On Rushing 4 Versus Blitzing

Anybody following my twitter stream over the last week has seen me rant and rave about two teams, the Miami Hurricanes in college football and the Tennessee Titans, in particular not blitzing enough and only rushing 4 (or less). Now this has probably given people an incorrect impression about my philosophy on playing defense and so I feel the need to address it.

First of all I believe that you have to be able to do both. I don't think any team can possibly only blitz on passing downs any more than I think they can only rush 4 on passing downs. There has to be some balance and it should depend on the situation. Had UM or the Titans been beasting out of a 4 man rush you would have never heard a peep out of me all game. But the fact is they weren't and yet the defensive coordinators for both teams did almost nothing to adjust their game plan. And it wasn't just that they were only rushing 4 time and time again without getting any pressure, its also that they were playing zone behind that and if you give a credible quarterback time in the pocket they will find holes in a zone defense almost every single time.

Last night was particularly frustrating for me watching the Titans on defense in overtime because they literally had no chance to stop the Steelers from marching downt he field for a field goal because their defensive coordinator, Chuck Cecil was so worried about giving up a big play that he refused to dial up a blitz. You HAVE to blitz in that situation if for no other reason than to give the quarterback a different look. As it was the Titans were like a friggin scout team lining up on cards and Big Ben responded accordingly.

Now let me explain something to you. In the biggest game of my career, the NFC Championship game of 1999 when we played the Rams, a blitz lost the game for us. We had a third and long and we were facing Kurt Warner and the Greatest Show on Turf and our defensive coordinator, Monte Kiffin, dialed up a zone blitz. Warner gets the ball off, Ricky Proehl catches it barely coming down in bounds in the endzone and we lose the game after holding this prolific offense, whom nobody had given us a chance against, to no touchdowns nor field goals all day. The truth is it was a helluva play by them by both Warner and Proehl. The truth is also that the call was not executed correctly by one guy. But even now, today, knowing how that play turned out, I would hope our defensive coordinator would call that same blitz.

You can not play football in a way where you just try not to lose. Football karma simply will not allow you to do that I don't care what level you are on. It's why so many teams who go to a prevent defense at the end of a game prematurely end up on the losing end of the deal. Its why so many teams who call the dogs off prematurely on offense end up feeling the agony of defeat. You play to win the game, and blitzing is simply a part of that.

One final note, I realize that people love to repeat conventional wisdom but I just have to correct something. Albert Haynesworth is a bad mofo without a doubt, and I am not just saying that because he is a fellow Tennessee alumni. But the guy's forte is stopping the run. He isn't some big time pass rusher, hell he doesn't really have any moves other than a bull rush. Now he did get something like 8 sacks last year and that's great, but again its not really his deal. I know people will want to say that the Titans didn't get as much pressure out of their 4 man rush because he wasn't there but that simply isn't grounded in reality. He takes up two blockers on running plays and that is a great thing. But every nose tackle or defensive tackle who lines up in the A gap gets double teamed in a 4 man rush unless they are away from the center's slide. Besides that he was never and will never be a guy that teams have to account for on pass rush like say a John Randle or a Warren Sapp. That's just not who he is or ever was. Think I am wrong? Look up his career sack totals. Before the last two years when he had 6 in 2007 and 8 in 2008 his previous high was 3. That may not be what you hear over and over on ESPN but its reality and that is what really matters.

Da Canes

The Miami Hurricanes put on a show last night in their game against Florida State. I would have to say that without a doubt that game goes down as an instant classic. Don't get me wrong, the Seminoles came to play too and the game could have very well gone the other way. But in the end it was the Canes who made the plays to win the game and the Noles that came up short.

Now here are some random observations from the game.

-Miami is going to have to start blitzing at some point. I had no doubt that FSU would be able to get the ball down the field on the Canes because about 99% of the time last night they just lined up in a 4-3 with a Cover 2 shell and never did anything to attack Florida State. Now I understand that its a risk when you blitz and the Noles have a lot of athletes on offense, but to win a big game like that sometimes you have to take chances. Close to the end of the game Miami finally blitz and they ended up forcing a quick throw from FSU's ponder on a deep ball that fell incomplete. Could that ball have been caught for 6? Absolutely! But the dirty little secret is that deep balls have a low completion percentage and you just have to give a quarterback as good as Christian Ponder some different looks or he will eat you alive. That is one thing I think Miami will have to fix going forward because it is too easy to block people when they line up just like they do in a playbook.

-Jacory Harris is the truth! Unfortunately the commentators were so busy slobbering over Ponder that they didn't seem to notice until right at the end of the game. Had FSU won the game Ponder would have been deified as a potential Heisman candidate. But not only does Miami win, Harris also has a better game than Ponder, 386 yards passing to be exact, and the commentators act like his play was just a footnote. Nothing about how courageous it was for him to come back after getting injured on a blitz and leading his team to victory. Nope, not one single word. I'll leave it up to you as to why the two quarterbacks were treated so differently. I certainly have my own opinion though.

-FSU freshman defensive back Greg Reid is a BALLER. That kid has "it" and barring injury or him losing his mind he is going to make a helluva lot of plays for the Noles and might be one of the best to play there. For a guy that is so small he is certainly fearless and his athletic ability is off the charts.

-Javarris James and Greg Cooper may well be the best running back tandem in College Football right now. However I don't think Cooper should be returning kickoffs. He tries to run them back like its a regular offensive play instead of just hitting it and going.

-Travis Benjamin looks to be a big time playmaker for the Canes. In pregame the announcers said he runs a 4.2 in the 40. Now I am not really sure if that's true but he can definitely pick em up and put em down. I would have to take shots with that guy several times a game. I would also run him on deeper crossing routes too to keep defenses from being able to double team the guy.

-The football gods struck again. When you make stupid calls as a coach the football gods tend to punish you. This happened twice last night towards the end of the game. Miami had just gone up on FSU and their defense had started making plays and forced a punt. There was about 12 minutes left and obviously with such a close game the clock is going to be a factor. Well Miami decided to throw on 1st AND second down and of course both times the pass fell incomplete. Which brought up the third down where Reed hit Harris and forced the fumble/interception that FSU took back for a TD.

But the football gods weren't done. Then FSU is up and all night they have been either rushing 4 or blitzing Harris to various levels of success. But they come up on a 3rd and long on the ensuing drive and what do you know, they decide to rush only 3. And of course Harris got a completion for a first down and went on to lead the Canes down for the winning touchdown.

So for aspiring coaches remember two things. When you have the lead in the 4th quarter of a very close game, you need to run the ball on 1st or 2nd down to get the clock moving. On the other hand if you have the lead in a very close game in the 4th quarter and you are on defense, if you have been agressive all day don't stop being aggressive. If you fail to heed these words of advice, the football gods will be coming for you too!

It was truly one hell of a game and I have to say, while I was all over the Alabama/Virginia Tech game, Miami/FSU won the first weekend last night.