Sam and Pat, Shut-Down Corners/Did we Improved our Pass Defense?

[FakeSpike13]

the new espn magazine has some nice things to say about our acquistions of edwards...

 

[Disnardo]

Was that Pat Surtain or Sam Madison covering Troy Brown on the 82-yard bomb?? Are the safeties not responsible for deep coverage?? Do we not play zones?? Do the other teams' top receivers always line up outside?? What about the Tennessee game in which Pat Surtain didn't play in?? Does that count too??

There's a lot more to it than just lining up your top CBs on their top WRs and letting them go 1-on-1 all day, all over the field. Just doesn't happen.


But when it came down to it, they couldn't score. Kinda like Buffalo's old 'Bend-But-Don't-Break' defense. And nobody could run on us. Didn't give up a single 100-yard rusher this year. Also, we were 9th in passing attempts (passes we faced). 530 attempts - 12 TDs.

IMO you're reading far too much into the stats. :)

I have to totaly agree with you, that I am far too much into stats :D. But aside from family, and work issues, I still have time to dwell on the offseason . So I am trying to find a trend or a weakness that could be backed up by stats.

Muck, I have to agreee to some extent on the zone coverages the Dolphins played last year. I just can't believe that we were in zone coverages more than 30% of the time.

Well, the biggest difference to Buffalo's defense in those great 4 seasons (1990-1993) for the Bills was that they had an offense that was ranked # 3 in avg points scored. Their defense gave up an avg of 16 TDs through the air, p/season in that time frame, while their offense scored an avg of 28 TDs, p/season, through the air.

As you well know, our defense has not had the same support from our offense that Buffalo defense had in that time frame.

Buffalo's biggest problem was that their bend-but-don't-break defense, did break in 3 of those SBs and allowed over 5 TDs per game, while their high powered offense was shut-downed and scored less than a little over 2 TDs per game...

We were ranked # 18 (171 FD), out of 32 NFL teams in FD allowed by passing last year (while allowing 9 more pass att and 4 more rush att) than in 02. Like some have stated this might have been due to scrap yards, after we got a lead, but this shows that we are average, not good, not great but average. I took my aqua-n-orange glasses off and seen the picture for what it is . We ranked #12 (162 FD), in 2002, maybe our shifting focus to zone coverages let us slip, but we did slip...

I just hope that we did improve our secondary, in order to get the defense off the field quicker, but we need our offense to keep them off the field longer...

 

[Prime Time]

Madison is a shut down corner, he is just older now. He does get burned but so does Surtain, look at the Philly game. I mean it is pretty hard to shut down every WR you face all season.

 

[ZOD]

Excuse me if I seem a little aloof here in this post but I'm busy preparing for another little league season. While perusing the various defenses for little league I tend to get caught up in the science of the college and NFL defenses. So it's with that limited knowledge that I say these stats mean nothing.

The collectors of the stats ignore the concept of team defense. A cornerback does not go into the huddle and come out with the instruction "You cover Chambers and I'll take Boston." As in all team assignments it starts with coaching. Does the coach have the right personnel on the field to matchup with the offense?

The player has to understand how the strength versus the offense is being declared against this team this week.
Is the strength of the offense declared to the correct side by all the players on the field? No? Someone is out of position (if not two).

Do all the players on the field know their assignments versus the offense that they face?
Example: Does the Will linebacker know he has curl/flat coverage on receiver 2?
Does the Sam linebacker know he has coverage curl/flat coverage on receiver 2?
Does the Mike linebacker know he has hook/curl coverage on receiver 3?


Does the Will know he has run first on a given call?
Does the Will know he has pass first on a given call?
Does the Will know his blitz was called?
Does the Will know the gap that was called to blitz through?
(copy all that for Sam and Mike)

For the stat purposes mentioned: Was it against a nickel package? Or was the pass against the base 43 package?

Was the secondary aligned in the right positions for the coverage call?
Did they correctly adjust for motion in the backfield?

Did the defensive line get adequate pressure on the QB or was the play a breakdown?

There are probably a hundred more variables that go into the mix before one could assess blame to one individual for his coverage of a single player. That is one area that the coach can utilize the overhead film. The coach must know the all of the called assignments for each given play. Then HE make a judgement as to one players performance.

There are a couple of questions you have to ask yourself. Do you think the websites mentioned know the defensive calls for each play? Do you think they have the knowledge to understand the call?

Does the word "adjustment" bring the groin area to mind?
Do the words "Sky" and "Cloud" bring their 1960's heyday to mind?
Do they think "outflanked" is a word reserved for old WWII movies? Or........

Do they (like most of us) just pi$$ in the wind on a website? :D

 

[PlowHorse34]

No one has mentioned what I think is the most important future consideration for our 2004 pass defense...............does Wale re-sign! Pass defense is not just about the cover guys but also about how long they are required to cover. Having Taylor and Wale rushing a QB and hurrying his throws is a key component to our overall pass defense.

Of course he will. He and Rick are just playing the old "take what I can get" game, but he will be there.