Jville":hyvf6oz5 said:
Great stuff .... :2thumbs: .... keep grinding on your Offense piece.
P.S. IIRC .... the coaching staff spent a lot of time with TCU Head Coach Gary Patterson a year or so ago. I think of that off season as the genesis of the current defensive evolution. I'm so excited about the 2017 defense.
Great catch JVille ... and though I can't find any article out there to back that up, I believe you're right. Regardless, I would say that a lot of Patterson's philosophies and the way that he likes to play defense ... really matches up quite well with a lot of Pete Carroll's ideas about defense.
Coach Gary Patterson himself wrote an article for AFCA Weekly in which he discussed his philosophies and defensive approach. The article is a fantastic read and I highly recommend it. See if a lot of this doesn't sound familiar ...
At the University of New Mexico, we had five goals to playing great defense:
1. Out-hit the opponent.
2. Stop the run. [HS Add: In his article, Patterson says this is priority #1]
3. Create takeaways.
4. Eliminate big plays.
5. Don’t flinch [HS Add: By that I believe he means, Play Fast, but Play Smart]
To accomplish these five goals, we use five basic principles within the 4-2-5 to give our players a chance to succeed:
Create offensive confusion at the line of scrimmage.
1. Play with great leverage [HS Add: Patterson goes on to explain they stress to all 11 players to keep the ball inside and in front of them. Do not get beat deep.]
2. Establish the eight-man front. [HS Add: 4 Defensive Linemen, the 2 LB, and the SS. Kam Chancellor is a huge key]
3. Establish a pressure package.
4. The five-spoke secondary.
http://www.afcaweekly.com/2015/01/multiplicity-but-simplicity-why-the-4-2-5-defense/
In his article, Gary Patterson talks about the benefits of his 4-2-5 system, among them were ...
1] It allows them to play FASTER (Hmmmm ... where have we heard THAT before?)
2] It allows them to establish an 8 Man Front on a consistent basis to stop the run
3] Because they use 5 secondary members on a regular basis, it allows them to better disguise their coverages. He says they believe in creating confusion at the line of scrimmage. [Again, sounds familiar]
4] They can employ creative [yet simple] blitzes in situations (and create pressure that way) without compromising coverage.
5] It allows them to be very flexible and able to adapt to what offenses are trying to do to them, yet remain simple at the same time (In Patterson's words, "Multiplicity Yet Simplicity")
Patterson goes on to add ...
We believed that you recruit corners who might be safeties and better athletic safeties who grow into linebackers. By following this philosophy we ended up with an overall faster, athletic defensive unit.
http://www.afcaweekly.com/2015/01/multiplicity-but-simplicity-why-the-4-2-5-defense/
IN order to really make the system really work, you need ...
1] To create a relentless pass rush from your front 4 [Hmmm ... Michael Bennett ... Cliff Avril ... Frank Clark ...
Malik McDowell. His pick starts to make a lot more sense.]
2] Agressive, physical, athletic CB's [I'd say the Hawks have their share of those]
3] Big, fast, athletic linebackers [Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright -- again, CHECK.]
4] A Free Safety who is a true Center Fielder who ideally has speed, recognition skills, etc. who can take away the deep ball and the middle 1/3 of the field [Earl Thomas ... and it really drives him why Tedric Thompson was such a huge pick up]
All of this ALSO makes sense for why Pete Carroll was so excited about the signing of Bradley McDougald. In this system, McDougald becomes what we've heard to commonly referred as the "Big Nickel" in this package. So again, Kam Chancellor (because he is SO huge and basically like a Linebacker anyway) assumes that 3rd LB spot ... which allows McDougald to take on that role of the "Big Nickel" (what would otherwise be Strong Safety) here. The Big Nickel is seen as a guy who's a hybrid linebacker/safety/cornerback (so he's generally a bigger DB who's got some coverage skills, but is a physical guy who helps in run support).
And all of this also makes sense for why the Hawks chose so many the DB's ... and chose the ones they did in the Draft. [See initial post for breakdown]
The Seahawks aren't the only ones to go with this kind of approach (by the way). Bucky Brooks wrote an excellent article 3 years ago in which he talks a lot about the Big Nickel position and details a lot of teams that are starting to employ it (including the Giants, the Saints, the Chiefs, and others). He discusses teams that are not only starting to employ 4-2-5 looks ... but also other extremely interesting packages of other teams such as Kansas City's 2-4-5 package ... Arizona's 2-3-6 front ... and others. It's a good read ...
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...kage-emerging-as-nfls-hottest-defensive-trend
Just thought I'd share.