4-wide spreads dictate a dime defense with six defensive backs, and 3-wides (more common) dictate a nickel with five defensive backs.
Largely pioneered by the Lord Insideous (Bill Belichick) is the two-tight end spread, which everybody is naturally now trying to copy.
The first spreads featured...well...Brian Brennan in the slot. Bill's version was Wes Welker. But after that came a BIG slot receiver (Jurevicious).
Innovative offensive coaches introduced all this stuff to create mismatches in a never-ending "arms race" between offensive and defensive personnel. Whenever something worked (more often than not something the Sith Lord did), everybody copied it.
Defensive coaches had to react. That's why every roster now features little shrimp nickel cornerbacks, to counter the still-prevalant little shrimp slot receivers.
Gregg Williams was pro-active. I'm not sure right now if what the Seahawks did predated what Williams did, or if they copied him right now (I'll get back to you on that), but at any rate, somebody saw the two (pass-catching) tight ends and oversized slot receivers coming and sort of invented the weakside linebacker/strong safety hybrid.
As I've reminded everybody constantly, nickel and dime defenses are now on the field over 68% of the time, so in reality the nickel defense is the base defense for every team in the NFL.
Although some teams like to get cute by having somebody stand up or something, the nickel almost always presents a four-man front.
That's a built-in pass rush, occupies the entire offensive line (so they can't make mischief elsewhere), makes it harder to run inside, and makes tight ends block.
This leaves seven more defenders.
In a conventional nickel, this means two linebackers and five defensive backs. A dime means only one linebacker and six defensive backs.
Simple, right? Chuh!
I'll use the Browns current offense here: The most prevalent Browns "3-wide" OR "4-wide" now looks like two-tight ends including Seth DeValve and Njoku, along with Britt and Coleman. Crow or Duke could be the lone setback.
This grouping is nightmarish. One or both tight ends could line up wide or next to the tackles. Even the running back could line up in the slot for an empty backfield.
Gregg Williams (or maybe the Seahawks) saw stuff like this coming, and got ahead of it with Chancellor and Barron. These guys truly are extra-fast linebackers who can cover as well as tackle...or maybe extra big strong safeties who can stop the run as well has cover hmmm....
Linebackers in general have been shrinking, as defensive coordinators are deciding speed is the best answer to the spread.
Chris Kirksey is 235 lbs., and some think he will play in the middle (I don't know). Jabrill Peppers is only a little over 10 lbs lighter, and by the middle of his carreer, he might be a true weakside linebacker.
For now, Gregg Williams will have special uses for the both of them. Instead of trying to cover tight ends with Jamie Collins, Gregg will probobly put Peppers or Kirksey on them.
A couple notes about strong safeties: The offensive line can't account for this player in their blocking scheme. They've got plenty of larger, slower-moving targets to contend with. If a team uses a fullback, that strong safety is the main guy he is there to blast out of the way.
Tight ends will decoy him out of position, or try to engage him themselves, but this is hard for them in space. Strong safeties have many of the same traits as tailbacks, and are much quicker than tight ends.
In the Williams 4-2-5, Jamie Collins should remain on the field, within 3 yards of the line and in the tackle box. He might back up at the snap into coverage, but in a zone. Any slants or crosses must come to him, see?
Kirksey and Peppers are also on the field. What they do depends on the offense. I believe that wherever they line up (usually off the line), they will be outside the box, and on opposite sides of the field from eachother.
This puts speed on both sides, along with showing an edge-blitze threat from both sides, and puts really good run defenders on both sides too.
If a tight end shows up in the slot, Kirksey will probably be there. If a big wide receiver is there, it will be Peppers. If the still more common microbe is there, the nickel corner will be on him (Calhoun--not Williams. Williams is tall, and not well-suited for this role. Nickel back is not cornerback kindergarten dammit).
Whether there is one tight end or two, Kirksey or Peppers will be near him/them. If a running back goes to the slot, that's Peppers too. If a running back is a scary receiver out of the backfield, Peppers might spy (mirror) him. Kirksey can do that with a dual threat quarterback.
What I've described is kind of still a 4-3 defense, with Collins the Mike, and Peppers/Kirksey the outside guys. It's just that the outside guys man cover more than conventional linebackers do, and might set up a little farther out and back than they do as well.
On neutral and passing downs, Kirksey and Peppers will blitze at least one out of every five downs, and Collins one out of four. Gregg doesn't like to leave anybody out, so all the secondary guys should get to blitze at least once in every game.
That's the nickel. The dime defense, I'm not sure of yet. Gregg won't want to take any of those guys off the field, and might instead delete a defensive lineman and use a 3-man front.
He has the personnel for it. In spades.
Caleb Brantley might be innocent of punching that woman, but is guilty of sounding really ignorant. I used to talk like that, but my mom wouldn't let me get away with it. She even made my Dad speak english!
I aint got nothing against Brantley, though, lessen he guilty. Just need to talk right is all. He need to learn big words like "utilize" and "conversate" too!
I don't know what's up with the Gordon thing. I'm hearing he was supposed to sort of prove to King Roger that he was all set with AA and support groups and I dunno shrinks and Priests and...
He hasn't failed any tests. When I first got the news that his reinstatement was denied til September, I suspected that he really had screwed up somehow again, but no, he didn't.
Then Sashi Brown comes out and says they will welcome him back with open arms, and I knew: This is King Roger abusing his godlike power again. Sashi knows the whole story. Up til now, he's been carefully neutral on Josh Gordon, to the extent that some people speculated that he'd do something idiotic like cut him.
I now think Sashi saw what King Roger saw, and is pissed off about this decision. He threw a rope to Josh. My translation is "I know this is bullshit. Hang in there kid. We'll keep a light on for ya!"
The guys on NFL Radio rightly speculate about a September reinstatement, but they drive me nuts:
"He hardly knows Hue Jackson's offense!" (Jim Miller): He's had the playbook for over a year. He ran every NFL route while leading the NFL in receiving in 14 games. Wtf are you talking about?
"He hasn't played a game in over a year!" So what? He forgot how to play?
In reality, if Gordon is reinstated in September, Hue will put him on the roster, and say "he'll have to earnblahblah etc" and sort of bring him along slowly, til he's sure Josh is ready for the hits and is "tuned up", then turn him loose for his revenge.
It could be mind-boggling. Gordon/Britt/Coleman...sends a chill up your spine,
Grossi et al are saying that Corey Coleman is now expected to be the number one receiver. Wrong!
They'll experiment with Britt and Coleman, figure out how to make the most of each respectively and both in aggragate, and do what seems best.
In all of this, Kenny Britt is being dissed. He is not a "number two". He is an elite talent who's been mired on mediocre teams with mediocre quarterbacks (and yes: Cody Kessler is better than those quarterbacks. Laugh at me now and pretend you didn't later).
What's so wrong here are the implications that it's Coleman or bust, that the Browns are desperate, that Britt is just a guy...
Not that Corey Coleman aint all that. Oh, he is all that!
Ok in advance of you guys telling me to "pump the brakes", stifle it.
Corey Coleman is a taller, quicker, faster Antonio Brown stifle it I said! He IS bigger, faster, and quicker. This is not debatable. Brown might have better hands, I don't know. He might also have better instincts.
Certainly, Brown did what he did! But look what happened when Big Ben was injured: Brown fell off the map. Ben comes back e voila! Suddenly so does Antonio!
Makes you wonder: How many Antonio Browns have we never heard of, because they didn't have Big Bens?
Coleman is more "user-freindly". He's...Metcalf. If Eric Metcalf had been a wide receiver at first, that's Corey Coleman. No need for pinpoint accuracy: he's wide open, all the time. Hit him in stride, and he does the rest.
Corey Coleman is a little bigger, taller Eric Metcalf. That's what we got here. Fasten your seatbelts.
"Yeah, bud hooz gonna thhrow id do him?"
Cody Kessler. Next question?
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