Blitz Packages

[Duckjake]

We all know that the Cards blitzing hasn't been the greatest the past couple of seasons but I've noticed that it seemed like they were bringing Adams off the edge, like the game winner vs GB, more this pre season and it seemed to work ok.

Also with DWashington's speed could we see more delayed blitzes from him?

Finally with Big Dan in the middle will his ability to draw a double team open up more space for guys coming up the middle like Wilson?

Anything would be an improvement over our guys blitzing right into a blocker like they have done too often in the past.

 

[kerouac9]

I don't know what you mean about our blitzes not being good. We blitzed more than 29 other teams in the NFL last season (33.8% of the time), and we were 6th in the NFL in sacks despite not having a player with more than 10 sacks (3 the other 5 teams did: Minnesota - Jared Allen, Pittsburgh - LaMarr Woodley, Miami - Porter had 9, Philadelphia - Trent Cole, San Francisco). That only happens if you're blitzes are working, because you're blitzing different people all the time.

The problem wasn't the blitzes but the timing of the blitzes and possibly the playcalling. The Cards were 27th in the NFL in defensive 3rd down percentage (35%). I think this is because of soft coverage on the outside and extremely poor open-field tackling. I don't know because I don't have the film.

Will we see more blitzing this season? I doubt it, in part because I hope the Cards aren't going to have to protect our cornerbacks as much by trying to put extra pressure on the QB. But I think that the bigger reason is that we'll hope that Porter can get pressure with Dockett and Campbell and we'll be able to wrap up guys when the WR screen comes out.

It was an inability for DRC to wrap-up on quick slants and outs that really hurt us last season, not a lack of blitzing.

 

[Shane]

I don't know what you mean about our blitzes not being good. We blitzed more than 29 other teams in the NFL last season (33.8% of the time), and we were 6th in the NFL in sacks despite not having a player with more than 10 sacks (3 the other 5 teams did: Minnesota - Jared Allen, Pittsburgh - LaMarr Woodley, Miami - Porter had 9, Philadelphia - Trent Cole, San Francisco). That only happens if you're blitzes are working, because you're blitzing different people all the time.

The problem wasn't the blitzes but the timing of the blitzes and possibly the playcalling. The Cards were 27th in the NFL in defensive 3rd down percentage (35%). I think this is because of soft coverage on the outside and extremely poor open-field tackling. I don't know because I don't have the film.

Will we see more blitzing this season? I doubt it, in part because I hope the Cards aren't going to have to protect our cornerbacks as much by trying to put extra pressure on the QB. But I think that the bigger reason is that we'll hope that Porter can get pressure with Dockett and Campbell and we'll be able to wrap up guys when the WR screen comes out.

It was an inability for DRC to wrap-up on quick slants and outs that really hurt us last season, not a lack of blitzing.

Good post. I agree.

 

[Duckjake]

I don't know what you mean about our blitzes not being good. We blitzed more than 29 other teams in the NFL last season (33.8% of the time), and we were 6th in the NFL in sacks despite not having a player with more than 10 sacks (3 the other 5 teams did: Minnesota - Jared Allen, Pittsburgh - LaMarr Woodley, Miami - Porter had 9, Philadelphia - Trent Cole, San Francisco). That only happens if you're blitzes are working, because you're blitzing different people all the time.

The problem wasn't the blitzes but the timing of the blitzes and possibly the playcalling. The Cards were 27th in the NFL in defensive 3rd down percentage (35%). I think this is because of soft coverage on the outside and extremely poor open-field tackling. I don't know because I don't have the film.

Will we see more blitzing this season? I doubt it, in part because I hope the Cards aren't going to have to protect our cornerbacks as much by trying to put extra pressure on the QB. But I think that the bigger reason is that we'll hope that Porter can get pressure with Dockett and Campbell and we'll be able to wrap up guys when the WR screen comes out.

It was an inability for DRC to wrap-up on quick slants and outs that really hurt us last season, not a lack of blitzing.

I didn't say the Cards didn't blitz just that they weren't very successful when they did. Hayes 0, Dansby 1, Wilson 2, DRC 0, McFadden 0, Adams 0, and Rolle 1.5, combined for 4.5 sacks last season. To me that's not being successful if you blitzed more than almost every other team in the league.

There were a lot of different guys with sacks because of the rotation at OLB. Berry, Okeafor, Haggens, and Davis had 17.5 sacks. The interior guys Dockett, CC and KI had 16 more. I guess it is a question of whether you count the OLB rushing a blitz or not which I don't unless both of them go and of course without the film we can't tell whether any of the OLBs sacks came in that situation. But I'm talking about the DBs and interior LBs mainly.

 

[kerouac9]

I didn't say the Cards didn't blitz just that they weren't very successful when they did. Hayes 0, Dansby 1, Wilson 2, DRC 0, McFadden 0, Adams 0, and Rolle 1.5, combined for 4.5 sacks last season. To me that's not being successful.

There were a lot of different guys with sacks because of the rotation at OLB. Berry, Okeafor, Haggens, and Davis had 17.5 sacks. The interior guys Dockett, CC and KI had 16 more. I guess it is a question of whether you count the OLB rushing a blitz or not which I don't unless both of them go. But I'm talking about the DBs and interior LBs mainly.

I don't think you can discount the effectiveness of the blitz just because of who picks up the sack. A blitz means more than 4 rushers (Cards were 28th in the league in rushing 4 last year--51.3% of the time). If more than 4 are coming, it means that someone on the line--Dockett, Campbell, BRob, whomever--aren't getting double-teamed. Adrian Wilson got a sack when he was playing DE against the Rams at the end of the year. Do you really count that as a blitz?

ProFootballFocus put up a pay wall, so I can't tell you how frequently the team sent ADub or Rolle, but I don't really think a blitz is ineffective because the blitzing player didn't get the sack. I think a blitz is ineffective when the offense ends up with a positive play. Haggans had 17 hurries last season to go with those 5.5 sacks, and he wasn't the primary rusher at OLB.

If Rhodes is as effective as a center-fielder a many here suggest (and that's an assertion with which I disagree), then we'll maybe see more interior blitzing. If only because teams knew that we had to use Karlos Dansby in coverage. I'm just not sure that the zone dog is a blitz that Davis favors. With Lenon and Washington, we'll probably have the speed to run it. But I think that we preferred to attack the edges of opposition offensive lines because Bryan Robinson wasn't forcing a double team and wasn't a pass rush threat and we were more likely to have favorable matchups when teams were worried about blocking Campbell and/or Dockett.

 

[Buckybird]

I didn't say the Cards didn't blitz just that they weren't very successful when they did. Hayes 0, Dansby 1, Wilson 2, DRC 0, McFadden 0, Adams 0, and Rolle 1.5, combined for 4.5 sacks last season. To me that's not being successful if you blitzed more than almost every other team in the league.

There were a lot of different guys with sacks because of the rotation at OLB. Berry, Okeafor, Haggens, and Davis had 17.5 sacks. The interior guys Dockett, CC and KI had 16 more. I guess it is a question of whether you count the OLB rushing a blitz or not which I don't unless both of them go and of course without the film we can't tell whether any of the OLBs sacks came in that situation. But I'm talking about the DBs and interior LBs mainly.

I agree with you Duck.

I'm still concerned we don't have the peeps off the edge to keep the pressure off our suspect pass D. It also seems like most of our blitz packages are very vanilla or simple to read & the Cards dictate their hand too early. When AW is on the edge he's coming, when our ILB is close to the LOS he's coming. You either live with the blitz or die with the blitz!!! One of these days we might have the talent or coaching to run a legit 3-4, right now I'm not buying it.

 

[Duckjake]

I don't think you can discount the effectiveness of the blitz just because of who picks up the sack

I can discount the effectiveness of the blitz when almost every time the Cards brought a guy or two they got stonewalled at the line of scrimmage.

I can see the Cards bringing the interior guys more if Williams becomes the force at NT we hope he will. He was attracting double teams last week but of course that was against the Redskins replacement team.

 

[kerouac9]

I can discount the effectiveness of the blitz when almost every time the Cards brought a guy or two they got stonewalled at the line of scrimmage.

I can see the Cards bringing the interior guys more if Williams becomes the force at NT we hope he will. He was attracting double teams last week but of course that was against the Redskins replacement team.

I see what you're saying, but if the guy they brought got stonewalled and Darnell Dockett takes advantage of the one-on-one matchup he was suddenly given, then that's a win.

I think what happened unfortunately was that teams just kept in their RB and/or TE when the blitzer came, and then completed an easy three-yards pass to their flanker which got turned into a seven-yard first down once Karlos Dansby caught up to the free runner. The solution isn't more blitzing; the solution is better containment on the edges. I'm not sure we've seen enough of that this preseason--though it is the preseason.

I don't expect much from Dan Williams this year. The bigger hope to me is that Gabe Watson realizes his considerable potential in a contract year and demands those double-teams. What I want to see from Dan Williams this year is disruptive play on short-yardage downs.

I'd be surprised if Dan Williams sees more than 200 snaps this year.

 

[Duckjake]

I see what you're saying, but if the guy they brought got stonewalled and Darnell Dockett takes advantage of the one-on-one matchup he was suddenly given, then that's a win.

I think what happened unfortunately was that teams just kept in their RB and/or TE when the blitzer came, and then completed an easy three-yards pass to their flanker which got turned into a seven-yard first down once Karlos Dansby caught up to the free runner. The solution isn't more blitzing; the solution is better containment on the edges. I'm not sure we've seen enough of that this preseason--though it is the preseason.

I don't expect much from Dan Williams this year. The bigger hope to me is that Gabe Watson realizes his considerable potential in a contract year and demands those double-teams. What I want to see from Dan Williams this year is disruptive play on short-yardage downs.

I'd be surprised if Dan Williams sees more than 200 snaps this year.

What do you want to bet that one of the main reasons Cody Brown got cut was because he wouldn't maintain containment? I saw him get suckered in terribly on at least 3 plays vs Washington. I don't know how the Cards plan on maintaining the edge with two 33 year old guys and only one backup in Davis. I'm afraid they are just going to get run over by guys like Jackson and Gore.

 

[Buckybird]

What do you want to bet that one of the main reasons Cody Brown got cut was because he wouldn't maintain containment? I saw him get suckered in terribly on at least 3 plays vs Washington. I don't know how the Cards plan on maintaining the edge with two 33 year old guys and only one backup in Davis. I'm afraid they are just going to get run over by guys like Jackson and Gore.

and Joey Porter isn't much more than a pass rusher either

 

[Duckjake]

and Joey Porter isn't much more than a pass rusher either

Dang Bucky I sure hope Porter was on veteran vacation the last 4 weeks because he didn't impress me at all.

 

[RedRob]

Dang Bucky I sure hope Porter was on veteran vacation the last 4 weeks because he didn't impress me at all.

One has to hope that he's saving it for the real games because he looked complacent and ineffective out there. Let's hope he's like my 4-wheeler, when you run out of gas you flip the fuel gauge to "Reserve" and that gets you where you need to go.

 

[JeffGollin]

Wiz has already admitted that we hid a lot of stuff during preseason and that he's excited about using it during the regular season (I'm assuming he means both on offense and defense).

Will that mean more/less blitzing, different kinds of blitzing, weird fronts or exotic schemes? Dunno. I'm guessing so.

If so, it suggests that what we've seen during preseason will not always be the same stuff we use in the regular season.

One thing I've seen during preseason (backed up by comments by a couple of Cardinal defensive leaders) is that we're less likely to be caught out of position. If we can be free-wheeling without being stupid about it, we could be very very impressive.

Final point - Toler opposite DRC (plus backup corners who can cover aggressively) should enable us to blitz more.

 

[Garthshort]

If our blitz isn't effective against a rookie QB, playing behind a questionable OL, then, imo, we will have something to worry about.

 

[JeffGollin]

If our blitz isn't effective against a rookie QB, playing behind a questionable OL, then, imo, we will have something to worry about.

How about this:

Cards run a jail-break blitz on the first defensive play. Bradford flips a pass in the flat to Steven Jackson who runs 80 yards for a Ram touchdown.

Bradford doesn't have to know everything in a 50-pound playbook. All he has to do is be effective executing a few screens and draws to Jackson plus some other short stuff to his TE's.

Bradford may be green, but he's not stupid (nor is his DC). If we become blitz-happy without being solid, in-position and covering all bases, we could be burned badly.

Yes we should blitz a lot & from all kinds of exotic angles, but we'd better be smart about it or we could be looking at the backs of a lot of Ram jerseys crossing our goal line early and often.

 

[Duckjake]

How about this:

Cards run a jail-break blitz on the first defensive play. Bradford flips a pass in the flat to Steven Jackson who runs 80 yards for a Ram touchdown.

Bradford doesn't have to know everything in a 50-pound playbook. All he has to do is be effective executing a few screens and draws to Jackson plus some other short stuff to his TE's.

Bradford may be green, but he's not stupid (nor is his DC). If we become blitz-happy without being solid, in-position and covering all bases, we could be burned badly.

Yes we should blitz a lot & from all kinds of exotic angles, but we'd better be smart about it or we could be looking at the backs of a lot of Ram jerseys crossing our goal line early and often.

That's twice you've posted that now.

But who was suggesting that the Cards run stupid blitzes? Do you really have that little faith in our coaching staff?

They just cut Cody Brown, a 2nd round pick, who showed a propensity for getting caught out of position.

I don't think we need to worry about the Cards in that regard.

 

[CardLogic]

How about this:

Cards run a jail-break blitz on the first defensive play.

That would be absolutely the wrong play call. I would guess that is what the Rams will be expecting during their first offensive series.

I would be conservative defensively. This way you contain Jackson, which is their best weapon, not Bradford. Additionally, you can bring it later in the game for a change-up, if needed; but if not needed you keep from showing some of your stuff for a later game where it may be more necessary.

In other words, it's the Rams; win the game showing as little as possible.

 

[conraddobler]

I'd blitz Bradford hard a couple of times, you always want to see how they handle it.

IMO in today's NFL you have to be flexible, test for weakness then pound on it when you find it.

So I would most certainly blitz him, he hasn't proven a thing yet but like some said, be smart about it.

He's not Manning back there yet, there's no reason to avoid blitzing him but you don't need to bring the house either, he's not that good yet.

Just mix it up, keep him guessing, make him think too much.

 

[john h]

I don't know what you mean about our blitzes not being good. We blitzed more than 29 other teams in the NFL last season (33.8% of the time), and we were 6th in the NFL in sacks despite not having a player with more than 10 sacks (3 the other 5 teams did: Minnesota - Jared Allen, Pittsburgh - LaMarr Woodley, Miami - Porter had 9, Philadelphia - Trent Cole, San Francisco). That only happens if you're blitzes are working, because you're blitzing different people all the time.

The problem wasn't the blitzes but the timing of the blitzes and possibly the playcalling. The Cards were 27th in the NFL in defensive 3rd down percentage (35%). I think this is because of soft coverage on the outside and extremely poor open-field tackling. I don't know because I don't have the film.

Will we see more blitzing this season? I doubt it, in part because I hope the Cards aren't going to have to protect our cornerbacks as much by trying to put extra pressure on the QB. But I think that the bigger reason is that we'll hope that Porter can get pressure with Dockett and Campbell and we'll be able to wrap up guys when the WR screen comes out.

It was an inability for DRC to wrap-up on quick slants and outs that really hurt us last season, not a lack of blitzing.

Last night in the N.O vs Minn game I saw N.O really go after the CB of the Vikings. He looked terrible and just could not cover. Does not take long for a team to exploit a weak CB in the NFL Brees ate him alive in the first half.

 

[john h]

I agree with you Duck.

I'm still concerned we don't have the peeps off the edge to keep the pressure off our suspect pass D. It also seems like most of our blitz packages are very vanilla or simple to read & the Cards dictate their hand too early. When AW is on the edge he's coming, when our ILB is close to the LOS he's coming. You either live with the blitz or die with the blitz!!! One of these days we might have the talent or coaching to run a legit 3-4, right now I'm not buying it.

If you have a QB like Warner who was a genius at reading blitzes and who also had a quick release you can stop those blitzes in a hurry. Much depends on the QB and the receivers to recognize blitzes so they can cut their routes short and allow the QB to stop the blitzes in short order.