The Dolphins' Blitz Packages Just Increased 10x

[ckparrothead]

Now that Eric Moulds has confirmed what we all pretty much knew, that Kelly Holcomb is starting at QB for the Bills, the Dolphins just increased their blitz packages ten fold.

This will be another "kitchen sink" day, much like against Jake Delhomme, but probably with much different results. Holcomb is nearly as stiff as Drew Bledsoe back there and not as savvy with making the checks and calls at the line of scrimmage as he would need to be to neutralize the blitz a la Peyton Manning.

Expect Seau to play, and to blitz frequently. Expect Zach and Channing to blitz. Expect Lance Schulters and Travis Daniels to blitz. And possibly expect Lance Schulters to get ejected from the game when he intentionally throws a pile driver on Eric Moulds, who will probably spit in someone's face in this game just as he always does.

 

[phunwin]

So, you're saying that the Phins WOULDN'T have thrown the kitchen sink at JP Losman? I don't think this changes the gameplan much, at least as far as how often the team blitzes is concerned.

 

[GreenMonster]

So, you're saying that the Phins WOULDN'T have thrown the kitchen sink at JP Losman? I don't think this changes the gameplan much, at least as far as how often the team blitzes is concerned.

Agreed, whoever is the QB this week will feel the heat. I think Losman would face more blitz's as he has proven not to be able to handle them.

 

[bigmiamifan]

So, you're saying that the Phins WOULDN'T have thrown the kitchen sink at JP Losman? I don't think this changes the gameplan much, at least as far as how often the team blitzes is concerned.

Not as much because he scrambles is what I believe the answer to your question, would be.

 

[phunwin]

Losman's mobility is certainly an asset in making Miami pay for blitzing, that's true. However, the trade-off is his inability to see it coming. Holcomb is better at reading the blitz and would be more able to throw it away. So, I think it's six of one, half-dozen of another.

 

[thecoordinator]

this is a very tough call to make because there is little film on holcomb in the bills offense. i think you feel better about blitzing jp because he hasn't shown the ability to consistently make throws. you might give up a scramble here and there but you don't fear giving up a big play. i think we will still want to put pressure on holcomb, but given his immobility and the bills offensive line struggles, we should be able to do that bringing only 1 LB, unlike with losman who has the ability to run out if you only send 1 guy and the d line doesnt get there. another tough thing is that you'd like to find out right off the bat how holcomb handles heavy pressure, but he has shown he can make plays with his arm in the past, and if we blitz early and get burned for a big play td, now the bills have all the momentum and were on the road down a TD. not how you'd like to start the game.

 

[HULKFish]

Now that Eric Moulds has confirmed what we all pretty much knew, that Kelly Holcomb is starting at QB for the Bills, the Dolphins just increased their blitz packages ten fold.

This will be another "kitchen sink" day, much like against Jake Delhomme, but probably with much different results. Holcomb is nearly as stiff as Drew Bledsoe back there and not as savvy with making the checks and calls at the line of scrimmage as he would need to be to neutralize the blitz a la Peyton Manning.

Expect Seau to play, and to blitz frequently. Expect Zach and Channing to blitz. Expect Lance Schulters and Travis Daniels to blitz. And possibly expect Lance Schulters to get ejected from the game when he intentionally throws a pile driver on Eric Moulds, who will probably spit in someone's face in this game just as he always does.

They were gameplanning for both and I wouldn't be too hasty with the blitzing... They may just start out vanilla in 4-3 base to see how effective it is before trying anything else. They may not need anything else but if the 403 isn't effective then I'd expect alot of movement.

 

[IceStorm]

Sorry guys, but I just can't see Coach Saban saying "Oh...Holcomb is play? I guess we'll have to change our game plan now".
I think he's smarter then that. After the last game, I see him preparing the secondary a little bit more. But not changing up the defensive scheme simply because one player isn't there.

 

[GreenMonster]

I think the gameplan should be to line up JT on Greg Jerman every play.

 

[Smacks]

Before Miami and the fans go nuts, remember that one player always beats the crap out our D... That person is Eric Moulds...I'm not going to look and see what he has done the 1st 4 games of the season, I already know..throw that out of the window...for some reason when Moulds plays the Phins he is always putting up big days against our secondary...

This game can go either way.....

 

[HULKFish]

Before Miami and the fans go nuts, remember that one player always beats the crap out our D... That person is Eric Moulds...I'm not going to look and see what he has done the 1st 4 games of the season, I already know..throw that out of the window...for some reason when Moulds plays the Phins he is always putting up big days against our secondary...

This game can go either way.....

That is true but that was against the Press Man Coverage Dolphins..

 

[ckparrothead]

Saban himself admitted that Losman and Holcomb bring very different packages of skills to the table. In other words, that is an admission that the game plan would be different from one player to the other.

Think of it this way: Jake Plummer vs. Jake Delhomme.

That is what the breakdown between Losman and Holcomb is like.

Against Plummer we kept the blitz packages on the shelf and played mostly 4-3 straightup D the way we use to play under Jim Bates (with of course a few added twists). Against Delhomme, because he is more of an immovable object out there, we threw everything but the kitchen sink at him in blitz packages and kept it going for four quarters.

This is as basic as it comes guys. Against a scrambling man you play conservatively with the blitz packages and have all kinds of shadow techniques and whatnot. Against a sitting duck, unless his name is Peyton Manning, you toss everything but the kitchen sink at him to NEVER give him enough time to throw where he wants to. What is so great about Peyton is he reads the blitzes before the snap almost perfectly, audibles a cycle through 3 or 4 different plays, which actually gets the defense questioning their own play and makes their blitz less effective and more likely to get picked up, and then Peyton makes the hot read.

Nobody in this league can do that as well as Peyton can. What you'll notice, is that the teams that have success against him (like, for instance, the Phins for all the years we've played him) are the teams that can line up 4 passrushers in the same spot every play, get decent pressure on the QB through individual matchups rather than blitzes, and sit back with 7 or sometimes 8 men in coverage at all times.

There is absolutely no reason to do that against Kelly Holcomb, unless we think we can confuse him with our coverage assignments. But even so, if he gets confused he'll just launch deep to Eric Moulds and Lee Evans, both of which (especially Eric) have had plenty of success against the Phins.

I am telling you right now, yes the game plan changed when they found out Holcomb is starting the game and that is the reason WHY Nick Saban is so smart (it makes no sense to say that Nick wouldn't change the game plan because he's too smart for that, because a smart coach WOULD change the game plan because of how different the two QBs are). And, yes, they will still have a game plan in place for when/if we see JP Losman in this game.

 

[dolphan117]

I think one of the big things Saban has preached to this D is flexability. I would bet that both of these qb's were talked about during the week extensivly and we will be ready for either one.

 

[Dol-Fan Dupree]

Saban said there is little different in the offense with JP and Holcomb.

I think that one of the reasons you blitz Holcomb is the fact that this is his first time starting in a new offense. There are generally growing pains. Plus you want to shatter his confidence early and not let the team rally around the new quarterback. You kind of want to get into the other team's head and let them think "Doesn't matter who the qb is".

 

[ckparrothead]

I am sure they will, but with the word coming from one of the Bills' own players that Kelly is going to start the game, they just "flipped" onto the game plan that involves a huge variety of blitz packages.

Look, here are Saban's own words on it...

(On if it is a burden to prepare for two quarterbacks) – “I think in some cases, it is not a burden, but I think in this case, it is not really a burden, but there are some significant differences in what the two guys (JP Losman and Kelly Holcomb) can do, in terms of what they do well. They are a little different, physically. One guy scrambles and they have quarterback draws and running plays that are definitely built to take advantage of his athleticism. I wouldn’t expect to see that from the more veteran guy, but I also think that his ability to manage the game and maybe do some different things a little bit better. You never know what a team is going to do, so you have to be prepared to be able to adjust if they do something a little bit different in the game.â€Â

Basically, he did not want to go ahead and label it a BURDEN but the chances are with that question there isn't any situation in the league that he would label a "burden" because that is an admission of weakness.

But this is about as burdensome as it gets without him labeling it a "burden" because Losman and Holcomb have games that are about as different as it gets.

Like I was saying, we prepared a game plan for Jake Plummer, and we prepared a game plan for Jake Delhomme. They were two vastly different game plans. Now, we have to prepare a game plan for both those guys in one game.