| 05 December 2011
It's good to take a second look at Leo Pizzini's "live essay" from last Sunday on why the Eagles' zone defense in 2011 has been shredded at times by opposing teams. It's worth reading in a continuous format, so I strung Leo's machine-gun bursts of thought into a coherent flow. I hope he's not mad at me for editing him down this way...
Here's Leo:
Ha! - JB said the "relationships in the zone" suck! - he's so right...and I think with the new "defenseless receiver" and "QB hit" rules... zone coverage will become less and less prolific in the league... until it's almost completely gone...Now it seems you've gotta stick to all the receivers like glue...
No more separating the receivers from the ball (with big hits coming from defensive players arriving to the play as they cover their zones)... zone coverages are gonna be strictly "prevent" defense with three-man rushes and cover 7/8... I see it coming unless they change the rules again...
I don't think its Juan's fault that the zone suks... but it is Juan's fault that he calls so much zone defense... MAN-UP, CROWD DA BOX or DOUBLE SOMEBODY and/or BLITZ AN EFF'N LINEBACKER OR TWO!! ...
The Eagles zone coverage has got to entail some very clever disguises... bail the corners or linebackers and press the safeties... show them one zone and give them another, show man and craft a zone exchange... make it confusing... These straight zone looks of Juan... Cover 2, 3, 4- rush 4... are way too simplistic and obvious... picked apart at will...
Remember the great defensive game we had against Dallas ? We played that 4-4/4-3/46 -Man Press -Cover-1- hybrid thing, with Coleman in the box shading the TE...(see photo above)... and our D was tremendous... Why we get away from what works is beyond me... We do the same thing offensively too!... we ran all those crossing routes against the Cowboys and could not be contained... then next game we go right back to the Spread 999-All Go play... over and over... and get beat.
As for how opposing teams have figured out how to attack our zone when our "wide 9" alignmenet is used: when an offense lines up 2 tight ends, our wide 9 is neutralized... Castillo made a good adjustment to send safety Kurt Coleman on a blitz through the gaps to counter this... but that didn't help against the run and Coleman is too short... with his arms up, he doesn't intimidate or interfere with the QB's line of sight... We need a 6'2" long armed mudda-effer running up in the QB's grill and the coverage scheme needs to be tight... not an easily disseminated zone... Blitz a linebacker! ... they are lost in the zone drops... they aren't in position to make a play unless it's a terrible pass... they do a little better in man coverage...but overall, Eagles' zone suks!
And it kills me to see those zone looks with a four-man rush attacking 7 blockers and three receiving targets rolling through holes in the zone... or even worse, with TEs and RBs chipping and releasing... and no linebackers shooting gaps to take advantage of the running back working a chip on the edge...
Leo Pizzini... former collegiate and semi-pro safety and punter, Leo currently resides in the greater Philly metro area and is a respected family man, businessman and youth league coach. Leo has written extensively about the sport of football for several national blogs and regional websites over the years. He holds a seat on the original Bored of Directors for County Evergreen Pub and Hospice along with Brizer, JB, and the late Triple D, among others...
Thanks, Leo...great stuff.
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