Tag: cover-3

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Why are quarterbacks struggling against two-deep coverage?

In this week’s “Xs and Os,” Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar take a deep dive into why NFL quarterbacks are struggling so much against two-deep coverage.

It’s Scheme Month at Touchdown Wire, and who better to talk about with such things than the great Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup? On this week’s edition of “The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” Greg and Doug (the editor of Touchdown Wire) get into two of the most dominant schematic systems in the NFL today — split-safety coverage, and the run-pass option. Let’s get into split-safety coverage to start.

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Over the last few years, we’ve seen a decisive change of the single-high coverages of the Legion of Boom days. Per Ben Fennell of CBS Sports and The NFL Network, 2022 marked the first season in the Next Gen Stats era in which there was more two-high than single-high coverage.

There are absolutely reasons for this. Per Sports Info Solutions, quarterbacks are faring far worse against two-high coverage.

Why is this happening? Let’s get into the weeds on it with Mr. Cosell.

Seahawks CB Sidney Jones discusses broad strokes of new defensive scheme

We’ll have to wait until September to actually see it in action, but at least we now have some vague idea of what to expect this coming season.

The Seahawks will be changing things up on defense this year under new coordinator Clint Hurtt and associate head coach Sean Desai. We’ll have to wait until September to actually see it in action, but at least we now have some vague idea of what to expect this coming season.

Seattle cornerback Sidney Jones recently re-signed with the team on a one-year deal. He spoke with the media today and shared some broad strokes about the defensive scheme as related to him by the coaches. Jones says it will feature “tight-match, cover 3 type stuff” along with a lot of man-coverage.

Jones played his college ball at Washington and then was picked by the Eagles in the second round of the 2017 NFL draft. He had issues with injuries and coverage in Philadelphia and only lasted three years there before leaving for Jacksonville. Right before the 2021 season started the Jaguars traded him to the Seahawks.

Jones went on to start 11 games, allowing just two touchdowns and an 84.3 passer rating in coverage.

Where Jones fits in with Seattle’s new-look secondary remains to be seen. The team has re-signed Quandre Diggs and brought back former nickel corner Justin Coleman, but they also allowed D.J. Reed to leave for the Jets.

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Pete Carroll admits Seahawks have been ‘a little bit arrogant’ on defense

The same could be said for the Seahawks defense over the last several years.

“Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you.”

So Tom Hardy’s Bane informed Patrick Bateman’s Batman in 2012’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ not long before breaking his back. The same could be said for the Seahawks defense over the last several years.

From 2012-2015 Seattle had the top defensive unit in the sport – ranking No. 1 in points allowed all four years and also top-five in DVOA. That proud group began to come apart beginning with the playoff loss to Carolina and it’s been a long fall since, but now the Seahawks officially have a below-average defense in all the ways that matter.

Head coach Pete Carroll offered up a telling quote yesterday at the 2022 NFL Combine that illustrates what’s happened, admitting that his team has been a bit arrogant over the years with the way they play defense.

This is exactly right and it’s very encouraging that Carroll is willing to admit it and change course.

For a long time, Seattle’s heavy cover 3 scheme was the envy of the entire league, but even with the most talented defensive personnel in football any scheme that becomes stale can be taken advantage of. It’s been several years since the Seahawks were elite in the talent department here, so it’s all the more important to embrace a necessary change. Losses to teams starting Kirk Cousins, Colt McCoy, Ben Roethlisberger and Taylor Heinicke at QB this past season is all the evidence you should need.

New defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt and associate head coach Sean Desai will be tasked with coming up with a gameplan every week that’s more aggressive and variable than the ones we’d come to expect from Ken Norton Jr. and Kris Richard before him.

To his credit, Norton started making some significant changes just after the Week 5 loss to the Rams – namely less zone, more varied looks (including two high safeties), and more disguising coverages. He didn’t go far enough though, which was part of the reason Seattle wound up ranked No. 21 in DVOA last year.

Carroll’s admission that his defense needed to change should be exciting for every fan who wants to see this team finally get back to performing at an elite level on this side of the ball.

If only Pete would have a similar revelation on offense and embrace a more analytics-friendly-let-Russell-Wilson-loose kind of attack then the Seahawks would really be cooking with gas.

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Seahawks lead NFL in not disguising their defensive coverages pre-snap

Somebody has to take the fall for the sorry state of the Seahawks’ defense. 

Somebody has to take the fall for the sorry state of the Seahawks’ defense. There are several obvious culprits to point at, but the name at the top of the list has to belong to coach Pete Carroll.

One reason why Seattle has been getting diced up defensively is a refusal to disguise what they’re doing before the snap. According to Pro Football Focus, the Seahawks are staying in the same coverage they show pre-snap on over 92% of their plays, the most in the NFL this season.

That’s not much of a problem when you have players like Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas cleaning things up and daring opponents to do their worst. Seattle simply doesn’t have the talent on the back end (or up front for that matter) to play cover-3-F-U anymore, though. In any case, disguising coverages should be a part of any modern defense – regardless of the personnel involved.

Defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. seems to be the fanbase’s chosen scapegoat here. However, this has always been Pete Carroll’s defense no matter who calls the plays. Direct your disappointment appropriately.

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