Agree with everything you said re: zone vs man strengths/weaknesses. I too am frustrated with playing off 7 or 8 yards on mid range passing downs. I wonder if it has to do with Stec's confidence in his players. Last year as the season wore on I saw us pressing on man coverage more often. Against USC I saw Penton and Dennis play closer to the receiver on some plays.

Somebody tell me how I'm wrong, but doesn't press coverage take away shorter/quick passes and give the ends more time to get to the quarterback?

One problem is when the ends don't get to him and our players don't stay with their man it ends up being big-play time, and perhaps that's the kind of risk the staff doesn't want to take. What does each defensive approach accomplish vis-à-vis screens?

Any thoughts?

This post was edited on 9/30/14 at 11:11 am

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Posted by Tackle74

Columbia, MO

Member since Mar 2012

5249 posts

Posted on 9/30/14 at 11:23 am to MizzouJim

as far as screens go, man coverage takes the CB out but makes the LB/Nickel or Safety read the pass quicker as they are locked on their man. Basically our defensive strategy seems to be keep everything in front of us and not to give up the big play and wait for a mistake by the O or a big play by the D to stop the opponent. It mostly works except when facing a team that has a good QB, is patient and efficient. What frustrates me though is not running zone it is the fact that the cushion is soooooo deep and then the CB tends to hit their backpedal on the read, putting them effectively many times like 12 yards off.

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