SIKIDS.COM / 59
FRE
D^ V
UIC
H
T
he offenses that are
changing the NFL have been
based largely on schemes run
by NCAA teams. As a result, pro
coaches have been spending time
on campuses talking to their college counterparts to see what
ploys have worked against the endless combinations of routes
and personnel and presnap movement. They’ve found that
defenses have to channel that same creativity and be
unpredictable.
“What we say at our place is we want to play defense like
offense,” said TCU coach Gary Patterson. “We want to be able
to audible. And the only way you can audible is to have
versatility, and you have versatility because of speed.”
For decades, NFL defenses used the same standard “base”
personnel. There would be seven players, usually three
linemen and four linebackers in the box (the area at and just
behind the line of scrimmage). Behind them, two cornerbacks
and two safeties patrolled the defensive backfield.
The Chargers employed seven defensive
backs in their base D against the Ravens in
the AFC wild-card playoff game. Los Angeles
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is
an electric rushing threat, so L.A. made sure
to have fast defenders all over the field. The
game plan worked: L.A. blanketed Jackson’s
receivers (he was just 14 for 29) and did enough to
contain his running (54 yards on nine carries) in
a 23–17 win.
Another way to combat these evolved offenses is to
use versatile defenders. Chargers safety Derwin James
more like a combination of a safety and a linebacker,
into any scheme, which keeps opposing offenses from
guessing what the Chargers are going to do.
“You see a lot of guys that can come off the edge
and drop back into those zones,” says Bears
running back Tarik Cohen. “When you have a guy
like that you can combat the pass pretty well.”
One other benefit of employing so many
athletic defenders is that they bring the potential
for big plays. In that wild Chiefs-Rams shootout,
both units came up with big plays, combining for
three defensive touchdowns.
In the Super Bowl, the Patriots’ defense also found
success in something out of the ordinary.
New England put six players on the line of scrimmage:
four defensive linemen and two linebackers on each
end to prevent any outside zone runs from the Rams.
The four defensive backs each patrolled one-fourth of
the field behind them.
And to make it even tougher on Goff and the Rams,
New England’s defense did what Patterson suggested:
They used audibles. The Patriots made two calls for
each play. They showed one look before the snap and
often shifted to a different one after the snap. As a
result, Goff completed just half of his 38 pass attempts
and, ironically, one of the most explosive offensive
seasons in NFL history ended with the lowest-scoring
Super Bowl ever.
In the stands, it was hard for Amukamara not to
beam with pride. And it was hard not to think that
maybe defense in the NFL isn’t dead after all. n
Defense
Back to
SCHOOL
LIGHTNING
BOLT
As a rookie, James had
3 1 /^2 sacks to go with
three interceptions,
which landed him on
the All-Pro team.
