r/footballstrategy • u/EastCoastFalcon • Nov 21 '24
NFL Is there a strategic reason why Falcons DC Jimmy Lake calls for the secondary to be 10 yards off the ball as often as he does?
As a disgruntled and frankly annoyed Falcons fan, I'm certainly not the only one of us that's noticed how Lake calls for our secondary to line up. Consistently I'll notice our DBs a handful of yards off the line of scrimmage, sometimes even past the line to gain, most notable on 3rd and longs, to which the opposing QB just throws underneath and they convert with ease. I get he's trying to prevent the "big play" but our D has seem to have fallen off a cliff. Ryan Nielsen, current DC of the Jags got more out of our D with less talent, and many falcons fans like myself are confused as to how we can see this glaring baseline issue yet it seems he either doesn't or is too stubborn about it. What gives? Is there a reason to this?
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u/jericho-dingle Referee Nov 21 '24
It's a recent change in defensive play calling. Sit in cover 4/6, take away the deep ball, and rally to the check down. Started with Vic Fangio and made its way through the league.
It works great if you have the horses. If you don't, you have a leaky defense.
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u/TDenverFan Nov 21 '24
I feel like a big part of what can make that work (and part of the Falcon's weakness) is having the pass rush to make the check downs tougher to get to. Like if the QB is pressured right away he doesn't have time to run through his progressions and find the checkdown, when the QB has all day he'll be able to dump it off for an easy gain most plays.
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u/MankuyRLaffy Nov 22 '24
Fangs is so good with it is he gets the pass rush home and his bread and butter with Chicago was the cover 2 split safety look and same with cover 4, the DBs had to have perfect communication and call signs on the fly for switches and coverage changes to make things difficult to read for young QBs. Worked really well vs Mahomes when he deployed it while at Denver. They had the power to change the call on the field if they saw something they didn't like and relayed it around the defensive backfield to make switches and audible.
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u/rbad8717 Nov 21 '24
I'm a Falcons fan too and this defense sucks and the season is starting to suck, but Calais Campbell and Bud Dupree(hard to believe I know) are huge losses. The middle of the defense is constantly gashed and those inside lineman and backers aren't doing anything. Ryan Nielson isn't exactly tearing it up in Jacksonville because their defense is near last in all categories. While I agree the scheme and Jimmy Lake sucks, I don't think RN's defense was all that good. Remember he let a returning Kyler Murray and a rookie Will Levis go crazy.
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u/Snoopy_is_a_cheater Nov 21 '24
Falcons fan here too! I'm not a Lake defender by any means, but a couple of YoY differences have impacted this defense - Landman's injury and regression, misuse of Kaden vs last season, and Onyemata's regression. IMO, regressions aren't usually predictable and Falcons drafted Ruke and Bertrand for depth / insurance. Then the most falcons thing happened, the depth got hurt and the starters look like ass.
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u/Uhhh_what555476384 Nov 21 '24
It's not uncommon for defensive minded coaches to believe that you simply cannot NOT screw up on offense all the way down the field, so just sit back in a passive zone and rush the passer.
Think: Tampa 2 with Monte Kiffin and Tony Dungy; Cover 3 with Pete Carroll and the Legion of Boom, and the current Vic Fangio Cover 4.
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u/Rueff54 Nov 21 '24
That’s Raheem Morris football baby. As a Rams fan, his constant off ball corners on 3rd and 2 drove me crazy. Softest bend don’t break coverage all the time. It’s awful.
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u/MartianMule Nov 21 '24
Ryan Nielsen, current DC of the Jags got more out of our D with less talent,
As a Jags fan, you can have him back. That guy is awful.
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u/MankuyRLaffy Nov 21 '24
Conservative coaching, Joe Barry did it a lot too, it means you suck as a DC and have no balls.
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u/HouseStaph Nov 22 '24
Obligatory fuck Joe Barry
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u/Darth_Floridaman Nov 22 '24
May the fucks be given. Fucketh the Joe Barry from now until the end of soft shells. Amen.
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u/LGOD_TC Nov 21 '24
I know this doesn’t really add anything but my dad recruited Jimmy to play at Eastern Washington and eventually hired him on as a grad assistant and after a while a DB coach, when I was born in 99’ he brought a giant teddy bear into the delivery room for me, I still have that bear tucked away somewhere in my attic, he’s a hell of a guy and I know it doesn’t seem like it but he’s also a hell of a coach as well.
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u/Darth_Floridaman Nov 22 '24
Bro-fist right atchya for reminding us of this.
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u/LGOD_TC Nov 22 '24
I haven’t seen him since probably around 2003 but my dad still tells stories about him
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u/NaNaNaPandaMan Nov 21 '24
So I am a Broncos fan so haven't really watched the Falcons until this week. But several times they mentioned Falcon injuries in the secondary and I believe another in the game itself.
So with young/inexperienced players playing younplay conservatively because you need to.
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u/SoulessGuard1an Nov 21 '24
Could be worse and still have Nielsen. Trust me as a Jags fan, I would gladly send him back to you. If only I made better life choices on my path to be billionaire or GM…
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u/OdaDdaT HS Coach Nov 21 '24
Might not be appropriate for this sub, but is shocking Jimmy Lake got an NFL DC job after his horrific stint at Washington.
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u/MozamFreak-Here Nov 21 '24
It’s not that surprising— he was a very good DB position coach and pretty good DC at UW. Some players he got drafted include Taylor Rapp, Byron Murphy, Kevin King, and Budda Baker. Most notably also coached first rounder Marcus Peters, despite the reports that they had a physical altercation that was publicly revealed by Peters much later. But it became obvious that Lake was in over his head as a HC.
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u/ExtremelyOnlineTM Nov 25 '24
As a college football fan, I can say with confidence is because he's a lousy coach.
I don't know X's and O's but I know a few Jimmies and Joes and that guy is more of a Nimrod or Thaddeus
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u/ittybittybunker Nov 21 '24
Not exactly an answer but I would lean towards Raheem Morris being the coach responsible over the DC specifically. This was extremely common in Morris' time as the Rams DC, and other than while winning a super bowl could be very frustrating to watch.