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Well I have a small problem, or a few with the analysis. As an Eagles fan I saw just how one sided the wide 9 is. It is a Sack driven defensive line up, that has severe repercussions.
When the unmatched "dream team" stepped on the field with DL coach Jim Washburn, eagles fans were in store for one of the most prolific defenses they've seen since the late Jim Johnson. Washburn specialized in the Wide Nine, was the creator of the 100M dollar man Albert Haynesworth, and was the reason the Titans were halfway real event on defense. Washburns wide 9 lined up pass rushers outside to isolate Offensive Tackles. He then would use two defensive tackles, to do the same on guards, or the center. The analysis itself is correct, when it comes to the pass rush. However, this breakdown completely whiffed on all other factors of the wide 9.
The wide nine may absolutely be the worst defense you could possibly use against the run. I've watched it over and over as an eagles fan a while back. Teams caught onto this weakness and that's why the dream team became a nightmare. This wide 9 is completely neutered by running draw plays and attacking the middle of the defense. You must have spectacular and sure tackling LBs to make this defense even serviceable. Teams sudden learned, that this was our weakness. They would do a draw, let the DEs run passed the play, and focus downfield on the 2nd level, the linebackers. Once a guard, FB, or even offensive tackle gained that second level iT was all but over. The wide 9 isolates your linebackers, and makes them an easy target. The running lanes allocated by the wide nine, have been described as driving a school bus through them, there is no way around this.
The wide 9 also puts the DTs in harms way, by playing a numbers game,outnumbered by one. 3vs2, that math is never going to go the other way.
The wide 9 was picked apart and there are so many ways to defile it. For example, in shotgun you need a RB and TE. These will both offer chip blocks to slow the pass rush,neutralizing the fear of getting sacked, the DE is no longer gaining the outside shoulder, he's just staring into a double team, with absolutely no other options.
Screen plays absolutely devastated us in philly, those speed rushers would get 5 yards away from the designed run, before they even noticed what was happening. The real wide 9 is all about pass rush, so if the video game is going to implement a true wide 9, these flaws and weaknesses should be portrayed as said above. The DEs pin their ears back, and only focus on the QB. Everything else is a blur to them and they are completely oblivious to their surroundings.
That is my first problem with Maddens wide 9, and that analyst's interpretation of how practical it is.
My second problem is that the comparison of the wide 9 to the Nickel 3-3-5 is nothing short of baffling. A nickel 3-3-5 with rushing LBs is closer to a 5-2 or 5-1-5 than the wide 9. The wide 9 is a 4-3 based system, exclusively. The edge contain in the video, is realistic in a situation where there LB or DEs job is setting the edge, In the wide 9 the DEs job is to gain a clear path to the QB, not set the edge. Hence Washburn's firing. These two schemes have no similarities. The 3-3-5 will give you the 3-4 system that looks to draw double teams on your down linemen(hence the larger or anchorous players in the 3-4 DL) and allows your LBs to have 1on Zero matchup (or 1 on running back) to split into the backfield. The wide 9 however, does the exact opposite. The only matchup it gains, is the one on the edges, the players furthest outside of the middle, are taken advantage of, and puts the rest of the D at a disadvantage.
The wide 9 puts all pressure on your linebackers and safeties to overcompensate, the uselessness of the defensive ends. It makes the LBs play In space against Tight Ends and RBs near the line of scrimmage, advantage offense. You can almost literally play an 11 v 9 game with the ousting of the DE. Which is why the eagles had one of the worst defenses in the NFL in 2012, and why the dream team went crashing.
This scheme is a complete flash in the pan, and that pan should be thrown away. It's a scheme that will hurt itself more than the opposition, a scheme that will be portrayed inaccurately in madden, and a scheme that is easily taken advantage of. Although the analyst says it's their job to be purely pass rushers, he negates his own comparison by saying the LBs and DTs must make up for gap control, but why would the OLB (who is the wide 9 tech in video) contain the outside edge on a run play, if his goal is to reach the QB?
As I said. This video was inaccurate in comparison (3-3-5), true philosophy of the wide 9 (gaining containment), and failed to portray honesty about the wide 9(weaknesses). The wide 9 is nothing short of a 1 on 1 practice drill for DEs that have one responsibility, and gives their teammates an extra 3 burdens.
The Eagles had 50 sacks the first year of the wide 9, it was almost cut in half the year after. They are also ran on, for over 2000 yards that season, which was over 125 yards rushing against per game. My critique is more of the scheme itself obviously, my the reviewer also missed a few key things to discuss, and whiffed on the comparison of the two formations.
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08-04-2014, 02:04 AM
