Lost Coaches: Aubrey Pleasant

[A.J. Hicks]

Doesn't seem like it's been talked about much but the way the young Lions DBS are playing I think Pleasant was a bigger loss than has been talked about.

 

[CoachAllred]

Doesn't seem like it's been talked about much but the way the young Lions DBS are playing I think Pleasant was a bigger loss than has been talked about.

I hated seeing him go more than any other coach.
I was hoping he would be our new DC.

 

[oldnotdead]

As I've been saying, McVay made a huge mistake in passing over Aubrey for DC. He would have continued to build upon Staley's scheme. He's far more aggressive than Morris. In Detroit he simply lacks the talent and experience in his players.

They should fire Morris and hire Pleasant in the offseason. I have no doubt that this defense would have been a top 5 unit under Aubrey.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

I hated seeing him go more than any other coach.
I was hoping he would be our new DC.

They could always hire him as DC next year

 

[CoachAllred]

They could always hire him as DC next year

Hmmm.
Like the way you think lol.

 

[jrry32]

We miss that dude. He has gotten a lot of out of the ragtag squad he has in Detroit.

 

[Merlin]

What sucks is he probably would have been happy as just passing game DC. But anyway. I agree he's a hell of a coach and wouldn't surprise me if he's considered to replace Morris after he gets an HC job. IMO a year under McVay will put him over the top to get hired.

 

[Ellard80]

we are running the same scheme as last year though lol... is Aubrey Pleasant a good coach?

Dunno,... maybe. The Lions 26th rated defense doesn't neccessarily prove anything.

I'm not even saying im sold on morris.. but yeah not sure about all of this.

 

[Mackeyser]

It’s nowhere close to the same scheme…

 

[A.J. Hicks]

From everything I've read I think he grew up in Detroit and really wanted to get back there.

He's an excellent coach.

 

[Ellard80]

It’s nowhere close to the same scheme…

dunno I;ve heard a lot of talking heads say its mostly the same and that's what McVay wanted.

You really think we'd completely change our defense after last year?

We played mostly zone last year - at times especially earlier in this year it wasnt working out.

Some people must be forgetting last year when the Jets, and 49ners dinked and dunked us to death just like what has happened this year.

There is this comical notion all year that we played man to man more last year... which is absolutely not true.

The defense isn't exactly the same.. but its mostly the same.

Leonard Floyd says Raheem Morris' defense is 'pretty much the same' as last year's

Leonard Floyd doesn’t see many differences between Raheem Morris’ defense and Brandon Staley’s.

theramswire.usatoday.com

Rams plan to maintain Brandon Staley’s defense under Raheem Morris

The defense should look very similar in 2021.

www.turfshowtimes.com

 

[OldSchool]

Oh no we've talked about his loss a lot. He'll be a DC very soon IMHO.

 

[1maGoh]

dunno I;ve heard a lot of talking heads say its mostly the same and that's what McVay wanted.

You really think we'd completely change our defense after last year?

We played mostly zone last year - at times especially earlier in this year it wasnt working out.

Some people must be forgetting last year when the Jets, and 49ners dinked and dunked us to death just like what has happened this year.

There is this comical notion all year that we played man to man more last year... which is absolutely not true.

The defense isn't exactly the same.. but its mostly the same.

Leonard Floyd says Raheem Morris' defense is 'pretty much the same' as last year's

Leonard Floyd doesn’t see many differences between Raheem Morris’ defense and Brandon Staley’s.

theramswire.usatoday.com

Rams plan to maintain Brandon Staley’s defense under Raheem Morris

The defense should look very similar in 2021.

www.turfshowtimes.com

Those articles are from May and January. I haven't heard anyone say the defense is similar some preseason started. I thought that Jordan mentioned at some point don't specifics about what was different, but I could be wrong on that.

 

[Mackeyser]

Those articles are from May and January. I haven't heard anyone say the defense is similar some preseason started. I thought that Jordan mentioned at some point don't specifics about what was different, but I could be wrong on that.

Yeah, the way it's played out is that it's a 4-3 hybrid of a 3-4 hybrid... schematically, it's a mess. It's not worthless as it does work when playing with a lead, but it kinda required AD to play out of his mind for the scheme to work in a slug out.

 

[TheBunk]

I believe we'd be the top seed currently if we had promoted him to DC. Still though, he'd be another coach we'd lose to a HC position as soon as the season ended regardless.

 

[Ellard80]

Those articles are from May and January. I haven't heard anyone say the defense is similar some preseason started. I thought that Jordan mentioned at some point don't specifics about what was different, but I could be wrong on that.

I've heard over and over during our games that our defensive scheme is basically the same as last year.

looks the same to me... ramsey lining up inside most of the time... lots of zone coverage - very little blitzing - mostly cover 3,4,6

 

[dieterbrock]

I thought Pleasant wanted to go to Detroit because he’s from there.

 

[1maGoh]

I've heard over and over during our games that our defensive scheme is basically the same as last year.

Talking to yourself doesn't count man.

But seriously, I've not heard that on a broadcast. Maybe I missed it.

 

[Ellard80]

Talking to yourself doesn't count man.

But seriously, I've not heard that on a broadcast. Maybe I missed it.

Ive heard Aikman say it at least twice and some others.

 

[Mackeyser]

I spent a fair bit of time watching the Fangio 3-4 and how our 3-4 was a bit different.

Morris is running a hybrid of a hybrid.

Staley was running a 3-4 hybrid with various concepts from a number of base sets... 3-4, 4-3 and even 5-2. However, the base concept and the personnel are 3-4

Morris is running a 4-3 hybrid OF the Staley 3-4 hybrid.

How many times do we see a base 4 man set with us in a cover 2 or cover 3? It's one thing to have a legit 3 man front and then use one of the 4 LBs to create that 4th rusher. However, not just in personnel, but also in line stunts and twists, contain and run defense, the DL rush concepts are straight out of a 4-3 base set.

Now, some of the changes that have been made really help.

Gaines playing out of his mind really helps. Earnest Jones locking down the middle really helps... he's as close to a legit 4-3 MLB as we have and has the versatility to switch between 4-3 Mike and 3-4 ILB.

Now, I grant that basically no one plays a 3-4 all game because so often teams' base set is Nickel now.. so it's either 4-2 or 3-3, but still.

The reason why the scheme is a mess is that we don't have the personnel to run a 4-3 and we are gonna resign Von Miller giving us one of the best 3-4 OLB tandems in the league.

What I did like is that against AZ, Morris did dial up much more of the typical 3-4 front and the interior of AD, Gaines and A'Shawn Robinson is stout AF. I really hope Morris sees this and moves forward accordingly.

But yeah, it's not the same scheme and it's only kinda close insofar as EVERYONE runs a hybrid these days due to the need to run so much damn Nickel and Dime and the rise of hybrid players like LB/DE Micah Parsons and the Star position Jalen Ramsey.

If Morris sticks with the D he's called the last two games going forward, then much of my issues with the scheme are obviated. Only time will tell.