Stuff We Missed About Mike Pettine's Defense

I was surprised when Danny Shelton talked about the attacking nature of Mike Pettine's 3-4 defensive line.  

Oh, I knew that the ends would attack at 3 and 5, but figured the nose tackle would read and react.  But no, Shelton implied that he was being asked to seek penetration as well.

And so I repeat: Mike Pettine's defenses will never rank among the elites in stopping the run.

As I've said, that's fine with me, since the trade-off is "confusion to the enemy", more turnovers, better performance against the pass, and better field position.

The attacking defensive linemen expose the inside linebackers to the guards on runs.  While I'm sure that there will be a plan for each 3-man rush designed to minimize weak spots, there are guys on the other side of the line who anticipate that, and can mess it up.

Most running backs and some quarterbacks can run circles around defensive linemen--even the Browns'.  That's part of the plan, of course: Forcing them to waste more time trying to get around the ponderous monsters while the balance of the defense converges.

A conventional nose tackle engages the center with a vertical push.  Because he overmatches that guy, a guard normally helps out, creating a big plug in the middle of the defense, and preventing the guard from getting his hat on a linebacker.

I believe what Shelton (and Phil Taylor) will do will be to pick a shoulder and attack that instead.  It sounds like a tiny thing, but it's really not.  The center has to reposition his feet to stop him, and is instantly on the defensive.

If successful, Shelton or Taylor will have their pads or at least their helmets over the actual line of scrimmage before the guard can reach them.

The guards are allowed to set up a little behind the line, but the idea is to deprive them of a good angle, and prevent the guard from actually getting in front of the nose tackle.

That is, to make the guard hit them from the side, more than from the front.  If it works, this lets the nose preserve his momentum for further penetration and mayhem.

Phil Taylor did this as a rookie (when he wasn't supposed to) and we all saw what havoc he rote.  Then he seemed to disappear and opposing offenses ran all over the defense.

That's because that was a conventional 3-4, and Taylor wasn't sticking with the plan.  Once opposing offenses had some game tape to look at, they saw Taylor expose big gaps they could exploit.

They gave up using the guard on him and sent him after a linebacker instead.  The center "rode" Taylor out of the predesigned play, and the running back went where he wasn't and where the guard was all over DQwell Jackson.

But Taylor showed what he could do, didn't he?  He's a much better fit for Pettine's scheme, and can do exactly the same thing.

If the other two linemen are doing the same thing, there can be no predictable hole to exploit.

Of course, Pettine can't count on uniform penetration, so holes will appear, and there will be some painful runs.  Offensive coordinators are also very smart, and will pull stuff to short-circuit this attack.  One example is a matadore block--letting the guy get by and then using his own momentum against him to ride him out of the play (which of course goes right behind him).

No scheme is bullet-proof.  Against the pass, Pettine wants constant pressure from every angle, and no pocket.  Against the run, he's trying to make the tackles for losses and fumbles outnumber the big runs.

He's got a great defensive line for that.  It makes the most of Phil Taylor.  Xavier Cooper, Des Bryant, and Billy Winn will be much more effective here than in a more conventional 3-4 scheme.

I will predict right now that the Browns will rank in the top 20 against the run...and in the top 5 in turnovers.

I'll take it.