Culver on Our New "Fun" Defense

[ckparrothead]

I think Sean Smtih takes the next step, will be more solid and not give up the big play as much, but Vontae Davis I'm not sure about. Will Allen was leagues better than these two when he played in 2009 though and if his knee recovers I think he'll start by the end of the year.

 

[hoops]

And for the record Mike Nolan rushed 2 or 3 people about 10% of the time, rushed 4 players about 52% of the time, rushed 5 players 26% of the time and rushed 6 or more about 12% of the time.

Those percentages were undoubtedly tied though to the amount of coverage talent he had amongst his defensive backs, and so it's hard to say if they would translate in Miami.

i'm sure elvis dumervil also played into those #s

 

[ckparrothead]

As should Cameron Wake.

 

[rrrrphin]

I'll take the under on Will Allen. I think we'll sink or swim with Davis and Smith. Allen is a great option for nickle or potential FS alternative.
Every year he is the stud of training camp, but he never shows up in games ( my opinion). Come game time, it seems as if he plays soft and is always willing to give up soft plays underneath.

 

[jvw]

What Nolan will bring is game planning......this D will come to the game with a plan which is what we lacked last yr. Thats why we gave up big points early in games. Pasq didnt know how to take a way a teams strength on offense. Nolan will do that and make in game adjustments that will be noticed by all

 

[Kistner10]

I didn't think Pasqualoni was as bad as everyone thinks he was. BUT I do believe Nolan will be an upgrade. He will be more unpredictable and I think that is more important than sending more players. I think spreading our blitzing out to include Dansby and Crowder will be better than just sending Porter/Taylor and an occasional DB blitz.

 

[ckparrothead]

I have to say it, it will be a hell of a lot more important teaching these players HOW to blitz as opposed to just deciding who blitzes. These players don't know how to operate a blitz friendly scheme. They need to be taught better. Tim Dobbins was a terrible one-on-one blitzer in San Diego but even he made some big plays on blitz because he was taught well in San Diego how to operate in a blitz-friendly scheme.

 

[Pinkboy]

At least we will have a threat from the middle of the defense with Dansby blitzing. This guy can get to the QB.

Last year O-line's and QB's knew that we didn't have ILB's who were a threat to blitz. This made it very easy for offenses to prepare for us.

Look at the Jets and how often they blitz David Harris and Bart Scott from the middle. We will be closer to that level of blitzing this year from the ILB's.

And overall it will help our edge rushers when opposing O-line's know they have to think about the middle more. And when opposing QB's make their calls at the line pre-snap with Dolphins defenders moving around all over the place.

We'll create a lot more confusion for offenses to worry about this year. And this will create more mistakes from offenses (negative plays, tackles for loss, and turnovers, etc).

 

[Tigers2003]

Being a D coordinator IMO is not just about calling a play...Its knowing when to call it..Also its knowing the situation.. and knowing where you are on field..

Paul frequently blitzed in the redzone...Why? The field is smaller..Why blitz..just my philosphy..In the NO game he blitzed the redzone before half..What a dumb call..I know hind sight is 20/20 but come on...

I think its also about knowing the other teams stregths and weaknesses...In the Carolina game Steve Smith was matched up one on one with Davis frequently..?

Why? He is there only real weapons besides their running game...Just stupid..

He made alot of bad calls...Its a chess match sometimes between coordinators..but like in chess you have great stratagists...

Paul P is not one of them..Nolan is more of that..Like Rex Ryan...Dick Lebow..

Paul was out of his league.

Ding ding winner winner chicken dinner!! Paul P did not know when to bring the blitz most effectively or use creative blitz packages. Eventually we became predictable as the oppossing O, if they were led by smart OCs/HCs, figured out what was going on as the game went on.

Sure he rushed the passer..then tend to give up on it in second halves of games; the Colts and Saints games being the most notorious from '09. If one looks up the stats I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Paul P rushed more than Nolan. But I would not be surprised that Nolan's D had more effective hurries and the Fins D allowed a higher qb efficiency in second half than Nolan's D. Sacks are nice stats. They are even nicer when they contribute to 3 and outs and key stops in the fourth quarter. Or, when they end up killing momentum for the opposing O. Last year showed that the D CAN rush the passer effectively. This year may prove that we can do it to change momentum against good teams in the fourth quarter when it counts the most.

 

[aquabob]

The key to a great defense is deception and versatility. Simply blitzing on every down is not good, neither is dropping everyone back in coverage all the time. The best defenses mix it up. They blitz a lot, but also get pressure rushing just 3 or 4. They can play man, zone, or both. They can run a 3-4 or a 4-3 or a 5-2. Basically, you never know where anyone is going to line up. The defense blitzes on first down, second down, and then shows a blitz on third down only to go back into coverage. They run a nickel just as well as they do their base. A great defense must do everything well. Defenses like that give quarterbacks fits, because they cannot read anything and preparing for them is next to impossible.

 

[Pachyderm_Wave]

The key to a great defense is deception and versatility. Simply blitzing on every down is not good, neither is dropping everyone back in coverage all the time. The best defenses mix it up. They blitz a lot, but also get pressure rushing just 3 or 4. They can play man, zone, or both. They can run a 3-4 or a 4-3 or a 5-2. Basically, you never know where anyone is going to line up. The defense blitzes on first down, second down, and then shows a blitz on third down only to go back into coverage. They run a nickel just as well as they do their base. A great defense must do everything well. Defenses like that give quarterbacks fits, because they cannot read anything and preparing for them is next to impossible.

Exactly... As a defensive coordinator, you're better off sending 4 after the head-of-the-snake, with the offense not sure where the 4th blitzer is coming from... as opposed to sending 5 every play with the offense knowing which 5 guys are coming...

Blitzing is always risky... if you live by it, you'll die by it.

It's very important to get pressure with your down lineman.... or if you're going to blitz, to get pressure up the middle.

NFL QB's can deal with pressure off the edge... the good ones will simply step up into the pocket and convert.... it's the pressure up the middle that they can't deal with.

As much as I personally liked guys such as Jerry Hughes and Brandon Graham in the draft, you need guys that can cover, play laterally, and play backwards.... especially from a 2-point stance. A guy like Misi does all of this better than Hughes or Graham.. which is why both of them went to 4-3 teams to rush the passer with their hand on the ground.... and Misi was the first "conversion" guy off the board.

The "fun" in this defense for the players is in the details... all the different looks they'll be able to throw at offenses.. rather than sending the same two re-treads off the edge every play that cant get there to tap dance with offensive tackles... rinse... repeat.

You want to get the matchups in your favor.... force the offense to attempt to block your blitzers with backs and TE's, etc... and to CK's point, knowing HOW to blitz effectively is paramount... because if you don't... all you're doing is setting yourself up to give up big plays.

 

[Dolphins11]

I think that Paul lost his job because he couldn't control Porter, plain and simple. Porter wouldn't come out of some games for Wake and Paul couldn't do anything about it. Therefore, they both got canned.

 

[wockenbauss]

I have to say it, it will be a hell of a lot more important teaching these players HOW to blitz as opposed to just deciding who blitzes. These players don't know how to operate a blitz friendly scheme. They need to be taught better. Tim Dobbins was a terrible one-on-one blitzer in San Diego but even he made some big plays on blitz because he was taught well in San Diego how to operate in a blitz-friendly scheme.

If "teaching them to blitz" has anything to do with teaching them to actually DISGUISE when they are going to blitz... I'm 110% with you! Over the last several years - it's been pathetically easy to see a Dolphins blitz coming in plenty of time for the offense to adjust. Disguised and/or delayed blitzes seemed non-existent.

If you can make the QB and his RB blitz pickup protection GUESS... the battle is more than half over.