Techincal Defensive question

Technical Defensive question

Not ripping on the D here at all so before anyone jumps the gun and assumes I am ripping what has been this team's only bright spot the last 3 weeks, I am not. But I noticed during the Browns game that right off the bat they had significant success running the slot reciever straight across the field, catch the slant and only have daylight in front as a LB chased from behind and the safety and corner had to come up from playing 15 yards off their man (as is normal in this D) to make the stop. Then the Browns stopped running it. I am certian that same play would be run until stopped by Peyton or Brady all day long. Maybe the Browns are just stupid, or they are not confident enough in Grandpa Wheeden to make an accurate throw?? Or did we adjust our D so that the LB was not left alone on them? If so, what exactly is that defensive adjustment? It didn't seem to be press coverage to me, which is how I would think you at least attempted to stop it (albeit with higher risks of the WR getting by the LB/CB ala Fitz in SB43??

 

Without watching the tape, I would just assume we changed the coverage to try to cover that particular receiver, so that's likely why the Browns got away from such plays. In high school and even college, teams run the same plays over and over until the other team proves they can stop it, then they run it again just to make sure the other can stop it again. That doesn't happen a lot in the NFL. No clue about the Browns as I really don't pay close attention to them, but for most teams, a lot of reads happen at the line which will determine the specific play. Many times a play will come in for a QB, but it won't be a specific play, it will be a list of plays, or a variation of the same play. At the line, the QB will read the defence and then decide which exact play to run. So if the defence appears to have the slot receiver covered, or if there's 2 LB'ers pinched down in the middle of the field, they likely aren't going to bother throwing the slant.

Unless someone has watched the game again and has specifically broken down the plays, that's likely the best answer you're going to get. We started defending it, so the Browns moved away from it and started going towards other things that they felt weren't defended as well.