Interesting article on Linebackers

[ghz in pittsburgh]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2439793

I've noticed the trend and have voiced my concern about the Bills' LB corp.

Takeo would be ideal had he not hurt last year. Yes he's ahead of the schedule but I really doubt that he'll be 100%. My fear: he'll be far from it.

Then there is London who worked very hard his entire career to get to where he's today. But let's face it, he can be exploited, particularly in coverage. He's also going into his contract year and I don't see a capable replacement on the roster yet.

[EDS]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2439793

I've noticed the trend and have voiced my concern about the Bills' LB corp.

Takeo would be ideal had he not hurt last year. Yes he's ahead of the schedule but I really doubt that he'll be 100%. My fear: he'll be far from it.

Then there is London who worked very hard his entire career to get to where he's today. But let's face it, he can be exploited, particularly in coverage. He's also going into his contract year and I don't see a capable replacement on the roster yet.

I think Spikes (pre-injury), Crowell and Fletcher all have decent speed for the linebacker position. Obviously the having Spikes return to form is a big question mark, but if he does the Bills are fine for now.

[Tatonka]

fletch and posey are definately gone after next year.. leaving us with a gimply spikes. and crowell.

the rest are huge question marks.

[socalfan]

The last sentence was really interesting. They predict more teams will line up two tight ends and run the ball. I wonder if that is the reason Cieslack was getting a look at the number 2 spot.

[ICE74129]

fletch and posey are definately gone after next year.. leaving us with a gimply spikes. and crowell.

the rest are huge question marks.

But we drafted safety at #8...

I hope Whitner is ready to play 10 yards off the LOS all the time. Because this DL Backed by a hobbled LB corp doesn't appear to be ready to stop the run.

[eyedog]

But your forgetting our new penetrating Tampa defense. We'll see.

I do know we are not very big in the middle and our middle linebacker is small also. I really don't want to watch another season of teams running the ball down our throat all game.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

One of the problem with Tampa cover 2 defense is that they can be run on. I remember during Dungy's run at Tampa, the Steelers, even in years they were not that good, always beat them in their house - even in Tampa's superbowl year. The main reason? They cannot stop Bettis and Co.

I'm not an expert in Xs and Os. My simple view of stopping run in Tampa 2 defense is as follows. If you have a Sapp (in his prime) type of DT who can always disrupt plays, alter a running back's planned path, you give time to your fast LBs and safeties to fly to the ball to stop the run by numbers (though you may give a guy like Mularkay a chance to call for a HB option throw). Other times, you rely on your MLB to beat the Center to control the gut.

The Steelers always have probowl guards who can control guys like Sapp. And they also have a top center who can deal with an Urlacher type of MLB. That's why they never seem to have trouble against cover 2 defenses.

Of course if your team goes up by a big score, then all of this is out of the window - you are forcing teams to throw, right into the teeth of cover 2.

[ICE74129]

One of the problem with Tampa cover 2 defense is that they can be run on. I remember during Dungy's run at Tampa, the Steelers, even in years they were not that good, always beat them in their house - even in Tampa's superbowl year. The main reason? They cannot stop Bettis and Co.

I'm not an expert in Xs and Os. My simple view of stopping run in Tampa 2 defense is as follows. If you have a Sapp (in his prime) type of DT who can always disrupt plays, alter a running back's planned path, you give time to your fast LBs and safeties to fly to the ball to stop the run by numbers (though you may give a guy like Mularkay a chance to call for a HB option throw). Other times, you rely on your MLB to beat the Center to control the gut.

The Steelers always have probowl guards who can control guys like Sapp. And they also have a top center who can deal with an Urlacher type of MLB. That's why they never seem to have trouble against cover 2 defenses.

Of course if your team goes up by a big score, then all of this is out of the window - you are forcing teams to throw, right into the teeth of cover 2.

Don't talk common sense with these guys. All is good at OBD. We have the best talent around and will go 14-2 this year!. Just ask around here...

[justasportsfan]

Don't talk common sense with these guys. All is good at OBD. We have the best talent around and will go 14-2 this year!. Just ask around here...you had to wait for someone to point it out because you had no knowlegde of the cover 2 huh? I thought you knew it all.

[bigbub2352]

i am concerned with posey still being around, undersized or not crowell is a better LB than posey he plays so stiff, and is not athletic enough for any style defense, Cover 2 is interesting because it is far less agressive than our last def, and we sucked last year, i also think that it is time to see what some of the backups can do, like stamer and haggan, even ezkeil, becuase i am not confident spikes will be back to 100%, thus teams will exploit that, anybody knows you need at least 2 years to get back from a achilles injury, we will have to see

[jamze132]

I don't think it matters what kind of Defense you want to run. If the other team has a great running game, you are going to get marched on. You can't tell me back in the 90's when Pittsburgh was steamrolling everyone with yards on the ground, they didn't come across some really stingy defenses that they had there way with. The bottomline though, is execution. Do waht your supposed to do in your defensive scheme and everything should even out at the end of the year.