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(No Longer) Joe Woods’ Defense

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Really looking forward to how we play their WRs, specially with Newsome possibly out. In the past this is the type of game where Woods would play a conservative zone and give up the 5-10 yard passes, but Minny has the personnel to just dice us up with those plays. Let's see if the success from last week pushes us towards a bit more of an aggressive defense where we don't play with such huge cushions and give our pass rush time to get home.
 
After a great deal of criticism, the coverage variety is officially in place.

Nickel remains the base defense and played the majority of the game. Within nickel, we see a lot of cover 3 or "Seattle defense" but a close second is cover 4. I saw some interesting disguised coverages where three lineman rushed and three defenders covered zone in the second level and three more in the back.

The dime look creates more confusion because they can shift around more quickly.

The most important change is that Mack Wilson and the rest of the linebackers are getting more comfortable matching up with a player quickly in zone instead of just covering grass. After the Texans game, Browns fans were mad at zone. Once players begin recognizing where they should go more quickly, zone will reveal itself to be the right choice.
 
Randolphkeys said:
After a great deal of criticism, the coverage variety is officially in place.

Nickel remains the base defense and played the majority of the game. Within nickel, we see a lot of cover 3 or "Seattle defense" but a close second is cover 4. I saw some interesting disguised coverages where three lineman rushed and three defenders covered zone in the second level and three more in the back.

The dime look creates more confusion because they can shift around more quickly.

The most important change is that Mack Wilson and the rest of the linebackers are getting more comfortable matching up with a player quickly in zone instead of just covering grass. After the Texans game, Browns fans were mad at zone. Once players begin recognizing where they should go more quickly, zone will reveal itself to be the right choice.
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I still prefer MEG and split-field concepts over base zone in situations where the goal is to force an incompletion rather than to just make the offense continue to execute, like in a third down situation.

If you're playing Cover 3 or Quarters on manageable third downs, I'm going to have a problem. Luckily, I don't think Woods is going to do this.
 
Out of the Rafters at the Q said:
I still prefer MEG and split-field concepts over base zone in situations where the goal is to force an incompletion rather than to just make the offense continue to execute, like in a third down situation.

If you're playing Cover 3 or Quarters on manageable third downs, I'm going to have a problem. Luckily, I don't think Woods is going to do this.
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I've seen you mention this twice. Can you explain the difference between MEG and quarters in your mind?
 
Randolphkeys said:
I've seen you mention this twice. Can you explain the difference between MEG and quarters in your mind?
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Quarters is a zone concept.

MEG (Man Everywhere he Goes) has one corner (I guess technically it could be more than one, but it's usually just one) playing man coverage. For example, against Minnesota, that would likely be Denzel shadowing Justin Jefferson. You can run any zone concepts you want with the rest of your defense. Belichick runs MEG a lot out in New England if you want someone to look to.

Ideally this concept is most effective when offenses are running spread concepts. Have a #1 X receiver on one side of the formation, with trips on the other? Let your #1 corner man up their #1 receiver, and then play zone so you don't get burned by the man-beater concepts that typically come out of trips formations.
 
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Out of the Rafters at the Q said:
Quarters is a zone concept.

MEG (Man Everywhere he Goes) has one corner (I guess technically it could be more than one, but it's usually just one) playing man coverage. For example, against Minnesota, that would likely be Denzel shadowing Justin Jefferson. You can run any zone concepts you want with the rest of your defense. Belichick runs MEG a lot out in New England if you want someone to look to.

Ideally this concept is most effective when offenses are running spread concepts. Have a #1 X receiver on one side of the formation, with trips on the other? Let your #1 corner man up their #1 receiver, and then play zone so you don't get burned by the man-beater concepts that typically come out of trips formations.
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I definitely see the value in playing MEG in certain situations. I'd even say Woods should have used it more often against the Texans because everybody knew Brandin Cooks would be the focal point of the offense.

I do want to point out MEG is a variant of quarters, or Cover 4. So I believe it's a question of time until Browns begin working it into the variants off Cover 3 and 4.

I also believe MEG can't be a crutch to hide Denzel Ward from perfecting zone coverage. If he wants to get paid like a top five cornerback, he can't be a bad zone defender. This is his year to figure it out.
 
I kinda want him to take his time with this one...maybe wait until the Halloween game against Shitsburgh.
 
Randolphkeys said:
I kinda want him to take his time with this one...maybe wait until the Halloween game against Shitsburgh.
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Really think the league needs to rethink load management with injuries already being hard to manage every year. The cut in preseason and extra game to the regular season is just going to make it worse.

Someone like Jed should be given a week or two to heal since he's way more important to us long term. We can survive with Hance, as opposed to Jed playing bad on a hurt ankle.

This team has actual depth now too. Letting Taki, Newsome, and Jed heal will work to our advantage. The NFL season is a war of attrition.
 
DirtyDan said:
Really think the league needs to rethink load management with injuries already being hard to manage every year. The cut in preseason and extra game to the regular season is just going to make it worse.
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What they need to do is extend the season to nineteen weeks instead of eighteen and give each team two bye weeks. You get one in the first half of the season and one in the second.

It's an everyone wins scenario. The league gets an extra week of TV revenue. Fans get an extra week of regular and fantasy football. Players get an extra week off.
 
Jack Brickman said:
What they need to do is extend the season to nineteen weeks instead of eighteen and give each team two bye weeks. You get one in the first half of the season and one in the second.

It's an everyone wins scenario. The league gets an extra week of TV revenue. Fans get an extra week of regular and fantasy football. Players get an extra week off.
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100% agree
 
Jack Brickman said:
What they need to do is extend the season to nineteen weeks instead of eighteen and give each team two bye weeks. You get one in the first half of the season and one in the second.

It's an everyone wins scenario. The league gets an extra week of TV revenue. Fans get an extra week of regular and fantasy football. Players get an extra week off.
Click to expand...
I have a feeling that's what they're gonna go for, but they're keeping it in their back pocket for when they propose an 18-game season.
 
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