We are night and day on defense. We have expensive corners that excellent in bump and run but when we go zone everyone looks confused.
Anyone have a stat on this?
It just seems so obvious that we play better when we shy away from zone...
Great question. Agree we are built for man and that is the core defense but is deception (switching)
Maybe a slight twist though on your query would be whether we are prone to switching series by series (unlikely) as opposed to play by play. Something for the film watchers
As an aside, in the first half you can see a vivid example of what a defense does with Evans watching 2022 film.
In the lone early deep ball to Evans you can see Flores bait the Bucs into the deep ball by pre snap Cover zero that post snap became zone bracketing Evans with a guy underneath so safety dropping deep.
Bowles does the same stuff. That’s why above I ask whether it’s okay to play switching as opposed to conservative switching (ie we have the lead so let’s sit back)
LVD and Winfield discussing in 2020 in an article by SR on Bowles as a defensive “mastermind”
”Give the offense a picture to look at, and then after that, just roll into whatever coverage or blitz that we’re doing,” said rookie Bucs safety Antoine Winfield, Jr., who was just named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month for notching two sacks and a forced fumble in September. “That’s a big part of getting home and making a sack – if you are showing one thing and the quarterback is sliding protection one way and we’re able to blitz from the opposite way it just helps out us creating plays and getting sacks.
“You have to give a look first and foremost. Make it look like it’s coming one way when it’s coming from another way. That’s the biggest key in getting sacks and getting that blitzer free. Making sure that we’re able to disguise is a huge, important part of it.”
David agrees that often disguising the blitz leads to a successful blitz – one that produces sacks or pressure.
“Offenses want to identify what types of coverages you’re in, where you’re at and where certain guys are going to be,” David said. “For us, it’s a chess match – giving offenses certain looks that they may think we’re in and come back and hit them with another look that we want to be in. Teams that throw the football, the main thing is we want to get them off balance and make them go in the direction we want them to throw in. Once you get that done as far as disguising and stuff, the game is real fun because you get the quarterback to hold the ball and it opens things up for sacks.”
Totally agree with OP.
problem when we go zone is we leave a good 5-8 yard gap inbetween pickups and guys are running completely uncovered for those moments. Can’t have that at all.
Totally agree with OP.
problem when we go zone is we leave a good 5-8 yard gap in between pickups and guys are running completely uncovered for those moments. Can’t have that at all.
agree our zone play was pretty poor overall and we definitely have MAN corners and that type of corner is essential to Bowles blitzing
But, going off my memory only (so could be wrong), the strip sack by Winfield early is sort of a hybrid, zone blitz Bowles special, right?
By hybrid I mean we SHOW press MAN on 3rd and 6 with Winfield intentionally appearing to be helping with the receiver on the right. Winfield is selling it by pinching in and facing more toward the sideline, i.e. cutting off the slant etc. The "blitz" is supposedly coming from the other side PRE-snap.
At the snap though, the would-be left side "blitzer" drops INTO ZONE. The LBs are playing zone.
The Vikes QB goes left at snap, presumably because Winfield "helping" on right, but he actually blitzing. Assume the zone LBs underneath is part of what makes Cousins pause long enough for Winfield to get home
point is that Bowles defense is often mixing the two concepts and switching in and out of them, as opposed to him going away from MAN that was working, just to mix it up or something
chess match
we won the play I describe, we lost later when they had a well timed screen
Yeah I get that zone is the wrinkle and it can create turnovers but good lord...
Jefferson just carves it up
agreed and Davis was doing well.
Yeah I get that zone is the wrinkle and it can create turnovers but good lord...
Jefferson just carves it up
You simply can't give a guy like Jefferson that many uncontested catches.
definitely agree about Jefferson, but SR apparently only agrees in part . .. because the game went on
"Whether it was taking advantage of catching the Bucs in a double-corner blitz at the perfect time with a huge gain or winning on a route against Cover 3 with just Antoine Winfield Jr. as the single-high safety, Jefferson was a menace in the first half. He led the Vikings with seven catches for 138 yards at halftime.
But Bowles made adjustments and went away from the single-high safety look, opting for deeper coverages, such as Quarters (Cover 4) on occasion that was designed to provide help over the top and keep all passing plays in front of the defense to limit yards after catch. It worked, as Jefferson was held to two catches for 12 yards in the second half and the Vikings were outscored as a result, 10-7, over the last two quarters."
- - From a 2 Point Conversion article entitled . .Todd Bowles Called A Masterful Game.
If you read the 2 Point Conversion article , SR links the "Todd Bowles was handcuffed in 2022" article from the Times. The stuff in that article is why I posted that its at least possible Bowles seat is no hotter than any other coach this year.
Who knows? Every season a story unto its own.
(BTW Donk, Bowles agrees with you on Leftwich being unable to adjust (where Arian would have). He adds a wrinkle about Brady and talks about the aged team, but still makes that exact point)
In the lone early deep ball to Evans you can see Flores bait the Bucs into the deep ball by pre snap Cover zero that post snap became zone bracketing Evans with a guy underneath so safety dropping deep.
They got exactly what they wanted on that.
1:1 with Evans deep.
but SR apparently only agrees in part . ..
Don’t really care what he thinks.
Watching the All-22 you can see JJ with 4 receptions for explosive plays in the 1st half (30 yards, 25 yards, 22 yards, 42 yards).
All four of these receptions were JJ running free and uncontested at the line (in both man and zone, two of them quarters coverage).
The point the OP was always making (as well as some of us in the game thread) is that we need to see some better press and man with our $97M CB tandem.
Can’t make the game even easier for elite receivers.
but SR apparently only agrees in part . ..
Don’t really care what he thinks.
Watching the All-22 you can see JJ with 4 receptions for explosive plays in the 1st half (30 yards, 25 yards, 22 yards, 42 yards).
All four of these receptions were JJ running free and uncontested at the line (in both man and zone, two of them quarters coverage).
The point the OP was always making (as well as some of us in the game thread) is that we need to see some better press and man with our $97M CB tandem.
Can’t make the game even easier for elite receivers.
Only pointing to the change in the defense of Jefferson half to half. Thats what SR pointed out
Well the offense stayed on the field longer so that helped... good adjustment too.
But it's pretty clear that we should predominantly play man coverage and are built for bump and run.
In the lone early deep ball to Evans you can see Flores bait the Bucs into the deep ball by pre snap Cover zero that post snap became zone bracketing Evans with a guy underneath so safety dropping deep.
They got exactly what they wanted on that.
1:1 with Evans deep.
They got an underneath db and a safety just dropping. Thats the kind of play where the WR often has to become a CB
Its right here and even discussed as described
https://www.nfl.com/videos/mayfield-evans-narrowly-miss-out-on-massive-deep-launch-attempt
