Here is a good write-up on Seattle's Cover 3

Well, Byron Jones would have fit this scheme pretty well IMO. It's a shame we couldn't figure out a way to resign him.

I don't care about Seattle's "Cover 3" defense. Who says it's Quinn will implement that scheme in Dallas?

2288doubletrouble said:

So basically Dallas needs to find a lot of all pro players this offseason to run this defense. That has a high chance of happening.

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Thats how you took it but not how it really is.
Anyone who thinks Quinn or anyone is going to come in and make us go from the worst defense in the history of the organization to one of the best defenses in the last 30 years is just setting themselves up to be miserable.

The reality is we have players who are better suited for the Quinn style of defense than the Nolan style of defense. Our LBers were pro bowl players under Richard style. As was our DE.
Yes we need talent still at some key positions. However that doesnt mean its a bad hire or we won't significantly improve.

2288doubletrouble said:

So basically Dallas needs to find a lot of all pro players this offseason to run this defense. That has a high chance of happening.

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While I don't disagree with you, Seattle was able to build a Super Bowl winning D without too much "high value" investment in it:

Draft:

Trades:

Free Agents:


So you are looking at a LOT of 3rd Day picks on that Defense, with 4 of the 5 "starting" DBs being picked in the 4th, 5th and 6th Rounds.
This is what can happen when coaches / front office people don't get so darn attached to their "pet cats" on draft day.

JMHO

Future said:

What's this from, 2015?

In 2020, Cover-3 is the epitome of bend but don't break, because it allows a lot of easy completions in the short-intermediate areas of the field.

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Then what's the difference between Cover

Hawkeye0202 said:

or Jaylon Smith ???????

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Good luck with that...whether edge rusher or space blitzer jaylon isn't good at it

Bigdog said:

Unfortunately I don't think Zaven Collins will make it to us in the 2nd round.

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I'm thinking more of a minor trade back.

Hawkeye0202 said:

or Jaylon Smith ???????

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That's where I would pencil him in.

Denim Chicken said:

I'll agree that you are going to want a FS that is really good since he'll be playing a true deep center field position (Woods aint it). This and the IDL should be our main point of focus to make this D work.

I'm sure every defense would love to have an elite lock-down corner, but really for CB's you need those who excel in zone. Diggs is good here & will match with WR1. I don't know how much man coverage Quinn will employ when he's disguising coverage, but CBs should be primarily conformable in off-coverage zone (which I believe will play to Awuzie's skill set if we want to keep him around).

I like what I was from Wilson in the SS spot, spot I'm not too worried there.

This coverage's advantage is against the running game, so we should at least see some improvement there solely from scheme.

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The need at Free Safety is huge for this defense.

JoeKing said:

I don't care about Seattle's "Cover 3" defense. Who says it's Quinn will implement that scheme in Dallas?

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I read that he ran it 50% of the time last year. He is going to run a Cover 3 Scheme.

SackMaster said:

While I don't disagree with you, Seattle was able to build a Super Bowl winning D without too much "high value" investment in it:

Draft:

1st Round = Earl Thomas, Bruce Irvin
2nd Round = Bobby Wagner
3rd Round = Cliff Avril, Brandon Mebane
4th Round = Red Bryant, KJ Wright, Walter Thurmond
5th Round = Kam Chancellor, Richard Sherman
6th Round = Byron Maxwell
UDFA = Michael Bennett​

Trades:

Chris Clemons (and a 4th) for Darryl Trapp (who was a 2nd Round pick by Seattle)​

Free Agents:

Tony McDaniel - FA on a 1 year deal (was an UDFA Rookie for his 1st Team)​

So you are looking at a LOT of 3rd Day picks on that Defense, with 4 of the 5 "starting" DBs being picked in the 4th, 5th and 6th Rounds.
This is what can happen when coaches / front office people don't get so darn attached to their "pet cats" on draft day.

JMHO

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Cliff Avril was a Lions 3rd round pick signed as a free agent the year they won the Super Bowl.

Cowboyny said:

The need at Free Safety is huge for this defense.

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Andre Cisco @KingintheNorth

Cowboyny said:

I read that he ran it 50% of the time last year. He is going to run a Cover 3 Scheme.

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You say you read it but prove it. Do you not know how a debate works? You don't get to throw out stats without citation. Until then you are full of crap and you are just spewing fake news.

speedkilz88 said:

Cliff Avril was a Lions 3rd round pick signed as a free agent the year they won the Super Bowl.

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Good catch. My bad.

And to think, he wasn't a "Top-Tier" Free Agent either. He signed a 2-year $13 million deal in the same offseason Dallas re-signed Anthony Spencer for 1 year $10.5 million.

stilltheguru said:

Andre Cisco @KingintheNorth

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I could see that.

My hope would be that if Dallas drafted him, Cisco's Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde act at Syracuse would be corrected at the next level. The good with Cisco is very good, but the bad is awful.

SackMaster said:

Good catch. My bad.

And to think, he wasn't a "Top-Tier" Free Agent either. He signed a 2-year $13 million deal in the same offseason Dallas re-signed Anthony Spencer for 1 year $10.5 million.

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Yeah, he was the type of free agent pickup teams should be on the look out.

Hawkeye0202 said:

• We'll sign/consider FS Earl Thomas OR a mid-level free agent.
• We will target CB with our 1st round pick ( it's not hard to see MM is making this unit a priority )
• Wilson will be our 2021 SS
• Would not surprise to see 2nd or 3rd round LBer

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Thomas reunites with Quinn.

Very sad that we have to be thinking about a high pick for LBer, but we'd better. Dump Jaylon, draft a new quality LB, hope that LVE can come out of his death spiral.

Don't know about the CB, though. We just spent our 2 on a CB. I wouldn't think another pick that high so soon, with so much need at DT. With so many needs at less premiere positions on defense, seems like a good year to trade back.

Cowboyny said:

A Seattle Cover 3 must – and I mean must – have an all-world athlete, and all-world football player, honestly, at the free safety position. The engine that makes Seattle’s aggressive defense go is safety Earl Thomas. Without Thomas on the back end being able to cover the range he does, that defense doesn’t work. We saw how fast the wheels fell off Seattle’s defense late in the year when he was hurt. Next, there has to be at least one elite lockdown outside cornerback. That’s Richard Sherman. After that you want to have another corner who is comfortable playing a man-to-man style on one side of the field. Finally, you have to have a strong safety who hits, wraps up, has the size to at least take on lead blockers, and can chase like a linebacker. That’s Kam Chancellor.

An aggressive Cover 3 is all about buying time for a good pass rush. When you have the kind of aggressive players in the secondary that Seattle does, they’re able to lock down their receivers for three to four seconds on a regular basis, which is a long time for an offensive line to block a team like Seattle.

Seattle’s defensive series end in the extremes. There aren’t all these bend-but-don’t-break drives that are long and sustained that only end in three points. More than any other style of defense, Seattle’s Cover 3 either ends in a touchdown, a turnover or a limited drive that could be as short as a three-and-out.

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What? Any defense needs play makers. You just described Thomas Everett/James Washington/Brock Marion, Kevin Smith/Deion Sanders, and Darren Woodson. You just described Cornell Green, Mike Renfro, and Herb Adderley, You just described Charlie Waters, Cliff Harris, and Mel Renfro. You just described Mike Downs, Dennis Thurman, and Everson Walls They did not play in the Seattle Cover 3. You need play makers for any defense.

What you needed was Kris Richard as DC who actually developed Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, and Kam Chancellor.

Cowboyny said:

Yes, the Cover 3 is exploitable underneath, as well just past the MLB down the field.

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The RPO can really kill it too since they just read the SS.

Quinn isn't a cover 3 expert.
That is Pete Carroll.

Quinn is a 4-3 under specialist.
It's what he implemented than used.
For that to work he needs pass rush acumen and Dallas seems to have that in DLaw/Gregory/Hill/Gallimore.
Once you get past the front 4 you have to have enough speed on the field to handle the opponent.

See Ohio State last night and they just didn't.
Matching up Devonta Smith with LBs was hilarious. Sark is the devil for that.

All that said Quinn is a football nerd. He watched 6000 defensive plays across his last 6 seasons coaching defense.
He learned from that that NFL offenses have changed quite a bit.
And he noted they needed to change things.
But the biggest issue was betting on Takk McKinley.
ATL just never got enough pressure out of him to justify how woefully bad he was versus the run.

As teams have flocked to 3-4 to get more variety and exotic blitzes going they've softened up mightily versus the run.
That's always been the weakness of the 3-4. And is especially so unless you have a true dominant NT/1T and 2 really good run stuff 5T.

The major change is 4-3 guys now use more 4-2-5 but have the SS play a Sam LB role.
So you toss out 4DL, Will, Mike and 5 DBs but are essentially playing 4-3 run concepts which allowed Dallas to finally slow some run games late in the year.

The problem is not finding the talent. The problem is paying to keep the talent. We've found talent on the D Side of the ball here people. We just don't believe in paying for it. Does anybody really see that changing a lot, over the next few years? We are all read to pay Dak whatever it takes. Where is the money for the D side gonna come from?