Picksix;5075817 said:
Kiffen was was quoted earlier about saying he didn't need great safeties, because his schemes put safeties in position to take advantage of angles to make plays. I understand how important it is for a safety to take proper angles to the ball in order to make the play, but what is it about Kiffen's scheme that makes his guys so much more effective at it? Positioning? Recognition? Late movement before the snap?
From what I understand it, the safeties are back deep, in a read and react position. Their primary job is to take the deep section of the field from the sideline to the hash marks. The safety keeps everything in front of him and takes the best angle to the the receiver or runner within his zone.
A safety who is primarily in man coverage or has a larger zone responsibility might need more range to accomplish their job. So Cover 0, Cover 1, and Cover 2 would all require more speed and range, but this is a 3 deep coverage.
They key to the defense is really the middle linebacker. The middle linebacker has an extremely important role. They have to read and react perfectly. If it's a pass they have responsibility to cover the middle hash. If it's a run they have to react to the run. As I said before this gives the safeties less responsibility and less ground to cover.
