Will we see more or less Man to Man coverage?

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by Tiger10, Sep 9, 2009.

  1. tzanghi

    tzanghi Founding Member

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    Zone is specifically used to counter exactly what you described. Zone limits the ability of speed to harm your team because each man has to cover an area, not a man, thus a fast player is limited to how much his speed can do in a small area. Getting a fast WR on a LB in zone won't hurt much because he can only get so much separation from within the zone, and generally LB zones are across the middle in which case the WR's going to have to worry about getting smacked. Perfect example of this is during the Miami game on Monday night a LB(I believe from Miami) was lined up on a RB in man who was spread out wide, and had to cover him man to man and got BURNT. In zone, the RB would have been in the CBs zone and the CB would have been able to cover him.
     
  2. bmy-

    bmy- Founding Member

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    People confuse 'soft zone' with 'zone' I think. Zone is an important part of every defense and it can be as aggressive as any other defensive scheme out there.
     
  3. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    A lot depends on the quarterback we face. Snead, Tebow or Locker can pick a zone apart if there is no pressure and we haven't shown much pressure on the QB so far. But lesser passers have difficulty finding the seams and take too long to decide who will be open.
     
  4. tzanghi

    tzanghi Founding Member

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    A very good point. If anyone remembers the Georgia game from last year, Danielson made a great point in saying that we had to play Man to Man because Stafford would pick apart our zone with his rocket arm and quick release. Advanced QBs do know where the holes in different zones are, but against Vandy, we won't have to worry about a QB with a GREAT football IQ.
     
  5. asignupe99

    asignupe99 Founding Member

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    Zone is very effective with a consistently strong pass rush, especially when the D-line does not over-pursue opening up too many running lanes for dual threats.
     
  6. dudley

    dudley oops!

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    I didn't see the Miami game but that sounds like a matchup problem and not a coverage type problem. You can't put a big slow guy on a smaller faster guy. Actually the zone is more susceptible to mismatches than man. Generally the zone stands there and takes the (mis)matches the offense gives it. That means your 5' 10" CB is likely to get isolated on their 6' 5" WR, etc..

    Also, if you don't think getting a fast WR on a LB in zone won't hurt much, you didn't see the Florida game last year.

    Texas is another team that feasts on the zone. McCoy had something close to a 70% completion rate last year.

    A good zone coverage example is the Richard Dickson touchdown reception against Georgia Tech in the bowl game last year. It's on some of the highlite clips on Youtube.
     
  7. Attack Tiger

    Attack Tiger Reformed Sunshine Pumper

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    This doesn't happen in man-to-man coverage? Man is inherently susceptible to mismatches.
     
  8. tzanghi

    tzanghi Founding Member

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    In terms of the mismatches, if the offense has 2 WRs on the field and the defense is in Cover 2 Man, the 2 CBs will be manned up on the WRs, which leaves only the LBs to cover the RBs and TEs, this is a very usual case. And as stated above, mismatches occur in man more than zone.

    I completely agree that zone is possible to beat, and good QBs will do so like the ones you mentioned, but it is less susceptible to mismatches and more susceptible to a scrambling QB. In a zone, there will almost always be men up near the line of scrimmage playing the flats or the middle of the field that can come up and make a play, but in man players can be run away from a certain part of the field leaving it wide open for the QB to take off.
     
  9. Ch0sn0ne

    Ch0sn0ne At the Track

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    In man, the defense chooses the mismatches. In zone the offense chooses the mismatches.

    That is why good qb's destroy zone defenses.
     
  10. Attack Tiger

    Attack Tiger Reformed Sunshine Pumper

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    I saw Chavis mix it up pretty well this time out. You could tell we had a better gameplan coming into this contest.
     

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