Better pass rush won't help without better coverage scheme

**cdcox** · 12-28-2005, 12:40 PM

Many here on the "What one area of our team kept us out of the playoffs? " thread are declaring the pass rush as the single thing in most need of improvement. However, without a change in coverage scheme a better pass rush would have very little effect.

We run what I call "halo pass coverage" becasue the defenders often treat the receiver as someone fielding a punt, giving him a 3 yard halo. Even in double or triple coverage, our players maintain this this halo, even slowing down to avoid closing the gap when given the chance. Once the receiver catches the ball, they collapse the halo and make the tackle (or at least try to). This is done so consistently that it must be by design.

Suppose we had the league's best pass rush. The QB sees a 10 yard cushion on at least one of the wide outs. He knows from film study about the halo coverage. Any decent OC is going to have a hot option on every pass play. When the pass rush comes, the QB can go to this hot option or nearly any other player on the field and hit him for an easy completion because we do not make any serious attempt at close coverage.

I don't know why we don't run a more aggressive coverage scheme. Maybe we don't have good enough players in the secondary to run anything else. Maybe Vermeil or Gunther is so paranoid about giving up the big play that they will not give anything else a chance. What I do know is that a fierce pass rush will have very little impact until we get away from the halo coverage scheme.

12-28-2005, 12:40 PM	Topic Starter
cdcox www.nfl-forecast.com Join Date: Sep 2000 Casino cash: $2311769	Better pass rush won't help without better coverage scheme Many here on the "What one area of our team kept us out of the playoffs? " thread are declaring the pass rush as the single thing in most need of improvement. However, without a change in coverage scheme a better pass rush would have very little effect. We run what I call "halo pass coverage" becasue the defenders often treat the receiver as someone fielding a punt, giving him a 3 yard halo. Even in double or triple coverage, our players maintain this this halo, even slowing down to avoid closing the gap when given the chance. Once the receiver catches the ball, they collapse the halo and make the tackle (or at least try to). This is done so consistently that it must be by design. Suppose we had the league's best pass rush. The QB sees a 10 yard cushion on at least one of the wide outs. He knows from film study about the halo coverage. Any decent OC is going to have a hot option on every pass play. When the pass rush comes, the QB can go to this hot option or nearly any other player on the field and hit him for an easy completion because we do not make any serious attempt at close coverage. I don't know why we don't run a more aggressive coverage scheme. Maybe we don't have good enough players in the secondary to run anything else. Maybe Vermeil or Gunther is so paranoid about giving up the big play that they will not give anything else a chance. What I do know is that a fierce pass rush will have very little impact until we get away from the halo coverage scheme.
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