The Current Meta Suffocating NFL Offenses

if you've been watching any pro football this year you'll have probably felt the stagnation that seems to be plaguing 2023 offenses even some of the top quarterbacks don't look like themselves and defenses appear to have successfully constricted their counterparts into crushing submission this is all happening due to some great design and a main theory behind how to play defense utilizing multiple schemes to completely suffocate an opposing offense with the aerial attack continuously creeping ahead throughout the last two decades defenses have had to become increasingly focused on stopping the spread strikes to achieve this two main schemes have taken over split field coverages and what we call cover zero now despite their differing alignment and processes they actually aim to achieve the same thing out leverage the offense cause confusion and force the check down to the flat starting with split field coverages you'll often hear commentators referring to the two high look which is the base alignment for the split field coverage it divides the field in two presenting different defenses for the quarterback to decipher split field Theory then divides again into two main ideas quarters and cover six after folks solved the cover three Vic fangio was the first man to find an adjustment to the easy aerid out offenses implementing his cover six scheme his ideas have continued to develop and be worked upon creating much of what we see in confusion dividing the field down the middle covers six plays cover two to one side and cover four to the other the cover four is often played to the passing strength of the formation that's the side with most players flanking the quarterback helping outnumber the offense if a third player goes deep the linebacker Will Carry making sure the defense can always protect deep on the cover two side you also have options again you have leverage deep with the half field safety and can have the nickel or will carry the second thread deep if he heads that way the base of this idea is to always be able to maintain leverage on the man that you're guarding closing off the deep ball and forcing teams to play underneath but this is just it being run in its base form you don't have to stick to these conventions and you'll often see man coverage play to the cover two side potentially with the banjo call to pass off the receivers for maximum leverage you can also swap the sides you choose to play each split too often this is referred to as cover nine playing the quarters defense to the weak side instead because of this ambiguity of Direction and leverage of deep routes taken away cover six often forces quarterbacks into mistakes or forces them to be patient and find the underneath here against the ners the Ravens play cover nine with both Debo and auk stacked on the weak side swapping the quarters over to neutralize the speed and talent pie isn't sure what he's seeing here and works back to the strong side but he's a fraction too late to the checkdown and the ball's tipped and going the other way here again the coverage is flipped to make a covered nine and making sure Jamar Chase's speed is cut off and here's one of the big advantages of cover six it cuts off those Crossing patterns by the time Chase has cleared his chip and worked his way across into what should be the vacated space created by Tyler Boyd Patrick McQueen is able to read it and drop to cut off the angle allowing pressure to force borrow up through the pocket and into a scramble and of course the check down is encouraged especially on Long downs and distance plays or in the Red Zone where forcing the ball underneath and tackling makes points much harder to come by next on the Evolution train came quarters working on the same principles of splitting the field only with pattern match principles creating confusion and continuing to out leverage pattern matching means to divide your coverage based on the passing pattern the offenses are trying to execute instead of being tasked with covering a specific area or player Defenders will distribute the weapons based on Route depth and Direction starting from the same two high safety looks the corners will generally be playing off too allowing the defense to always always have four Defenders ready to out leverage an allo attack like cover six it splits the field in two and the best way to think of the setup is as a box and triangle with the Box generally being played to the strength of the offensive formation let's start with the box and as mentioned each player has a specific set of rules that determines who they're covering starting with the corner he has all of number one unless he goes underneath in which case he leaves him for the inside help gaining depth to his Zone the most important threat to Keon in this defense is the number two receiver so the player task with covering him is extremely crucial referred to as the Apex player or the overhang in this scheme he's going to base his coverage on the number two threat if he goes outside he'll match him to the flat if he goes deep he'll carry him to the safety and if he goes in he'll deliver him to the Mike linebacker the safety is also reading too if he goes vertical he's now his man making sure to maintain leverage and shy away that deep ball if two goes out number one is likely coming deep and he needs to have the angle and depth to protect the post while being able to break to the fade or downhill to a dig if the number two receiver goes in this is usually a sign that there's a Crosser coming from the other side so the safety will shade middle trying to jump a throw from an angle the QB isn't expecting the mike in the box has got the responsibility of the number three threat usually in the form of a running back if this number three goes vertical you best be fast because it's his job to leverage him if three goes out the Mike will give a push call sliding the Apex Defender over to the three in the flat and assume his responsibilities on the number two if the three goes back across the Mike will deliver him to the next Defender and look to pick up work coming the other way now that's the box covered let's talk about the triangle and those rules are slightly different although still kinging on the number two because the will is part of the Run fit he can't just follow them out to the flat or you'll be giving up huge runs all day long instead the corner will trap down on the number two if he goes out and the wheel looks to the number one coming under continuing to gain depth if he goes vertical leaving him for the safety if the two goes vertical the will is responsible for carrying him to the safety if he heads inside he'll deliver him to the mic and look for crossers the safety is also reading number two taking him vertically if he attacks deep but if he goes out the corner will trap down leaving nobody to cover the number one which now makes this to safety's responsibility if he goes deep if two goes in or they run any sort of Pig play it's much like the other safety's responsibility make sure you have control of that post and be ready to jump or steal any Crossing route coming from The Far Side watch Kyle Hamilton execute this to Perfection here because he's left without a responsibility he can get his eyes on prie and with the ball being a fraction late jumps right in front of it for the Red Zone pick if that all sounds complicated to you tried deciphering it in 2 and 1/2 seconds while four 300lb men try to throw you into the turf and then you'll understand why these guys are struggling because of the shifts and finer details that a team may tag a defense with it is incredibly easy for even the most cerebral of QBs to miss reads or backside hang Defenders instead they're forced to take checkdowns and just keep matriculating the ball down the field boys but thanks to the Modern Age speed of players even this can get shut down real fast teams are practically enticing offenses to attack the flat knowing they have the speed to get to the boundary and shut your Play Down anything too slow developing to the flat is a recipe for disaster nowadays the line between quarters and cover six have blurred with both implementing tips and tricks from each other to create an even more difficult to decipher defense the philosophy of both coverages is the same though protect Deep by out leveraging the offense create Confusion by disguising looks and force quarter backs to sit in and throw to the flat using the speed of modern defensive players to Rally the ball and these ideas are also the main foundation of the other scheme sweeping the league the cover zero look spreading mostly from the influences of Brian Flores the look provides the same leverage Advantage by standing DBS way back but creates Confusion by standing every remaining Defender up at the line of scrimmage here Minnesota have seven up at the line all threatening to rush and four guys way back back over the top of each receiver this guarantees a free rusher and if you slide in another guy to protect they bring another rusher always being able to force a free rusher it's got to come out quick but quick screens and hitters are negated by not playing strict man coverage passing off routes depending on The Leverage allowing them to play Fast downhill and anything quick and short you could attempt to jail break and go over the top but all your white outs are out leveraged and with the fast oncoming rusher there's potential that you might have to float this up dangerous idea with this kind of Leverage and as much as the middle looks open well there's clever ways to protect this too while Minnesota will initially Rush one more than can be blocked certain players will only show the blitz before dropping into a rat Zone to muddy the passing lanes and this is just a start the cover zero show doesn't have to be a blitz with teams using it to create protection confusion up front before dropping into all manner of coverages here the Ravens creep Hamilton up to the line to show seven but are actually going to drop into a Tampa two burrow thought he might have an option to a slot but Hamilton is going to track him the whole way the bluff Blitz leads to a strong Rush bringing burrow to the ground one of Brian flores's favorite roles out of this look is into drop eight first presenting eight men up at the line of scrimmage before dropping into a Tampa 2 with a rat zone for crossers underneath Jordan love makes the correct read here trying to attack right down the middle of the field but a yard off allows Josh matelis to make a fabulous play ripping this out of Reed's grasp and here the Saints have seven up at the line but they're going to roll into a cover three tanah Hill has nowhere to go on the long downs and just has to ground it before he gets grounded the flat seems the obvious place to attack and that's definitely a viable option modern defenses just have so much speed that they're willing to give this up and rally as fast as possible to get there Minnesota will even run this on short yardage knowing that if the offense hesitates in the slightest they'll be there to stop it while these new meta coverages May align differently what they aim to achieve is the same out leverage your opponent create confusion and force the ball to the flat of course these coverages are not the only defenses teams are using and a variety must be mixed in to continue to keep these quarterbacks guessing as always if you can go out there and play variations of one man and two man go do it it's the most effective system if you have the talent but if you if you can't then modern times provide an answer and you best get there before it gets solved so if the two most popular modern defenses are trying to achieve the same thing how are offenses attacking it and what can they do to flip that switch well for the most part they're struggling last year we talked about the chief's use of 1 14 splits to help recapture the numers advantage against split field coverages and to an extent almost everyone has implemented this into their playbook however teams are still far too rigid in their splits or lacked the talent or balls to Simply play one-on-one with the stud receiver split field coverages and cover zero are offering the flat to attack immediately and teams need to be more willing to overexpose this weakness quickly and through repetition with so many teams dedicated to the shotgun the three-step drop from under Center has almost entirely disappeared from Modern offenses with very few looking to rep this as an integral part of their game attacking early and from under Center gives teams no chance to set allowing you to attack exactly where they are offering you a weakness dropping from shotgun takes longer due to The Exchange in distance and closes angles that are otherwise open to hit in shotgun so many teams will play action or run an RPO inside not getting the ball to the flat immediately and a Defender will fly downhill and break up the run we're at the point now where every player who's in the NFL was seeing these RPO screens in high school and they're simply too well-versed and too fast to the ball for them to be effective even against these backed up coverages another way to beat backed up defenses is to just run the damn football and split fields are noticeably susceptible to counter runs the explanation for this could be its own video but it essentially boils down to being too static and regimented in their front alignment making it easy to pick apart with the counter most teams tend to save their cover zero formations for long Downs or distances so establishing the Run should see offenses have to attack this less the final reason offenses appear to be failing is a pretty tragic one but it's the reality of this league that we so love to enjoy and that's just that we have so many damn injuries this year we're now up to 59 starting quarterbacks for the 23 season with the weak of the regular season still to go now this is by no means the main reason top guys are struggling too but watching guys who don't have the arm Talent OR processing power get thrust into action as defenses evolve to create more confusion is a recipe for some pretty ugly football the NFL is a cyclical league with some of the smarter Sports Minds battling it out to confuse each other no system stays on top forever and this Theory will eventually be proven wrong with time for now teams need to continue to stress the 14 attack faster and play more from under Center the offense that can achieve this and run the ball when it comes cold in January it's my favorite for the chip

Channel: Thinking Football

Views: 568,148

Keywords: NFL, NFL Highlights, all 22, Film Study, NFL breakdown, Thinking Football, Coaches Film, Scouting Report, NFL Draft, Film Breakdown, College football, defense, nfl defense, cover 6, cover 9, quarters, coiver 0, miami dolphins, vic fangio, brian flores, Minnesota vikings, Baltimore ravens defense, 49ers defense, nfl scheme, bill belichick

Id: fgbN4iCA6us

Length: 13min 57sec (837 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 04 2024