I saw a piece on Sportscenter last night about how the weakside linebacker was becoming a, if not the, crucial position now on D. Weakside in vogue They mentioned all the money Julian Peterson got from Seattle. There was special emphasis on the NFC North i.e Hawk, Sims, & Greenway. They failed to mention that the Vikes & Lions are converting to the Tampa cover 2. Anybody who follows football knows how important the WLB is to this scheme. Thoughts?
Its the cover 2 that makes it a coveted statistical position....that defense funnels the football to the flats and to the seams....a true cover 2, like the bucs play is really a cover 3....the 2 safeties each have an assigned deep zone and are responsible for the deepest offensive players on thier side of the field....the MLB must get tremendous depth and act as a guard between those 2 zones, because teams will try to run its TE right down the seam and exploit the natuaral zoid....its because of this tremendous physical expectation placed on the MLB that made me think the Bears would(and did) develop into a dominant Cover-2 team, because Urlacher is the perfect MLB for this sytle(check back, its the 1st prediction I made when Lovie was hired)....the rest of the back 7 play in 4 independent zones under the deep zones....by doing this, plays are funneled into the flats, where the defense can contain and gang tackle....its for this reason that cover-2 CBs need to be better tacklers than coverage guys, they are rarely asked to match up man to man with anyway....now, the reason the weakside guy gets his numbers is because he rarely starts with anyone in his zone....while the strongside guy has the TE to deal with right off and the CBs have WRs in thier zones all the time, the Will can freelance a little more....if a team is going to blitz, it sends the Will, if they want to take away a specific route, like a slant, they use the Will to do it....when played well, it can be a very productive position because he can make plays all over the field....
The Packers Version of 4-3 makes the Linebackers job important but not as important as that of the D-Line, It's the D-lines Job to start things, Open Holes in the O-line for the Linebackers to fill and stuff, thats why our system is best for smaller faster Linebackers.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FLORIDA PACKER)</div><div class='quotemain'>The Packers Version of 4-3 makes the Linebackers job important but not as important as that of the D-Line, It's the D-lines Job to start things, Open Holes in the O-line for the Linebackers to fill and stuff, thats why our system is best for smaller faster Linebackers.</div> Essentially, its a carryover of the Johnson/wanny/Bates philosophy. The focal points were the CB's and DL. I had read that Dungy's system is actually cover 3 with the over/under philosophy he picked up when he played w/ the Steelers. It seems this D is better against the pass than the run and against finese teams rather than power. It used to give the Rams fits when they played Tampa and why Indy has trouble against the Steelers. FWIW, I never have been a big fan of the Tampa cover 2. I like the Saban/Belichick hybrid D but still prefer an aggressive 4-3 where spped is empasized much like the Ravens ran when the won the Super Bowl.
The panthers focus a lot on the d-line also. Fox loves huge DTs like Jenkins and Kemoetu. Then the DEs play contain so it doesnt get outside, Panthers have two perfect DEs for this in Rucker and Peppers. Then Dan Morgan will get anyone who gets through. If someone gets outside then they have to go against Thomas Davis, who is a converted safety, and wont let them outside.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (panthersare#1)</div><div class='quotemain'>The panthers focus a lot on the d-line also. Fox loves huge DTs like Jenkins and Kemoetu. Then the DEs play contain so it doesnt get outside, Panthers have two perfect DEs for this in Rucker and Peppers. Then Dan Morgan will get anyone who gets through. If someone gets outside then they have to go against Thomas Davis, who is a converted safety, and wont let them outside.</div> Carolina is the team I couldn't think of who currently runs the style I like. The current theory that you need Big LB's to run the 3-4 aggravates me. Schottenheimer ran a 3-4 w/ the Chiefs that relied on speed. Derrick Thomas was quite good if memory serves.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TheBeef)</div><div class='quotemain'>....the 2 safeties each have an assigned deep zone and are responsible for the deepest offensive players on thier side of the field....the MLB must get tremendous depth and act as a guard between those 2 zones, because teams will try to run its TE right down the seam and exploit the natuaral zoid....</div> The safeties ideally cover from the hashes to the sidelines leaving the MLB the rest. This scheme IMO is susceptible to crossing routes, 2 WRs on to the same side of the formation, and multiple WR sets. The University of Utah alternates between a cover 2 and cover 3 (1 CB deep (hash to sideline) and the 2 Safeties the rest of the field. Some fans would complain because it seems that the Utes were giving up the 8 yd out in a cover 2 and 11 yd hook in the cover 3. Its just where the natural soft spots in those zones were. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TheBeef)</div><div class='quotemain'>its because of this tremendous physical expectation placed on the MLB that made me think the Bears would(and did) develop into a dominant Cover-2 team, because Urlacher is the perfect MLB for this sytle</div> Some people thought when Lovie was hired Urlacher would move to the Weakside. Urlacher is the ideal MLB as he played Safety @ New Mexico. Mind you, it was a 3-3-5 which is a tricked out 3-4. In the Mtn West conference, 2 teams run the 3-3-5 still (Air Force & New Mexico). BYU will switch to a 3-4 this year which better suites their personnel.
I like some of the concepts of the cover-2 and when BF1 and I play madden, we incorporate part of the scheme into our scheme....we actually play a true cover-2 with man under....we both play a safety(he as the FS and me as the SS)....we both are responsible for half the field and we dont get any other deep help, except from each other(which can put tremendous pressure on us)....everyone else is either in man coverage or rushing the QB....its important to have upfield DEs to do this though, because you need pressure....its a fun defense to play....you can make a tremedous ammount of plays with your safeties by reading the QBs head and watching which recievers are beating thier coverage.....I believe BF1s best season was around 75 tackles and 39 INTs(hes uncanny anticipating throws) and I had a season of 218 tackles(i stick my noise up into the run a lot more than he does) and 25 INTs....not in the same season of course....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TheBeef)</div><div class='quotemain'>I like some of the concepts of the cover-2 and when BF1 and I play madden, we incorporate part of the scheme into our scheme....we actually play a true cover-2 with man under....we both play a safety(he as the FS and me as the SS)....we both are responsible for half the field and we dont get any other deep help, except from each other(which can put tremendous pressure on us)....everyone else is either in man coverage or rushing the QB....its important to have upfield DEs to do this though, because you need pressure....its a fun defense to play....you can make a tremedous ammount of plays with your safeties by reading the QBs head and watching which recievers are beating thier coverage.....I believe BF1s best season was around 75 tackles and 39 INTs(hes uncanny anticipating throws) and I had a season of 218 tackles(i stick my noise up into the run a lot more than he does) and 25 INTs....not in the same season of course....</div> Best season was 102 tackles and 41 picks. I remember the pick # cuz it is same as # on your jersey. I think you had like 10 ff and 20 picks one season. that was amazing.
it is definately a more important position in the up and coming...i think it has to do with the RB position...it seems that most up and coming running backs bounce to the outside more then run between the tackles...and a running back like reggie bush is going to make outside linebackers just as important...it also seems like the outside linebacker in today's game has to be quicker so they can cover TEs and running backs in pass situations...the waekside specifically has to be good because they are in prime situations to apply the most pressure to the QBs...
