Jump to content

Coverage or Pass Rush?


tannenballs

Coverage or Pass Rush?  

45 members have voted

  1. 1. What is more valuable on Defense?

    • Coverage
      11
    • Pass Rush
      34


Recommended Posts

I have some bad memories of decent, though not incredible secondary play consistently getting torched because no one can get to the QB. I have some memories of Drew Brees having damn near a minute to find someone wide open.

This year though, my team seems to have found a pass rush, though our secondary is terrible so it doesn't matter. We get torched anyway. I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to have competent defense in Atlanta.

So I can safely say you need both. I'd still lean towards pass rush because it's easier to predict success year by year though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very hard question for me to address. Belichick is famous for building his units from the line OUT, so pass rush would seem to be his favorite.

But this year, everything on D is being set up by coverage. The coverage is so good it pauses the QB looking to look for an open WR and that allows the front 7 more time to penetrate. It has worked very nicely.

My opinion: I prefer pass rush because that means you can stuff the run as well. "... from the line OUT".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well you can create pass rush with blitzes. Hard to create coverage out of standard alignments and formations. Elite pass rush can more easily be neutralized over elite coverage. Max protection sets, chipped blocking, imaginary elite blocking TEs.

So, give me strong 3 pt shooting from the rim on goal kicks.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, tannenballs said:

Because 3 of the best pass defenses in the NFL are winning with coverage over pass rush

No corner can stay on one WR forever, the 4 second window is the ideal shutdown time that it should take for the pass rush to get to the QB. After that the CB becomes more vulnerable with each passing second. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When it comes to elite defenses, they usually end up having some amount of both. It's not fair to say a defense is winning purely on coverage or pass rush, because I would expect the defenses lead by coverage to have at least a replacement level pass rush. Which is a whole different animal than say, a pass rush that takes 15-20 seconds to get to the QB, in which case you're basically screwed.

 

9 minutes ago, Bearerofnews said:

Well you can create pass rush with blitzes.

Blitzes can also be picked up, QBs can read it and check down to the RB in the flat, etc. Blitzes aren't a catch-all panacea for an anemic defensive line. I'm probably biased, as my team has basically never had a good defense ever in my 20+ years of watching them, but I have memories of no matter how many rushers you send, they just never get home, the blitzers always get picked up, etc. I've seen some games so bad on defense, even when rushing 6-7 guys, the QB still has forever to find a guy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Used to think it was easily pass rush, but over time I'm starting to reconsider. Pat's have elite coverage and it's gotten them far. Last year we had a great pass rush with Ford, Houston, and Jones and it didn't matter because even the best DL isn't going to get there most of the time, and all it takes is DBs getting burned on a few of those snaps. This year our rush is worse (at least without blitzing, for sure) but our coverage is way better and it's made a huge difference. 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Jakuvious said:

Used to think it was easily pass rush, but over time I'm starting to reconsider. Pat's have elite coverage and it's gotten them far. Last year we had a great pass rush with Ford, Houston, and Jones and it didn't matter because even the best DL isn't going to get there most of the time, and all it takes is DBs getting burned on a few of those snaps. This year our rush is worse (at least without blitzing, for sure) but our coverage is way better and it's made a huge difference. 

Complimentary football. 

No matter how good one unit is, you need a bear minimum from the other. It seems.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...