Dan was fine up til he talked about the Steve Wilks defensive scheme. My readers know this already but when it comes up I have to address it:
Wilks' sample size as a DC is microscopic, consisting of 1 year with the Panthers. He was Head Coach in Arizona, and while he surely influenced that Defensive scheme a lot, even 2 years isn't enough time to rubber-stamp (ie stereotype) a guy.
Every Defensive Coordinator is capable of running any coverage. You don't become a Defensive Coordinator without learning every system.
Dan has stuffed Steve Wilks in a "Zone coverage" box, and says that unless Wilks changes his system to accommodate Greedy Williams, Greedy's impact will be minimized.
...listen why don't you just stuff Wilks in the "mentally impaired blockhead" box, Dan?
Wilks obviously has THREE man corners now, including Mitchell (Carey also has man skills) so Wilks will obviously adjust to them.
In fact NO Defensive Coordinator is a "zone coverage" guy unless he is forced into it by a lack of man guys! Most teams run mixed coverages, because they have only one reliable man guy. And he plays man, while everybody else plays zone!!!
Then there's press/man and off/man. Off/man looks like zone, and Williams excels at it. You will probably often see Denzel Ward up in one WR's face, and Williams 4-7 yards off the line--but that's still man!
Jake Burns covered Wilks' favored Cover 3 zone, and it's pretty diabolical.
Well in man, the two outside corners don't "release" their receivers, so I guess most of what Jake showed us is going into storage for the time being.
Wilks might still show a Cover 3 a lot, but it will just be man instead.
...ok ok the slot receiver is different, because you can't press him due to lack of leverage. You can off-man him (to keep him shallow) if you have guys who can do that, and the Browns do...
Ok-ok see an off-man guy has great long speed, and is ideally taller, so that the idea of trying to blow his doors off by sprinting by him is not smart. He turns out of his backpedal and runs with you, and you're 2 seconds into your route.
So you break it off under him. Maybe you OBJ the guy and threaten him vertically to force a backpedal, then cut left or right, at which time your hopefully smart timing Quarterback hits you in-stride 4-6 yards downfield.
But real off/man cornerbacks are also great "in transition" and accellerate rapidly. They are built to answer this expected tactic. They roll out of their backpedal and into a dead sprint in a blink.
If the quarterback is late with his throw, or makes his receiver slow down, the better off/man corners will nail the receiver where he catches it, if he doesn't knock it loose or intercept it.
If the play is perfectly executed, the off/man corner is running parallel to the receiver a yard or 2 deeper, and the receiver can't turn upfield without getting nailed by him, see?
That's how off/man works. You're welcome.
Labels suck, and because of them you people don't see the nuances. Free safeties play zone. So do most linebackers, and the majority of Strong Safeties.
Every Defense is like 50% zone.
The 2019 Browns, to Dan Justik's surprise, might well be 60% (or more) man.
I want to see more of Mack Wilson in coverage, and wonder if Schobert is merely a brain or can actually run with these bigger guys. What about Whitehead?
Trust me Avery and Takitaki are zone guys. Do not be alarmed!!! This, too, is common!
Steve Wilks has options out the yinyang as the 2019 Browns Defensive Coordinator:
1: His starting front 4 is as good as any in the NFL, but with Avery and Takitaki he can go with 3 or even 2 down linemen. Takitaki was a DE until his senior year, and Avery is stronger and faster than HE is!
2: He can work off a man-coverage base; including man on the slot receiver. He can mix in zone here to screw offenses up, especially since off/man looks identical to zone.
And you people don't understand zone, either (sorry here I go again):
James Harrison and that other psychopath in Cincinnati just dropped back a few yards and dared any receiver to come towards them.
If you understood football, you'd understand that these guys were human road-blocks, rendering a big chunk of turf a "no-catch" zone.
Any receiver entering that zone is supposed to "sit down" and catch a pass standing still, rather than continue his route.
Well you'll have to trust me on this one: With 3 man corners and Damarius Randall at FS, Steve Wilks can manage to somehow use Avery and Takitaki HINT H I N T...
Jake Burns went nuts listing 25 things we learned about the Browns this offseason. Tons of links, but some of them were fluff.
Still, every link to HIS articles is worth checking out.
One is "Schobert's Tackling Must Improve", but I haven't checked it out, because I'm a heartless analytical guy and expect
Jake has another one on how Kirksey needs to get back to his earlier form, but I haven't seen that one either, because Chris is overpaid for THAT performance level (whatever it was) and Adarius Taylor is...well, him!
Jake Burns is a "football guy" (who respects analytics as well as film analysis btw), but doesn't get into the business side too much.
Me? I got Avery, signed Taylor, and just drafted Takitaki and Wilson. DO THE MATH!
PART of the math is Steve Wilks...my god was it Randy Gurzi who predicted that the 2019 Browns would have S E V E N linebackers!?!
Why do I bother? Okbye.
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