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What Do You Do When the Opposing Offense Goes with a Sixth Lineman?

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************* Clearly, the sixth lineman was a surprise for the Dolphin D. How can a defensive coordinator (Coyle) answer this in time to limit the damage in a game? I wonder if this scheme by the Broncos contributed to so many missed tackles (14)? Could our players have been disoriented and out of ideal position by the extra blocker? Does our defense even have plays they can call to counter such a scheme? What can Coyle do to make sure this never happens again?************

From Armando Salguero: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolp...d-pff-review-of-miami-dolphins-at-denver.html

Defensive Summary


Still have the All-22 checks to be made, but the Dolphins missed 14 tackles as a team versus the Broncos.
Miami’s normally dominant front four was rendered useless by Peyton and the running game. they registered just the one sack, hit, and pressure.
Lowell Rose came on for the injured Jamar Taylor, playing 14 snaps, but then Walt Aikens, who has been working mostly at safety in practice, relieved Rose for the final 9 defensive snaps.
Coverage
When the Dolphins went to a zone, Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas ate the Dolphins alive on crossers. Jelani Jenkins allowed 6-for-6 targets to be completed to the top two Denver WRs for 84 yards.
Against Dolphins DBs not named Brent Grimes, Peyton was 26-of-30 for 250 yards and four four TDs. Grimes was targeted five times, allowing two grabs for 7 yards.
Opponents’ Passing
The Dolphins did limit the big plays in the air against the Broncos. Manning Peyton was just 1-of-6 on throws of 20+ yards. Manning missed Sanders open deep for a touchdown against Grimes twice in the final quarter but overthrew both passes. The Dolphins had rolled coverage to the other side of the field so even though the Denver quarterback did not appear to be picking on newly installed Lowell Rose, an obvious weak link, he was in fact throwing to the right receiver locked in man coverage. The lone strike to Sanders that did go for a catch was a poorly thrown ball.

Maybe the Dolphins should’ve blitzed more. On eight blitzes during passing downs, Manning was 3-of-7 for 13 yards, which did include a TD but also the team's lone sack -- that in the red zone.
Opponents’ Rushing
The Broncos really aimed to get the running game going. They used a sixth offensive lineman 18 times, and blocking TE Virgil Green saw 56 snaps, while Jacob Tamme played 23 snaps. The Dolphins got bullied. They had no answer and, troubling, worse as the game wore on.

The Broncos were most effective running on the edges with the extra lineman; on six C.J. Anderson runs behind left or right end, he had 63 yards; Juwan Thompson’s 21-yard run also came behind right end.




 
Its a copy-cat league !!!!!!!!!!! New England did it to denver with that Cameron fleming guy, BTW someone I wanted Miami to draft. nd voila Dener did it to us.
Bring extra LB, Idk!
 
Any time a teams run on us with a heavy lineman set, we've had no answers.
I'm thinkin' you're right. We have light/quick linemen, too. So, it's easy to beat up on us if the opposing team presses us hard with more big linemen.
 
Its a copy-cat league !!!!!!!!!!! New England did it to denver with that Cameron fleming guy, BTW someone I wanted Miami to draft. nd voila Dener did it to us.
Bring extra LB, Idk!
LOL, yeah. That's why I'm asking. Not making excuses for Coyle, but I do not envy the situation that put him in. What to do? I think the Broncos were counting on Coyle going all out to stop the pass. It sounds like, even when Coyle realized what they were doing, he was still afraid to bring in some heavy help on the line or another linebacker. Even if he did that, what would he tell the extra guy to do? Our planned scheme for the game would still be a shambles. :bobdole:
 
I watched the game on DVR and saw what Denver did in the running game.. With the conventional 4 man front, the gaps were too large and Denver pushed us where they wanted and opened a couple of huge gaping holes and even had enough linemen to take out our LB's downfield.. Our DB's and Safeties looked like they wanted nothing to do with the tackle and stood around to assist, instead of being the point of contact..

I'm not sure this would have worked, but I would have tried defending with a 5-2 defense...
 
To be honest, I hope the Jet's (and Patsies, but they will attack our secondary) bring this heavy package as well. It would actually play into our strength of depth along our DL and with our depleted secondary. It worked for Denver well because we didn't see it coming with the struggles they had displayed on their o-line. Peyton Manning being PM was a primary reason I believe we didn't load up 8 in the box. He coulda woulda audibled immediately and made us pay. So many defenses are regularly playing a strong nickel package on defense and it's a solid way for an offense to counter. Offenses almost always have the jump for advantageous game plans. Now if the Jets try the same, I don't see us having a problem in adding an extra DL or LB to counter or bringing Jones down.

Against Manning I thought we might see some more "exotic" coverages like Pattern Match (sit in a zone for about 5 yards until the WR's clarify their routes and then you pick up your man) to try and stall PM for a moment longer for the pass rush to be effective. But we didn't, obviously. Some of that might have been due to the fact that Finnigan was out and it didn't allow for an all veteran presence with experience and the communication skills to do so.

The only other time I see us having trouble with this is against NE. They have the personnel to show a heavy set and then check out accordingly depending on whom we send in defensively. They'll cause us trouble in NE. We just need to stay in it like the Denver game and succeed in the end.
 
I watched the game on DVR and saw what Denver did in the running game.. With the conventional 4 man front, the gaps were too large and Denver pushed us where they wanted and opened a couple of huge gaping holes and even had enough linemen to take out our LB's downfield.. Our DB's and Safeties looked like they wanted nothing to do with the tackle and stood around to assist, instead of being the point of contact..

I'm not sure this would have worked, but I would have tried defending with a 5-2 defense...
OK, suppose Coyle had tried a 5-2. Would the players have been prepared to execute it? Would they have known their assignments? Would the Dolphins have ever practiced it? That, is what I am wondering. How does a coordinator get his players ready for any and all possibilities such as this; especially, when Denver had not shown an inclination to do such a thing in the past? In fact, Denver's tendencies had been nearly 100% the opposite.
 
To be honest, I hope the Jet's (and Patsies, but they will attack our secondary) bring this heavy package as well. It would actually play into our strength of depth along our DL and with our depleted secondary. It worked for Denver well because we didn't see it coming with the struggles they had displayed on their o-line. Peyton Manning being PM was a primary reason I believe we didn't load up 8 in the box. He coulda woulda audibled immediately and made us pay. So many defenses are regularly playing a strong nickel package on defense and it's a solid way for an offense to counter. Offenses almost always have the jump for advantageous game plans. Now if the Jets try the same, I don't see us having a problem in adding an extra DL or LB to counter or bringing Jones down.

Against Manning I thought we might see some more "exotic" coverages like Pattern Match (sit in a zone for about 5 yards until the WR's clarify their routes and then you pick up your man) to try and stall PM for a moment longer for the pass rush to be effective. But we didn't, obviously. Some of that might have been due to the fact that Finnigan was out and it didn't allow for an all veteran presence with experience and the communication skills to do so.

The only other time I see us having trouble with this is against NE. They have the personnel to show a heavy set and then check out accordingly depending on whom we send in defensively. They'll cause us trouble in NE. We just need to stay in it like the Denver game and succeed in the end.
Good answer, and I hope you are right. It's ******* scary, nevertheless.
 
OK, suppose Coyle had tried a 5-2. Would the players have been prepared to execute it? Would they have known their assignments? Would the Dolphins have ever practiced it? That, is what I am wondering. How does a coordinator get his players ready for any and all possibilities such as this; especially, when Denver had not shown an inclination to do such a thing in the past? In fact, Denver's tendencies had been nearly 100% the opposite.

We can certainly run a 5-2. Though these days it's more run as a 4-3 over/under because you want that extra down lineman to be able to have the athleticism to drop back into coverage (a hybrid DE/LB like Dion Jordan) because of the exceptional passing offenses that we now see. The traditional 5-2 was developed to stop the T-formation offenses in the 40's and was countered with option play as offenses didn't spread the field like modern offenses of today which would provide similar effectiveness.

Long story short, you would never want to play an 8 man front vs a Peyton Manning type QB or offense (only in goal-to-go situations). Elite QB's would salivate seeing only a single high safety. We just needed to tackle better.

*Denver's ball 4th qtr, 14:15, 1st & goal: we have 8 in the box with a 9th showing blitz; Manning goes play action, we bite and he throws a TD for the 23rd point of the game. So even in those goal-to-go situations he'll still make you pay. It was really more about executing and tackling than it was about formation specifics in this game vs Manning. He can check out of any advantage that the defense is showing.
 
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We can certainly run a 5-2. Though these days it's more run as a 4-3 over/under because you want that extra down lineman to be able to have the athleticism to drop back into coverage (a hybrid DE/LB like Dion Jordan) because of the exceptional passing offenses that we now see. The traditional 5-2 was developed to stop the T-formation offenses in the 40's and was countered with option play as offenses didn't spread the field like modern offenses of today which would provide a similar effectiveness.

Long story short, you would never want to play an 8 man front vs a Peyton Manning type QB or offense (only in goal-to-go situations). Elite QB's would salivate seeing only a single high safety. We just needed to tackle better.
That definitely makes me feel better. Yet, it begs the question of what went wrong with our fundamentals? Perhaps the long plane ride and/or the altitude had an effect? Typically sure tacklers like Reshad Jones were whiffing all over the place. Especially, up the middle. Misis got injured but came back, as did Odrik. (sighs) Maybe we were more victims of a series of bad timing and bad breaks than anything else?
 
There was another instance right before the end of the 3rd where Denver had 4th & 2. We pulled 9 down into the box only to get blown out by pulling guards and a TE down blocked Dion Jordan about 5 yards into their backfield. Anderson gained 20 on the play. It was just a very bad day for us defensively. I think the Bronco's o-line was determined to right themselves against all their recent critics and they took it upon themselves to prove the doubters wrong. We didn't have that type of mentality up front defensively Sunday and were taken to the shed.
 
Well what works for me in Madden (LOL?) is go on a run heavy defense, show blitz then maybe drop into a zone coverage for those quick passes. Maybe Coyle should try to blitz without having his CB off coverage. Press at the line.
 
Well what works for me in Madden (LOL?) is go on a run heavy defense, show blitz then maybe drop into a zone coverage for those quick passes. Maybe Coyle should try to blitz without having his CB off coverage. Press at the line.
Coyle's philosophy is to keep everything in front of his CBs, thus avoiding the big play. When you press at the line, you risk allowing the receiver to get behind you.

Most of the time it seems to work well for us, but their running game appears to have spoiled it this time.
 
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