"The rule of three" and pass defense
Ian Boyd has a really nice article on SB Nation's Football Study Hall (LINK) where he argues that
So the result is an iron law of defensive football in the modern era:
You have to have three good coverage players on the field to survive against the better passing teams.
The two corners have to be good, especially if the opponent has more than one good outside receiver or can move their best receiver around to create match-up advantages, and whoever is covering the slot needs to be strong as well.
There are a bunch of variations that Boyd goes through on how to deploy your defenders:
- The coverage safety: you put a bunch of coverage responsibilities on one of your safeties, allowing you to play your third linebacker (or your fourth LB in a 3-4).
- The nickel corner
- The ace ("shutdown") corner: Woodson back in the day.
With respect to Michigan, does moving Peppers to safety imply that we're going away from (2) and towards (1)? If the solution to hyper-agressive Cover 4 defenses is "attack the slot defender" then putting Peppers at safety negates that advantage while allowing Michigan to stay in its base 4-3 defense.
February 26th, 2015 at 1:45 PM ^
Shut 'em down! Any where on the field!
February 26th, 2015 at 2:06 PM ^
This is true, but to stop the spread, you need four cover guys that are destined to play on Sundays, a defensive line that can rush the passer with four guys, and three linebackers with speed that can make plays in open space almost every time.
February 26th, 2015 at 2:07 PM ^
So an NFL secondary and then Alabama's front seven.... ok
February 26th, 2015 at 2:27 PM ^
I'm reading that as just needing an NFL defense; no biggie...
February 26th, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^
...or a spread offense.
February 26th, 2015 at 2:08 PM ^
Thanks for posting. I agree with your analysis, if we are playing straight man Peppers is going to probably negate most slots we go up against, unless they are beastly Maxx Williams/Funchess types with a potential physical advantage. I'd like to see him play a little bit with this role too instead of playing centerfield, he has playmaking ability in the box.
One other advantage to having an elite coverage safety who can range sideline to sideline in coverage is it allows the other safety to rove/line up in the box with less fear of giving up too much coverage downfield (think Kam Chancellor). Which basically turns it into a 4-4 with great run support.
February 26th, 2015 at 2:13 PM ^
Only if Peppers becomes the man he is billed to be. If he is anywhere near the player that Woodson was/is, he will change everything on defense.
Edit: After I read this to check for errors.....I had to say duh to myself. Insert any player into that sentence.
February 26th, 2015 at 2:27 PM ^
Do we have a 'star' DB role? Like what Georgia does with some of their DB's. Their Defensive Cordinator Jeremy Pruitt used it with Damian Swann last year and resurrected his career. He is now projected as a 3rd rounder.
February 26th, 2015 at 2:43 PM ^
Durkin moved around Hargreaves to certain receivers or certain areas based on calls, the match-ups, etc. But he was a true CB.
Michigan has a few guys that could play "Star" in the MSU terms: Thomas or Hill could bulk up, Gant or Wangler could fit there, as could Ross. But it really depends on the scheme that's going to be used. I don't think Michigan will be a base Cover 4 like MSU is. That's what the "Star" position is, it's a hybrid LB/S playing at the LB level. I think Durkin is more in favor of bringing on a third safety, typically a box player that I guess you could call a star, but it's really a different role in his defense. It's a move and multiple guy that you use to give the offense more things to see.
February 26th, 2015 at 3:16 PM ^
Thanks man, if Durkin does decide to use it, hopefully Wayne Lyons can be that guy. His senior experience will be critical.
February 26th, 2015 at 2:38 PM ^
The issue is that you typicall yhave a field and a boundary safety. Now, the field safety has to be able to cover a bit more ground, but as you saw with OSU vs MSU, you can still pick on whichever safety you want. Peppers move to safety does nothing to mitigate that issue.
More likely, it is the move to (1) that you indicate. Peppers can be moved around on defense to cover the third receiver or play in run support. This does not completely mitigate the slot, because this is a lot of responsibility and a lot of times being put in run/pass conflicts. But depending on the defense, it allows you to be very multiple and aggressive, which is the most likely reason why you see him moving back there.
FWIW though, I think it was Peppers that asked to move back to safety. I don't think it was a Harbaugh or Durkin thing. I think he wanted to play safety, and now he's getting a chance to do that. I think he'll stick there, I think he's a good fit, but I don't necessarily think he's moving there because the coaches are saying "he's a shutdown guy for that spot". Besides Mattison, they really haven't evaluated him outside a cursory glance yet.
February 26th, 2015 at 2:41 PM ^
Is there anything to learn from Pepper's brief appearances last year? I remember him making a couple nice tackles and being pretty good in coverage...but that was against relatively poor competition.
Obviously we know he is a freak athlete and still has all the potential in the world, and I'm fine if he's at safety. I just don't know if there is anything to take away from what we saw of him last year...
February 26th, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^
I think the athleticism is pretty much as advertised (he's not a super-human, but he is certainly one of the best athletes on the field whenever he gets on the field). I think you saw a guy that needs to improve his technique and did get beat a few times because of poor technique, mostly when trying to press.
But I think you saw improvement and potential, and you saw the willingness to be physical, and be confident, and be cocky, and be a superior athlete. Now it's just going to come down to the guys coaching him and his ability to learn and utilize his technique. The psychological and physical parts are there.
February 26th, 2015 at 2:38 PM ^
You need at least three who are good, but also none who are below average, because...
They will find you.
And they will kill you.
Exhibit A: USC 2nd half of 2007 Rose Bowl going after Morgan Trent.
February 26th, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^
this year's Super Bowl. NE was getting torched by that tall WR from Seattle, so NE adjusted and brought in that rookie FA from South Alabama. Meanwhile, Seattle's DB hurt something on the INT and was replaced. NE went after that guy for the rest of the game. That game was less than a month ago, yet I've already forgotten all of their names.
February 26th, 2015 at 5:31 PM ^
Thought this thread might be about "three man rush". I just hate to watch that, and it never seems to work. The QB stands back there and waits until someone breaks free - the 8 men in coverage always seem to "lose" somebody... - yet every teams seems to use it... I don't get it.