A defensive strategy catch 22

[MightyJoeGibbs]

Originally Posted by rickmmrr

From watching games and interviews we can all agree that Williams philosophy is to play very aggressively. On every play all 11 players have to get to the ball carrier as quickly as possible. But each player also as an area of the field that they are responsible for. So here’s the catch 22. How do you get your players to re-act to the ball quickly but not so quickly as to bite on a trick play.

We saw two examples of that in the Jets game and we’ve seen it last year a few times.

I hate it every time we get burned on one of these. I’m glad these happened last week though. Hopefully they will learn from the mistake.

Playing defense there are responsibilities you have to control first. When I played Safety the first thing you look at after the snap is if the O-Line steps out or steps back. If one guys crosses the line it has to be a run, if they step back DB's are dropping back and covering anyway. The great thing about are defense is the hustle and speed they have. The D-Line and LB will get to any draws or QB runs. Thats not the CB duty but sometimes- all the time rather their duties change all over the field so it may be the DB's responsibility.

The Bengals game was a display of a Safety who lost all his teachings that go back to Rec-Ball age 8. No one gets behind the Safety. Reed-sucks and will be cut. He was so eager to show off that he committed up to the LB depth before he realized he just lost his future job. In his defense I know it gets boring back there, LB's hog all the tackles but you prove your worth with patience and applying knowledge, which he lacks both

The Jets reverse well, was clearly a lack of communication. There were numerous guys out there that hadn't played together and they didnt communicate -Run/Reverse shouts. Whoever was covering the WR that ran it, it may have been Battle. He should have followed that played to the middle once he dragged down the line AND crossed the line of scrimmage. He stayed at home but the problem was he didnt get himself back into the play .It could have been a tackle in the backfield Wynn barely missed with Ramsey's block. It was just one of those plays that everything fell apart. D-Line got stuck inside, never rotated, LB's bit with no communication, OL pulled and had no one to block so they kept on downfield. Touchdown. It won't happen again.

But you do raise a good question, its a thought I haven't heard voiced before and is an interesting take. We rely on a team/unit acting as one, anytime responsibilities arent executed on the right Offensive play can really burn us bad. But Ill take our over aggressive D for a passive one anyday.