Today’s NFL is about two things above all else — creating and defending explosive plays. In the effort to defend explosive plays, defenses align their pass-rushers all over the line of scrimmage in everything from stunts off of base fronts to overload fronts, where offensive linemen have to adjust more than they’d like to against numbers that don’t work for them.
Anything to get to the quarterback as quickly as possible.
Still, quarterback disruption is about more than just scheme — you also have to have a certain number of guys with the right tools and traits to blow things up from every gap.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” Greg (of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup) and Doug (of Touchdown Wire) get into the traits needed to get after the quarterback from every gap — from 0-tech (right over the center) to wide-9 (far outside the offensive tackle).
Greg and Doug spent this week’s “Xs and Os” building the ideal defensive line with those specific traits, and here, we drill down to the best pass-rushers in the 2022 season from every gap. Who does it best, and what are the tools needed to do it?
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:
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You can also subscribe to “The Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
…and on Apple Podcasts.
(All metrics courtesy of Sports Info Solutions and Pro Football Focus unless otherwise specified).