I heard him on an interviews a couple of times and I have kind of surmised what his mind set is. I am paraphrasing here and giving some interpretation, but here is the gist of what he said.
He feels that we since we have difficultly defending the pass with 7 or 8 in coverage, then how can we do it with only having 5 or 6 in coverage? And if we blitz, but also play man coverage the other team will simply throw the ball over the top or beat their man one on one. And he seems to have big fear of giving up the big play. So prefers to drop lots of guys in coverage and if they know their coverages perfectly they will handle the other team's passing attack.
I disagree with this on many levels. First, it is easy for good passing offenses to complete short passes as they always find holes and openings to exploit. Even with 7 in coverage. Second, teams can run against this as they have more blockers than defenders and the defense is too far off the line of scrimmage to stuff running plays. And there are simply too many complex offenses to defend in the pac 12. They cant learn every play that every team runs. They are not pros. They don't spend enough time to do it perfectly. So they need the dl to get to the qb a little faster. And they need to play closer to LOS so they disrupt the wr's routes. They cant sit back and react. They have to attack the offense more often. They cant let the offense dictate the play. If the offense wants to run a short slant with a wr, put biggie right up on the wr to disrupt the route. And then rush 5 so the qb does not have all day and also so you contain him. Put adoree on the speed wr if they try to throw deep. He is good at man to man coverage and he won't have to cover quite as long with a 5 man rush. You must make the qb uncomfortable. And we will get a few more sacks. And you will make the qb throw quicker which cause incompletes, ints and the occasional long play against the usc. But we have the speed to recover from those long plays and the next time it will be an int or a sack. These are just some ideas. But you have to play tough physical ball to win. Not sit back and let teams march on you.
I am philosophically opposed to wilcox's plan because football is ground acquisition game. I don't believe in bending all the time. The is goal is to stop each play so that it yields no yardage. Not to give them short stuff to protect against the long play. You have to let football players play. They are not meant to sit back in coverage and do nothing. They need to be hitting, shedding blocks and tackling on most plays. It is a team sport. They are not centerfielders in baseball. Of course I believe in playing some zone and softer coverages at certain times. But you have to mix it up.
He feels that we since we have difficultly defending the pass with 7 or 8 in coverage, then how can we do it with only having 5 or 6 in coverage? And if we blitz, but also play man coverage the other team will simply throw the ball over the top or beat their man one on one. And he seems to have big fear of giving up the big play. So prefers to drop lots of guys in coverage and if they know their coverages perfectly they will handle the other team's passing attack.
I disagree with this on many levels. First, it is easy for good passing offenses to complete short passes as they always find holes and openings to exploit. Even with 7 in coverage. Second, teams can run against this as they have more blockers than defenders and the defense is too far off the line of scrimmage to stuff running plays. And there are simply too many complex offenses to defend in the pac 12. They cant learn every play that every team runs. They are not pros. They don't spend enough time to do it perfectly. So they need the dl to get to the qb a little faster. And they need to play closer to LOS so they disrupt the wr's routes. They cant sit back and react. They have to attack the offense more often. They cant let the offense dictate the play. If the offense wants to run a short slant with a wr, put biggie right up on the wr to disrupt the route. And then rush 5 so the qb does not have all day and also so you contain him. Put adoree on the speed wr if they try to throw deep. He is good at man to man coverage and he won't have to cover quite as long with a 5 man rush. You must make the qb uncomfortable. And we will get a few more sacks. And you will make the qb throw quicker which cause incompletes, ints and the occasional long play against the usc. But we have the speed to recover from those long plays and the next time it will be an int or a sack. These are just some ideas. But you have to play tough physical ball to win. Not sit back and let teams march on you.
I am philosophically opposed to wilcox's plan because football is ground acquisition game. I don't believe in bending all the time. The is goal is to stop each play so that it yields no yardage. Not to give them short stuff to protect against the long play. You have to let football players play. They are not meant to sit back in coverage and do nothing. They need to be hitting, shedding blocks and tackling on most plays. It is a team sport. They are not centerfielders in baseball. Of course I believe in playing some zone and softer coverages at certain times. But you have to mix it up.
