Quote:
Originally Posted by JAFF
Just tossing this out. Leonard had a few sacks on the blitz. They have his clone one the other side. More fun and games with the zone blitz?
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Yeah, although we don't really run a 'zone blitz' like say the Steelers or Ravens, but I get what you are saying. Zone blitz requires the defensive player to read and adjust, our scheme the players responsibility is set, we just disguise it. Eberflus really runs his own unique defense loosely based on that tampa 2. I think he was complaining he did not have the personnel to do what he wanted hence the results of this latest draft. When it comes to players Ballard likes high character, top of the stat sheet athletiscm, and visible results against top competition (why we like the senior bowl players and other similar bowls). After that I think this was a lot of what Eberflus desired. The players responsibilities are simple so young players can adapt quickly and react more than think. But with a lot of versatility in the roster, on any given play you may not know who is doing what, where the deception part comes in.
Say on a passing down you have Leonard, Okereke, Banagu, Houston, Lewis, and Kenny on the field at the line of scrimmage along with the rest of the package. Who is going to rush the passer and who is dropping. It makes pre-snap reads very difficult, and if the QB is wrong, he starts to doubt what he is seeing and analyzing. Then you have responsibility disguises like what the Rams did against Brady in the SB early. Pretending you are playing man, then breaking off into zone, or vice versa. That gave Brady fits, and if their defensive gameplan wasn't so good, they would have lost. That and he would sling it up to Edelman who was uncoverable. To read something like that you need time in the pocket, and Brady wants to get rid of that ball early. That gave Aaron Donald time to get in his face.
The Ravens do this really well, and they were a defense I thought was very scary in the playoffs. Almost their whole D lined up at the line of scrimmage, you had no idea who was doing what until after the snap. They just have no offense and a serious project at QB. If that offense catches up, they could be dangerous.