Defensive Analysis and Review: Chargers vs Broncos

First, this is my favorite of the posts on BFTB, alongside the O-line grading.
The biggest problem with the Chargers, at this point, I believe is there lack of an identity to rally around. All the great teams you can point out some concept that they stick by and do well: the Steelers of yore ran the ball and threw bombs when the secondary cheated up, and of course they have Dick LeBeau who CREATED the zone blitz really. Saints have a high-passing offense and an aggressive defense. The Jets emulated the Steelers.

The Chargers identity was centered around LT with Schottenheimer who espoused the run-run-pass-punt belief, but it didn’t work in playoffs. Norv Turner built the team around Rivers and Gates, but with Philip faltering the franchise has sunk this year, ala the Colts. Thus, when Rivers recovers his mojo I think the offense will rebound as well.

On defense though, I really think the scheme should rally behind Eric Weddle in the same fashion that Dick LeBeau’s defense uses Troy Polomalu. As they say, put playmakers in a position to make plays. Line him up alongside the linebackers or the d-line just to create confusion for the offense. I know we don’t have a reliable safety who can cover and it hinders that. I just think our defense should create confusion, that’s the biggest thing when playing football in the 21st century. Firehouse zone blitzes, stunts, traps, move around the pieces to fool the other team. If you’re going to use a 3-4 that is. A 4-3 is more about over-powering, but a 3-4 is a much more maneuverable scheme.

I do like Cam Thomas, Donald Butler, and I think from the limited sights I’ve had, I think Jonas Mouton is physically gifted enough to play at the NFL level. I still think that our personnel is good enough to be competitive at this level, which is why I place blame on Manusky for not coaching up a more disciplined, mentally tough, sufficiently technical team. Missed tackles, not falling on fumbles, losing contain. Yes, some of it is on the personnel, but it’s more due to their mental state in-game which the coaches need to influence. I think the players, on both sides, feel they need to play a high-variance strategy type of game to be competitive, even against lesser opponents when they just need to do fundamentals. Fall on balls instead of picking it up and running. Tackle instead of going for a strip. Throw the checkdown instead of forcing into double coverage. Etc.

Vince Young is pulling the best Philip Rivers he can, putting in ints to grab defeat despite LeSean McCoy’s(Ryan Mathew+’s) best efforts.

From ESPN Page2 TMQ by Gregg Easterbrook:

Sunday at San Diego, adjusting for sacks and scrambles, Denver coaches called 19 rushing plays for Tebow and 19 passing plays for him. Tebow threw a perfect stop-and-go touchdown to Eric Decker. The stop-and-go and out-and-up are staples of high school football; inexperienced defensive backs who are assuming a run play reliably fall for these. Denver set the play up with the prep formula of run-run-run then throw deep.

The zone-read option Denver used for much of the game against the Chargers was straight out of “Friday Night Lights,” or at least, what’s been trendy under Friday night lights in recent seasons. Repeatedly, Tebow held the ball in front of the tailback and read the unblocked defensive lineman: That’s the “read” part of a zone-read rush. If the lineman moved toward the tailback, Tebow kept the ball, often executing the old-fashioned “midline option” on which the tailback leads into the hole and the quarterback follows. On Denver’s final drive in overtime, Broncos High School ran the zone-read option run on three consecutive snaps, resulting in 40 yards gained and field position for the winning field goal.

Tebow even used the high school tactic of running out. In a prep offense, after the quarterback hands off, he sprints in the opposite direction, hoping a defender will follow him. This tactic hasn’t been observed in the pros since the 1950s. Having the quarterback run out after handing off is seen as beneath the dignity of NFL quarterbacks, who always simply stand and watch after giving the ball to a runner. This has a practical value — by NFL rules if a quarterback is not “attempting to participate in the action of the down,” he cannot be hit.

At San Diego, Tebow enthusiastically ran out the other way each time he handed off, just as a high school quarterback would. The Bolts were so rattled that by the second half, a man was going with Tebow when he ran out empty-handed. Late in the third quarter, Denver faced third-and-5. Tebow was flushed from the pocket and rolled left. San Diego linebacker Travis LaBoy slammed to a stop at the line of scrimmage and didn’t pursue Tebow, so worried was he about losing contain. Tebow threw for a first down, and Broncos High School recorded a field goal on the possession. The cheerleaders should have done push-ups!

I don’t think he got faked out all those times. What I’ve read about defending the zone read is that one guy crashes the runner regardless and one guy crashes the QB regardless. That way you don’t get faked out, you just do your job and trust your teammates. Seems like Weddle had Tebow’s number on the outside many times and Tebow had a low yards per attempt rushing. I thought your defensive problems came from a passive pass rush and the interior line not containing McGahee.

Did you mention somewhere that you’d seen the All-22 for this game?