Raji's Season Might Be In Trouble

[pbmax]

I place the confusion on the conundrum of pass coverage of three wides, or an athletic TE who will be split out.

The Steelers would stay base in many nickel situations versus 3 x 1 personnel because the base 3 D line could pressure and get home (including Hampton). At least one, if not two, OLBs could get home. Plus one of those OLBs and the safeties played good coverage.

For the Packers, especially absent Collins and Wood, the 2-4 is about coverage options and match ups. The pass rush, even with those guys, was still middle of the road, especially 4 on 5. You could blitz Wood to good effect. Whether by attrition or film, this became far less effective over time. Coverage by safeties got worse and pressure by the D line declined.

The new D line is longer and leaner even with Daniels starting. Daniels showed something last year and Jones has looked effective in getting pressure in this preseason.

If they can become the pass rushers their predecessors did not, then you could see more base and more D lineman (which you would hope would be better for run D). Capers might trust his coverage with base to hold IF he is generating pressure with the front 5. If not, its still going to be nickel to matchup and an unknown for run D.

But I think Capers has shown that for him 2-4 is about coverage, not pressure. Its going to take a marked difference in pressure to alter that plan.

[3irty1]

I place the confusion on the conundrum of pass coverage of three wides, or an athletic TE who will be split out.

The Steelers would stay base in many nickel situations versus 3 x 1 personnel because the base 3 D line could pressure and get home (including Hampton). At least one, if not two, OLBs could get home. Plus one of those OLBs and the safeties played good coverage.

For the Packers, especially absent Collins and Wood, the 2-4 is about coverage options and match ups. The pass rush, even with those guys, was still middle of the road, especially 4 on 5. You could blitz Wood to good effect. Whether by attrition or film, this became far less effective over time. Coverage by safeties got worse and pressure by the D line declined.

The new D line is longer and leaner even with Daniels starting. Daniels showed something last year and Jones has looked effective in getting pressure in this preseason.

If they can become the pass rushers their predecessors did not, then you could see more base and more D lineman (which you would hope would be better for run D). Capers might trust his coverage with base to hold IF he is generating pressure with the front 5. If not, its still going to be nickel to matchup and an unknown for run D.

But I think Capers has shown that for him 2-4 is about coverage, not pressure. Its going to take a marked difference in pressure to alter that plan.

The Steelers choices to me are more about defensive playcalling philosophy. Do you try to mirror whatever the offense is doing to minimize poor matchups or play the down and distance? It would seem to me the Steelers prefer the latter playing the situation rather than the offense which is why they play much more base and also much more dime than we do.

I think the beefy 2-4 wasn't about a pressure:coverage tradeoff but rather gap assignments. It was leveraging the fact that our best two defensive lineman were able two-gappers and our nickel corner could tackle like a linebacker allowing us to account for all the gaps while also giving better coverage options with Woodson in the slot.

Of course we'll still see nickel and dime in traditional nickel and dime situations but we don't have the beefy 2-gappers to keep a hat on a hat against those balanced offensive formations anymore while in nickel. Well, we could but it would mean giving snaps to Boyd, Guion, and Pennel over Daniels, Jones, Peppers, and Neal. Despite all his nicknames on this forum Capers is pretty good at getting his best guys in the place to be successful (see Woodson, Charles and Taylor, Jason). My guess is that instead of having a 2-gapping 3-4, a 2-gapping 2-4, and a 1-gapping 2-4 we'll have a 2-gapping 3-4, a 1-gapping 3-4, and a 1-gapping 2-4. Our OLB might not be the best coverage guys but at least their diversity should make zone blitzing and disguises easier than before. A safety shell you can trust would certainly go a long way.