with slot receivers? I don't get it. It didn't seem to work out too well either.

Considering they normally play zone, I don't understand your concern.

The Cover 1 looks we were giving rarely, if ever, gave up big yardage. The problem was when we switched to a Cover 2 zone blitz. The pressure didn't get there quick enough or there was enough of a pocket to step up in and pick on the ILB (Williams), who didn't disrupt the route of the slot receiver and thereby didn't give the safeties time to come up in their zone.

In addition, the long out routes you saw that converted 3rd and Infinity were a result of corners not doing their job jamming receivers at the line. They played off the line in Cover 2, a big no-no.

I was screaming at the TV due to this.

Is it the corners' fault they played so far off the LOS? That's usually not decided by the player. The ILBs not even touching recivers going by was on the ILBs, I will agree with that.

Scheme or players not getting the calls right, it doesn't matter. It just wasn't smart.

This is the area behind the LBs and in front of the safeties

We stoopid! What else can it be?

It looked closer to a Prevent than a cover 2. You absolutely have to jam the receivers within the first 5 yards or they will run right by you.

Have to have safety help in that situation. On the 1st 68 yard TD, we had 3 guys covering a WR next to the sideline. Obvious mistake by the safety that should not be taking place by a SR.

I doubt the call was for that to happen, if so we have bigger problems than I thought.

They did have safety help. The problem was that the route wasn't disrupted at all close to the LOS so any hesitation during route recognition by the safety caused him to be burned anyway. This was an All-American Caliber WR.

Maaybe someone who is an X and Os guy can explain. Seems more like a Cover 2 Man (Wade Phillips' D) Safeties have deep zone coverage and everyone else is man to man.

Who else is going to cover the slot in this D. The LB has to run with the slot WR.

3 guys down, 2 corners, 2 safeties and 4 LBs. 1 safety offers help to the single side. One LB on the tight end, 1 on the slot, 2 blitzing. The other safety needs to offer help in the middle or pick up the TE or Slot WR.



[This message has been edited by texpdx (edited 10/5/2011 2:54p).]

Just posted this in another thread, but it's even more relevant here:

Our LBs were running a train technique most of the game, running on the bottom hip of the receiver to force the QB to put loft under the ball. But the key to this being effective is that the safety over the top has to be there when the QB throws that route, and Trent was a second late every damn time.

You also only run that when blitzing, and somebody has to get close enough to make the QB nervous.

Lots of things going wrong at once.

Watch that play again, there was no safety help at all between the hash marks. The safety was next to the WR with 2 other defenders close by near the sideline. The middle of the field was wide open.

We also seem to have counted on the strategy that if we hit the QB enough, eventually he'd either get happy feet or lose accuracy. We just about killed the guy in the first half, and he just got better. This sort of thing will work against lesser teams, but not OSU or Arky. Tceh may be a different matter.

And yes, the LBs need to disrupt WRs. And yes, the safties need to tighten up coverage.

Our Lb's were running a Train technique or also knows as our LB's were getting burned.

It looked to me that Arkansas was running train on our LBs...

Btw, I was saying the safety help wasn't there because the ILB didn't slow down the slot receiver enough for the Safety to come over the top from his original deep outside zone.