I never understood why we didn't play our corners tighter to the opposing teams receivers. I realize that our DB's were young and often out-matched, so playing off kept us from getting burned, but to me playing tight was well worth the risk. We are a blitzing team (which I like very much) but the blitz is designed on passing downs to overwhelm the quarterback and make him rush a bad throw or get sacked. By playing off and giving a cushion of sometimes 10 yards or more, it seems that we make it too easy on the quarterback to quickly find the open man. If it's 3rd and 8 and we blitz, all we need to do is make it look like the receivers are covered for a few seconds. The quarterback must get the ball a way in a hurry. He doesn't have time to check down to his third receiver or he'll generally be sacked and if we're tight on their men then the chances of him throwing us the ball drastically increase. It's intimidating to have inebackers and safeties like KJ, White, and Mitchellbreathing down your neck but that pressure greatly decreases when you look out to the flats and see your men being given a substantial cushion and you only need a few yards for the first down.
Sure, sometimes they call the right protection and route and you'll get burned, but more times than not you can cause a sack, fumble, or interception. My hope is that Wilson and Collins will continue the blitzing as they have indicated, but also trust our now more expereinced DB's enough to play a little tighter in more situations so that we can get the ball back a little quicker this year. If you remember, last year people drove down the field a lot, but then our defense stepped up inside the 35. I like to bend but not break, but I like not even bending much even better.
Sure, sometimes they call the right protection and route and you'll get burned, but more times than not you can cause a sack, fumble, or interception. My hope is that Wilson and Collins will continue the blitzing as they have indicated, but also trust our now more expereinced DB's enough to play a little tighter in more situations so that we can get the ball back a little quicker this year. If you remember, last year people drove down the field a lot, but then our defense stepped up inside the 35. I like to bend but not break, but I like not even bending much even better.
