Warner breaking down Staley's scheme

[oldnotdead]

Best read I've found on Staley's defensive scheme. It all starts upfront with a good 4 man rush and solid play on the boundaries with CBs you can trust. This is why retaining Williams was so important. Now with Rochell this defense will really take a step up in the next few years. If you play a zone scheme this is how you do it....aggressively. He's like McVay and the offense, disguising the look by making it always look the same but played differently each time.

Watch: Kurt Warner breaks down film of Aaron Donald and the Rams defense

Kurt Warner does some of the best film analysis around, and this time, he’s looking at Aaron Donald and the Rams defense.

theramswire.usatoday.com

View: https://youtu.be/CnOOu0vFnic



View: https://youtu.be/Ws162CvE5k0

 

[Merlin]

I suspect there's gonna be a lot more quarters around the league this season. It's been trending already but McVay using it to such great effect last season ensures it will proliferate even more. Not taking cred from Staley here either. But if he had done what he just did with the Bears the effect would be much less than it is under McVay. The dude is a rock star.

Cover 3 is something Staley had them switch to quite commonly after the snap, it was a pretty good chunk. But I also suspect the Rams are going to steal from what Iowa St has been doing for some time now, which is a schematic adjustment of Cover 2 that allows for better run defense. Rams are strong at safety and have the pieces to do it, which is basically the addition of a midfield safety that plays downhill at the snap to boost the run game and make up for what was Cover 2's biggest weakness. On the way they can adjust and disrupt the crossers that have been torturing Cover 3 for some time. Reason I suspect this is because it jives nicely with Morris' background and there is plenty of film to check in terms of how it's been dealt with on both sides.

Rams had safeties playing downhill to the LOS last year to very good effect, lot of film of Rapp doing that to include what looks like a run fit out of a quarters look pre-snap. Staley was really good at using guys for what their strengths were and adjusting scheme to accommodate it. I don't think Morris has the same grasp schematically of the Fangio defense and I don't want him trying to run someone else's defense if he doesn't have it down. But I do think he's more than capable of getting creative out of his knowledge base which includes a very good grounding in Cover 2 and plenty of experience with Cover 3 given its proliferation.

 

[Neil039]

IMO Morris strength will be his variations and usage of the LBs. How will he incorporate them with a 3 WR set or a 12 personal grouping. San Francisco’s ability to run the ball will be his test in the division.

The Safety play will also be interesting. Will they drop down into the box more often or play a true Cover 2?

As Warner stated, can the cover 3 or 2 shell hold it down for the d-line? Will Morris box the field out to quarters as Staley did with this unit? He has the personal with Ramsey and Williams.

Amazing to watch Ramsey hold down a third of the field all by himself.

 

[TSFH Fan]

With all the talk about the Rams defense giving a light box look, I thought it was odd that Kurt never mentioned "light box".
Here: https://matchquarters.substack.com/p/the-argument-for-a-light-box

The light box look and the Packers' ability to make it an actual light box helps explain what went wrong in the playoffs.

Packers Offense Picked Apart Rams Defense With Great Approach

In a Divisional Playoff weekend where defenses led the way, the top-ranked defense in the NFL couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain. The Rams had no answer for Aaron Rodgers and a Packers O…

footballfilmroom.com

On the Jets clip, Kurt drops in Cover 6. I think it was an early season Athletic article that spotted the Rams defense going heavy with Cover 6 -- if someone has that article it'd probably be great as a companion to Kurt's vid.
Cover 6: https://footballadvantage.com/cover-6/

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I also suspect the Rams are going to steal from what Iowa St has been doing for some time now, which is a schematic adjustment of Cover 2 that allows for better run defense.

Yeah, that article tries to make a big distinction between Heacock's third safety and Rocky Long's rover defender. Maybe there is. I don't know. What I do know is that more Rams fans would be more excited about the idea of the Rams unleashing some Rocky Long chaos on the NFL than the idea of stealing some defensive concept from Iowa St., even though those could be the exact same things. Or not.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I stumbled across this video this morning. This breakdown does a good job showing Staley’s 2 high look and how important Donald and Ramsey are to making it work well.

He calls the Rams defense revolutionary.


View: https://youtu.be/UKeEtHfY7PA

 

[kurtfaulk]

I stumbled across this video this morning. This breakdown does a good job showing Staley’s 2 high look and how important Donald and Ramsey are to making it work well.

He calls the Rams defense revolutionary.


View: https://youtu.be/UKeEtHfY7PA

fantastic video.

.

 

[Merlin]

The light box look and the Packers' ability to make it an actual light box helps explain what went wrong in the playoffs.

One play you see over and over from Green Bay in that game is they lined up in two back sets and motioned the other RB out which drew Reeder out of the box. Then they ran into said light box with a lot of success.

They also isolated Hill and double moved Williams but I felt like all that stuff started with the run game. Give Rodgers a run game and you're up shit creek.

Re: the 3-3-5 it is the pre-snap safety usage that is important. Rams did so much creative shit with Staley that I fear Morris will suffer if he tries to emulate too much of that shit. So I am just trying to anticipate what he may do. I am gonna look at some of Atlanta's film and see what he changed when he took over but either way it is a fascinating DC change and I can't wait to see what they do.