Can Colts become a zone blitzing team like Blitzburgh now?

[chad72]

A big part of the 3-4 hybrid was having that edge rusher like Suggs or Mathis. Now that we do not have Robert Mathis, we have to get creative with disguise and blitzing now.

 

We have to hope

 

a) our man CBs are healthy and hold up in man coverage and

b) start blitzing way more with disguise and

c) instead of relying on our pass rush to give our secondary the time, rely on our secondary to give our blitzes time to get there.

 

We may have to start jumping routes and hot reads as well along with our blitzes. Be more like Blitzburgh with zone blitzes than like the Ravens who run the same hybrid as us.

 

Do we have the LB personnel to do that? Do we have DL that can drop back? Thoughts?

[Smonroe]

Probably not (as far as the personnel), at least not everywhere.

 

But unless someone steps up, which is kind of unrealistic at this point, I don't think we have a choice.

 

It was moderately successful last night in the second half against the guy you never want to blitz.  So, I guess there's hope.

[chad72]

It was moderately successful last night in the second half against the guy you never want to blitz.  So, I guess there's hope.

 

Yep, that was what gave me hope that we may after all be able to get after elite QBs that are good against the blitz if we were moderately successful against a guy like Peyton. Good point.

[Smonroe]

Yep, that was what gave me hope that we may after all be able to get after elite QBs that are good against the blitz if we were moderately successful against a guy like Peyton. Good point.

 

I'm not criticizing Manusky, I fully realize he's playing the odds, but he only seems to pull out those blitz formations when it's almost too late, if you know what I mean.

 

Obviously, he doesn't need to use them as much when we're in the lead, but doesn't it seem he plays too conservative too long? 

 

Not specifically last night, because we all know what happens when you start doing that to Peyton early.  (Hmm, he may throw three TDs on you?) 

[Derakynn]

Personally I would love to see us do stuff like this. I really love the aggressive defenses, along with what they call the amoeba defense (no particular formation which makes it hard to read). I think our defense can still do well if they just learn to plan well for the first half. I feel like Manusky goes in with some plan and shuts off his brain for the first half. Then he goes into the locker room and is like "OH. THAT WASN'T WORKING" and then readjusts the defense and we usually do extremely well in the second half. I just wish he would adjust while on the sidelines. If we can get that fixed, I think we will be perfectly fine on defense. I still believe with our corners and DL we could be a top 10 defense (with proper playcalling/coaching). 

[chad72]

I'm not criticizing Manusky, I fully realize he's playing the odds, but he only seems to pull out those blitz formations when it's almost too late, if you know what I mean.

 

Obviously, he doesn't need to use them as much when we're in the lead, but doesn't it seem he plays too conservative too long? 

 

Not specifically last night, because we all know what happens when you start doing that to Peyton early.  (Hmm, he may throw three TDs on you?) 

 

It is never black and white while playing Peyton, doing one thing or the other. It is all about doing different things at different points in time. It is about disguising your blitzes till the last moment till about 2 seconds before the snap so that he does not have time to audible out to point out that blitz.

 

Yeah, you read the blitz but what happens once the blitz happens, who rotates, who jumps the route, who drops back from the DL/LB spots, all those are things you can disguise. That is what the Colts might have no other choice but to focus on.

 

Heck, Rex Ryan loves to send those jailbreak blitzes by overloading. There are only finite possibilities during those blitzes and if your man CBs hold up, you can do a lot. Here is to a healthy CB year for all our starting CBs. That is the #1 key moving forward if we increase our blitzing levels. I feel it can definitely be done instead of sitting back and waiting for our safeties and LBs to be picked on in the middle or hope that their coverage will get better with time. Just force the issue.

[Coffeedrinker]

A big part of the 3-4 hybrid was having that edge rusher like Suggs or Mathis. Now that we do not have Robert Mathis, we have to get creative with disguise and blitzing now.

 

We have to hope

 

a) our man CBs are healthy and hold up in man coverage and

b) start blitzing way more with disguise and

c) instead of relying on our pass rush to give our secondary the time, rely on our secondary to give our blitzes time to get there.

 

We may have to start jumping routes and hot reads as well along with our blitzes. Be more like Blitzburgh with zone blitzes than like the Ravens who run the same hybrid as us.

 

Do we have the LB personnel to do that? Do we have DL that can drop back? Thoughts?

Can the Colts do it?  Yes, and I think it would help cover up some of the coverage ability of the LBs.

 

But they won't.  Manusky is not that creative and he'd probably pull a Fangio and blitz the CB from the wide side of the field on 3rd and 5 or less to give them an easy completion for 1st down.

 

Anyway, I vote for you as the new Colts DC.  I'm already talking with Irsay about making Superman the OC, so now with you as DC I think the Colts will be much improved. (and I'm not being sarcastic... well the talking with Irsay is but I do think you would do a better job of DC than Manusky.)

[chad72]

Any other thoughts???

[Superman]

I don't have a lot of thoughts. I'm not a big fan of zone blitzing, so I'm biased against. I think zone defense is easier for a good QB to work against, and despite the guesswork figuring out the pressure, you can still hit hot receivers. It's highly dependent on good tackling and quick pressure. If you give the QB time to work his progressions, even just to come back to a check down, it's going to yield yardage.

[Gavin]

I cant wait till the All 22 comes available, I think its do available tomorrow, But I do think....and have thought even prior to Mathis going down that Manusky has to get more creative with his blitzes