Background: There are two trends which influenced the selection of Mingo at number six.
1: The prevalence of 3 wide-reciever and 2-tight end sets (with TE/WR hybrids). Tony Grossi said that, at least at first, Mingo might not be on the field on first down. This assumes an offensive grouping best matched by the base defense. This is wrong, because for the majority of teams, the first down offense features extra recievers. I'll get to how this affects Mingo later.
2: The zone-read offense (which CHUDZINSKI WAS THE FIRST TO USE CONSISTANTLY IN THE NFL), Ray Horton and other defensive coordinators have already come up with tactical ways to stop it, but personnel-wise, the best way is to have faster players.
Mingo and Dion Jordan were unique among all the DE/OLB candidates. Jordan was a converted wide reciever with speed and coverage skills. Mingo is quicker and faster, and changes direction more quickly. He hasn't been in coverage much, and will need more practice and experience, but his upside in this area is almost unprecedented.
I simply can't remember this guy's name...Lavernius something? (This just in: Adaleus Thomas.) Anyway, he nominally played OLB for the Ravens around a decade ago, until he moved on to finish his carreer in New England. This guy was one of the reasons why to this day, the Ravens defense is more a hybrid than a true 3-4.
This guy sometimes actually played strong safety. He could man cover bigger recievers, tight ends, and running backs, and cover everybody in zone. He forced and got turnovers, along with sacks.
I have never seen a player like that before or since, until now--and that includes Jordan. Mingo can do everything that guy did.
If Barkevious Mingo hadn't been drafted by a 3-4 team, he could as well have been drafted by a 4-3 team to play weakside linebacker. He could start at that position for any team. He was wasted as a defensive end. Linebacker is his best position.
So why wouldn't he be on the field on first down? Well, against a conventional offense with two backs, two wide recievers, and one tight end, okay. Sheard is bigger, and can take on linemen and stuff, but...even then, which of the Browns remaining linebackers is faster, quicker, or even much heavier?
OK. Horton wants to attack. His response to a pass is to blitze. With the extra reciever or pass-catching tight end, the response is normally to replace one of the linebackers with a safety or cornerback.
In this defense, Bryant and the other DE would move to the B-gap between guard and tackle and seek penetration, while Taylor would choose an A-gap between center and guard to do the same. Jackson (or his proxy) would mind the other A-gap, and possibly blitze. Sheard and Kruger would be de facto DE's.
The outside rush is built in, whether Sheard/Kruger stand up or have their hands in the dirt. While one might drop into coverage just to screw things up sometimes, by far the strongest tendancy is for these guys to come, and the center and quarterback know it and allow for it.
Let's see, that's three down linemen, Sheard and Kruger, then an inside 'backer makes six. There's your front.
But what if Sheard, Kruger, or even Jackson were Mingo instead? Well, the quarterback and center have to find out where he is, but they still won't know what he'll do, since he can cover so well.
Mingo has much to learn about coverage, and as of game one might not be all that YET. Then he'll have one main position, and then a second. But eventually, he'll line up all over the place as a true joker. Initially he won't be on the field in obvious run situations, but on neutral and passing downs the only reason he won't be there is the rotation.
He's not strictly a passrusher. He WILL cover, like a strong safety. When he does blitze, he'll come MUCH faster than Sheard or Kruger, and this will screw up the linemen.
And I wish Tony Grossi and others knew this: Sometimes "setting the edge" requires a defensive end to MEET a pulling guard or motion tight end or whatever in the backfield to prevent him from lumbering upfield to go pick on his little buddies.
Ideally, he can sort of "chip" him with his hands to put him off-balance, and still make the play, or at least force it wide, making the back retreat and take extra steps without opening a cutback lane, but often the lead blocker makes the most of it and latches onto him. This is a realisticly acceptable outcome, even though somebody else makes the tackle.
In one game, a scout wrote up Mingo for diving at a pulling guard's legs on one play. If this was a real scout, working for a real NFL team, ok. But if this was some guy out of journalism school...
The point is, if a guy outweighs me by 70 lbs and my #1 job is to keep him off my linebackers and safeties, I'm going to hit him low. It's really embarrassing when you bounce off something that big and lay there unconscious, ya know?
In the admittedly limited films I was able to see, I saw Mingo attack the pulling guard. He used his quick start and speed to nail the big guy before he'd even taken two steps; before he had any momentum going. Mingo was already at full speed, and used it.
SMART!
Correction: Jason Campbell never proved he was a backup. This is an idiotic statement. Jason Campbell ranked among the best quarterbacks in the NFL and had the crappy Raiders on pace to reach the playoffs when he was injured.
I need somebody to tell me how he proved he was a backup.
Hey, Rich Gannon: What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment