The Larry Coyer Era Begins in Indy

Before I begin my discussion of Larry Coyer, his background, and the kind of mindset he is going to bring to Indy, a brief explanation of the zone blitz scheme is needed.

The zone blitz was conceived in the early '90s as a way to place extra pressure on the quarterback without using the high-risk cover 0 or cover 1 blitz schemes.

One of the basic tenants of the zone blitz is that the blitz can come from any direction, at any time, and from any player. The other facet of it is that defenders switch roles. For example a defensive tackle may drop back into pass coverage while a cornerback may rush the passer.

The whole idea is to confuse the offense and the quarterback, a task made easier by the fact that this scheme is so easy to disguise. Before the snap, the quarterback might think he is reading a three-deep zone. He snaps the ball and the DT, who is in a three-point stance (do not confuse this with a three technique), drops into a hook zone. This confuses the offensive lineman, who identified him as a pass rusher because of his stance. Next, the Will backer sweeps around from the weak side, and shoots through the A gap.

That's the basic idea of the zone blitz. There are numerous variations that are used. Dick Lebau and Rex Ryan are the masters of the zone blitz.

If you really want to learn about it in depth, I suggest reading about Dick Lebau. He is credited with being the inventor of the zone blitz , also known as the "fire zone" blitz.

To understand what Larry Coyer is going to bring to the Colts defense we have to look first at what he did for the Denver Broncos, where he was linebackers coach from 2000-2002, and defensive coordinator from 2003-2006.

Larry immediately made an impact on Denver's defense in his first year. In 2003 the defense gave up only 277.1 yards per game ranking fourth in the NFL. That year, the team made its first playoff appearance since 2000.

Here is what Bill Romanowski had to say about Larry in his book Living on the Edge: "He was so smart, it was almost as if he learned the game at the shoulder of Vince Lombardi. By the time Coach Coyer had given out each week's game plan to his linebackers, we knew exactly how the opposing offenses were going to attack us. Coach Coyer could break down the other team's offensive strength, weaknesses, and tendencies and predict how they would correlate into Sunday's game."

By the way Romanowski finished first and second on the team in tackles under Larry's tutelage.

In 2004, the Denver Bronco's  ranked fourth overall in defense and fourth in rushing ypg. surrendered (Okay Colts fans at this point you should start getting excited.) In passing yards they weren't quite as good, they ranked 6th.

The 2004 season also included two pro-bowl selections in safety John Lynch and Champ Bailey.

Speaking of safety John Lynch, and to get an idea of how Larry thinks outside the box, let's look for a second at how he used John Lynch. Conventional wisdom at the time Lynch came to the Broncos said a) John Lynch was too old to play safety anymore and b) John Lynch was supposed to be an in-the-box safety. So what did Larry do? He used him in pass coverage. In fact, he asked Lynch to do things he had never done before in his 13-year career, such as covering the slot receiver on corner blitzes. Oh by the way, John was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

In 2005, Mike Shanahan had the brilliant idea of trading for the Cleveland Browns pitiful defensive line. Not just one guy, but the whole line. All of a sudden, Denver's defensive ranking dropped of the cliff. They ended the year 15th in overall defense, 29th in passing defense, but sixth in rushing defense.

The fact that the defense ranked that high, given how bad that line was, is a testament to Larry's coaching abilities.

2005 was the year that Larry really blitzed a lot. It's my opinion that the reason he blitzed so much was because that awful defensive line couldn't get pressure on the quarterback. It also explains why they gave up so many yards passing. However, the one bright spot was the rushing defense.

2005 was also the year that the Bronco's went 13-3, got a first round bye, and beat the Patriots at home, advancing to the AFC championship game where they lost to the Steelers.

In 2006, the Bronco's became much more conservative on defense. Larry cut way back on blitzing. This is pure speculation, but I have a feeling that the order to reduce the blitzing came from Shanahan. The team and the defense started out the first half of the s