Random NFL Notes
Some NFL goodness this Wednesday…
What’s wrong with Jay Cutler & the Bears?
“At the end of the day, every single thing that’s going on with Chicago’s offense, and I haven’t even mentioned a running game that is probably also the worst in the NFL, everything is conspiring against Cutler. So now you’ve got a decision to make as an offense. Do you try to play the game to throw four yard passes, three-step drops, five-step drops, just so he doesn’t throw interceptions?”
It was difficult to know what to make of Cutler’s mechanics early on [versus the Vikings Sunday]– the guy’s obviously talented enough to complete quick outs — but I was astonished to see Pace get no help with Allen on any of those plays. Offensive coordinator Ron Turner managed to combine the protection leakage of wide sets with the inflexible non-production of a quick-screen-only offense. It was mind-blowing.
The one good thing to come out of Bobby Petrino’s “tenure” with the Falcons was bringing in Louisville alum Chris Redman at QB.
“I remember walking into a machinery company, CSS, and trying to sell them insurance,” Redman recalled Monday. “I was wearing a suit, and I walked into the lobby hoping they’d recognize me – sometimes people would, and sometimes they wouldn’t, which made it even more awkward. I remember thinking, ‘Wow. What am I doing?’ Talk about a humbling feeling. As many times as I’d complained about football practice, this was a real job and a real complaint.”
Thanks to an unlikely opportunity and his ability to parlay it into a shocking renaissance, Redman, 32, is back in a far more comfortable environment. Two years after signing with the Falcons following the short and ill-fated pro stint by Bobby Petrino, Redman’s offensive coordinator at Louisville in ’98, the quarterback is playing a key role in the team’s push for a second consecutive playoff berth.
Some fantastic breakdown of the Saints Monday night game by NFP’s Matt Bowen. (Click both links)
New Orleans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is known as a pressure coach, but he called this game with coverage principles in mind — often rushing only three and dropping eight into coverage when the Pats put Brady in the shotgun on passing situations. And that’s a standard against Tom Brady and the Patriots, but what Williams played on the back end usually isn’t. Instead of dropping eight and playing Cover 2 — which most teams do against New England to play a safety over the top of Randy Moss on the numbers — Williams used man coverage principles. Most often, the Saints played a version of “Cover 1 Robber,” where FS Darren Sharper played the deep middle of the field, and either a linebacker or an extra defensive back played a “rover” position — sitting 10 yards deep in between the hashes. What this did was allow the Saints to play man coverage with outside leverage — forcing everything to the middle of the field — and allowing Mike McKenzie to pick off Brady by jumping the underneath route. Because he had the help to do it with the “rover” sitting 10 yards off of the ball.
In Gregg Williams’ defense down in New Orleans, or any defense in this league that plays man-to-man coverage in the backend, the corners are taught, instructed and expected to play with the techniques that allow this defense to work.
In McKenzie’s case on Monday, he played a lot of “off-man” coverage, where he aligned at a depth of 7-yards, aligned on the receiver’s outside shoulder, with his feet planted in a football position. The reason for the outside leverage is due to the safety help in the middle of the field. To give you a different perspective, in any type of Cover 0 alignment (no safety help) McKenzie would align in the inside shoulder of the receiver, using the sideline, or the boundary, as his extra defender.
Playing “off-man” coverage is the toughest thing for any defender in the NFL, much harder than aligned in a press position, where the corner can get his hands on the receiver and mirror his hips off of the line of scrimmage.
But, in both cases on Monday night, McKenzie used his flat-foot techniques and his pre-snap keys to make two big plays in the game on a slant route and on the fourth-down out route he broke up while defending Randy Moss.
