DC: 3 Questions: New Play Caller, Marinelli, Crawford's Fit

[jobberone]

3 Questions: New Play Caller, Marinelli, Crawford's Fit
Posted 22 hours ago

Bryan Broaddus Football Analyst/Scout
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Here are three questions from the Scout’s Eye Notebook:

What will be different about Rod Marinelli as the defensive coordinator?

Broaddus: Count me as one of those so-called experts that believed that the switch to this 4-3 defense was going to be good for all the pieces that Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett had on this roster. Nothing against George Selvie, Nick Hayden and what appeared to be the cast of thousands that played along the defensive line this past season, they were not what these defensive coaches believed they had before we went to Oxnard. Marinelli and Leon Lett were outstanding in what they were able to do with the group that Jones and Will McClay assembled. What I feel like that you will see from Marinelli that you didn’t see from Kiffin is playing more to the strengths of your personnel. Marinelli and the other coaches were not going to step on the toes of Kiffin and what he wanted to do scheme wise, that just was not their style. I believe that you will see a more aggressive approach from Marinelli when it comes to attacking offenses. His defenses while he was with the Bears, were this way. His front seven played a huge role in how he called the game. You will still see some two deep schemes but I also feel like you will see even more of the single high packages that they went to in the second half of the season in Dallas. Kiffin was more willing to sit there and play sound then he was to come after an offense. This is where Rod Marinelli was be totally different in my evaluation.

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/a...ords-Fit/5306abfd-15f6-4dee-9145-020b9e129b03

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Interesting take seeing Crawford as a "1" technique DT.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

Interesting take seeing Crawford as a "1" technique DT.

Very interesting. I don't see him being strong enough to be the 1-tech but I guess we'll find out.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Very interesting. I don't see him being strong enough to be the 1-tech but I guess we'll find out.

Maybe.. Maybe not.

I remember the clip someone had on here of Crawford walking back the guard from TB (who Cowboy fans wanted the Cowboys to sign) right into the back field.

 

[big dog cowboy]

What I feel like that you will see from Marinelli that you didn’t see from Kiffin is playing more to the strengths of your personnel. Marinelli and the other coaches were not going to step on the toes of Kiffin and what he wanted to do scheme wise, that just was not their style. I believe that you will see a more aggressive approach from Marinelli when it comes to attacking offenses.

Been waiting on this since Ryan was hired.

 

[TheFinisher]

So we felt hit best fit was at LDE last year but are thinking of moving him to 1 Tech because we have no one else who can play it? Sounds like the club is trying to cut corners and I can't see how playing Crawford somewhere other than his natural fit is a smart decision. Yea, maybe he can make it work, but that's not what he is and he has much higher upside at the LDE spot.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

So we felt hit best fit was at LDE last year but are thinking of moving him to 1 Tech because we have no one else who can play it? Sounds like the club is trying to cut corners and I can't see how playing Crawford somewhere other than his natural fit is a smart decision. Yea, maybe he can make it work, but that's not what he is and he has much higher upside at the LDE spot.

I disagree.

The kid came here as a 3-4 DE and 3-4 DE's are more akin to be 4-3 DT's than they are 4-3 DE's.

I never felt he had the burst to play as a 4-3 DE, BUT he showed some power in his 300 or so snaps as a contributor in 2012.

He has a much higher upside as a 4-3 DT than he does as a 4-3 DE IMO.

 

[jobberone]

Been waiting on this since Ryan was hired.

i agree with the author about this. I think if they have enough players you will see a defense patterned after Seattle. You'll see them stunting and blitzing more and they will be creative. It won't be like Ryan though.

 

[jobberone]

I disagree.

The kid came here as a 3-4 DE and 3-4 DE's are more akin to be 4-3 DT's than they are 4-3 DE's.

I never felt he had the burst to play as a 4-3 DE, BUT he showed some power in his 300 or so snaps as a contributor in 2012.

He has a much higher upside as a 4-3 DT than he does as a 4-3 DE IMO.

I think you're right although I do think he can play the strong side as a DE. In fact I like the idea of rotating him against some teams there since our right side was attacked frequently at the 5 & 7 holes. But I think you will see him at DT as well. A lot of this speculation depends on who is retained and acquired. We need some players on the front.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

i agree with the author about this. I think if they have enough players you will see a defense patterned after Seattle. You'll see them stunting and blitzing more and they will be creative. It won't be like Ryan though.

I'm hoping it translates into more aggressive play by the corners.

Zone doesn't mean that the corners have to play 5 yards off the WR.

Seattle plays an aggressive 3-deep zone where the corners will play up on the WR and then will drop off back into their zones of responsibilities. Yes you need athletic corners to do that and I think the Cowboys have that.

Seattle put on a clinic on how you stop all these short patterns... disrupt the patterns before they start and tackle the guy if he makes the reception.

 

[jobberone]

Interesting take seeing Crawford as a "1" technique DT.

I think he's strong enough to play there. I agree with you though he's probably going to be a better 3 against some teams and a better 5 against others.

 

[conner01]

i think he can do it and hopefully we can add some depth so we can keep them fresh. what dt's we had on game day this year had to play lots of reps and wore down. depth will help alot. easier to get a guy at 100% for 25 plays than 35 plays

 

[jobberone]

I'm hoping it translates into more aggressive play by the corners.

Zone doesn't mean that the corners have to play 5 yards off the WR.

Seattle plays an aggressive 3-deep zone where the corners will play up on the WR and then will drop off back into their zones of responsibilities. Yes you need athletic corners to do that and I think the Cowboys have that.

Seattle put on a clinic on how you stop all these short patterns... disrupt the patterns before they start and tackle the guy if he makes the reception.

That IS Kiffins' defense although they had to play off too much because they weren't protected well by the safeties. First rule for that coverage is don't get beat deep. You've got to redirect your guy but the front needs to get enough pressure for it to work or you'll have too many big plays. In our case we couldn't cover with the LBers esp when Lee went out. We just had to try to keep the ball in front of what players we had out there and hope the O couldn't drive the field.

There's not even much worth talking about for that defense if you dare even calling it that. I guess you can say this is what happens when only a few players can do their job.

 

[Doomsay]

What I feel like that you will see from Marinelli that you didn’t see from Kiffin is playing more to the strengths of your personnel. Marinelli and the other coaches were not going to step on the toes of Kiffin and what he wanted to do scheme wise, that just was not their style. I believe that you will see a more aggressive approach from Marinelli when it comes to attacking offenses.

I think that this will be the case but it raises the question of retaining Kiffin in the first place. If his approach is to be contravened, why would you want him around? It seems counterproductive.

 

[jobberone]

So we felt hit best fit was at LDE last year but are thinking of moving him to 1 Tech because we have no one else who can play it? Sounds like the club is trying to cut corners and I can't see how playing Crawford somewhere other than his natural fit is a smart decision. Yea, maybe he can make it work, but that's not what he is and he has much higher upside at the LDE spot.

You do what you can do with what you have. While we technically have a 1 for a lot of plays we don't have a traditional 2 gap control that often. They want to get pressure up the middle from both tackles. You'll see much more 1 gap shoots as well as some 1 gap shoot and hold more than using a 2 gap technique. So I think Crawford can do that and I suspect do it well.

Our DTs are not quite as big as Seattle's in general but they don't have to be as we will shoot more than shoot and hold. The problem with their DTs is they aren't just big but strong and quick.

 

[xwalker]

Interesting take seeing Crawford as a "1" technique DT.

Broaddus infers that Crawford would be a 1-tech in the nickel. In reality, they usually play both DTs in more of a 3-tech in the nickel with a gap in the middle of the line.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Because they believe with his overall knowledge of the entire defense from front to back he can be in essence a "Coach of the defensive coaches". To me that's what an assistant coach does.

 

[jobberone]

I think that this will be the case but it raises the question of retaining Kiffin in the first place. If his approach is to be contravened, why would you want him around? It seems counterproductive.

His approach last year was to survive. They didn't run the defense they envisioned because they were crippled and just didn't have the personnel to run it. People don't understand that Kiffin's base Tampa 2 is still the model many teams use they just run Tampa 2.8. That defense has evolved. You still need a mobile Mike and a playmaking rangy FS as well as pressure up front in addition to a good tackling team.

 

[xwalker]

His approach last year was to survive. They didn't run the defense they envisioned because they were crippled and just didn't have the personnel to run it. People don't understand that Kiffin's base Tampa 2 is still the model many teams use they just run Tampa 2.8. That defense has evolved. You still need a mobile Mike and a playmaking rangy FS as well as pressure up front in addition to a good tackling team.

Yes, he was just trying to survive the all of the injury players and the string of replacement players that where in and out of the lineup/roster.

Kiffin said before the Season that they wanted to be similar to Seattle and he referred several times to playing a lot of single high Safety.

 

[Common Sense]

I disagree.

The kid came here as a 3-4 DE and 3-4 DE's are more akin to be 4-3 DT's than they are 4-3 DE's.

I never felt he had the burst to play as a 4-3 DE, BUT he showed some power in his 300 or so snaps as a contributor in 2012.

He has a much higher upside as a 4-3 DT than he does as a 4-3 DE IMO.

Keep in mind that before the draft Crawford was projected to be a 4-3 DE and some thought it was odd that Dallas wanted to play him in the 3-4. Granted, he's not a particularly quick DE, but I'm not sure if it's better to be slow footed as a 1DT or as a SDE in this scheme, not to mentioned both slow footed AND undersized for a DT.