Jump to content
Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts Fan Forum

Is it time the colts reconsider the base cover 2 defense?


HONESTABE

Recommended Posts

cover 2 really is a good defense. look at the vikings or bears and you see the proper way that defense is ran and you see them as having one of the best defenses in the league. the reason we dont do it well is because our front cant stop the run. cover 2 is basically everyone, but the front four dropping back with the front four responsible for stopping the run and putting pressure on the QB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing wrong with the cover 2. We have the players for it, we just need to be more aggressive with it. Call more blitzes, have the CBs line up on the line instead of giving a 7 yard cushion. I'm giving Coyer one more chance this year to redeem himself; he had a good rookie year with the defense, but last year it wasn't pretty (though that was likely due to all the injuries). He has one more chance to redeem himself in my book

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't remember hearing people say that the 03' Bucs couldn't stop anyone. That defense was sick. I don't agree with the notion that cover-2 can't work in this league anymore. There are few defenses that can limit the big play more than cover-2. It's also one of the perfect defenses against the pass and we all know this is a passing league now. Our biggest problem of late has been how bad our run defense has been with the front seven. If we can shore that up the back end woes will likely vanish as well.

It also wouldn't hurt to field a full 11 guys on defense that aren't from the second team or the practice squad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dungy-2 is a great system, plus we've drafted and signed players to the over the last 10 seasons to fit it, and changing it anytime soon would be a huge mistake.

Period.

Adding in some blitz here and there is all well and good, but when you have the edge rushers that we have, you stick with the Dungy-2.

For instance; Gary Bracket is a perfect Mike for the system, but switching to a system like maybe a Jim Johnson blitz scheme would just completely mess with his effectiveness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I liked what Coyer did two years ago when he ran a cover 2 with some wrinkles - more blitzing, more man coverage etc..- but then in the Super Bowl we inexplicably got away form it.

Last year, with all of the injuries, I just don't think we had the player to do it. I really hope we can get back to where we were 2 years ago in scoring D and hopefully do a better job in limitting teams Time of Posetion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Totally agree. No way we can change it now. Too many vets to try an learn a new system. Wait til the team is really young again and we draft different style players to for the new defensive scheme.

by time it is changed and finally set Manning will be leaving, have to improve on what we got with better personal each year and better technique in performance

Link to comment
Share on other sites

cover 2 really is a good defense. look at the vikings or bears and you see the proper way that defense is ran and you see them as having one of the best defenses in the league. the reason we dont do it well is because our front cant stop the run. cover 2 is basically everyone, but the front four dropping back with the front four responsible for stopping the run and putting pressure on the QB

I totally agree! which is why i cannot fathom Why the FO hasn't gotten a true NT in the last decade. There's a reason why the Williams' Wall was #1 against the Run for 3 years in a row !!! Does the FO not see this or are they imbeciles? Seriously!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I liked what Coyer did two years ago when he ran a cover 2 with some wrinkles - more blitzing, more man coverage etc..- but then in the Super Bowl we inexplicably got away form it.

Last year, with all of the injuries, I just don't think we had the player to do it. I really hope we can get back to where we were 2 years ago in scoring D and hopefully do a better job in limitting teams Time of Posetion.

Yup. Those wrinkles helped us win that Patriots game. Pure Cover 2 would have seen the Pats convert and run the clock out on us. Plus other situations where Coyer's slight of hand produced good results for the defense. We were really aggressive against the Jets run game in the AFCCG. He got away from it in the Super Bowl because our secondary was banged up, and he also played soft shell coverage. I don't think that was the right move, as we just let Brees eat us alive all game long.

No way we could have run a lot of that stuff last season. We had rookies and special teamers all over the place last year. Aaron Francisco was playing safety for 12 games, and he played a lot of deep safety too. As bad as our pass defense was, I think it would have given up a lot more big plays had we tried to be more aggressive.

There's nothing wrong with Cover 2 as a base defense. I don't like a pure Cover 2 with no imagination, but if you build some extras into it, it's more than effective. The Bears and the old Bucs ran base Cover 2, with great effectiveness. And much of the time without a dominant nose tackle. It really is about gap integrity up front. It sounds trite and cliched, but it's very true.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly i think we need to get John Gruden out of retirement and have him as our D-coordinator.

If you want the Tampa 2 coordinator, you're thinking of Monte Kiffin. As Jaric said, Gruden is an offensive coach.

Regardless, Kiffin is sticking with his son in USC. He went by choice, not because the NFL didn't want him, so I doubt he'd come back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think it's the scheme that's the problem. The problem has been the Dungy philosophy of undersized, quick players. He ran basically the same defense in Minnesota as the DC with undersized, fast players and they continuously got steam-rolled by teams with power running games like Dallas. The reason the Tampa defense was so devastating is that he found players that had the speed/quickness required that were not as undersized as the players he always used here. Plus he had the devastator in the middle in Warren Sapp. Then there's Chicago who had a healthy, pro bowl Tommie Harris in the middle with guys like Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher at LB. These both just fuel the argument that has been ongoing lately about us needing a dominant presence in the middle of the line.

I've been very happy to see the Colts bringing in bigger guys in Dungy's last year or 2 and they're continuing to do so now. Plus, like others have said, they've been more aggressive lately blitzing more than Dungy ever did.

Why was '06 the first year we went all the way with Dungy's defense? IMO it was largely in part to finally bringing in a bigger presence in the middle in Booger. Having DT's in the 260-270 lb range and LB's in the 215-225 lb range just isn't going to do it if we can't build an early lead. The best example I can think of is Cato June. I liked the guy but he had no business playing LB, even on the weak side. The guy was a Corner/Safety in college but turned into a LB when he got here. It's not uncommon for a college LB to be converted to safety in the pro's because he's simply not big enough, but how often do you see it going the other way around? Dungy took DB's and made them LB's, made guys who were the size of a normal LB and put them on the DL and guys who should have been DE's were playing DT. Everyone was a position too small, so it was almost like playing a constant dime defense.

And like BlueCrew said, Brackett couldn't play Mike in any other type of defense but a Tampa 2 and personally I'd prefer to see him moved to OLB and give Angerer a shot at Mike. Even in a standard cover-2 (as opposed to the Tampa 2) Brackett would be much less effective at the Mike.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly i think we need to get John Gruden out of retirement and have him as our D-coordinator.

Gruden is an offensive coach, he is brilliant at calling up good offenses (and is known for having one of the most complex play-calling systems around) and was lucky enough to inherit the defense that Dungy built.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...