Was the conservative defense a necessity?

[ethiostar]

The past is something to learn from, not hold on to.

But we love to rehash it around here.

I hear you brother!!! I believe it's time to move on.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Parcells is cautious by nature and it has been exacerbated by his age.

I think that's a ton of it. Remember all the talk about "dying a slower death" when you don't blitz?

Parcells had a blueprint for how he wanted to play. He wanted to play close games, control the clock, and overpower the other team in the end. I think plays like the one where rookie Watkins blew the coverage on the Henry corner blitz vs. the Giants drove him bananas. He liked a conservative, clock-controlling offense, and he hated it when other teams scored quickly on us. Naturally any coach hates that, but some coaches can say, "Oh well, that's part of playing rookies. We'll just score and even this thing up." Parcells' mind didn't think like that.

I remember a Joe Gibbs quote from long ago -- back when Gibbs was a good coach -- that one of the toughest things his offenses had to face was that Parcells cover-2 that made you methodically march down the field in short bits at a time without making any mistakes. That's what Parcells wanted to re-create. Remember after the 2004 fiasco of a season when he said from then on he was going to do things his way? That's when we put in the 34 and all the conservative schemes. He just refused to go away from it, even when it wasn't working.

 

[joseephuss]

All coaches are stubborn. Zimmer either didn't have the stones, or just didn't have any ideas worth a darn. Either way, we were basically playing the same read and react two-gap 4-3 out of a 3-4 set. Make no mistake, we were running Zimmer's scheme - just like we saw Payton's schemes and Sparano's schemes. These guys got their ideas on the field and executed with the players, most of the year. Zimmer did, too. But when our annual december collapse came, it was the defense that faltered (again), and Zimmer (again) had no answers.


So it was a little of everything. The players failed. Then the coaches failed the players by not getting them to stop failing. Then, in the playoff game, everyone played well. But some other units "dropped the ball", so to speak.

I disagree. That was a typical Parcells' defense. The same schemes he used with the Giants. The difference? Lawrence Taylor. His pass rushing was so dominant that it made playing a simple Cover 2 behind him very effective. Other pass rushers on that team did not have to be great because he opened up huge lanes due to double and triple teams.

 

[superpunk]

I disagree. That was a typical Parcells' defense. The same schemes he used with the Giants. The difference? Lawrence Taylor. His pass rushing was so dominant that it made playing a simple Cover 2 behind him very effective. Other pass rushers on that team did not have to be great because he opened up huge lanes due to double and triple teams.

That's likely why Parcells retained Zimmer. They run the same stuff, just out of different fronts.

 

[InmanRoshi]

Parcells played percentages. Vermeil has said that he and Parcells shared reams upon reams of statistical information. Statistical data proves that blitzing generally helps the offense more than it helps the defense, especially when the offense is expecting it. Statistical data shows that the team that wins the turnover margin overwhelmingly wins football games. Statistical data proves overwhelmingly that the team that wins time of possession, which generally means you had more offensive snaps than the opponent, generally wins the game. Parcells played a style that put his team on the winning side of the ledger of all these categories.

Now, maybe there are some flaws with this. Maybe a 16 game season is too small a sample size for all of these percentages to play out. . Maybe Parcells overestimated his talent here, and therefore needed to play high risk football. But make no mistake about it … teams that play high risk/high reward football generally get slaughtered by sound teams that execute efficient football in the playoffs.

I still say the problem with this team is intangible. It may be esoteric and more difficult to get your hands around than just blaming scheme, but whatever intangible that Champions possess were missing from this team last year. Champions don’t fold like a cheap card table in December like this team did. Champions don’t get their butt handed to them by the Detroit Lions with the season on the line. Champions don’t fumble on the 5 yard line in the playoffs late in the 4th quarter. Maybe a fresh start with the coaching staff this team will get that intangible. Maybe they were just too young last year. But that intangible, and not X’s and O’s, will determine if this team takes it to the next level.

 

[joseephuss]

Parcells played percentages. Vermeil has said that he and Parcells shared reams upon reams of statistical information. Statistical data proves that blitzing generally helps the offense more than it helps the defense, especially when the offense is expecting it. Statistical data shows that the team that wins the turnover margin overwhelmingly wins football games. Statistical data proves overwhelmingly that the team that wins time of possession, which generally means you had more offensive snaps than the opponent, generally wins the game. Parcells played a style that put his team on the winning side of the ledger of all these categories.

Now, maybe there are some flaws with this. Maybe a 16 game season is too small a sample size for all of these percentages to play out. . Maybe Parcells overestimated his talent here, and therefore needed to play high risk football. But make no mistake about it … teams that play high risk/high reward football generally get slaughtered by sound teams that execute efficient football in the playoffs.

I still say the problem with this team is intangible. It may be esoteric and more difficult to get your hands around than just blaming scheme, but whatever intangible that Champions possess were missing from this team last year. Champions don’t fold like a cheap card table in December like this team did. Champions don’t get their butt handed to them by the Detroit Lions with the season on the line. Champions don’t fumble on the 5 yard line in the playoffs late in the 4th quarter. Maybe a fresh start with the coaching staff this team will get that intangible. Maybe they were just too young last year. But that intangible, and not X’s and O’s, will determine if this team takes it to the next level.

I agree. That is the positive I see in a coaching change. I did not see the team capable of gaining that intangible with Parcells still at the helm. I am not a big Wade fan, but the team just needs a shake up.

 

[zrinkill]

Stupid is as stupid does...

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