8. Defenses rush exactly four defenders on 62.9 percent of all pass plays.
A quick survey of depth charts reveals that exactly half of all defenses are listed as 3-4's right now. Also, a quick survey of coordinators reveals that about 95 percent of them insist "we are going to be multiple and hard to categorize," and 100 percent of them are going to be both "attacking" and "aggressive." At any rate, whether a team is officially a 3-4 or 4-3, whether they use tons of 2-3-6 personnel groups and blitz safeties on 1st-and-10 or come from the Tony Dungy school of Cover-2 fundamentalism, teams are going to rush four defenders on about two-thirds of pass plays.
Innovative, wacky, ultra-aggressive coaches rush defenders four at a time, just as they pull up their pants one leg at a time. The Cardinals, Chiefs, Packers, Saints and 49ers defenses were coached by a rogue's gallery of wild men and mad scientists last year. They combined to rush four defenders on 59.2 percent of pass plays, an insignificant smidge below the NFL average. Game situation and personnel quality are greater variables in determining how many defenders rush the quarterback than coaching philosophy. A coach who does not trust his cornerbacks is not going to blitz safeties, no matter what. A conservative coach whose defense forces lots of 3rd-and-long situations will blitz more than a barbarian whose defense cannot force obvious passing downs.
Five-man rushes occur on 22.8 percent of passes; six-man rushes (a pretty big blitz) occur on 7.2 percent of pass plays. Three-man rushes occur 5.8 percent of the time, despite all of those 3-4 defenses, which of course usually feature one or two linebackers who specialize in pass rushing. Rushes of seven or more defenders are typically reserved for red zone situations.
There's a fundamental mathematics at work with the four-man rush. A minimum of five defenders are needed to match up with five eligible receivers, a sixth defender is usually needed for double coverage, deep safety, quarterback spying or what have you, and diminishing returns kick in if three or fewer pass rushers make it easy for the quarterback to check his voicemail in the pocket. The aggressive defensive innovators of the 2010s express their individuality by sending four unexpected defenders. Bob Sutton of the Chiefs might send a nose tackle, a cornerback, a safety and Jamaal Charles (he does every other darn thing in Kansas City, so why not?), but he is more-or-less as likely to send four rushers as Lovie Smith is to send two tackles and two ends.
Reply With Quote