xwalker
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I wonder if Marinelli will ever have a great pass rush.
He might have a decent overall defense, but I wonder if his scheme will ever produce a great pass rush even with better players.
He loves the DL stunt. The Cowboys DL appears to stunt more than half of the time. Most teams use the stunt as a surprise tactic but Marinelli uses it almost as his base strategy.
The problem with stunting is that is takes away the possibility of the DL just beating his man immediately off the snap because 1 DL is generally slamming into an OL at an angle while the other DL loops around. They often double-stunt with both DE/DT pairs doing it. This takes time. It often "works" but unfortunately it usually works about 1 second after the QB has thrown the ball.
They try not to stunt when they think it is going to be a run. We've seen a few times this season where DT Irving has beat the OL on a run play to tackle the RB in the backfield. This type of shooting the gap play is basically impossible on a stunt. If the Cowboys had Aaron Donald at DT I wonder if he would just be average because his best move (shooting the gap) would not be an option on most snaps.
It's not just the DT shooting the gap that is an issue. When the DE crashes down on a stunt it takes him out of play to just beat the OT around the outside. Often the DE is not even threatening the OT to the inside either because they have the DEs "crash" into the OG in an attempt to get the DT space to loop around or they have the DE going all the way to the Guard-Center gap.
Another issue with stunting is that it can cause problems with run defense. Several of the big runs the Cowboys have allowed came when the DL was stunting. In some games they will struggle against the run for awhile and then suddenly they'll start shutting down the run. One of the reasons that this happens is because Marinelli will quit stunting after they've been gashed by the run several times.
The great thing about Marinelli is that he teaches fundamentals like tackling and playing with leverage, etc.. Teaching fundamentals should result in young players developing over time. Compare that to a D-Coordinator like Rob Ryan who is totally focused on complex scheming and not focused on teaching fundamentals. Even if Ryan's defense is great one game or one year, it might not be the following game or year because he is not focused on teaching fundamentals and is instead dependent on himself to call a great game every week.
I'm curious about the average time that QBs held the ball back when Marinelli was coaching on the Super Bowl Tampa Bay team as compared to now. Maybe more QBs were holding the ball longer and the stunt was more effective. I'm not saying that is definite, just throwing out a possibility of why he is so attached to stunting. Once a coach has had success with something it is often difficult for them to get away from doing it.
I do think any new D-Coordinator would be happy to inherit a Marinelli defense because they have been coached on fundamentals and discipline. On the other hand a DC that inherits a Rob Ryan defense would likely want to clean house because players have likely developed a lot of bad habits.
Maybe if Marinelli had a great DE he would not stunt as much but I'm not certain that's true. Marinelli was the DL coach in Ware's last year with the Cowboys and he had Ware "crashing" down inside often. Ware did struggle with injuries that year, IIRC, so maybe that was an issue.
The Cowboys are on an unprecedented winning streak so the defense must be good enough. Maybe sacks and turnovers are not required if you also are not giving up big plays. I do know that as a fan it would be fun to see more sacks and turnovers.
He might have a decent overall defense, but I wonder if his scheme will ever produce a great pass rush even with better players.
He loves the DL stunt. The Cowboys DL appears to stunt more than half of the time. Most teams use the stunt as a surprise tactic but Marinelli uses it almost as his base strategy.
The problem with stunting is that is takes away the possibility of the DL just beating his man immediately off the snap because 1 DL is generally slamming into an OL at an angle while the other DL loops around. They often double-stunt with both DE/DT pairs doing it. This takes time. It often "works" but unfortunately it usually works about 1 second after the QB has thrown the ball.
They try not to stunt when they think it is going to be a run. We've seen a few times this season where DT Irving has beat the OL on a run play to tackle the RB in the backfield. This type of shooting the gap play is basically impossible on a stunt. If the Cowboys had Aaron Donald at DT I wonder if he would just be average because his best move (shooting the gap) would not be an option on most snaps.
It's not just the DT shooting the gap that is an issue. When the DE crashes down on a stunt it takes him out of play to just beat the OT around the outside. Often the DE is not even threatening the OT to the inside either because they have the DEs "crash" into the OG in an attempt to get the DT space to loop around or they have the DE going all the way to the Guard-Center gap.
Another issue with stunting is that it can cause problems with run defense. Several of the big runs the Cowboys have allowed came when the DL was stunting. In some games they will struggle against the run for awhile and then suddenly they'll start shutting down the run. One of the reasons that this happens is because Marinelli will quit stunting after they've been gashed by the run several times.
The great thing about Marinelli is that he teaches fundamentals like tackling and playing with leverage, etc.. Teaching fundamentals should result in young players developing over time. Compare that to a D-Coordinator like Rob Ryan who is totally focused on complex scheming and not focused on teaching fundamentals. Even if Ryan's defense is great one game or one year, it might not be the following game or year because he is not focused on teaching fundamentals and is instead dependent on himself to call a great game every week.
I'm curious about the average time that QBs held the ball back when Marinelli was coaching on the Super Bowl Tampa Bay team as compared to now. Maybe more QBs were holding the ball longer and the stunt was more effective. I'm not saying that is definite, just throwing out a possibility of why he is so attached to stunting. Once a coach has had success with something it is often difficult for them to get away from doing it.
I do think any new D-Coordinator would be happy to inherit a Marinelli defense because they have been coached on fundamentals and discipline. On the other hand a DC that inherits a Rob Ryan defense would likely want to clean house because players have likely developed a lot of bad habits.
Maybe if Marinelli had a great DE he would not stunt as much but I'm not certain that's true. Marinelli was the DL coach in Ware's last year with the Cowboys and he had Ware "crashing" down inside often. Ware did struggle with injuries that year, IIRC, so maybe that was an issue.
The Cowboys are on an unprecedented winning streak so the defense must be good enough. Maybe sacks and turnovers are not required if you also are not giving up big plays. I do know that as a fan it would be fun to see more sacks and turnovers.
