"1. You don't have to have great defensive players to play "zone"...zone was invented because the defense didn't have players good enough to cover Bob Hayes, and those defenses didn't all have great players up front either. If anything, Man-Man coverage in the secondary is what is old fashioned...few teams play defense that way in the NFL anymore...hardly anyone wants to play man as much as we line up in it.
2. Most teams want to be in a zone because most offenses aren't good enough to orchestrate a long drive without making a few errors or bringing up several 3rd downs when the defense has a chance to make one stop and end the drive...Playing man to man all the time just makes a mediocre offense better in my opinion because you allow them opportunities to make BIG plays instead of forcing them to drive the ball consistantly.
3. Zone defense is also the preferred defense due to all the mobile QB's in the league these days...when you face a QB who can take off and run, being in man coverage is horrible...the defenders have their backs turned to the offense and don't even know that the QB is running....TB took decent, but not great, DB's and made them effective for years because they played zone exclusively until they understood it and developed the techniques well...zone allows defenders to read the QB, see where the ball is going, and make plays on passes that are a little off target or underthrown or overthrown...it also allows a db like Roy Williams to lay back and bring major lumber on a receiver.
Due to parity in the league (which means offenses that are less efficient at the long sustained drives due to breakdowns, drops, missed assignments) and mobile QB's who love to pull the ball down and run when the secondary is chasing WR's everywhere, Zone defense is the preferred defense...locking your best cover CB on a team's best receiver and playing zone all around him happens...playing man on blitzing downs and overplaying the hot patterns is often done, but playing man-to-man coverage as exclusively as Dallas does, even with good DB's, is not a good way to go....the DB's are less effective in run support, give up too many scrambles and big plays to running QB's, and fail miserably when the WR & QB are good enough to abuse them."
The young guys fresh from college seem to much better suited and used to playing zone defense...in today's game we played more zone with Roy in the box and Lynn Scott at FS, and it showed. Lance Frazier was playing zone, watching QB all the way and playing the ball on his INT....TNew was in zone, reading the receiver's pattern and breaking on the ball when he made a nice 3rd down pass breakup.
The man coverage hurt us a couple of times today, but the zone coverage was just what the doctor ordered for this young defense.
ON another topic, the young guys finally get a chance to play by default, and they came up bigger today than the old vets have been doing:
1. Frazier made a pick, had great coverage and almost another pick on the Lions' td and made a great punt return.
2. Lee continues to be the only kick returner who can find the seam with another nice kick off return today.
3. Creighton looked poor on punt return and was replaced by Frazier, but he made a great "hands" catch and run to help seal the win...I love QB's who switch to WR...they seem to understand defenses better and can find the open spots.
However, it's a good thing DAT was not seriously hurt, because O'Neill looked awful at MLB and was backing up on those middle runs and bringing nothing...might have been a very long day had he stayed at MLB...we'd better get someone else ready to play there as a backup plan.
It was nice to see CReighton make that play, but was anyone else getting pissed that we kept forcing the ball to Key and never took even one shot to Randal Williams or Creighton before that one play? I would have expected at least one bomb toward Randal Williams just to loosen the defense...we threw to no one but Witten and Keyshaun almost all day....it cost us a couple of times.
Finally, I love that we finally run a QB sneak on 4th and 3 (yeah, I know it wasn't the called play but something Vinny saw), but we lost a game earlier this year when we wouldn't run the sneak for 1 lousy inch.
For those still bashing Eddie George, we all got what we wanted today...he ran the ball enough times to have an impact on the game, and he did have an impact...he ran hard, he almost never loses any serious yards the way Anderson does, and he ground out some important first downs...he showed me some nifty moves and some burst...he's not going to be the RB he used to be...he's not going to be a star...but right now I like the way we used him today...it set the tone, and while some may anguish over yards they think he left on the field today, today I was not clammoring for Rashard Lee...today I was happy to actually see a running game. I would think others would be too.
This was as impressive a win as the losses were devistating. Next week we'll either revert to former form and go to 3-5 or we'll even it up at 4-4. We don't have the weapons we had earlier in the season, but today we played and called a game more typical of the Dallas Cowboys.
"1. You don't have to have great defensive players to play "zone"...zone was invented because the defense didn't have players good enough to cover Bob Hayes, and those defenses didn't all have great players up front either. If anything, Man-Man coverage in the secondary is what is old fashioned...few teams play defense that way in the NFL anymore...hardly anyone wants to play man as much as we line up in it.
2. Most teams want to be in a zone because most offenses aren't good enough to orchestrate a long drive without making a few errors or bringing up several 3rd downs when the defense has a chance to make one stop and end the drive...Playing man to man all the time just makes a mediocre offense better in my opinion because you allow them opportunities to make BIG plays instead of forcing them to drive the ball consistantly.
3. Zone defense is also the preferred defense due to all the mobile QB's in the league these days...when you face a QB who can take off and run, being in man coverage is horrible...the defenders have their backs turned to the offense and don't even know that the QB is running....TB took decent, but not great, DB's and made them effective for years because they played zone exclusively until they understood it and developed the techniques well...zone allows defenders to read the QB, see where the ball is going, and make plays on passes that are a little off target or underthrown or overthrown...it also allows a db like Roy Williams to lay back and bring major lumber on a receiver.
Due to parity in the league (which means offenses that are less efficient at the long sustained drives due to breakdowns, drops, missed assignments) and mobile QB's who love to pull the ball down and run when the secondary is chasing WR's everywhere, Zone defense is the preferred defense...locking your best cover CB on a team's best receiver and playing zone all around him happens...playing man on blitzing downs and overplaying the hot patterns is often done, but playing man-to-man coverage as exclusively as Dallas does, even with good DB's, is not a good way to go....the DB's are less effective in run support, give up too many scrambles and big plays to running QB's, and fail miserably when the WR & QB are good enough to abuse them."
The young guys fresh from college seem to much better suited and used to playing zone defense...in today's game we played more zone with Roy in the box and Lynn Scott at FS, and it showed. Lance Frazier was playing zone, watching QB all the way and playing the ball on his INT....TNew was in zone, reading the receiver's pattern and breaking on the ball when he made a nice 3rd down pass breakup.
The man coverage hurt us a couple of times today, but the zone coverage was just what the doctor ordered for this young defense.
ON another topic, the young guys finally get a chance to play by default, and they came up bigger today than the old vets have been doing:
1. Frazier made a pick, had great coverage and almost another pick on the Lions' td and made a great punt return.
2. Lee continues to be the only kick returner who can find the seam with another nice kick off return today.
3. Creighton looked poor on punt return and was replaced by Frazier, but he made a great "hands" catch and run to help seal the win...I love QB's who switch to WR...they seem to understand defenses better and can find the open spots.
However, it's a good thing DAT was not seriously hurt, because O'Neill looked awful at MLB and was backing up on those middle runs and bringing nothing...might have been a very long day had he stayed at MLB...we'd better get someone else ready to play there as a backup plan.
It was nice to see CReighton make that play, but was anyone else getting pissed that we kept forcing the ball to Key and never took even one shot to Randal Williams or Creighton before that one play? I would have expected at least one bomb toward Randal Williams just to loosen the defense...we threw to no one but Witten and Keyshaun almost all day....it cost us a couple of times.
Finally, I love that we finally run a QB sneak on 4th and 3 (yeah, I know it wasn't the called play but something Vinny saw), but we lost a game earlier this year when we wouldn't run the sneak for 1 lousy inch.
For those still bashing Eddie George, we all got what we wanted today...he ran the ball enough times to have an impact on the game, and he did have an impact...he ran hard, he almost never loses any serious yards the way Anderson does, and he ground out some important first downs...he showed me some nifty moves and some burst...he's not going to be the RB he used to be...he's not going to be a star...but right now I like the way we used him today...it set the tone, and while some may anguish over yards they think he left on the field today, today I was not clammoring for Rashard Lee...today I was happy to actually see a running game. I would think others would be too.
This was as impressive a win as the losses were devistating. Next week we'll either revert to former form and go to 3-5 or we'll even it up at 4-4. We don't have the weapons we had earlier in the season, but today we played and called a game more typical of the Dallas Cowboys.