How do you Design a Defense to Stop the Athletic Quarterbacks? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

How do you Design a Defense to Stop the Athletic Quarterbacks?

SF Dolphin Fan

Seasoned Veteran
Club Member
Joined
May 27, 2005
Messages
23,931
Reaction score
31,647
I've watched football for a long time and I'm not sure I've seen a better talent at quarterback than Patrick Mahomes.

Sure, he still has a tendency to make those Bret Favre type mistakes at times, but he's also just 24 years old. His combination of athletic ability, arm strength. leadership and moxie is incredible.

The AFC, the NFL for that matter, is going to have to deal with him for a long time. But it's not just Mahomes. There's a new breed of athletic quarterbacks who are near impossible to defend, Jackson and Murray to name a few.

Flores is a defensive coach and that could work in Miami's favor as the Dolphins put together a team that will hopefully be in the running for many years to come.

Besides trying to find the next Mahomes, what would you do on defense to defend these athletic quarterbacks?
 
I've watched football for a long time and I'm not sure I've seen a better talent at quarterback than Patrick Mahomes.

Sure, he still has a tendency to make those Bret Favre type mistakes at times, but he's also just 24 years old. His combination of athletic ability, arm strength. leadership and moxie is incredible.

The AFC, the NFL for that matter, is going to have to deal with him for a long time. But it's not just Mahomes. There's a new breed of athletic quarterbacks who are near impossible to defend, Jackson and Murray to name a few.

Flores is a defensive coach and that could work in Miami's favor as the Dolphins put together a team that will hopefully be in the running for many years to come.

Besides trying to find the next Mahomes, what would you do on defense to defend these athletic quarterbacks?

Keep him in the pocker for one. I like Bosa, but it didn't help that he was rushing up the field all night and allowing Mahomes to just step up and escape. When the pocket collapse is when Mahommes had problems. You have to be discipline in your rush assignments. 49ers were early and then got away from it.

I'm not saying Flores is a Belcheat. But his defense has had success against KC both in NE and in their home.

Ultimately, the biggest problem for the 49ers wasn't P.Mahomes. Its that they didn't have any offense once the run game was taken away. I was really suprised that Grappollo couldn't exploit them with the passing game. KC has an "okay" defense. But they're aren't elite at all.
 
Last edited:
The rest of the NFL should get used to losing to Mahomes for a while.

The only way to mess that up(other than injury)is if KC has to use an obscene amount of their cap to keep him.Then he could have a Peyton Manning type career where he has less talent around him and no defense.
 
There are athletic QBs and then there's Mahomes. Been reported many times, marveled at by ex QBs and confirmed by Andy Reid that Patrick has a better/faster understanding of the defense than most 10 year veterans. Hard to stop someone with his talent, mobility and applied mental fire power. I suspect if he stays healhy, he'll end up on the Mt Rushmore for QBs
 
There are athletic QBs and then there's Mahomes. Been reported many times, marveled at by ex QBs and confirmed by Andy Reid that Patrick has a better/faster understanding of the defense than most 10 year veterans. Hard to stop someone with his talent, mobility and applied mental fire power. I suspect if he stays healhy, he'll end up on the Mt Rushmore for QBs
I agree. If he can stay healthy, I think Mahomes will break all of Drew Brees' records.
 
Keep him in the pocker for one. I like Bosa, but it didn't help that he was rushing up the field all night and allowing Mahomes to just step up and escape. When the pocket collapse is when Mahommes had problems. You have to be discipline in your rush assignments. 49ers were early and then got away from it.

I'm not saying Flores is a Belcheat. But his defense has had success against KC both in NE and in their home.

Ultimately, the biggest problem for the 49ers wasn't P.Mahomes. It's that they didn't have any offense once the run was taken away. I was really suprised that Grappollo couldn't exploit them with the passing game. KC has an "okay" defense they're aren't elite at all.
Well said. Garoppolo was a little off his game. Many of his completions were behind his receivers or a little low, even when he wasn't under pressure. But his late game miss deep, when his receiver (can't remember who) beat coverage, was a killer. Have to make that throw.

SF'S defense played well for three quarters. That's a talented unit, except for their secondary.
 
The rest of the NFL should get used to losing to Mahomes for a while.

The only way to mess that up(other than injury)is if KC has to use an obscene amount of their cap to keep him.Then he could have a Peyton Manning type career where he has less talent around him and no defense.

There are, obviously, indirect ways to 'stop' a mobile QB, but not for individual games. Cap space is one. KC's O is more than Mahommes. It will be tough to keep all the top players over time. Scoring more points than KC is another. Easier said than done, but 4-5 non-potent Os put 28-30 points on them.Their D ranked pretty high, but, IMO, was inconsistent. Keep fresh players in. In the 4Q, SF's D looked exhausted. As with any potent O, don't give up big plays. I'm certain others will chime in with more.
 
Well said. Garoppolo was a little off his game. Many of his completions were behind his receivers or a little low, even when he wasn't under pressure. But his late game miss deep, when his receiver (can't remember who) beat coverage, was a killer. Have to make that throw.

SF'S defense played well for three quarters. That's a talented unit, except for their secondary.

The 49ers defense did more than enough to win that game. The offense and specifically the pass offense didn't really show up at all. The run game did enough.
 
Discipline. And if there's really a movement towards mobile QBs in the coming years, expect the average weight of defensive players to drop a decent clip.
Then many teams will cycle back to a power run game.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
 
Then many teams will cycle back to a power run game.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
It's the football meta. Problem is that it takes so long to build teams and GMs/coaches are such ****, that the ones with any common sense look like geniuses in comparison.
 
Keep him in the pocket and hit him hard every chance you get, especially if he tries to leave the pocket!
 
Fast and instinctive Lbs- ends that can collapse the pocket and DTs that can penetrate up the middle along with press corners. That’s how I’d contain a scrambling qb. Guys that pop to me that fit what I’d like to do would be Young- Simmons, Brown especially. I’d be trading up to try to get at least 2 of these players if we do decide to go all in on defense.
 
Back
Top Bottom