Haugh's 5 ways to fix the D

[nfoligno]

David Haugh of the Trib offers his 5 ways to fix the Bear's D,

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...,1073982.column

 

1 Stop stacking the linebackers at the line of scrimmage so much to fake blitz.

 

Agreed 100%. I've talked about this myself. Urlacher is being used to fake blitz, then drop back into coverage. This looked great week one, but since then, I think teams have figured it out and the effect is negated. Worse, it takes urlacher out of position to do much of anything. Basically, he is trying to get back into position, but is more often still in no-mans land when the pass is made. As Haugh mentions, Urlacher always seems a step behind the play, and a big reason for this may be how we line him up before the snap, making his job that much more difficult.

 

Some believe Urlacher is simply old, slow or whatever. Maybe. But even if all that is true, are we not only making the situation worse by the way we are playing him? IMHO, the fake blitz offers minimal (if any) benefit. We need to simply let Urlacher play, and stop the BS. If he fails then, we can rip him, but we need to give him an opportunity and again put him in position to make plays.

 

2 Be sticklers and smarter about the alignment of cornerbacks and safeties.

 

Two issues are covered here. First, start having the CBs press more. That doesn't mean they press 100% of the time, but the point made is that if you mix it up, it makes you less predictable, and prevents the opponents from so easily game planning how to beat our corners. I would add this. If you notice, our CBs often start out on top of the LOS, but it never fails, they backpeddle and drop well off the LOS just prior to the snap. Who do they think they are fooling? If you never press the WR, showing press prior to the snap simply is not believable. If you do press some of the time, then when you show press pre-snap, the QB can't assume anything.

 

Another point made is that we seem to be playing Payne in the traditional FS role, regardless what his position actually is. The point is further made that we play Payne too deep. We have him so deep that, while he may prevent a bomb, he is otherwise taking out of the play. He is too deep to help the CBs on 99% of the plays, and thus we are essentially playing w/ 10 men on defense.

 

3 Give right cornerback Nathan Vasher more time off.

 

Haugh argues to replace Vasher w/ Graham in the starting lineup, but further argues to use DM as our nickel and I guess simply bench Vasher. I agree w/ the Graham move, but feel we would be better served moving Vasher to nickel. I simply do not understand the belief that DM is a quality nickel. Vasher was once a great nickel for us, and before we simply bench him, I would like to see him at nickel first.

 

4 Consider a creative, out-of-the-box schematic adjustment to maximize talent.

 

Haugh is not saying we should scrap the cover two, but simply more often try different things w/ players more than overall scheme. He talks about blitzing our LBs from the edge more, as opposed to always sending them up the gut. Move around our DL similar to how some other teams do. Try to matchup a bigger, slower OT w/ Brown or even Anderson, rather than just having Wale go agaisnt him. Or even move Harris to DE on some plays when you have a slower footed OT. Move Brown inside.

 

I remember our doing a lot of this sort of thing when Rivera was here. We would blitz the corner, w/ a Safety moving up to play the WR. We would stunt more. We would send our LBs from different angles, rather than simply blitzing them up the gut. Under Babich, I think we "show" a lot of different things before the snap, but by the time the snap happens, we end up doing the same ol same ol.

 

5 Get Lovie Smith more involved in the defensive calls, and let people know it.

 

Hell yes. I simply do not think Babich has shown he can call a game. While I am not certain Lovie can, I think he needs to step up and take control. Some might try to say he already does, but when I watch the sidelines, I don't think I ever see Lovie calling plays. Lovie may have gotten more involved w/ the D Monday through Saturday, but I think he is still leaving it up to Babich on Sundays. I think it is high time for a change here.

[Mongo3451]

1 Stop stacking the linebackers at the line of scrimmage so much to fake blitz.

 

Agreed 100%. I've talked about this myself. Urlacher is being used to fake blitz, then drop back into coverage. This looked great week one, but since then, I think teams have figured it out and the effect is negated. Worse, it takes urlacher out of position to do much of anything. Basically, he is trying to get back into position, but is more often still in no-mans land when the pass is made. As Haugh mentions, Urlacher always seems a step behind the play, and a big reason for this may be how we line him up before the snap, making his job that much more difficult.

 

Some believe Urlacher is simply old, slow or whatever. Maybe. But even if all that is true, are we not only making the situation worse by the way we are playing him? IMHO, the fake blitz offers minimal (if any) benefit. We need to simply let Urlacher play, and stop the BS. If he fails then, we can rip him, but we need to give him an opportunity and again put him in position to make plays.

I would also like to see our OLB's knock some recievers out on those slent passes. It's tough to do from the LOS. The angle is simply not there.

 

2 Be sticklers and smarter about the alignment of cornerbacks and safeties.

 

Two issues are covered here. First, start having the CBs press more. That doesn't mean they press 100% of the time, but the point made is that if you mix it up, it makes you less predictable, and prevents the opponents from so easily game planning how to beat our corners. I would add this. If you notice, our CBs often start out on top of the LOS, but it never fails, they backpeddle and drop well off the LOS just prior to the snap. Who do they think they are fooling? If you never press the WR, showing press prior to the snap simply is not believable. If you do press some of the time, then when you show press pre-snap, the QB can't assume anything.

 

Another point made is that we seem to be playing Payne in the traditional FS role, regardless what his position actually is. The point is further made that we play Payne too deep. We have him so deep that, while he may prevent a bomb, he is otherwise taking out of the play. He is too deep to help the CBs on 99% of the plays, and thus we are essentially playing w/ 10 men on defense.

This is a huge thing for me. I don't see us dictating where recievers go very often. You can sometimes funnel them and give your defense more options.

 

3 Give right cornerback Nathan Vasher more time off.

 

Haugh argues to replace Vasher w/ Graham in the starting lineup, but further argues to use DM as our nickel and I guess simply bench Vasher. I agree w/ the Graham move, but feel we would be better served moving Vasher to nickel. I simply do not understand the belief that DM is a quality nickel. Vasher was once a great nickel for us, and before we simply bench him, I would like to see him at nickel first.

Agreed with vasher at nickel. D manning has been our best blitzer, but they have not utilized him in that role a lot lately.

 

4 Consider a creative, out-of-the-box schematic adjustment to maximize talent.

 

Haugh is not saying we should scrap the cover two, but simply more often try different things w/ players more than overall scheme. He talks about blitzing our LBs from the edge more, as opposed to always sending them up the gut. Move around our DL similar to how some other teams do. Try to matchup a bigger, slower OT w/ Brown or even Anderson, rather than just having Wale go agaisnt him. Or even move Harris to DE on some plays when you have a slower footed OT. Move Brown inside.

 

I remember our doing a lot of this sort of thing when Rivera was here. We would blitz the corner, w/ a Safety moving up to play the WR. We would stunt more. We would send our LBs from different angles, rather than simply blitzing them up the gut. Under Babich, I think we "show" a lot of different things before the snap, but by the time the snap happens, we end up doing the same ol same ol.

Creative. LOL That's F'n hillarious. I don't think anyone on our staff is capable.

 

5 Get Lovie Smith more involved in the defensive calls, and let people know it.

 

Hell yes. I simply do not think Babich has shown he can call a game. While I am not certain Lovie can, I think he needs to step up and take control. Some might try to say he already does, but when I watch the sidelines, I don't think I ever see Lovie calling plays. Lovie may have gotten more involved w/ the D Monday through Saturday, but I think he is still leaving it up to Babich on Sundays. I think it is high time for a change here.

See above. Seriously, Lovie doesn't have the "Greatest show on turf" to make other teams one dimensional. I still think Lovie is the problem. I would love to eat crow, but I really think Lovie is behing the preparation and execution during the week. What else does he to do during the season?? I simply don't think Lovie would be anymore cerebral than Babich. Again, I hope I am wrong, I just think Lovie is in the lower tier of the coaching ranks when it comes to brains.

[AZ54]

Given what I've seen of Vasher this season I'm not so sure he'd play at well at the nickel spot. One of his best assets was his quickness in changing direction and I don't see that this year. He had a really bad groin injury last year and maybe he isn't back to 100% for whatever reason. Maybe he never will be. Or maybe he just spent the offseason spending all that bonus money instead of working out. I really don't care for excuses but when WR break on their routes he's no longer staying with them and I'd be fine with Graham taking his spot.