Offseason All22 Film Study

Deep safety in the middle of the field to show Cover1.


Safeties rotate to reveal Cover2 Man

Show Cover1. The RB will motion out wide.


Red safety goes out to line up across from the RB. Looks like Cover0. QB makes an audible.


Blues fake the rush. Only 4 rush. The crowded LoS gets a free rusher. The confusion at the LoS works.


The short hitch by orange keeps red shallow and gives the slot WR plenty of room to work a fade route. A safety (Whitner) is asked to line up and man cover.


Odd coverage in that the DBs covering routes had no safety help even though there were 7 in coverage. QB sees no safety help and isolates the mismatch. Coming with man coverage again and again allows the QB to isolate favorable matchups. In this case - SS vs TE.

More man coverage.


Looks like Cover2man, but with the field safety rolling towards the middle.


What a throw.

Here's many of the things mentioned in the initial post about JoN's scheme. Crowd LoS, standing up, trying to confuse protection calls.


Overloaded rush gets 3 OL looking at 1 rusher. 3v3 on the other side including a RB vs a LB.


Drag route gets pattern matched. Deep safety rolls away from weakside CB.

Last 3rd down of this game, last play from this game.
Cover 1 blitz


Red notices orange coming and is riding yellow too far up the seam. This makes me think red is pattern matching and finally sees the real threat to his area. He's already putting on the brakes before the QB has begun throwing.


Had the WR that caught the pass ran a Go route, he would have been in the clear. Still a good result on the play.

SD finished the game 3 for 11 on 3rd downs. The amount of man coverage is obvious. As well as the desire to create confusion at the LoS with regards to which defenders are rushing - mixing of LBs, safeties, and CBs blitzing. Lots of press alignment in this game.

Cut up some plays from 2015 CLE at SD to show some tendencies of JoNiel's scheme. Starts on the previous page here.

Do you think we'll see Armstead and Buckner standing up? I don't think it would be a good idea because they'll have problems with their pad level. And it would be harder for them to use their length to an advantage.

In other news thanks for doing these breakdowns again. This is easily the best thread during the off-season and what keeps me coming back to the zone.

Originally posted by shmuck:
Do you think we'll see Armstead and Buckner standing up? I don't think it would be a good idea because they'll have problems with their pad level. And it would be harder for them to use their length to an advantage.

In other news thanks for doing these breakdowns again. This is easily the best thread during the off-season and what keeps me coming back to the zone.

I think we'll see them standing up when JoN asks for them to play like that. The thought about pad level is legit, but in the name of causing confusion, I think JoN will continue to use this. It only happens from time to time (DL standing up) so it isn't a huge element of his defense. It just proves his MO of trying to cause confusion for the OL. The gifs I posted only show a portion of the presnap movement when they are all standing up and moving around. When watching the entire presnap sequence it does look like chaos. If Bucker and AA get low just prior to impact with the OLman they should be okay.

Nice breakdown. Seeing these breakdown's has me a bit nervous. Love some of the pressure but the shallow crossing routes are wide open and will be hard to defend. Love the movement and confusion. Should eat a your qb alive

Originally posted by lamontb:
Nice breakdown. Seeing these breakdown's has me a bit nervous. Love some of the pressure but the shallow crossing routes are wide open and will be hard to defend. Love the movement and confusion. Should eat a your qb alive

If you are referring to the last play in the series of SD cutups, I think the LB might have blown an assignment. There was also the play where a safety was expected to make up ground and cover a shallow crosser. Below is how they normally handle shallow crossing routes - with pattern matching LBs.

The drag route gets picked up by the LB on the other side of the formation. This is very similar to what Fangio did.


Same concept as above with the drag route getting matched.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by lamontb:
Nice breakdown. Seeing these breakdown's has me a bit nervous. Love some of the pressure but the shallow crossing routes are wide open and will be hard to defend. Love the movement and confusion. Should eat a your qb alive

If you are referring to the last play in the series of SD cutups, I think the LB might have blown an assignment. There was also the play where a safety was expected to make up ground and cover a shallow crosser. Below is how they normally handle shallow crossing routes - with pattern matching LBs.

The drag route gets picked up by the LB on the other side of the formation. This is very similar to what Fangio did.


Same concept as above with the drag route getting matched.

Exactly what i was thinking. On one play that safety had a s**t load of ground to cover. I like how the LB's match up on the shallow routes. It does look like a Fangio defense.

Love the aggressiveness. I could see Bow getting 6/7 sacks this year. Do you get the sense that he moves his linebackers around as well? Like letting Brooks and Bow switch for a play just to confuse the offense.

Originally posted by lamontb:

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by lamontb:
Nice breakdown. Seeing these breakdown's has me a bit nervous. Love some of the pressure but the shallow crossing routes are wide open and will be hard to defend. Love the movement and confusion. Should eat a your qb alive

If you are referring to the last play in the series of SD cutups, I think the LB might have blown an assignment. There was also the play where a safety was expected to make up ground and cover a shallow crosser. Below is how they normally handle shallow crossing routes - with pattern matching LBs.

The drag route gets picked up by the LB on the other side of the formation. This is very similar to what Fangio did.


Same concept as above with the drag route getting matched.

Exactly what i was thinking. On one play that safety had a s**t load of ground to cover. I like how the LB's match up on the shallow routes. It does look like a Fangio defense.

Love the aggressiveness. I could see Bow getting 6/7 sacks this year. Do you get the sense that he moves his linebackers around as well? Like letting Brooks and Bow switch for a play just to confuse the offense.

I didn't pay attention to that. I don't look for which LB is which because it's hard to see jersey numbers from that view. I just identify LBs and DBs. One complaint last season from CLE fans was how JoN had Paul Kruger, their best pass rushing OLB dropping into coverage too often, which wasn't his strength. Sounds familiar right? Remember we saw Lynch dropping into coverage by Mangini last season.

The two are similar (JoN and Mangini) in that they like to disguise who is rushing the QB. So when doing that, there will be occasions where Bow (or some other LB) rushes and Lynch drops back into coverage, to confuse pass protection, or overload one side of the OL. I'm not sure if he would swap OLB for ILB (ex: Brooks for Bow), that would put both players in odd positions.

Originally posted by thl408:
Some observations of Jim O'Neil's scheme as how it was ran in CLE 2015. I watched the following games to get a gauge for what he liked to do when defending the pass: @SD, DEN, ARI, @CIN, @PIT. List of observations with the top of the list being what I feel most confident about stating, then less confident going down the list. Some of this is a repeat of what I've posted in the Jim O'Neil thread, but I wanted to put the cut ups in one place.

- Predominantly man coverage scheme; only saw zone coverage from CBs on 3rd and long situations.
- Create confusion for pass protection by crowding the line of scrimmage; also having players stand up or move around pre-snap
- Will mix between 3-4 and 4-3 fronts (link to post in JoN thread)
- Lots of blitz packages that involve LBs, safeties; likes to show pre-snap pressure on 3rd downs
- Rooted in Cover1; will also play Quarters, Cover2
- ILBs will pattern match drag routes; CBs rarely pattern match
- mix of press and off coverage alignment; more press
- any CB lined up across from a WR with a plus split is on an island as safety help will roll away from that side of the field
- Likes to rob weak side Curl zone with safety

I'll use the @SD and ARI games to show some of these observations. Most of the plays shown are on 3rd down, which I put more weight on, and think can best characterize what a defense wants to do, or feels comfortable doing.

It's worth mentioning that in man coverage, the CBs want to use proper leverage/positioning to funnel their WRs towards the help defenders (zone defenders). So in the case of Cover1, it's towards the middle of the field. In Cover2, it's away from the middle of the field. If a WR has a plus split, then use the sideline as a help defender.

You are the WZ NinerTalk equivalent of Viagra. Well done...I'll be calling my doctor in 4 hours but in the meantime, this gives me a great base to work from for matching our personnel with what JoN likes to run and perhaps, you can highlight anything I miss or need correction on.

- Predominantly man coverage scheme; only saw zone coverage from CBs on 3rd and long situations.
- Rooted in Cover1; will also play Quarters, Cover2
- Mix of press and off coverage alignment; more press
- Any CB lined up across from a WR with a plus split is on an island as safety help will roll away from that side of the field
- Likes to rob weak side Curl zone with safety

RCB: Dontae Johnson; Kenneth Acker
SLOT (S/CB): Keith Reaser; Will Redmond
LCB: Rashard Robinson; Tramaine Brock
FS: Eric Reid; L.J. McCray
SS: Jimmie Ward

Analysis: With this bit of information, we may be seeing two long, lean, tall and sticky CB's in press starting this year including one rookie and how many fans are about to say, "Finally!" when it comes to Dontae?! With less of a premium on zone defenders, players like Brock and Acker will come in on nickel on 3rd and longs. Brock and Acker can play some press as well but I don't think that's their strength but TBF to Acker, he was very physical in press during the pre season and perhaps, he'll be in the mix as well (but it didn't show under Mangini's off schemes). This is also why they are looking at Ward and Redmond outside as well...who's physical and sticky enough to hold until the pass rush gets there? The coaches are going to try everyone outside. Also, who's strong enough to redirect WR's towards the sidelines or inside to the help? The S's are going to need to have range and I know there is a good discussion on which S would have the most range for Cover 1...Ward or Tartt? Players like Tartt and Ward could be excellent Swiss Army Knives in this defense allowing for more disguise in flexibility.

- Create confusion for pass protection by crowding the line of scrimmage; also having players stand up or move around pre-snap

RDE: DeForest Bucker; Ronald Blair
NT: Quinton Dial; Mike Purcell
LDE: Arik Armstead: Demetrius Cherry
ELEPHANT: Tank Carradine
WILL: Eli Harold
TED: Gerald Hodges; Michael Wilhoite
MIKE: Navarro Bowman; Shayne Skov
SAM: Aaron Lynch; Ahmad Brooks
ROBBER: Jaquiski Tartt
RCB: Dontae Johnson; Kenneth Acker
SLOT (S/CB): Keith Reaser; Will Redmond
LCB: Rashard Robinson; Tramaine Brock
FS: Eric Reid; L.J. McCray
SS: Jimmie Ward

Analysis: This involves the entire group but mostly the DL and OLB's and ILB's. We saw some of this under Fangio and forced ourselves into several defensive off sides last year as well in attempt. But if run effectively, it can give an OL fits indeed. Now, imagine Armstead, Dial and Buckner standing up. That's almost comical. You can sneak an ILB or someone like Tartt can creep up from the robber design and HIDE behind those trees. I just picture an OL pointing out Tartt and the other OL saying, "Where? I don't see anyone." Sack.

- Will mix between 3-4 and 4-3 fronts
- Lots of blitz packages that involve LBs, safeties; likes to show pre-snap pressure on 3rd downs
- ILBs will pattern match drag routes; CBs rarely pattern match

RDE: DeForest Bucker; Ronald Blair
NT: Quinton Dial; Mike Purcell
LDE: Arik Armstead: Demetrius Cherry
ELEPHANT: Tank Carradine
WILL: Eli Harold
TED: Gerald Hodges; Michael Wilhoite
MIKE: Navarro Bowman; Shayne Skov
SAM: Aaron Lynch; Ahmad Brooks
ROBBER: Jaquiski Tartt

Analysis: This is big for a heavy-rotation of DL but especially big for players such as Carradine and Blair who will be allowed to pin their ears back and attack often. In addition, this is a big deal for players like Tartt, Ward and Bowman who are also excellent at getting into the backfield on timed blitzes. It means the ILB's will be playing more down hill and laterally for pattern matching underneath in coverage (hence, a "linebacker friendly defense"). With a 4-man DL, it means a player like Hodges or Bowman can come off and catch a breather or both with Tartt coming in.

First of all, stop pigeonholding players to a side. Quinton Dial and Jimmie ward already said the entire line and secondary is learning to play every side.

2nd, tank is not an elephant LMAO.

3rd, stop calling tartt a robber. Anyone can be a robber. Since o'neil seems to love cover 1, the mike(bow) is usually the "rat in the hole" in what you call a cover 1 robber coverage.