Analysis - New Blitz Possibilities

After last week's game with my analysis of the problems with the offensive line, I decided to do an upbeat analysis of something that went well this time - Mike Nolan's defense. I watched a few of his blitzes and loved what he was doing with the schemes. It's trademark Mike Nolan, but he's able to add some new wrinkles with the addition of Kevin Burnett

The addition of Kevin Burnett has made a difference, freeing Nolan up to put pressure on the quarterback. In Friday's case, on an unsuspecting Cam Newton. Below I analyze...with a bit more diagrams and videos than I had last time. (I borrowed the field format from National Football Post's Matt Bowen, who everyone should read if they're into X and Os.) (Sorry for the poor quality of the videos, trying to capture videos on my computer didn't go very well)

Blitz 1 - 3rd and 8, 8:26 in 1st :

Pre-Snap:

• The Dolphins are in a 2-4-5 Nickle Package in this play
  
• There's a lot of movement at the beginning of the play, they show McDaniel at NT, Starks at Left DE, Wake at Right DE, and JT to the right.
  
• Chris Clemons is showing blitz next to Wake with Dansby in a Zone look
• They then move JT, Dansby, and Wake to the left side (that's a scary trio right there...) with Y Bell lining up on the right side across from Jordan Gross

During the Play:

• Sean Smith, Vontae, Clemons show like they're dropping into a Cover 3 with the idea that Newton will think Burnett, Sapp and another LB are dropping to cover the underneath routes
• Starks draws the Panther's newly highest paid center, Ryan Kalil, out with a little jab step and then drops to cover the middle of the field
  
• Wake draws the double team by attacking the tackle and the guard, JT stunts around Wake, attacking Kalil
  
• This allows Dansby to get a free run (every defense's dream) while YB blows up DeAngelo Williams, but gets taken out of the blitz
• Obviously, Newton scrambles and having Vontae play that side of the field pays off because he makes the tackle, keeping Newton short of the 1st down

Here's a diagram of the defense:

Blitz 2 - 3rd and 4, 8:31 in 2nd:

Pre-Snap:

• Dolphins in the Nickle package again, except with Merling replacing Starks this time
• Less movement on this play with Tony McDaniel at DT, JT with his hand on the ground on the weak side, and Merling as the strong side DE
• Wake is on the strong side, standing up - could be showing blitz or dropping, he ends up covering Shockey in man coverage

During the Play:

• The left guard gets caught on a Burnett/ JT stunt, JT originally attacks the Tackle but then reverses direction and cuts across the face of the guard (pretty good quickness for a 37 year old)
• YBell speed rushes the Right Tackle and pushes Newton out of the pocket
• Chris Clemons blitzes from the other side and takes the block from the RB and keeps Newton from moving to the side in the pocket
• McDaniel and Burnett push their guys to close the front of the pocket and Burnett/JT cleans the play up, tackling Newton and keeping him from going anywhere
• While I can't see the coverage really from what the TV replay shows, my favorite part of the play is that it looks like Dansby essentially drops to be the Free Safety in a Cover 1 scheme

Here's a diagram of this one:

Analysis:

What I found really interesting is that these plays might not have worked so well in last year's defense. So much has been made of Burnett's presence this year, rightfully so after he was all over the field on Friday. Just looking at these blitzes, in the first one - you could never trust Channing Crowder to cover Greg Olsen in coverage like Burnett did in that play. That leaves Dansby to blitz and flush Newton out of the pocket.

In the second blitz, Dansby is able to drop into zone coverage - something we know he's good at and Burnett makes the big tackle to keep Newton from slipping away. While I did like Crowder when he played, Burnett just made a great play that I'm not sure Channing makes.

Nolan blitzed at least one safety on both of those plays and I have no doubt that we'll see more of that. Looking at the diagrams of these plays, you can tell that Nolan didn't want Newton to get out of that pocket.  I'm excited to see how many different combinations of blitzers he can come up with considering the talent of the guys in coverage. Especially with that trio of Dansby, Wake, and JT being able to blitz - that's scary to have coming from one side.

(Code for the Defense: SS = Sean Smith, VD = Vontae Davis, 30 = Chris Clemons, YB = Yeremiah Bell, 27 = Benny Sapp, 47 = Kevin Burnett, 58 = Karlos Dansby, 78 = Tony McDaniel, 94 = Randy Starks, 97 = Phillip Merling, 91 = Cam Wake, JT = Jason Taylor)