Tunsil Say's They Were "unprepared"....... | Page 11 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Tunsil Say's They Were "unprepared".......

It also does not help that Tannehill has hardly any pocket awareness and struggles to recognize the blitz.
 
Here's the thing, when you have a series where they are throwing exotic blitzes at you, you adjust. When it's unseen stunts/twists, you adjust. It is the OL coaches (plural) who presumably have seen every stunt/twist under the sun, and at least conceptually know how to counter it. It's a basic of the job to keep abreast of all of these things across the league. So, typically, they adjust after a series of two, and certainly by the half, which is why many games are the tale of two halves, and why it's so much more effective to roll out these tweaks in the 2nd half. Sometimes there is such a fundamentally different tweak that it takes an entire game, or several games until someone figures it out--like defending the Wildcat, because essentially the Wildcat provides the offense with one extra blocker, and that one man advantage is at the core of everything defenses do, so the counter is a comprehensive and fundamental change. But not blocking schemes.

There are three different types of pressures:
1) Overloads
2) Isolations
3) Stunts

Regardless of whether it is a blitz (extra pass rusher not always accounted for) or a base (DL's and rush LB's), it is always one of these three.

1. Overloads
These are the things that Buddy Ryan made famous with the 1985 Chicago Bears. Essentially they conceal where they're going to do it, but somewhere the defense is flooding one area with rushers to get a man advantage unblocked to the QB, forcing a very quick release or extreme escapability. His sons Rex Ryan and Rob Ryan utilize this today, as does our former DC Mike Nolan. Most of the time it is done out of a 34 alignment because it is easier to disguise where you are flooding and the defense requires more athletes capable of implementing the system. Today most blitz-heavy defenses utilize a lot of these elements.

2. Isolations
This is where the DC schemes to get a good pass rusher in a mismatch against an OL who cannot handle his skillset well. This means trying to get Von Miller 1v1 on any OL, or your quickest DL in space against someone with limited lateral quickness. Our scheme tries to do the latter with both Wake and Quinn on the edges, meaning it will be very hard to double-team both, and if they do, it frees up our quick DT's to generate A-gap pressure (up the middle in the QB's face). The goal of the Wide 9 is primarily to isolate each DE on a OT. This forces the offense to chip them with RB's or put a TE out wide to help, who needs to at least rub the DE before going out on his route. This is why EVERY fast-twitch DE wants to be set wider, and it's not new. Jason Taylor would always want to have that position as well, because when you're a great pass rusher, you're naturally double-teamed a lot, and when you set yourself so wide outside of the tackle, it's hard for the OG to help the OT, so they need to use inferior blockers like RB's or TE's … or take their chances with the pass rusher in isolation. Every defense uses this to free up their best pass rushers, some use it almost every snap, but every defense uses it at least once every game.

3. Stunts
There are many flavors of essentially the same thing, whether you call them stunts, twists or games, it involves misdirection like a shell game. OL cannot stand around not engaging … it wrecks things for them. So, the defense uses stunts to create engagement in the wrong place and headed in the wrong direction laterally, then pulls another player into the space created by the engaging OL. Think of a number line with numbers 1 through 4 on the bottom row, and numbers 5 through 9 on the row above them. Then below that have two rows of OL and TE/RB as potential blockers, each player numbered, like this:
LB5----------------------------LB6-----LB7-----LB8---------------------------------LB9
--------------------------DL1-----DL2-----DL3-----DL4----------------------------------
--------------------OL1-----OL2-----OL3-----OL4-----OL5-----------------------------
--------------TE1-----------------RB1----------------------------TE2-----------------------

Here is one example of a stunt or twist, DL1 rushes directly at OL2, intentionally drawing a double-team from OL1 and OL2. DL2 rushes directly at OL3, pushing him to the OL's right. DL4 rushes directly between OL4 and OL5, intentionally drawing a double-team from those two OL's. This engages all 5 OL with only 3 DL engaged, leaving DL3 unblocked, so DL3 loops behind DL2 and goes into the gap created between OL2 and OL3. The OL are taught to see this, and adjust by "passing off" rushers between them. As DL3 moves backwards rather than forward, the OL see this, so when DL3 attacks the gap made by the stunt, OL2 passes off his guy to OL1 and OL2 picks up the stunting DL3. For this to work, the OL need "chemistry" to see it and know when and how the other OL will pick up this passed off block, which is why constantly shuttling in new OL rarely works. So, when the stunting DL3 gets to the gap, the OL2 needs to be ready, and needs to pass off the guy he is currently blocking (DL1) to OL1. This means that OL1 must be in position to shift from a combo-block on DL1 to taking DL1 on a 1v1. Then OL2 picks up the stunting DL3 on a 1v1. It requires a lot of blocks where the OL is not squared up against his man, and it takes a lot of passing off between OL. This is a basic thing that OL do every day, every single game. Now, there are many different ways to run stunts, but it is essentially like a shell game … the OL must at all times know who is where, communicate, and pass off rushers seamlessly. Sometimes the stunter may not go in the expected spot, like in this scenario if DL3 went outside of DL1, that would be unexpected, and require another round of passing off between OL, but … still not that surprising.

When an individual player or two get victimized again and again, that's usually on the player, although not always. But when the entire OL gets victimized again and again, that's clearly on the coaching staff for not preparing them and not adjusting the scheme and instructions in-game. It is a challenge, and it's not always easy to counter, particularly against a very good defense like Minnesota has, but there is no excuse for not recognizing it and adjusting. It's possible they kept showing many new variations each which accounted for the logical adjustments … but that's hard for a defense to do, and if they practiced that much creativity, they wouldn't hold all of that for one non-conference game late in the year. More likely, our OL coaching staff just dropped the ball.

Now these three items are not used in alone. Very often two or even three of these concepts are used together in a scheme that makes adjustments very difficult. Still, that's what NFL coaches get paid to do … be on top of this and communicate solutions, and spend time with their players so the players are able to handle them. We clearly got out-coached along the OL. Then again, having one less day to prepare because the coaching staff gave them an extra day off because of a miracle play … might have made those lessons more difficult to learn.

Every time I see that video of those Dolphins players chanting "See you Wednesday!" and Coach Gase giving them that Tuesday off I can't help but think about how underprepared we were facing an away opponent we almost never face and with whom the players have very little if any familiarity.
 
Last edited:
Digital said:
Here's the thing, when you have a series where they are throwing exotic blitzes at you, you adjust. When it's unseen stunts/twists, you adjust. It is the OL coaches (plural) who presumably have seen every stunt/twist under the sun, and at least conceptually know how to counter it. It's a basic of the job to keep abreast of all of these things across the league. So, typically, they adjust after a series of two, and certainly by the half, which is why many games are the tale of two halves, and why it's so much more effective to roll out these tweaks in the 2nd half. Sometimes there is such a fundamentally different tweak that it takes an entire game, or several games until someone figures it out--like defending the Wildcat, because essentially the Wildcat provides the offense with one extra blocker, and that one man advantage is at the core of everything defenses do, so the counter is a comprehensive and fundamental change. But not blocking schemes.

There are three different types of pressures:
1) Overloads
2) Isolations
3) Stunts

Regardless of whether it is a blitz (extra pass rusher not always accounted for) or a base (DL's and rush LB's), it is always one of these three.

1. Overloads
These are the things that Buddy Ryan made famous with the 1985 Chicago Bears. Essentially they conceal where they're going to do it, but somewhere the defense is flooding one area with rushers to get a man advantage unblocked to the QB, forcing a very quick release or extreme escapability. His sons Rex Ryan and Rob Ryan utilize this today, as does our former DC Mike Nolan. Most of the time it is done out of a 34 alignment because it is easier to disguise where you are flooding and the defense requires more athletes capable of implementing the system. Today most blitz-heavy defenses utilize a lot of these elements.

2. Isolations
This is where the DC schemes to get a good pass rusher in a mismatch against an OL who cannot handle his skillset well. This means trying to get Von Miller 1v1 on any OL, or your quickest DL in space against someone with limited lateral quickness. Our scheme tries to do the latter with both Wake and Quinn on the edges, meaning it will be very hard to double-team both, and if they do, it frees up our quick DT's to generate A-gap pressure (up the middle in the QB's face). The goal of the Wide 9 is primarily to isolate each DE on a OT. This forces the offense to chip them with RB's or put a TE out wide to help, who needs to at least rub the DE before going out on his route. This is why EVERY fast-twitch DE wants to be set wider, and it's not new. Jason Taylor would always want to have that position as well, because when you're a great pass rusher, you're naturally double-teamed a lot, and when you set yourself so wide outside of the tackle, it's hard for the OG to help the OT, so they need to use inferior blockers like RB's or TE's … or take their chances with the pass rusher in isolation. Every defense uses this to free up their best pass rushers, some use it almost every snap, but every defense uses it at least once every game.

3. Stunts
There are many flavors of essentially the same thing, whether you call them stunts, twists or games, it involves misdirection like a shell game. OL cannot stand around not engaging … it wrecks things for them. So, the defense uses stunts to create engagement in the wrong place and headed in the wrong direction laterally, then pulls another player into the space created by the engaging OL. Think of a number line with numbers 1 through 4 on the bottom row, and numbers 5 through 9 on the row above them. Then below that have two rows of OL and TE/RB as potential blockers, each player numbered, like this:
LB5----------------------------LB6-----LB7-----LB8---------------------------------LB9
--------------------------DL1-----DL2-----DL3-----DL4----------------------------------
--------------------OL1-----OL2-----OL3-----OL4-----OL5-----------------------------
--------------TE1-----------------RB1----------------------------TE2-----------------------

Here is one example of a stunt or twist, DL1 rushes directly at OL2, intentionally drawing a double-team from OL1 and OL2. DL2 rushes directly at OL3, pushing him to the OL's right. DL4 rushes directly between OL4 and OL5, intentionally drawing a double-team from those two OL's. This engages all 5 OL with only 3 DL engaged, leaving DL3 unblocked, so DL3 loops behind DL2 and goes into the gap created between OL2 and OL3. The OL are taught to see this, and adjust by "passing off" rushers between them. As DL3 moves backwards rather than forward, the OL see this, so when DL3 attacks the gap made by the stunt, OL2 passes off his guy to OL1 and OL2 picks up the stunting DL3. For this to work, the OL need "chemistry" to see it and know when and how the other OL will pick up this passed off block, which is why constantly shuttling in new OL rarely works. So, when the stunting DL3 gets to the gap, the OL2 needs to be ready, and needs to pass off the guy he is currently blocking (DL1) to OL1. This means that OL1 must be in position to shift from a combo-block on DL1 to taking DL1 on a 1v1. Then OL2 picks up the stunting DL3 on a 1v1. It requires a lot of blocks where the OL is not squared up against his man, and it takes a lot of passing off between OL. This is a basic thing that OL do every day, every single game. Now, there are many different ways to run stunts, but it is essentially like a shell game … the OL must at all times know who is where, communicate, and pass off rushers seamlessly. Sometimes the stunter may not go in the expected spot, like in this scenario if DL3 went outside of DL1, that would be unexpected, and require another round of passing off between OL, but … still not that surprising.

When an individual player or two get victimized again and again, that's usually on the player, although not always. But when the entire OL gets victimized again and again, that's clearly on the coaching staff for not preparing them and not adjusting the scheme and instructions in-game. It is a challenge, and it's not always easy to counter, particularly against a very good defense like Minnesota has, but there is no excuse for not recognizing it and adjusting. It's possible they kept showing many new variations each which accounted for the logical adjustments … but that's hard for a defense to do, and if they practiced that much creativity, they wouldn't hold all of that for one non-conference game late in the year. More likely, our OL coaching staff just dropped the ball.

Now these three items are not used in alone. Very often two or even three of these concepts are used together in a scheme that makes adjustments very difficult. Still, that's what NFL coaches get paid to do … be on top of this and communicate solutions, and spend time with their players so the players are able to handle them. We clearly got out-coached along the OL. Then again, having one less day to prepare because the coaching staff gave them an extra day off because of a miracle play … might have made those lessons more difficult to learn.

Every time I see that video of those Dolphins players chanting "See you Wednesday!" and Coach Gase giving them that Tuesday off I can't help but think about how underprepared we were facing an away opponent we almost never face and with whom the players have very little if any familiarity.
Click to expand...

Very good post!
 
Digital said:
Here's the thing, when you have a series where they are throwing exotic blitzes at you, you adjust. When it's unseen stunts/twists, you adjust. It is the OL coaches (plural) who presumably have seen every stunt/twist under the sun, and at least conceptually know how to counter it. It's a basic of the job to keep abreast of all of these things across the league. So, typically, they adjust after a series of two, and certainly by the half, which is why many games are the tale of two halves, and why it's so much more effective to roll out these tweaks in the 2nd half. Sometimes there is such a fundamentally different tweak that it takes an entire game, or several games until someone figures it out--like defending the Wildcat, because essentially the Wildcat provides the offense with one extra blocker, and that one man advantage is at the core of everything defenses do, so the counter is a comprehensive and fundamental change. But not blocking schemes.

There are three different types of pressures:
1) Overloads
2) Isolations
3) Stunts

Regardless of whether it is a blitz (extra pass rusher not always accounted for) or a base (DL's and rush LB's), it is always one of these three.

1. Overloads
These are the things that Buddy Ryan made famous with the 1985 Chicago Bears. Essentially they conceal where they're going to do it, but somewhere the defense is flooding one area with rushers to get a man advantage unblocked to the QB, forcing a very quick release or extreme escapability. His sons Rex Ryan and Rob Ryan utilize this today, as does our former DC Mike Nolan. Most of the time it is done out of a 34 alignment because it is easier to disguise where you are flooding and the defense requires more athletes capable of implementing the system. Today most blitz-heavy defenses utilize a lot of these elements.

2. Isolations
This is where the DC schemes to get a good pass rusher in a mismatch against an OL who cannot handle his skillset well. This means trying to get Von Miller 1v1 on any OL, or your quickest DL in space against someone with limited lateral quickness. Our scheme tries to do the latter with both Wake and Quinn on the edges, meaning it will be very hard to double-team both, and if they do, it frees up our quick DT's to generate A-gap pressure (up the middle in the QB's face). The goal of the Wide 9 is primarily to isolate each DE on a OT. This forces the offense to chip them with RB's or put a TE out wide to help, who needs to at least rub the DE before going out on his route. This is why EVERY fast-twitch DE wants to be set wider, and it's not new. Jason Taylor would always want to have that position as well, because when you're a great pass rusher, you're naturally double-teamed a lot, and when you set yourself so wide outside of the tackle, it's hard for the OG to help the OT, so they need to use inferior blockers like RB's or TE's … or take their chances with the pass rusher in isolation. Every defense uses this to free up their best pass rushers, some use it almost every snap, but every defense uses it at least once every game.

3. Stunts
There are many flavors of essentially the same thing, whether you call them stunts, twists or games, it involves misdirection like a shell game. OL cannot stand around not engaging … it wrecks things for them. So, the defense uses stunts to create engagement in the wrong place and headed in the wrong direction laterally, then pulls another player into the space created by the engaging OL. Think of a number line with numbers 1 through 4 on the bottom row, and numbers 5 through 9 on the row above them. Then below that have two rows of OL and TE/RB as potential blockers, each player numbered, like this:
LB5----------------------------LB6-----LB7-----LB8---------------------------------LB9
--------------------------DL1-----DL2-----DL3-----DL4----------------------------------
--------------------OL1-----OL2-----OL3-----OL4-----OL5-----------------------------
--------------TE1-----------------RB1----------------------------TE2-----------------------

Here is one example of a stunt or twist, DL1 rushes directly at OL2, intentionally drawing a double-team from OL1 and OL2. DL2 rushes directly at OL3, pushing him to the OL's right. DL4 rushes directly between OL4 and OL5, intentionally drawing a double-team from those two OL's. This engages all 5 OL with only 3 DL engaged, leaving DL3 unblocked, so DL3 loops behind DL2 and goes into the gap created between OL2 and OL3. The OL are taught to see this, and adjust by "passing off" rushers between them. As DL3 moves backwards rather than forward, the OL see this, so when DL3 attacks the gap made by the stunt, OL2 passes off his guy to OL1 and OL2 picks up the stunting DL3. For this to work, the OL need "chemistry" to see it and know when and how the other OL will pick up this passed off block, which is why constantly shuttling in new OL rarely works. So, when the stunting DL3 gets to the gap, the OL2 needs to be ready, and needs to pass off the guy he is currently blocking (DL1) to OL1. This means that OL1 must be in position to shift from a combo-block on DL1 to taking DL1 on a 1v1. Then OL2 picks up the stunting DL3 on a 1v1. It requires a lot of blocks where the OL is not squared up against his man, and it takes a lot of passing off between OL. This is a basic thing that OL do every day, every single game. Now, there are many different ways to run stunts, but it is essentially like a shell game … the OL must at all times know who is where, communicate, and pass off rushers seamlessly. Sometimes the stunter may not go in the expected spot, like in this scenario if DL3 went outside of DL1, that would be unexpected, and require another round of passing off between OL, but … still not that surprising.

When an individual player or two get victimized again and again, that's usually on the player, although not always. But when the entire OL gets victimized again and again, that's clearly on the coaching staff for not preparing them and not adjusting the scheme and instructions in-game. It is a challenge, and it's not always easy to counter, particularly against a very good defense like Minnesota has, but there is no excuse for not recognizing it and adjusting. It's possible they kept showing many new variations each which accounted for the logical adjustments … but that's hard for a defense to do, and if they practiced that much creativity, they wouldn't hold all of that for one non-conference game late in the year. More likely, our OL coaching staff just dropped the ball.

Now these three items are not used in alone. Very often two or even three of these concepts are used together in a scheme that makes adjustments very difficult. Still, that's what NFL coaches get paid to do … be on top of this and communicate solutions, and spend time with their players so the players are able to handle them. We clearly got out-coached along the OL. Then again, having one less day to prepare because the coaching staff gave them an extra day off because of a miracle play … might have made those lessons more difficult to learn.

Every time I see that video of those Dolphins players chanting "See you Wednesday!" and Coach Gase giving them that Tuesday off I can't help but think about how underprepared we were facing an away opponent we almost never face and with whom the players have very little if any familiarity.
Click to expand...

Excellent stuff! Thank you.
 
Digital said:
Here's the thing, when you have a series where they are throwing exotic blitzes at you, you adjust. When it's unseen stunts/twists, you adjust. It is the OL coaches (plural) who presumably have seen every stunt/twist under the sun, and at least conceptually know how to counter it. It's a basic of the job to keep abreast of all of these things across the league. So, typically, they adjust after a series of two, and certainly by the half, which is why many games are the tale of two halves, and why it's so much more effective to roll out these tweaks in the 2nd half. Sometimes there is such a fundamentally different tweak that it takes an entire game, or several games until someone figures it out--like defending the Wildcat, because essentially the Wildcat provides the offense with one extra blocker, and that one man advantage is at the core of everything defenses do, so the counter is a comprehensive and fundamental change. But not blocking schemes.

There are three different types of pressures:
1) Overloads
2) Isolations
3) Stunts

Regardless of whether it is a blitz (extra pass rusher not always accounted for) or a base (DL's and rush LB's), it is always one of these three.

1. Overloads
These are the things that Buddy Ryan made famous with the 1985 Chicago Bears. Essentially they conceal where they're going to do it, but somewhere the defense is flooding one area with rushers to get a man advantage unblocked to the QB, forcing a very quick release or extreme escapability. His sons Rex Ryan and Rob Ryan utilize this today, as does our former DC Mike Nolan. Most of the time it is done out of a 34 alignment because it is easier to disguise where you are flooding and the defense requires more athletes capable of implementing the system. Today most blitz-heavy defenses utilize a lot of these elements.

2. Isolations
This is where the DC schemes to get a good pass rusher in a mismatch against an OL who cannot handle his skillset well. This means trying to get Von Miller 1v1 on any OL, or your quickest DL in space against someone with limited lateral quickness. Our scheme tries to do the latter with both Wake and Quinn on the edges, meaning it will be very hard to double-team both, and if they do, it frees up our quick DT's to generate A-gap pressure (up the middle in the QB's face). The goal of the Wide 9 is primarily to isolate each DE on a OT. This forces the offense to chip them with RB's or put a TE out wide to help, who needs to at least rub the DE before going out on his route. This is why EVERY fast-twitch DE wants to be set wider, and it's not new. Jason Taylor would always want to have that position as well, because when you're a great pass rusher, you're naturally double-teamed a lot, and when you set yourself so wide outside of the tackle, it's hard for the OG to help the OT, so they need to use inferior blockers like RB's or TE's … or take their chances with the pass rusher in isolation. Every defense uses this to free up their best pass rushers, some use it almost every snap, but every defense uses it at least once every game.

3. Stunts
There are many flavors of essentially the same thing, whether you call them stunts, twists or games, it involves misdirection like a shell game. OL cannot stand around not engaging … it wrecks things for them. So, the defense uses stunts to create engagement in the wrong place and headed in the wrong direction laterally, then pulls another player into the space created by the engaging OL. Think of a number line with numbers 1 through 4 on the bottom row, and numbers 5 through 9 on the row above them. Then below that have two rows of OL and TE/RB as potential blockers, each player numbered, like this:
LB5----------------------------LB6-----LB7-----LB8---------------------------------LB9
--------------------------DL1-----DL2-----DL3-----DL4----------------------------------
--------------------OL1-----OL2-----OL3-----OL4-----OL5-----------------------------
--------------TE1-----------------RB1----------------------------TE2-----------------------

Here is one example of a stunt or twist, DL1 rushes directly at OL2, intentionally drawing a double-team from OL1 and OL2. DL2 rushes directly at OL3, pushing him to the OL's right. DL4 rushes directly between OL4 and OL5, intentionally drawing a double-team from those two OL's. This engages all 5 OL with only 3 DL engaged, leaving DL3 unblocked, so DL3 loops behind DL2 and goes into the gap created between OL2 and OL3. The OL are taught to see this, and adjust by "passing off" rushers between them. As DL3 moves backwards rather than forward, the OL see this, so when DL3 attacks the gap made by the stunt, OL2 passes off his guy to OL1 and OL2 picks up the stunting DL3. For this to work, the OL need "chemistry" to see it and know when and how the other OL will pick up this passed off block, which is why constantly shuttling in new OL rarely works. So, when the stunting DL3 gets to the gap, the OL2 needs to be ready, and needs to pass off the guy he is currently blocking (DL1) to OL1. This means that OL1 must be in position to shift from a combo-block on DL1 to taking DL1 on a 1v1. Then OL2 picks up the stunting DL3 on a 1v1. It requires a lot of blocks where the OL is not squared up against his man, and it takes a lot of passing off between OL. This is a basic thing that OL do every day, every single game. Now, there are many different ways to run stunts, but it is essentially like a shell game … the OL must at all times know who is where, communicate, and pass off rushers seamlessly. Sometimes the stunter may not go in the expected spot, like in this scenario if DL3 went outside of DL1, that would be unexpected, and require another round of passing off between OL, but … still not that surprising.

When an individual player or two get victimized again and again, that's usually on the player, although not always. But when the entire OL gets victimized again and again, that's clearly on the coaching staff for not preparing them and not adjusting the scheme and instructions in-game. It is a challenge, and it's not always easy to counter, particularly against a very good defense like Minnesota has, but there is no excuse for not recognizing it and adjusting. It's possible they kept showing many new variations each which accounted for the logical adjustments … but that's hard for a defense to do, and if they practiced that much creativity, they wouldn't hold all of that for one non-conference game late in the year. More likely, our OL coaching staff just dropped the ball.

Now these three items are not used in alone. Very often two or even three of these concepts are used together in a scheme that makes adjustments very difficult. Still, that's what NFL coaches get paid to do … be on top of this and communicate solutions, and spend time with their players so the players are able to handle them. We clearly got out-coached along the OL. Then again, having one less day to prepare because the coaching staff gave them an extra day off because of a miracle play … might have made those lessons more difficult to learn.

Every time I see that video of those Dolphins players chanting "See you Wednesday!" and Coach Gase giving them that Tuesday off I can't help but think about how underprepared we were facing an away opponent we almost never face and with whom the players have very little if any familiarity.
Click to expand...
A coach could of told them to just all hold hands and just not let anyone get through, and it would of been more effective..:)
 
Digital said:
Here's the thing, when you have a series where they are throwing exotic blitzes at you, you adjust. When it's unseen stunts/twists, you adjust. It is the OL coaches (plural) who presumably have seen every stunt/twist under the sun, and at least conceptually know how to counter it. It's a basic of the job to keep abreast of all of these things across the league. So, typically, they adjust after a series of two, and certainly by the half, which is why many games are the tale of two halves, and why it's so much more effective to roll out these tweaks in the 2nd half. Sometimes there is such a fundamentally different tweak that it takes an entire game, or several games until someone figures it out--like defending the Wildcat, because essentially the Wildcat provides the offense with one extra blocker, and that one man advantage is at the core of everything defenses do, so the counter is a comprehensive and fundamental change. But not blocking schemes.

There are three different types of pressures:
1) Overloads
2) Isolations
3) Stunts

Regardless of whether it is a blitz (extra pass rusher not always accounted for) or a base (DL's and rush LB's), it is always one of these three.

1. Overloads
These are the things that Buddy Ryan made famous with the 1985 Chicago Bears. Essentially they conceal where they're going to do it, but somewhere the defense is flooding one area with rushers to get a man advantage unblocked to the QB, forcing a very quick release or extreme escapability. His sons Rex Ryan and Rob Ryan utilize this today, as does our former DC Mike Nolan. Most of the time it is done out of a 34 alignment because it is easier to disguise where you are flooding and the defense requires more athletes capable of implementing the system. Today most blitz-heavy defenses utilize a lot of these elements.

2. Isolations
This is where the DC schemes to get a good pass rusher in a mismatch against an OL who cannot handle his skillset well. This means trying to get Von Miller 1v1 on any OL, or your quickest DL in space against someone with limited lateral quickness. Our scheme tries to do the latter with both Wake and Quinn on the edges, meaning it will be very hard to double-team both, and if they do, it frees up our quick DT's to generate A-gap pressure (up the middle in the QB's face). The goal of the Wide 9 is primarily to isolate each DE on a OT. This forces the offense to chip them with RB's or put a TE out wide to help, who needs to at least rub the DE before going out on his route. This is why EVERY fast-twitch DE wants to be set wider, and it's not new. Jason Taylor would always want to have that position as well, because when you're a great pass rusher, you're naturally double-teamed a lot, and when you set yourself so wide outside of the tackle, it's hard for the OG to help the OT, so they need to use inferior blockers like RB's or TE's … or take their chances with the pass rusher in isolation. Every defense uses this to free up their best pass rushers, some use it almost every snap, but every defense uses it at least once every game.

3. Stunts
There are many flavors of essentially the same thing, whether you call them stunts, twists or games, it involves misdirection like a shell game. OL cannot stand around not engaging … it wrecks things for them. So, the defense uses stunts to create engagement in the wrong place and headed in the wrong direction laterally, then pulls another player into the space created by the engaging OL. Think of a number line with numbers 1 through 4 on the bottom row, and numbers 5 through 9 on the row above them. Then below that have two rows of OL and TE/RB as potential blockers, each player numbered, like this:
LB5----------------------------LB6-----LB7-----LB8---------------------------------LB9
--------------------------DL1-----DL2-----DL3-----DL4----------------------------------
--------------------OL1-----OL2-----OL3-----OL4-----OL5-----------------------------
--------------TE1-----------------RB1----------------------------TE2-----------------------

Here is one example of a stunt or twist, DL1 rushes directly at OL2, intentionally drawing a double-team from OL1 and OL2. DL2 rushes directly at OL3, pushing him to the OL's right. DL4 rushes directly between OL4 and OL5, intentionally drawing a double-team from those two OL's. This engages all 5 OL with only 3 DL engaged, leaving DL3 unblocked, so DL3 loops behind DL2 and goes into the gap created between OL2 and OL3. The OL are taught to see this, and adjust by "passing off" rushers between them. As DL3 moves backwards rather than forward, the OL see this, so when DL3 attacks the gap made by the stunt, OL2 passes off his guy to OL1 and OL2 picks up the stunting DL3. For this to work, the OL need "chemistry" to see it and know when and how the other OL will pick up this passed off block, which is why constantly shuttling in new OL rarely works. So, when the stunting DL3 gets to the gap, the OL2 needs to be ready, and needs to pass off the guy he is currently blocking (DL1) to OL1. This means that OL1 must be in position to shift from a combo-block on DL1 to taking DL1 on a 1v1. Then OL2 picks up the stunting DL3 on a 1v1. It requires a lot of blocks where the OL is not squared up against his man, and it takes a lot of passing off between OL. This is a basic thing that OL do every day, every single game. Now, there are many different ways to run stunts, but it is essentially like a shell game … the OL must at all times know who is where, communicate, and pass off rushers seamlessly. Sometimes the stunter may not go in the expected spot, like in this scenario if DL3 went outside of DL1, that would be unexpected, and require another round of passing off between OL, but … still not that surprising.

When an individual player or two get victimized again and again, that's usually on the player, although not always. But when the entire OL gets victimized again and again, that's clearly on the coaching staff for not preparing them and not adjusting the scheme and instructions in-game. It is a challenge, and it's not always easy to counter, particularly against a very good defense like Minnesota has, but there is no excuse for not recognizing it and adjusting. It's possible they kept showing many new variations each which accounted for the logical adjustments … but that's hard for a defense to do, and if they practiced that much creativity, they wouldn't hold all of that for one non-conference game late in the year. More likely, our OL coaching staff just dropped the ball.

Now these three items are not used in alone. Very often two or even three of these concepts are used together in a scheme that makes adjustments very difficult. Still, that's what NFL coaches get paid to do … be on top of this and communicate solutions, and spend time with their players so the players are able to handle them. We clearly got out-coached along the OL. Then again, having one less day to prepare because the coaching staff gave them an extra day off because of a miracle play … might have made those lessons more difficult to learn.

Every time I see that video of those Dolphins players chanting "See you Wednesday!" and Coach Gase giving them that Tuesday off I can't help but think about how underprepared we were facing an away opponent we almost never face and with whom the players have very little if any familiarity.
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Very informative, thank you
 
Face the facts people. This is a bad, unprepared, under talented, poorly coached and poorly run team that has somehow managed to be about .500 for three seasons under Gase by snatching about 8 wins from the jaws of defeat in these three years. Games they had every right losing, thereby masking the fact that we just aren’t very good.
 
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