The "walking around" defense: what is it and the pros/cons

[SPTO]

The Jets employ this defense a lot so I think it would be a good idea to explain exactly what it is and the pros and cons of it.

So those who are very knowledgeable on the mechanics of the game please help me out with this.

Thanks

[Watson]

See the quote in my sig.

Anything to make the QB's and OL's reads harder is beneficial. Make him see a blitzer in A gap, then C, then D gap, back to A gap. It makes him more wary of what the defense is doing than what the offense is doing. It also helps distract him from what coverage you are running, not to mention usually it frees up the backside for an occasional Corner blitz (like the Rivers fumble in the SD-NYJ game).

[lonewolf371]

It helps a lot in pass defense because the other team doesn't know what the coverage is and who to block. It hurts your run defense because guys are out of position and you'll only stop running plays by "lucking" into a gap. The plus is most good NFL teams now rely on the pass and aren't particularly great running teams.

[SPTO]

Thanks for the replies. I have a feeling we'll see a lot of this this weekend.

[Millennium]

Go back and watch the Ravens defense since 2005. That's when Rex Ryan took over the Raven's defense. There were variations with Mike Nolan and Marvin Lewis, but Ryan is what really brought the "Organized Chaos" defense to Baltimore.

The biggest pro is that it hides schemes. Quarterbacks have a harder time reading coverage, and centers have an even harder time reading blitz packages.

The biggest con is if you don't have the horses to play it. It takes good football awareness to play it, and it has a tendency to give up a lot of big plays (like most blitzing defensive schemes do) if blocked correctly. You also need good press cover corners (i.e. McAlister for Baltimore, Revis for the Jets) because they end up on an island for the better part of the game,

[CarryTheWeight]

SPTO, remember the Bills home opener against the Seahawks a year ago? We once used that defensive scheme out of the gates and it confused the Seattle offense (which lead to that blowout win). Why we didn't use it the rest of that season, at least sparingly, is anyone's guess.

I think the scheme is tremendously effective, especially if used in conjunction with a standard defensive look. Anything to confuse and disorient opposing quarterbacks and offensive linemen is a plus in my book. Case in point, the Bills using it against the Seahawks. We were normally a ho-hum defense in the Jauron days, especially in the 2008 season, so when Fewell decided to run a similar defense (but in a Tampa 2 scheme), the Seahawks were visibly disoriented and couldn't adjust on the fly.

I would like to see more teams experiment with this defensive philosophy in high-pressure situations...it's a surefire way, as said before, to confuse opposing offenses and force them into making mistakes.

[SPTO]

Quote: Originally Posted by CarryTheWeight

SPTO, remember the Bills home opener against the Seahawks a year ago? We once used that defensive scheme out of the gates and it confused the Seattle offense (which lead to that blowout win). Why we didn't use it the rest of that season, at least sparingly, is anyone's guess. I think the scheme is tremendously effective, especially if used in conjunction with a standard defensive look. Anything to confuse and disorient opposing quarterbacks and offensive linemen is a plus in my book. Case in point, the Bills using it against the Seahawks. We were normally a ho-hum defense in the Jauron days, especially in the 2008 season, so when Fewell decided to run a similar defense (but in a Tampa 2 scheme), the Seahawks were visibly disoriented and couldn't adjust on the fly.

Ah yeah I remember that. One of the few times the Bills tried anything remotely innovative. Of course they reverted back to "play not to lose" style the rest of the year.

I agree that it's a great scheme to use in high pressure situations and more teams should use them. The only teams I know of that tried/tries that are the Ravens and Jets. I've seen other teams try it every once in a blue moon but never as much as the Jets and Ravens.

[Palo20]

Belichick and the Pats have done this off and on for years. They used to have great success with it against Peyton.

Bill's philosophy has changed a bit over the years, and he doesn't blitz nearly as much as he once did.

I've seen the Steelers use this a lot too.

As mentioned above, just trying to confuse offenses and blocking schemes.