Monday Morning X’s and O’s

After reading the comments on the UNM Post Game wrap-up there are a few folks out there concerned about our corners alignment depths. I understand how people could be concerned that we give up a lot of easy yards in the passing game simply because we are playing 8-10 yards deep. This morning I would like you to put all of that latent frustration behind you, and focus on the defensive coverages and techniques.

In the New Mexico game, the corners played off because that is what they were asked to do in order to play within the scheme. Because the Lobo offense was running the ball almost every down our defense was forced to devote more energy into stopping the run. We accomplished this by crowding the box with as many players as possible. For instance, on some possessions we moved both David Tafuna and Kellen Fowler into coverages where they were inverted and played underneath and intermediate passing zones. This would move the corners into what is called an inverted half.

Basically, the corners switch jobs with the safeties, but do it from an alignment that won’t give the coverage away. The Cougars also zone blitzed a little more this past week, also due to the Lobo running attack. In zone blitz coverages the corners are responsible for their deep third and in order to play that third against two (and sometimes three) receivers on your side, a corner needs to align deeper to insure that he is capable of making a play when two receivers run vertical routes.

The Lobo’s also used our coverages to their advantage.

Offenses understand how to defeat coverages and the Lobo’s employed some of these tactics on Saturday to gain some easy first downs. For instance, when the Lobo’s would get into an offensive formation that put two or three receivers to a side, it presents certain challenges to both a zone blitz and inverted coverage. In a zone blitz the outside backer or inside backer -depending on the blitz- has to cover a lot of space.

The linebacker has to present an alignment that will do two things, 1) put him in a position to stop a run to his side and 2) put him in a position that won’t compromise his ability to cover the zone -the flats. They also are instructed to “jam” the receiver if pass shows -jamming a player is simply not allowing the receiver to run free up the field, which screws up offensive timing and helps the safety.

The linebacker/strong safety is put in an awkward situation when pass shows. They have to jam a receiver and yet still be efficient enough to cover an out-route by the #1 receiver -the receiver furthest from the ball. This can be accomplished if the defensive player can recognize the quarterback’s three step drop and run underneath the route. It can also be accomplished by running past the #2 receiver -the inside receiver also known as the slot receiver- not jamming him, but that makes the job of the safety extremely difficult. It takes a team effort to cover any particular route combination. The difficult thing is there are so many combination’s to cover that the only way to accomplish a sound zone coverage is if players are keyed into the right things and they have done it enough times in practice.

On Saturday, our linebackers were getting tied up too long with the #2 receiver which made the throw to the out route by #1 a simple completion. But by giving up this route, we didn’t expose our defense to the possibility of giving up a longer pass play up the seams.

Hopefully this helped you understand the processes involved during a zone coverage and why our corners are playing 8-10 yards deep. I would like to say that while we didn’t give up any deep passes, our coverages are going to have to tighten up as the year progresses. We have to remember that this is Brandon’s and Scott’s first year as starters and they might not be confident enough to play around with their alignments and depths.

When I first started playing the coverages, I always aligned deeper then I was supposed to. In the beginning I lacked the confidence in my own abilities to cover all the possible route combinations. But as I learned more about the defense and what the players around me where doing, it freed me to experiment with different positions and depths. Alignment depth is a players preference. If they align too deep and give up a underneath route they will get critiqued but not reamed. If he aligns too tight or tries something fancy -like showing press coverage and then bailing- and gets burned, he will get reamed and possibly blow a game.

So when we as fans look for reasons to critique the players’ performances let’s remember that the coaches are being paid to critique and ream, we as fans pay to see every one’s best performance. As Brandon Howard, Brandan Bradley, and Scott Johnson continue to learn and develop, let’s also remember that all the defensive players are responsible for preventing points from going onto the score board. The defensive backs’ mishaps -while more visible- lose games while the linebacker and lineman’s mistakes can be covered up more easily.

I personally think that the defensive backs are developing nicely and should be in good form for the upcoming games. As a whole, the defensive unit has been very hard to score against and will continue to hold teams under 24 points -their game goal- as long as they play together and within their specific assignments.

Let’s not try and be heroes out there.