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Note- I put the link here because I'm hoping somebody can get the pics within the article to show up.
http://www.cowboysnation.com/2011/01/new-dc-rob-ryan-hopes-to-keep-em.html
New Cowboys' DC Rob Ryan Hopes to Keep 'Em Guessing
Posted by Rafael at Monday, January 17, 2011
Is that Jay Ratliff in a wig? Demarcus Ware in fake glasses, rubber nose and moustache?
If Rob Ryan has his way opposing quarterbacks won't know who they are, where they are and if they're rushing on a particular down. All coordinators talk about disguising their coverages and their pre-snap looks but Ryan's recent body of work demonstrates that he's more than talk.
Ryan's calling cards were obviously his week 7 and week 9 wins over the Saints and Patriots (the Browns had a bye in week 8) where Ryan's defense held Drew Brees to 17 points while intercepting him four times. In the next contest, Tom Brady was limited to less than 230 yards passing and 14 points. He did not complete a pass to a receiver of more than 12 yards.
Ryan's key? Using base and nickel personnel groupings, and throwing a blizzard of strange looks at both quarterbacks pre-snap, forcing both to make their reads after the snap of the ball.
Look at the formations Ryan served up for Brady on the opening drive of their game. Here's the opening play:
It's a basic, odd 3-4 front, with each of the down linemen playing head-up, or in two-gap sets. This is what Cowboys fans saw in the Parcells days, in '05 and '06. Notice the look on second down:
To counter New England's spread look, Ryan has a six-man front, with two linemen and four linebackers, removing a DE and adding a fifth d-back. This looks like a four-man front, but one of his OLBs is flexed wide with the TE in the left slot. Will he rush, or drop in coverage? Will Cleveland rush six, five, four or three?
That's part of Ryan's game, especially when facing offenses like the Patriots and Saints who rely heavily on spread sets. On 3rd down, Ryan gets even more extreme:
See any linemen? The Browns have five linebackers and six defensive backs, giving Brady, and more importantly his linemen, no read on who will rush and where they're coming from.
Let's take a closer look at how the pre-snap motion and movement produced results. Here's a sequence of shots from a single play early in the 2nd quarter of the Saints game. New Orleans is facing a 2nd-and-10 deep in Browns territory when Ryan puts another junk front on the field:
Cleveland shows Brees one down lineman, NT Shaun Rogers and four linebackers. They're in an overload to Brees' left, the weakside of New Orleans' line. This is not Cleveland's final set, however. As Brees calls the signals, the Browns front continues to move:
Rogers goes from lining up as a 3-technique, on the Lg's outside shoulder, to a 1-techique, shaded off the center's left shoulder. The linebacker next to him, number 99, drops back while the linebacker outside of him shuffles inside and lines up in the B-gap between the left guard and left tackle. Cleveland appears to be in a 3-2 front, with two of the linemen standing up.
At the snap, Cleveland intially rushes just two men. The linebacker you see at the bottom loops wide to jam the running back as he tries releasing on his pattern, then takes a very late rush from the left edge. Look at the middle of New Orlean's line. Both guards and the center became so preoccupied with the stacked Cleveland linebackers, none of them took the nose tackle Rogers, who barrels through the line directly at Brees. His pressure forces Brees to rush his throw in the left, where his back is running a hot route. Brees expects him to run a hook and throws to the pre-determined spot.
The back runs an out, however, and Brees' throw instead goes into the arms of linebacker Scott Fujita:
The Saints linemen were confused on this play. The back running the hot route was confused, and Brees was confused.
The result? Pressure up the gut, a hurried throw and a pick which wiped out a methodical Saints drive. New Orleans' offense went back to the sidelines to look at Polaroids and figure out what kind of defensive goulash Rob Ryan was feeding them.
They never caught up. Two later drives ended with pick sixes off passes forced to linebackers. The Browns offense could not muster much offense that day, but the defense did more than enough to compensate.
Ryan likes giving all of his front seven people an investment in the game plan. Any of them could blitz at any time. Any of them could drop into coverage. All of them move from the time the defense deploys until the ball is snapped.
The job is to keep things easy for them, but very hard for the offense to deciper. It forces the offense to respond to the defense. Much of the time it's guessing.
After a long season spent guessing which Cowboys defender would be the next one to bungle his play assignment, it will be refreshing to see confusion on the other side of the ball.
http://www.cowboysnation.com/2011/01/new-dc-rob-ryan-hopes-to-keep-em.html
New Cowboys' DC Rob Ryan Hopes to Keep 'Em Guessing
Posted by Rafael at Monday, January 17, 2011
Is that Jay Ratliff in a wig? Demarcus Ware in fake glasses, rubber nose and moustache?
If Rob Ryan has his way opposing quarterbacks won't know who they are, where they are and if they're rushing on a particular down. All coordinators talk about disguising their coverages and their pre-snap looks but Ryan's recent body of work demonstrates that he's more than talk.
Ryan's calling cards were obviously his week 7 and week 9 wins over the Saints and Patriots (the Browns had a bye in week 8) where Ryan's defense held Drew Brees to 17 points while intercepting him four times. In the next contest, Tom Brady was limited to less than 230 yards passing and 14 points. He did not complete a pass to a receiver of more than 12 yards.
Ryan's key? Using base and nickel personnel groupings, and throwing a blizzard of strange looks at both quarterbacks pre-snap, forcing both to make their reads after the snap of the ball.
Look at the formations Ryan served up for Brady on the opening drive of their game. Here's the opening play:
It's a basic, odd 3-4 front, with each of the down linemen playing head-up, or in two-gap sets. This is what Cowboys fans saw in the Parcells days, in '05 and '06. Notice the look on second down:
To counter New England's spread look, Ryan has a six-man front, with two linemen and four linebackers, removing a DE and adding a fifth d-back. This looks like a four-man front, but one of his OLBs is flexed wide with the TE in the left slot. Will he rush, or drop in coverage? Will Cleveland rush six, five, four or three?
That's part of Ryan's game, especially when facing offenses like the Patriots and Saints who rely heavily on spread sets. On 3rd down, Ryan gets even more extreme:
See any linemen? The Browns have five linebackers and six defensive backs, giving Brady, and more importantly his linemen, no read on who will rush and where they're coming from.
Let's take a closer look at how the pre-snap motion and movement produced results. Here's a sequence of shots from a single play early in the 2nd quarter of the Saints game. New Orleans is facing a 2nd-and-10 deep in Browns territory when Ryan puts another junk front on the field:
Cleveland shows Brees one down lineman, NT Shaun Rogers and four linebackers. They're in an overload to Brees' left, the weakside of New Orleans' line. This is not Cleveland's final set, however. As Brees calls the signals, the Browns front continues to move:
Rogers goes from lining up as a 3-technique, on the Lg's outside shoulder, to a 1-techique, shaded off the center's left shoulder. The linebacker next to him, number 99, drops back while the linebacker outside of him shuffles inside and lines up in the B-gap between the left guard and left tackle. Cleveland appears to be in a 3-2 front, with two of the linemen standing up.
At the snap, Cleveland intially rushes just two men. The linebacker you see at the bottom loops wide to jam the running back as he tries releasing on his pattern, then takes a very late rush from the left edge. Look at the middle of New Orlean's line. Both guards and the center became so preoccupied with the stacked Cleveland linebackers, none of them took the nose tackle Rogers, who barrels through the line directly at Brees. His pressure forces Brees to rush his throw in the left, where his back is running a hot route. Brees expects him to run a hook and throws to the pre-determined spot.
The back runs an out, however, and Brees' throw instead goes into the arms of linebacker Scott Fujita:
The Saints linemen were confused on this play. The back running the hot route was confused, and Brees was confused.
The result? Pressure up the gut, a hurried throw and a pick which wiped out a methodical Saints drive. New Orleans' offense went back to the sidelines to look at Polaroids and figure out what kind of defensive goulash Rob Ryan was feeding them.
They never caught up. Two later drives ended with pick sixes off passes forced to linebackers. The Browns offense could not muster much offense that day, but the defense did more than enough to compensate.
Ryan likes giving all of his front seven people an investment in the game plan. Any of them could blitz at any time. Any of them could drop into coverage. All of them move from the time the defense deploys until the ball is snapped.
The job is to keep things easy for them, but very hard for the offense to deciper. It forces the offense to respond to the defense. Much of the time it's guessing.
After a long season spent guessing which Cowboys defender would be the next one to bungle his play assignment, it will be refreshing to see confusion on the other side of the ball.