Article on skins and cover two

[daveakl]

http://www.examiner.com/a-955814~Skins_at_home_in_Tampa_Two.html

I thought the "experts" here on Extreme Skins promised that the only reason we ran the cover two last year was because our secondary was so bad. Why are we running it this year?

[2006Skins]

We are mixing up the cover 3 and cover 2. The reason being is that we are playing a style of bend but don't break. This works on bad-average offenses. But as we saw it wears down on good offenses.

[pjfootballer]

Cover 2 comes out usually when the defense needs a rest from man to man coverage.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

http://www.examiner.com/a-955814~Skins_at_home_in_Tampa_Two.html

I thought the "experts" here on Extreme Skins promised that the only reason we ran the cover two last year was because our secondary was so bad. Why are we running it this year?

weve been running cover 2 and cover 3 in that awful prevent thing weve been shifting to. our defense has been lights out when rogers and springs press up on their man and we throw all the timing off. but for some unknown reason, williams likes to go to this bend dont break nonsense, and it caught up with us in the giants game. i know our offense was pretty much to blame, but converting 7 of 9 3rd downs is pretty friggin terrible for any defense.

[skinsn24]

Its redicoulusly funny to hear the excuses that will be made when this defense gives up yards and such.

"its the scheme, we want them to pick up those yards"

"we run a cover 3 all the time"

"We run a cover 2"

Allowing an offense to go 7 for 9 on third down is horrible and is a major reason we lost the game, along with out 3rd down troubles on offense.

We were promised a blitzing attacking defense, where is it?

[2006Skins]

We have still blitzed much more than last year, because our secondary is better. We're just not sending 8 men all the time like in 05. I like our D currently, though I'm not much of a fan of the bend don't break philosophy (see Denver 06).

In Det I saw we go right after Kitna who crumbles under pressure

[Capt'n Obvious]

The "bend, but don't break" philisophy is really frustrating to watch. Rogers and Springs are much better when they play up on the line against the opposing WR's.

I also wish that we wouldn't telegraph the safety blitz. It is really predictable to tell when Landry is coming.

:logo:

[95southskinsfan]

Where are all the blitzes what is this prevent crap we play? Landry got caught by Eli everytime on the safety blitz but even my 7 year old daughter could tell you when he was coming ! JC couldent see a blitz coming if the safety sent him a telegram! If Williams is a defencive mastermind Im Elvis! We HAVE ALL THIS DEFENCIVE TALENT WELL THEN LET THEM PLAY AND STOP PLAYING SCARED!

[Art]

I don't know that I saw any promises of a blitzing, attacking defense. We were promised an "aggressive" more simple defense. We do have that. Against the Giants we also played a lot of single high coverages with Taylor 25 yards back at times. Foundationally, for the last couple years, we've played a lot of Cover 2. What we heard this offseason was we would be incorporating more of the Bears style defense. And that's what we're doing.

We are more aggressive up front and, like the Colts, we are augmenting the run defense with additional bodies in the box, thus the Cover 3 and Single High looks. With better athletes in the back seven we are shrinking areas to attack and trying to keep the ball in front of us so we can close and stop plays. This is also allowing the defensive line to attack more. We were very effective against Philly up front. Not sure about the Giants as it's hard to get a feel for pressure from where the press box is.

What lost the game was not that our defense gave up 7 of 8 or 8 of 9 or 7 of 9 third downs in the second half, whatever the number is. It's that the Giants CONVERTED. Our defense was actually reasonably sound in the second half. Manning made some beautiful, accurate stick throws into pretty good coverage to convert. They executed better than we did.

They earned it. You tip your hat to them because, the bottom line is, every team in the league that makes throws THAT good into that good of coverage is going to beat the opposition. You saw that for us on our last drive. We began executing very tight window throws and despite errors, lost the game on the 1. I think you'll see more blitzing as teams adjust to what we're doing since what we're doing is a surprise to them and they will send more bodies into routes, allowing us to blitz more heavily.

[COOLhandsCOOLEY]

I don't know that I saw any promises of a blitzing, attacking defense. We were promised an "aggressive" more simple defense. We do have that....

Awesome breakdown!

[Swift]

I agree our defense has some speed this year, but I still wonder if we have players to run the cover-2 effectively.

One thing about the Bears and the cover-2 is that Urlacher is fast enough to cover the deep middle of the field, and to do so effectively. I'm not sure I can say the same for Fletcher. I guess only time will tell.

Also, our front four seems to have difficulty generating a consistent pash-rush. Another essential element of the cover-2 we're missing.

[skinsn24]

What lost the game was not that our defense gave up 7 of 8 or 8 of 9 or 7 of 9 third downs in the second half, whatever the number is. It's that the Giants CONVERTED. Our defense was actually reasonably sound in the second half. Manning made some beautiful, accurate stick throws into pretty good coverage to convert. They executed better than we did.

Our D gave them up or the gaints converted them they are the same thing. One could say our defense allowed the gaints to convert them (using both terms at once). One gould also say that if the coverage was a little better than "pretty good" or if the defensive line stopped some of the runs they wouldnt have converted them.

None the less you have basically said that the gaints O outplayed our D which is obviously true and that is a major problem considering their starting tailback was ?derrick ward? and that our defensive was supposed to be return to being a strength for the team.

I think there is plently of time to get back to form but I do nothing think a Giants offense should be able to convert how ever many third downs on a decent Defense, does this mean the defense wasnt decent in the second half? Yes, but i will also put some blame on the offense who ran all of 6 plays in the third quater.

On a side not, the cover 2 strictly relies on the front 4 to generate lots of pressure and to stop the run. We still have not been able to generate pressure on a consistant basis with the front 4, and it comes down to personel on the line.

[elkabong82]

Anybody stop to think that there are new elements to this defense, and that as they continue to gel, GW's confidence will grow, and the blitzing will increase? The same thing happened in '05, if memory serves.

Also, the same defense some of you are complaining about was working just fine before the second half of the Giants game. The problem with the defense was more that they were on the field too long because of 3 and outs from the offense, and were also playing on a short week.

Oh, and the "experts" weren't saying that the cover 2 would be completely abandoned, just that it wouldn't be used as much as last year, which is the case now.

Amazing how everybody cries the D isn't getting sacks and turnovers, and then when they do, people just dismiss it and look for new things to blame.

It was one game, and we let it slip by us. We have the ability to learn from this and overcome. If the problem persists, then it might be time to worry, but except for 2 quarters the D has been lights out.

[Art]

Sometimes the other guys do a good job too.

We dominated their offense in the first half. They obviously got in at half time and came out motivated and ready to play because their season was coming to a close with another loss there. They executed and played great football. As a fan of the Redskins it sucked it happened against us. But, you shrug such things off until you have reason to believe they are happening routinely.

The Giants won the game. We didn't lose it. And just about nothing we could have done on defense would have made a difference. The offense didn't help and didn't take the Giants motivation away and they won. It happens. I give them all the credit in the world. They absolutely DID have us off balance in the second half. We couldn't get a feel for what they were doing. It was really a good adjustment by them and it happens.

Our defense, even as a strength, will have situations the opposition has them reeling a bit. Our offense can help with that and our defense can come up with more plays. Frankly I think our defense came up with enough plays to win. Our offense didn't help them out enough.

[skinsn24]

Sometimes the other guys do a good job too.

We dominated their offense in the first half. They obviously got in at half time and came out motivated and ready to play because their season was coming to a close with another loss there. They executed and played great football. As a fan of the Redskins it sucked it happened against us. But, you shrug such things off until you have reason to believe they are happening routinely.

The Giants won the game. We didn't lose it. And just about nothing we could have done on defense would have made a difference. The offense didn't help and didn't take the Giants motivation away and they won. It happens. I give them all the credit in the world. They absolutely DID have us off balance in the second half. We couldn't get a feel for what they were doing. It was really a good adjustment by them and it happens.

Our defense, even as a strength, will have situations the opposition has them reeling a bit. Our offense can help with that and our defense can come up with more plays. Frankly I think our defense came up with enough plays to win. Our offense didn't help them out enough.

Art you are correct that there offense did outplay our defense in the second half. No question.

But the redskins as a team, offense, defense, and coaching LOST that game. They were leading 17-3 at the half. To tell me that the gaints are 21 points better than the redskins in just one half of football with both teams playing at their potential, is telling me that this team is horrible.

Furthermore the defense could have done some things to in the second half to help stop the gaints, like Carlos Rogers not missing the tackle on Plaxx or ST not totally getting faked out. Those were mistakes made by our players on the final drive.

That said, they played great in the first half and the offense has to shoulder alot of the blame, but trust me a Defense can win a game by its self if it is better than the other team. Note Bears 2006.

[skinsn24]

It was one game, and we let it slip by us. We have the ability to learn from this and overcome. If the problem persists, then it might be time to worry, but except for 2 quarters the D has been lights out.

I agree it is only 1 loss and the D did play well in that game, but the D has not been lights out. It seems every crictical time this year the D has actually given in or come within inches of giving in.

Game 1--Touchdown given up at the end of the half, tieing drive on the second to last possesion of the second half.--1 turnover

Game 2--Iggles get 3 on there second last possesion, final possesion ends at the 12 with McNabb missing a WIDE OPEN kevin curtis for a possible tie.--no turnovers

Game 3-21 second half points..Game on the line, Carlos rogers misses a tackle on Plaxx, taylor takes the wrong angle, game over.---but we did get 3 turnovers--that i really like.

[HEavyJumbo85]

I'm still wondering why Gregg Williams has wanted to get as far away as possible from anything that we did in 2004 and 2005. I would rather we try to go back to what we used to do rather than trying to overhaul the defensive system.