The scheme itself is fine. It never ceases to amaze me how people go with the media narrative that Kiffin is old, so his scheme must be 'outdated.' I see the same scheme run by various teams every Sunday. Saw the Seahawks show a 1 deep safety look and change into....Cover 2.
The problem that I have is exactly what Gruden said. Cover 2 works if you have personnel and can get pressure on the QB. The zone coverage can cover enough ground and putt he LB's and DB's in place to make interceptions. The problem is that we can't get any pressure in part due to the injuries on the D-Line. The other problem is that Scandrick and Webb are the only corners that fit into the scheme. Carr is making the best and well, we need to look to trade Mo Claiborne anyway. And the safety play is horrendous outside of Wilcox, who rarely plays now because of injury.
My issue is that Kiffin keeps going back to Cover 2 shells when the D-Line can't get pressure. I've felt this way since the Zimmer era. Zimmer insisted that the D-Line play for the run first and second, then go after the QB. And he played from a Cover 2 scheme. It wasn't until he started working with Marvin Lewis and Lewis made the D-Line go after the QB instead of worrying about the run that Zimmer's defenses became pretty good. I remember Wade saying the same thing when he got here...you can't go Cover 2 anymore unless you get pressure on the QB. In Wade's case, he said he usually brings 1 extra rusher if he wants to go Cover 2.
YR
Well put. You can put all of this fiasco at the feet of our illustrious GM Jerry Jones. You see, people need to understand that this is at the very core of what is ailing this team- a REAL GM with a plan and moves that back up the plan.
Jerry made a move to fire Rob Ryan last year, just for the sake of firing someone. What was the plan? Switch schemes to a 4-3? Ok- where is the personnel to back up this change? You see, Jerry, ever the oil prospector- laid ALL his eggs in the Jay Ratliff/Anthony Spencer basket- and then, to back that up- decided he didnt need to draft any defensive lineman. He gambled, and lost.
It makes the Escobar pick in the second round look that much more stupid. This team didnt need a developmental tight end, it needed defensive lineman, and alot of them. But that is the Jerry way- I call it the Jerry-Go-Round.
Now- all of the past drafts (see 2009) are coming back to haunt this team in the worst way. Combine that with the untterly stupid contracts (see Jay Ratliff) that he has given out and the firing of Rob Ryan just to make a move and you have a recipe for disaster (see last nights Saints game part 2)
The sad part is there are no quick fixes to this defense.
