NFC South: Three New Faces, Three New Defenses

(Photo by Tom Pidgeon/Getty Images)

Williams will scheme to the strengths of his players, and his pressure packages will be more effective than his predecessors as a result. Unlike Gibbs, who blitzed frequently and predictably, Williams will be more creative and bring pressure in a variety of ways.  His conventional look paired with unconventional schemes will produce a lot of turnovers and broken plays in New Orleans.

Why Williams will fail

As in Jacksonville, Williams inherits a very talented middle linebacker in Johnathan Vilma.  But as fast and instinctive as Vilma is, maybe he just doesn't get the playbook and trying to keep up with the complex calls interferes with his natural instincts, making him look hesitant much like Mike Peterson in Jacksonville. 

In the secondary, Darren Sharper has the experience to "get" the defense, but Jenkins plays like a rookie and gets caught out of position far too often.  The unconventional sets end up confusing the secondary as much as the opposing quarterbacks.

Ron Meeks, Carolina Panthers

Ron Meeks comes to the Carolina Panthers via the Indianapolis Colts. When he took over the coordinator duties for the Colts, he inherited a defense ranked 29th in the league.  In his first year they finished 21 spots higher at eighth place.

Of the three new coordinators, Meeks runs the simplest system. He plays a straight up Tampa-2 that focuses on keeping the ball in front of the secondary. It's designed to prevent the big play.

The Tampa-2 is a modified Cover-2 where the middle linebacker assumes responsibility for an extra zone about 15 yards deep off the line of scrimmage in the middle of the field.

In this system, all of the pressure should come from the defensive line, and the linebackers and defensive backs are charged with covering specific zones.

It's a simple "read and react" type of defense that emphasizes speed and athleticism.  When Mike Trgovac ran his defense like that in 2008, it turned in a top five performance.

The Panthers have the depth to run this system, and the secondary and linebackers are both areas of strength on the Panther defense.

But on the line they have a disgruntled star defensive end in Julius Peppers, and they only have one good pass rushing defensive tackle in Damione Lewis.

Why Meeks will succeed

Peppers will come back to the Panthers with a vengeance, determined to show the rest of the league that they made a mistake in not trading for him. Rookie Everette Brown applies pressure on the other side much like rookie Dwight Freeny did in Meeks' first year in Indianapolis. 

The Carolina defensive secondary is packed with speed and athleticism, and they show it in the implementation of Meeks' defensive scheme.

Why Meeks will fail

The Panthers line can't produce the pressure required to make the defense work, and opposing quarterbacks take advantage of their protection to pick apart the Carolina secondary.  

Meeks is also exposed as a coordinator in name only, having basically run Dungy's defense in Indianapolis and is actually running Fox's defense in Carolina. As a result, the team does no better than in the second half of 2008, when Fox allegedly took over defensive scheming from Mike Trgovac.

Jim Bates, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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