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from the book "Blood, Sweat, and Chalk, The Ultimate Football Playbook: How The Great Coaches Built Today's Game" by Tim Layden. Tim basically broke down all of the different fads or styles of football from the Single Wing, to the Wishbone, West Coast Offense, to the Zone Read, etc. He spoke to the experts, creators, and/or guru's of each phase like Don Coryell for the "Air Coryell" chapter and Dick LeBeau for the the "Zone Blitz" chapter. I saw this from the "Cover 2" where he mostly spoke with Monte Kiffin about his Tampa 2:
Think of these as the Five Commandments of the Tampa Two:
1) The front four must be able to rush the quarterback, allowing the linebackers freedom.
2) The middle linebacker must be able, and willing, to frequently drop as deep as 30 yards, filling the deep crossing zone between the safeties, and leaving many of the glamour plays - helmet-popping tackles, interceptions-to the outside linebackers and safeties. "My primary purpose in that defense is to run back to the huddle and congratulate somebody for making a play while I was running down the field with the tight end," says Brian Urlacher.
3) The outside linebackers have to be smart enough and athletic enough to not only cover receivers in the middle zone but also to rally to the runs at the line of scrimmage.
4) The cornerbacks must by physical enough to jam wideouts at the line of scrimmage and also to tackle ballcarriers.
5) The safeties must be smart enough to break properly on the balls in the air and physical enough to create, and survive, the violent collisions with wide receivers that happen when the safety has run 25 yards from his deep starting position.
Also saw this in that same chapter:
In 2006 the woeful Detroit Lions hired Rod Marinelli from Tampa Bay as their head coach, and Marinelli then drafted lightning-quick 230-pound middle linebacker Ernie Sims from Florida State to play the Lambert-Urlacher role with the Lions.
Great book if you like the history of football and the various schemes that have dominated the game.
Think of these as the Five Commandments of the Tampa Two:
1) The front four must be able to rush the quarterback, allowing the linebackers freedom.
2) The middle linebacker must be able, and willing, to frequently drop as deep as 30 yards, filling the deep crossing zone between the safeties, and leaving many of the glamour plays - helmet-popping tackles, interceptions-to the outside linebackers and safeties. "My primary purpose in that defense is to run back to the huddle and congratulate somebody for making a play while I was running down the field with the tight end," says Brian Urlacher.
3) The outside linebackers have to be smart enough and athletic enough to not only cover receivers in the middle zone but also to rally to the runs at the line of scrimmage.
4) The cornerbacks must by physical enough to jam wideouts at the line of scrimmage and also to tackle ballcarriers.
5) The safeties must be smart enough to break properly on the balls in the air and physical enough to create, and survive, the violent collisions with wide receivers that happen when the safety has run 25 yards from his deep starting position.
Also saw this in that same chapter:
In 2006 the woeful Detroit Lions hired Rod Marinelli from Tampa Bay as their head coach, and Marinelli then drafted lightning-quick 230-pound middle linebacker Ernie Sims from Florida State to play the Lambert-Urlacher role with the Lions.
Great book if you like the history of football and the various schemes that have dominated the game.
