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My “question for a new play-caller” series (companion piece? filler?) continues with the defensive side of the ball. Again, there are changes galore across the league for the point negaters, with new and familiar faces alike.
Does Ryan Nielsen turn Travon Walker into Travon Runner?
Nielsen impressed in his first go-around as an NFL defensive play-caller during his only season as the coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons in 2023. The Falcons far outplayed their overall talent level, with Nielsen carrying over a decent chunk from his previous stop as an assistant coach with the New Orleans Saints under Dennis Allen.
That “chunk” was a preference for size up front; a defensive line that features size and a push-the-pocket style meant to suffocate quarterbacks into making poor decisions.
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Ideally, the line is backed by linebackers and defensive backs capable of holding up in coverage and blitzing alike. Nielsen, along with Allen in New Orleans, likes to change up the back end of coverage looks after the snap, especially on passing downs like third and second-and-long. It’s more than just changing from one coverage look to another. While Nielsen would indeed spin the Rolodex of what the Falcons were running on each down, whether it was man-to-man or zone (typically a cloud coverage featuring at least one side of Cover 2), the Falcons were frequent blitzers and users of simulated and creeper pressure that feature an atypical four pass rushers or even dropping eight into coverage (the generously listed at 281 pounds Calais Campbell had more than a handful snaps in coverage last season, casting a shadow on everyone else down the field while he was likely trying to remember basketball drills from two decades ago).
No matter what the game plan concoction was for a given week, the underlying formula for Nielsen (and, again, Allen) was the same: funk up the coverage look with everything at his disposal, try to get the…
Source link : https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/cowboys-mike-zimmer-eagles-vic-fangio-among-7-defensive-play-callers-in-new-places-worth-keeping-eye-on-155509420.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-05-23 15:55:09
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