Hypothesis
Draft Junkie
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I think most of us can agree that the defense Lebeau has been using in Pittsburgh for many years has been one of the most consistent and most effective defenses in the league. It's hard to argue that fact.
Now there are plenty of people on this board that question if Ray Horton is a man who can successfully install that defense here. But the purpose of this post is not to debate who is qualified to do what. It's meant to be an explanation of the defense and to point out a few things that should be expected when implementing this system.
To kick it off, here is a quote from Dick Lebeau regarding the main principle of the zone blitz defense.
Dick Lebeau's system is without a doubt one of the most successful and enduring defenses this league has seen. But it is one of the most complex and hardest to implement.
It requires defensive players to execute assignments that they may have never been asked to do before, such as NTs and DEs dropping into coverage. It requires near perfect timing of dual blitzers to cross paths at a precise moment to confuse the OLs blocking assignments.
The general idea behind the zone blitz defense is to have the ability to send any number of linebackers, safeties or cornerbacks from anywhere on the field without compromising the secondary. In essence, the zone blitz was developed to bring many different people utilizing as many different angles as possible without sacrificing the integrity of the zone secondary.
As Dick Lebeau put it:
You won't normally see too many 6 man blitzes with this defense. Pittsburgh only rushed 6 men 26 times this past season. But you will see plenty of 5 man rushes.
Typically, the designated rushers won't be called during the huddle. That decision is generally made pre snap using a "closed call" to determine who is dropping into coverage and who is rushing at the line of scrimmage based on the offensive formation, which side the TE is lined up on, the RB alignment etc.
Typically, you will also see 3 deep zone shell, where 3 defensive players will drop deep to cover 1/3rd of the field, and the other 3 defenders will cover the intermediate 1/3rd of the field. Most of the time you will always have 6 players back in coverage.
Dick Lebeau however, also likes to have 1 wild card player with good instincts who can pop up at any given time at any given place on the field. In Cincinnati he had David Fulcher, and in Pittsburgh he has Troy Palomalu. This adds to the unpredictable nature of this defense further confusing the opposing offense. This defender needs to have acute awareness and understanding of what the opposing offense is trying to do. He needs to have great run and pass recognition skills, and he must be stout enough to stop the run and agile enough to play the pass. He has to play with a controlled recklessness otherwise he could be leaving his teammates out to dry.
Most of the coverages, are designed to keep the play infront of the defenders and to not allow the big play. You will often see very little run after catch with this defense as it is designed to get the ball carrier down as soon as he makes the catch. You will also often see what is called "Press-Bail". In the Press-Bail, the CB will often line up as if he is going to play Bump and Run, and at the snap of the ball, will often drop deep back into a zone coverage.
This defense relies very heavily on the premise of disguise. It is designed to create confusion and force the opposing quarterback to throw the ball before he is ready. At first glance, he doesn't think the pass rush is too heavy and by the time he realizes he has a rusher running full steam with a bead on him, his eyes don't see the DLineman/Linebacker slipping back into coverage. The ZB will often give the look of man coverage just before passing off the coverage assignment to another defender, further complicating the QB's reads.
Often it is a misconception that just because Pittsburgh has been one of the leading run defenses in the league that the zone blitz scheme is geared to stop the run. It's really not. Most of the players play the pass first and tackle anything that comes by them second. To accomplish this successfully, they are drilled at pass/run awareness to improve their reaction times and requires excellent change of direction and mobility. The DL must also be able to hold their gap responsibility, in this case the DL is responsible for a 2 gap assignment. It requires immense strength and endurance and it helps to have quality depth to rotate in and out to keep one another fresh. The linebackers must be able to effectively, accurately and quickly diagnose run or pass and step in to fill gaps and/or maintain backside contain while everyone else converges to make the tackles.
Here's a couple of examples from Dick Lebeau's playbook.
From Blitzology.com
What can we expect with this defense? Well first I'll start off by saying that this is the defense that Whisenhunt has been wanting to run since he arrived here in AZ. But with Clancy Pendergast and Billy Davis, he never had anyone experienced in running it before.
If we hire Ray Horton, we will be getting a disciple of Lebeau's who has extensive knowledge in this system, both playing and coaching. Again I'm not saying this to debate whether he is qualified or not, we all have our opinions. But at least he has a much better understanding of the system than what we previously had.
This is a very complex system that goes FAR beyond what I listed here. Whis stated that it was important to find a DC that would mesh well with our players but also whose terminology was similar to what we had here. I have serious doubts as to whether or not any Lebeau disciples terminology is similar to what we have had here in the past.
To sum it up, I think we will see some improvement this year with this system, but I caution everyone, this defense is going to take a long time to learn let alone perfect. I can easily see missed assignments and blown coverages while our players try to adapt to this extremely complex system. This is part of the reason why I can see the Cardinals holding on to both Clark Haggans and Joey Porter who have some familiarity with it, to play as well as mentor other players. This system is going to take a couple years for our players to get comfortable in and we still don't have all the pieces to maximize it's potential.
Now there are plenty of people on this board that question if Ray Horton is a man who can successfully install that defense here. But the purpose of this post is not to debate who is qualified to do what. It's meant to be an explanation of the defense and to point out a few things that should be expected when implementing this system.
To kick it off, here is a quote from Dick Lebeau regarding the main principle of the zone blitz defense.
Dick Lebeau's system is without a doubt one of the most successful and enduring defenses this league has seen. But it is one of the most complex and hardest to implement.
It requires defensive players to execute assignments that they may have never been asked to do before, such as NTs and DEs dropping into coverage. It requires near perfect timing of dual blitzers to cross paths at a precise moment to confuse the OLs blocking assignments.
The general idea behind the zone blitz defense is to have the ability to send any number of linebackers, safeties or cornerbacks from anywhere on the field without compromising the secondary. In essence, the zone blitz was developed to bring many different people utilizing as many different angles as possible without sacrificing the integrity of the zone secondary.
As Dick Lebeau put it:
You won't normally see too many 6 man blitzes with this defense. Pittsburgh only rushed 6 men 26 times this past season. But you will see plenty of 5 man rushes.
Typically, the designated rushers won't be called during the huddle. That decision is generally made pre snap using a "closed call" to determine who is dropping into coverage and who is rushing at the line of scrimmage based on the offensive formation, which side the TE is lined up on, the RB alignment etc.
Typically, you will also see 3 deep zone shell, where 3 defensive players will drop deep to cover 1/3rd of the field, and the other 3 defenders will cover the intermediate 1/3rd of the field. Most of the time you will always have 6 players back in coverage.
Dick Lebeau however, also likes to have 1 wild card player with good instincts who can pop up at any given time at any given place on the field. In Cincinnati he had David Fulcher, and in Pittsburgh he has Troy Palomalu. This adds to the unpredictable nature of this defense further confusing the opposing offense. This defender needs to have acute awareness and understanding of what the opposing offense is trying to do. He needs to have great run and pass recognition skills, and he must be stout enough to stop the run and agile enough to play the pass. He has to play with a controlled recklessness otherwise he could be leaving his teammates out to dry.
Most of the coverages, are designed to keep the play infront of the defenders and to not allow the big play. You will often see very little run after catch with this defense as it is designed to get the ball carrier down as soon as he makes the catch. You will also often see what is called "Press-Bail". In the Press-Bail, the CB will often line up as if he is going to play Bump and Run, and at the snap of the ball, will often drop deep back into a zone coverage.
This defense relies very heavily on the premise of disguise. It is designed to create confusion and force the opposing quarterback to throw the ball before he is ready. At first glance, he doesn't think the pass rush is too heavy and by the time he realizes he has a rusher running full steam with a bead on him, his eyes don't see the DLineman/Linebacker slipping back into coverage. The ZB will often give the look of man coverage just before passing off the coverage assignment to another defender, further complicating the QB's reads.
Often it is a misconception that just because Pittsburgh has been one of the leading run defenses in the league that the zone blitz scheme is geared to stop the run. It's really not. Most of the players play the pass first and tackle anything that comes by them second. To accomplish this successfully, they are drilled at pass/run awareness to improve their reaction times and requires excellent change of direction and mobility. The DL must also be able to hold their gap responsibility, in this case the DL is responsible for a 2 gap assignment. It requires immense strength and endurance and it helps to have quality depth to rotate in and out to keep one another fresh. The linebackers must be able to effectively, accurately and quickly diagnose run or pass and step in to fill gaps and/or maintain backside contain while everyone else converges to make the tackles.
Here's a couple of examples from Dick Lebeau's playbook.
From Blitzology.com
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What can we expect with this defense? Well first I'll start off by saying that this is the defense that Whisenhunt has been wanting to run since he arrived here in AZ. But with Clancy Pendergast and Billy Davis, he never had anyone experienced in running it before.
If we hire Ray Horton, we will be getting a disciple of Lebeau's who has extensive knowledge in this system, both playing and coaching. Again I'm not saying this to debate whether he is qualified or not, we all have our opinions. But at least he has a much better understanding of the system than what we previously had.
This is a very complex system that goes FAR beyond what I listed here. Whis stated that it was important to find a DC that would mesh well with our players but also whose terminology was similar to what we had here. I have serious doubts as to whether or not any Lebeau disciples terminology is similar to what we have had here in the past.
To sum it up, I think we will see some improvement this year with this system, but I caution everyone, this defense is going to take a long time to learn let alone perfect. I can easily see missed assignments and blown coverages while our players try to adapt to this extremely complex system. This is part of the reason why I can see the Cardinals holding on to both Clark Haggans and Joey Porter who have some familiarity with it, to play as well as mentor other players. This system is going to take a couple years for our players to get comfortable in and we still don't have all the pieces to maximize it's potential.
