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Design Your Defense

Posted by Scipio Tex on March 5th, 2009 under Football

I’ve always been fascinated by human capital and its evaluation, measurement, and best disposition – not in the eye-roll inducing corporate talking points Human Resources sense – but in the real world “let’s-get-something done, now how do we best do it?” way. Sports are a great testing ground for that debate.

I propose a game that’s a very small subset to that discussion, primarily dealing with the measurement and allocation piece, using something near and dear to our hearts – football defense.

The premise is simple:

I want you to field a college defense. You’re playing in the Big 12. Your goal is to win the league and a national championship.

You need only do three things to play:

1). Pick your base defense

2). Allocate 70 player personnel points over 11 positions

- All allocations must add up to 70
- minimum allocation of 1, maximum of 10
- You cannot decimalize (I’m looking at you, engineers)
- Assume that a player value describes the player’s efficacy against run and pass equally
- A player value represents their baseline of natural ability vis a vis peers at their position, not necessarily production

Here’s your scale, so we’re all using the same value vocabulary. Remember, we’re discussing ability:

10 All-American
8-9 All-Conference
6-7 Quality
5 Average
3-4 Below average/Weak
1-2 Awful

3). Now, justify all of your decisions

—————————————————————————-

Here’s a Dummy Example by Skippy-O-Tex (I’ll post my real one later):

I’m running a 3-4. Wrecking Crew, boi!

OLB 10
DE 5
NT 10
DE 5
OLB 10
ILB 7
ILB 7
SS 5
FS 3
CB 3
CB 5

I have three All-Americans: at NT and both OLB spots! We will sack the QB before he even thinks of getting rid of the ball. Very solid ILBs backing up my stud NT as well. Yeah, we may give up some plays in the secondary, but they won’t need to cover very long with my pass rush up front and my ability to shut down the run.

Have at it. This will be fun.

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29 Responses

  1. GringoSalado said:

    March 5th, 2009 at 9:39 pm

    OLB 6
    DE 9
    T 7
    T/E 5
    OLB 5
    ILB 5
    Nickel 5
    SS 4
    FS 9
    CB 9
    CB 6

    All Americans are overrated.

    One pretty scary DE, one 1st rounder at one CB, another all conf., do-it-all QB of the backfield at Safety.

    My thinking is you disrupt w/ one very good DE and one very good Corner (while staying on theme that AAs are overrated). So you can leave your best CB alone and make your opponent double your good DE. So my other End is just Avg, but I need a good Tackle because my linebackers suck. But that is okay, when you bring the tight end my FS blows it up.

  2. ed said:

    March 5th, 2009 at 9:45 pm

    Well, damn, Scip, I’ve been sleeping good. Not tonight. I’ll be turning over numbers and positions and trying to find a way to NOT have to employ Deon Beasley at a corner while maxxing out at, hell, every other position. Tell ya what — if I include Deon, can I have 72 to work with?

  3. bighornfan32 said:

    March 5th, 2009 at 10:20 pm

    1) Running a nickel
    2) DE 9
    DT 5
    NT 8
    DE 7
    SLB 6
    MLB 5
    CB 8
    CB 6
    SS 3
    FS 7
    Nickel 6

    One dominant pass rusher with speed. A NT who can take on double teams and still rush the passer. LBs that are undersized, but fast.
    A corner you can trust to leave by him self. And four DBs total who can cover well enough as a unit, with a SS who is a run stopper.

    The weak links are at 3 tech DT, hes just there for run support. The LBS are not great at stopping the run, but this is the Big 12 we’re talking about. The SS is Blake Gideon. I kid, but he is just there to help in the run, and would mostly play like a LB in pass protection.

    Overall theme is on speed, and pass rush. Sounds kind of like a certain DC we know.

  4. jonestopten said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 4:45 am

    Actually, bighornfan’s defense looks a lot like what we will see next fall. Not perfect, but assume Kindle is the “9″ and Chykie Brown develops into the “8″–if Lamarr Houston is even close to an 8 3-technique, then that looks like Texas, doesn’t it?

  5. dedfischer said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 5:15 am

    Patterson has me sold on the 4-2-5.

    RDE – 10
    DT – 6
    DT – 6
    LDE – 8
    ILB – 8
    ILB – 5
    Rover – 4
    SS – 6
    FS – 8
    RCB – 3
    LCB – 6

    Getting pressure on the QB without blitzing is my number one priority, so I’ve allocated significant resources to the DE position. At DT, I’ll take a couple of quality guys, who can hold their ground and tie up blockers. I want one of my LBs behind them to be a stud, while the other is capable in the screen game and routine plays. We’ll move our Rover around a little bit for specific jobs to keep him from being exposed, like WR hitch screens and such. Every good defense I’ve ever seen or been a part of has good safety play. I don’t want to leave them too thin on talent. Given we’re sacking QBs at the pace we are and most quarterbacks in the Big 12 are right handed, we could probably hide a 1 at RCB for a whole season. The LCB needs to be more capable than that.

  6. Nobis60 said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 5:37 am

    A base 4-2-5 with one roving linebacker and one blitzer/havoc machine.

    WDE – 9
    DT – 6
    NT – 8
    SDE – 6
    LB – 6
    LB – 7
    NB – 4
    CB – 7
    S – 7
    S – 4
    CB – 6

    This is the defense we fielded LAST season, except I stole a point from Sergio to give to Gideon so he doesn’t drop the damn pop fly, and we’re playing Tebow and His 21 Disciples for all the marbles. Res ipsa loquitor, fools.

    PS – there was no way to realistically sneak Aaron Williams’ 9 rating on the field without bringing back Derry and Killebrew back for a reunion tour – pointing up the challenges of winning a national championship with no defensive substitutions allowed.

  7. Nordberg said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 6:25 am

    I was told there wouldn’t be any math.

  8. BatesHorn said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 7:06 am

    I’m a liberal arts major, so I’m not allowed around the maffs. I think this exercise pretty eloquently shows why world class DE’s are worth so much.

  9. The General said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 7:08 am

    I am running the 3-3-5 because I think you can move the same personnel around and turn it into anything from a 4-3 to a 3-4 to a 4-2-5 pretty easliy. Disguising a defense will make turnovers against the spread.

    NT-9
    3 Tech – 6
    5 Tech – 6
    Mike – 5
    Sam – 8
    Will – 7
    Rover – 5
    Free – 8
    Strong – 6
    LCB – 5
    RCB – 5

  10. Huckleberry said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 7:17 am

    4-3. As little imbalance as possible in a unit to make the offense’s decision of who to focus their resources on more difficult. Dominate the line play. Use a solid strong safety (almost a LB hybrid like Roy Williams in college) to help the LBs.

    DE – 8
    NT – 8
    DT – 5
    DE – 8
    SLB – 5
    MLB – 6
    WLB – 5
    WCB – 8
    FS – 4
    SCB – 5
    SS – 8

    A lot of pressure on the SS in this design as he has to cover for the SCB as well.

  11. LonghornScott said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 7:52 am

    I could go with a 4-2-5 but what fun would that be?

    I’m going with a strange modification and I’m going to assume I have recruited the strange personnel to make it work.

    I’m going with the 3-1-7 nicknamed “The Indy”

    My description of this defense is that it is the old TNT defense on meth. My 3 man line consists of a space eater at Nose and two technique guys at the Ends (in the mold of our power ends, think Aaron Lewis). They are not pass rushing giants but they play sound technique and they can handle contain responsibilities. They will sasquatch your QB if he holds the ball too long. Against the run they can easily eat up 5 blocks.

    Behind these 3 is very strange MLB. Really he’s more akin to an oversized strong safety. A full time clean up artist/spy who will occasionally shoot a gap as a change up.

    Finally the lucky 7’s. I’ve got four corners, two strong safeties, and one super badass free safety and a whole bag of coverages.

    My strong safeties are really good at two things… shooting gaps and knocking the shit out of people. The one matchup that really gives my defense fits are badass tight ends and these guys are specially equip to bring down the big men when they make a catch. More often they are knocking the desire out of unsuspecting slot receivers. If they are left 1-1 in coverage with a bona fide athlete for any extended period they are in trouble, but they are fast enough to cover ground and big enough to do some damage. These guys are constantly changing alignments pre-snap (which I can f-ing do because I have 4 corners)

    Next we come to the corners. I have 4 guys that can run all over the field with a WR. One of them is a badass, the others can hold their own but are going to give shit up with regularity if left on an island. My defense utilizes the corners a good deal for blitzes from the outside when I suspect the a rollout or sprint out… so the inside corners need to be able to tackle a QB.

    Then we come to the land of the badass. My free safety is the second coming, the dali mama, the cat’s big pow. He a ball-hawking play maker with sub 4.4 speed who has a head for the game and can cover your best guy 1-on-1 if I tell him to. He’s the guy who reads the offense backward and he is a decisive mf. He is dangerous… for my DC and for the opposing OC. He’s going to choose wrong about 3 times a game and they could come up with a big play, but the opposing QB is going to be throwing scared all day long.

    So here’s the distribution:

    E – 4
    T- 6
    E – 4

    MLB – 6

    SS – 7
    SS – 7

    CB – 8
    CB – 6
    CB – 6
    CB – 6

    FS – 10

    Defensive strengths: My secondary allows me to play tricks on opposing offenses by still changing looks pre-snap and forcing QBs to make decisions. I can employ an extensive amount of passing rushing strategies and run blitzes by using my SS’s to cause havoc. I don’t depend on world beating DEs in a league where holding is encouraged. Our pressure on the QB comes from keeping the offense guessing in a time when offenses don’t have to guess. We usually only bring 4-5 rushing the passer, but we rely on the stunts, twists and size of our dlinemen to open up gaps for the blitzers. Coverage wise, we can do what ever we want.

    Weaknesses: As I said before, Tight Ends give us fits… especially tall, coordinated ones who can block and catch. Luckily there’s only about one or two we have to face all year. We are sometimes susceptible to seam and go routes because we can leave the vertical alleys open with our aggressive SS play. But be warned when you think you have that deep check off, we have the devil in cleats waiting back there for you. Also if you are a power running team, please don’t schedule us… ever.

  12. burnt orange dog said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 7:59 am

    The General beat me to it. I like the versatility of the 3-3-5. The OL’s and rover have to be special in my mind though, so I would rate them higher.

  13. burnt orange dog said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 8:01 am

    Ol’s would be SAM and WILL.

  14. Bob Stoops said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 8:21 am

    So how many is Lehman worth? Around a 16 right?

  15. bizzle said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 8:35 am

    I don’t love the 3-3-5 – wrecking crew holla and all that – but for the sake of this argument, it’s probably the most efficient.

    DE – 6
    DT – 9
    DE – 5

    SLB – 5
    MLB – 4
    WLB – 8

    ROV – 9
    CB – 5
    CB – 8
    SS – 4
    FS – 7

    I want:

    a NT that can demand double and triple teams, and a rover that can wreck shit and cover for others mistakes.

    The FS and WLB will more than make up for the weakness at one corner spot.

    Probably can’t get great pressure on the QB without mixing some blitzes up, but such is the 3-3-5.

  16. ChrisApplewhite said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 8:43 am

    Big 12? 4-2-5.

    10 NT. 4 DT. 8 DEs. 5 LBs. That’s 40 points.

    6’s in the secondary. Maybe I make the CBs 7’s and take away from the two deep safties. I’d have to put more than 2 minutes of thought into it.

    If I played in any other conference I would run a 3-4. You can’t really do that right now in the big 12.

    I’ll come back with a better version of that defense after I’ve given it the time it deserves.

  17. BEHorn said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 9:29 am

    In today’s economy, you only get 40 points to work with.

  18. Fico said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 9:39 am

    3-2-6

    DE – 9
    NT – 5
    DE – 5
    LB – 6
    LB – 5
    N – 8
    D – 7
    C – 5
    C – 6
    S – 7
    S – 7

    Linebackers, safeties and nickel and dime players are good enough to allow me to have anywhere from 5 to 8 in the box, and allows flexibility in my blitz packages.

    I can also run an infinite amount of pressures out of the smae 2 deep shell look.

  19. John Mackovic said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 9:39 am

    Can I steal 40 points worth of defense and spend it on my offense and/or a great pinot?

  20. RolloTamasi said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 9:41 am

    I’ve gotta go 4-2-5 in the Big 12. 3-3-5 makes sense but given Texas’ advantages over others in recruiting D-line and the difficulty in finding a NT for anyone I’m using 4 down linemen (I know that I don’t have to have the Texas perspective).

    RE:8
    NT:10
    DT:7
    LE:7
    The line has to have great overall quality in order to rush the QB without help and it’s worth using points here. Good trenchwork will cover faults everywhere else. Check out the long term success of the Patriots in building around line play.

    Sam:5
    MLB:4
    These guys are just picking up the trash from the D-line, racking up tackles and trying to make plays on the ball.

    Rover:6
    I’m thinking of a small, fast WLB/SS who can keep up with receivers and tight ends with safety support deep and help clean up tackles or make plays on the ball.
    WCB:4
    SCB:6
    I’m playing 2 deep almost all the time so these guys aren’t on islands, but they are playing man coverage.

    SS:5
    FS:8

    The SS is useful as a deep help while the FS is a major baller who keeps big plays from becoming TDs, can play cover-1 or cover 3 from time to time for blitzes and generally holds the secondary together.

    Another fun post would be to rank various Texas defenses on this scale. I wonder how close they get to 70 points. I’m guessing the 2007 squad would leave some value on the table.

  21. RolloTamasi said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 9:54 am

    2008 would probably be:

    RE:10
    NT:8
    DT:7
    LE:7

    MLB: 3 or 5 depending on whom it was
    SLB: 6 tricky, I guess we used Muck here in nickel so that would be a 6
    Sergio as a SLB is probably a 5, as a DE he’s an 8 last year.

    NB:5
    RCB:6
    LCB:5
    I’m going palmer, SHO-KEE, and Beasley here.
    SS:4
    FS:7

    Any disagreements?

  22. ChrisApplewhite said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 10:57 am

    OK I’ve thought about it some more.

    I’d still put 10 points into NT. I’d put 25 there if I could. It’s the one position where you can dominate an entire game if you have a player good enough. See: Casey Hampton.

    Other than that, defense today is just about not being horrible anywhere, so I’d make everything else a 5, and hope that I can make them players with strengths and weaknesses, and not just mediocre all-around.

    That leaves me with 15 spare points. I’d make one DE a 10, one corner a 10, and spread the remaining 5 around evenly as possible in the secondary. The extra point would go to the other corner.

    This should give me an excellent pass rush, a run stuffing DL, and a rest of the defense that skews towards pass defense, with no real weakness anywhere.

  23. ChrisApplewhite said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 11:03 am

    Actually, instead of a 10 and a 6 at corner, I’d make everyone in the secondary a 7.

    And I just realized I left out the other DT.

    DE: 5
    NT: 10
    DT: 10
    DE: 5
    LB: 5
    LB: 5
    CB: 7
    CB: 7
    S : 6
    S : 5
    S : 5

    OK, slightly reconfigured. I want two great DTs. If you have to double both, you’re fucked. See: Casey and Shaun.

    Having one great player in the secondary is useless, since the offenses will just throw to the other 4 guys instead. It’s best to have an even spread of talent back there and scheme against any good WR. It’s more important for CBs to be good than the Ss, at least.

    The LBs don’t have to be great, they just have to be competent. Same for DEs. Let the DTs be the problem up front.

  24. LonghornScott said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 11:49 am

    CA I understand your distribution for the NFL but not for the Big 12. As great as our dline was last year, they were largely marginalized by holding and quick passing offense.

    Also while I traditionally agree with the assertion that corner play is more important than safety play, I don’t agree in the modern era. I think the game-changers at safety are changing more games than the game-changers at CB. The NFL seems to be following that trend and I think its especially true in the pass-happy, spread environment in the big 12.

  25. Fuzzy said:

    March 6th, 2009 at 9:05 pm

    DE – 9
    DE – 6
    NT – 6
    DT – 6
    SAM – 7
    MLB – 5
    WILL – 5
    CB – 10
    CB – 6
    SS – 4
    FS – 6

    OK, I would be indifferent to a 10 and a 9 at CB and DE, but I think you need at least one stud at each. Or maybe you go the opposite direction and say that even a 7 is going to be good enough there and look for studs at linebacker. Well, whatever.

  26. glenn said:

    March 7th, 2009 at 7:42 am

    the problem with playing in the bug xii is that you have to have two offenses and two defenses. one of each to play under bag xii rules and another of each to play post season. like having a ferocious indy car that can transformer into a competitive formula one.

    ou and tech are well familiar with this issue.

    and as for designing for conference play, all you schmucks who want to concede yards and let the short field in the red zone be your twelfth man, what are going to do when the beg xii starts to allow the region beyond the end lines to count? or limit the playing field to 90 yards with 15 yard end zones? or 80 and 20s? or 60 and 30s or make the defensive backs wear cotton panties if it takes that to create the offenses the conference wants?

    what are you gonna do then, huh?

    [by the way, this is a great thread. archive stuff.]

  27. dasmithjones said:

    March 7th, 2009 at 8:56 am

    Longhorn Scott: Interesting. Isn’t your 3-1-7 Indy really a quarter by any other name?

  28. LonghornScott said:

    March 7th, 2009 at 11:38 am

    Quarter is a type of zone defense. Certainly you could play quarters, but that would definitely not be the base defense. I called it Indy b/c of the area code.

  29. glenn said:

    March 7th, 2009 at 11:58 am

    phooey. i figured your indy name was a clever snide in the direction of indy race cars, which, of course, are famous for being so skewed for that particular purpose that, while they are spot on in that exact situation, they are useless and laughable in any other setting, hence your closing comment re: power running.

    i really liked your defense and description, by the way.

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  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   9 hours, 3 minutes ago

    Everytime I see a Gumbel brother I think of “Gumbel to Gumbel”

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   9 hours, 16 minutes ago

    Kentucky starting to pile on Wake. That would have been our fate…..

    KSU just killing the Mormons on the glass…

  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   9 hours, 44 minutes ago

    10 point lead for the Mormons again…

  • ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   9 hours, 59 minutes ago

    This is the first-time Frank Martin has ever met a Mormon who wasn’t on a bicycle.