Rams Hire New DC

DOWNTOWN RAMS [DTR]@DowntownRams
Brandon Staley is someone Vic Fangio made it his mission to bring with him from Chicago to Denver. Have to think McVay sees something special in Staley to not keep this in-house.

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Los Angeles Rams Hire Brandon Staley as Defensive Coordinator – https://t.co/96VTWFeK2i pic.twitter.com/bZc8Ml9njT

— DOWNTOWN RAMS [DTR] (@DowntownRams) January 11, 2020

from https://clutchpoints.com/rams-news-los-angeles-hires-brandon-staley-as-new-dc/

The hire was likely made based on the performance of the run defense against opponents. The Rams have the sixth-best record when it comes to rushing touchdowns at nine. Meanwhile, the Rams were 25th in the league with 15 ceded rushing TDs.

Having Staley as DC will help shore up the holes in the rushing defense. Moreover, keeping the rest of the defensive coaching staff would mean that the pass defense will likely stay the same. If they manage to improve their rushing game, their 13th-ranked offense should easily bounce back to the top-ten positions.

Speculation could only take us so far, though. It will take until September for Rams fans to figure out if he is the right man for the job.

WestCoastRam
[Staley] was with Bears when they were the first to show us the 6-1-4 look that gave us fits…

OldSchool
he is a Fangio disciple who ran a similar 3-4 hybrid as Wade. Just with better results recently.

Vic Fangio’s Defensive Scheme

by Mike Flannery
4 years ago

https://beargoggleson.com/2015/01/21/vic-fangios-defensive-scheme/

The Bears have officially hired Vic Fangio as their new defensive coordinator. I covered Fangio’s resume in an earlier post and now I will take a look at the defensive scheme he used in San Francisco, at Stanford, and at most of the other stops throughout his 24 year NFL career. It’s certainly possible that Fangio will ditch his usual scheme for something that better fits the Bears talent, but based on his track record I believe he will implement the scheme he’s had so much success with recently. I will be posting a position-by-position breakdown of how the current Bears fit in his scheme tomorrow, but for now I will cover the specifics of his defensive philosophy.

Before I get started on the details of his scheme, it’s important to grasp just how successful Fangio’s 49er defense was while he was at the helm. In Fangio’s first three seasons (2011-13), the 49ers were the only team in the NFL to finish in the top 5 in points allowed (16.1), rushing yards allowed per game (89.1), average yards per rush (3.7), 1st downs allowed (835), opposing QB rating (76), total yards allowed per game (306.5), plays allowed of 20+ yards (147), takeaways (93), and 3rd down conversion percentage (34.1%). Everyone knows the Niners had a great defense the last few years, but the stats show just how dominant it really was. For reference sake, the 49ers had the 16th ranked defense in the season before Fangio took over as DC. He took a mediocre defense and made it great right away. If he can take the Bears pathetic defense and make it just mediocre by next year, Fangio will be considered a miracle worker.

It’s widely perceived that Fangio’s Niners ran a 3-4 scheme, but that’s not entirely accurate. Occasionally his defense lined up in a traditional 3-4 alignment on obvious run plays, but the majority of the time they ran a 4-3 under scheme. The 4-3 under has been gaining popularity based on the success of proponents like the Seahawks, Broncos, and of course Fangio’s 49ers. At it’s core his scheme is a 4-3 under, but Fangio has made a few modifications that make it unique. The best description of the way Fangio runs his scheme is a 3-4/4-3 hybrid, but I will do my best to explain it in detail below. I’m not a football coach and am still learning the nuances of the more complex schemes in the league, so if you see any mistakes or can add some clarification please do so in the comments.

As I mentioned earlier Fangio’s Niners appeared to run a traditional 3-4 scheme which is due to the fact that he uses 3-4 personnel, but he deploys them in a 4-3 under scheme. In a traditional 3-4 there is a nose tackle (NT) that lines up over the center and two defensive ends (DE) that line up directly across from the opposing tackles. Each player is responsible for the gaps on either side of them.

In Fangio’s scheme, the NT lines up off the center’s shoulder on the strong-side (same side as TE) and is only responsible for the gap in front of him. This requires a different type of NT as opposed to the classic space-eater used in standard 3-4 schemes. The NT in Fangio’s scheme needs to have the quickness to beat interior lineman off the snap and the strength to hold his ground against double-teams in the run game. I’ll get into how the current Bears fit in Fangio’s scheme in my next post.

The DEs in a 3-4 are normally run-stoppers who focus on occupying two blockers, clogging run lanes, and eventually pressuring QBs if the coverage holds. In Fangio’s scheme one of the DEs moves inside to the 3-tech DT position. The 3-tech DT (#91) lines up between the guard and tackle on the weak side and is ideally the D-line’s best pass rusher. The 3-tech DT’s responsibility is to generate interior pressure on pass plays and get in the backfield to disrupt the running game. The 3rd D-lineman in Fangio’s scheme (#94) is close to a standard 3-4 DE but usually shades the strong-side tackle’s outside shoulder. The 5-tech DE’s role requires the ability to hold his ground against the run despite frequent double teams. If the DE can force a double team it frees up the lanes on either side of him for the linebackers. Justin Smith has handled this role the last few seasons and is a special player who was a key factor in the success of Fangio’s D. It is a stretch to think any DE on the Bears roster has the ability to even be a poor man’s Smith, but a healthy Lamarr Houston has the talent to be effective if he gains weight.

The outside linebackers in Fangio’s scheme have two distinct roles. The OLBs basically rotate between stand-up defensive ends and run-stoppers with occasional zone coverage responsibilities depending on which side the TE lines up on. The strong-side OLB (whatever side the TE lines up on) will jam the TE and then drop back into a short zone on pass plays to defend against slants, screens, etc, or maintain the edge on a run play. The weak-side OLB (opposite side of TE) will move up to the line of scrimmage to be a stand-up DE (4th D-lineman) and his role is to rush the QB. The Niners used Aldon Smith and Ahmad Brooks at OLB and they are both excellent pass rushers who are athletic enough to either pressure the QB as a stand-up DE or drop back in short zone coverage if they are on the strong-side. Fangio doesn’t ask his OLBs to cover anyone man-to-man which opens up the position to players who would be considered tweeners in standard 4-3 or 3-4 schemes. Here is an example of the LB roles on a standard pass play:

The strong-side OLB jams the TE and then drops into a short coverage zone, while the strong-side ILB (Willis or Bowman) covers the TE, the weak-side ILB either covers the RB or blitzes, and the weak-side OLB attacks the QB from the stand-up DE position.

The inside linebackers do have more coverage responsibility than in a standard 3-4 and are also asked to blitz occasionally. Most 3-4 schemes look for at least one big run-stuffer inside, but Fangio’s scheme required elite athleticism from both his ILBs since they will often cover TEs or RBs. They also have inside gap responsibility vs the run and will occasionally switch to OLB in certain alignments, so they need to be elite athletes who can cover, stop the run, and get to the QB. In San Fran ILBs Patrick Willis and Navarro Bowman were both high-level athletes and All-Pro players. The Bears obviously don’t have LBs on that level, so this is one area where Fangio may have to adjust his scheme.

Most Bears fans have seen enough of the cover 2 scheme, but Fangio’s 49er teams ran cover 2 fairly often. He also ran plenty of press coverage and bump-and-run, so at least there will be some variety in the coverage schemes this year. Due to his preference for press coverage, the Bears will be looking for big physical corners who can play zone, contribute against the run, and obviously press cover. Four of the seven CBs on the Niners roster last year were 6 foot tall or over and none were shorter than 5’10. Fangio seems to prefer big corners who can slow up receivers at the line but still have the ability to drop back into zone coverage. That makes one of the Bears starting CBs, 5’8 Tim Jennings, somewhat of a bad fit but I will cover that in more detail tomorrow.

Fangio likes his safeties to be interchangeable. That will be hard with the Bears current roster since none of the current safeties are starting-caliber at either position. On early downs Fangio likes to have the strong safety in the box, but he disguises it well and occasionally moves the free safety into the box instead.

Another key difference between the normal 4-3 under scheme and Vic Fangio’s version is versatility. He requires most of his defenders to play multiple positions on all three levels of the defense. Fangio would often switch Smith and Ray McDonald between the 3-tech and 5-tech positions based on match-ups. The NT is locked in place but the other two D-lineman need to be able to switch spots, his OLBs need to be able to play stand-up DE, his ILBs need to be able to play OLB at times, and his two starting safeties need to be interchangeable. Fangio’s defense thrives on the ability to change their scheme at any time and disguise what they are doing pre-snap. Without versatile players his disguised alignments will be more transparent. Fangio’s consistently changing schemes are going to be a welcome addition to Bears fans who are used to watching the same defensive alignment over and over again.

Fangio is great at confusing offenses with disguised coverages and adjusting his schemes on a play-to-play basis. It will take some creative moves by new GM Ryan Pace to give Fangio players with the versatility and talent that he needs to implement his scheme. The Bears lack of overall defensive talent could force Fangio to change his usual scheme, but it’s too early to tell with free agency and the draft still ahead. I’ll be covering how the Bears current roster fits into Fangio’s scheme in my next post. Improvement isn’t going to happen overnight, but at least the Bears now have a legitimate defensive coordinator running the squad. If anyone can get the Bears defense back to it’s Monsters of the Midway heyday, it’s Vic Fangio.

Albert Breer@AlbertBreer
Key thing here: How challenging Vic Fangio’s defenses have been for McVay to go against. This hire is a sign of the Rams’ respect for Fangio.

Deadpool

What Staley’s hiring means as far as offseason personnel. Just some early, early guess work based on what Fangio has done in the past.

1st, I can see why this hire was made. Fangio runs a very similar 34 1 gap system or 43 under with a standup DE. Call it what you want. 2ndly, Fangio was hellbent on stopping the run first, and that seems important in a division with SF and Seattle. Lastly, Fangio ran a ton of differnt looks, not only from moving his fronts around to press man, off man and zone coverage.

What kind of personnel did fangio use?

NT – In SF, he had Sopoaga 330 lbs, in Chicago Goldman at 320 lbs and in Denver Purcell at 328. So I would guess at some point Staley is going to want a bigger NT, thats good news for you Greg Gaines fans out there, all 2 of you lol. Anyhow, I wouldn’t be shocked to see a bigger DL drafted or signed in FA this offseason.

DE – He has always had a very good pass rushing DE, from Justin Smith to Hicks to now Donald, so that seems set. Other then the obvious hole Brockers will create.

LBers – his OLBers will look alot like what the Rams have now, so I’m not expecting anything earth shattering here, obviously Fowler is a FA. A good fit on a cheap deal would be Vic Beasley Jr from Atlanta.

ILB – this is where it could get very interesting. As where Wade could care less about his ILBers, Fangio valued his ILBers bigtime. He had Willis and Bowman in SF, he brought in Danny Travathon in from Denver after some fantastic years with Phillips and then drafted Roquan Smith #8 overall. He didn’t have anything great in Denver, and Fangio’s draft focused on offense for the 1st half of the draft, so the jury is out there, but I would guess Littleton jumps way up the list for re-signing and probably a higher then we would think draft pick.

Safeties are interchangeable and that is a bit of an issue with Rapp, because he just ins’t that rangy deep safety, and works best moving forward. I think they make it work but would not be surprised if they add a rangy FS later in the draft to develop so they can move Rapp around like a 3rd safety/LBer.

Cbs – Fangio likes his CBs with some size, and man skills first and foremost. After RAMsey is extended this group is set.

So to recap

Corners seem set

Safeties seem set until late in the draft

OLBers – gonna need to get one in FA or the draft in that 255 to 265 lb range that can stand up or put hand in the dirt. Vic Breasley Jr in FA and a few draft guys that work are Weaver – Boise State, Lewis – Alabama, Greenard – Florida, Zuniga – Florida. Lynch and Irving are FAs from Chi that were backups.

ILB – Becomes immediately the biggest area of need IMO. Littleton, it would seem becomes priority #1 in FA, and a draft pick somewhere day 2 or early day 3. Some names that pop out to me: Troy Dye – Oregon, Harrison – Ohio St., Rice – Georgia, Weaver – Cal, Strnad – WF, Cam Brown Penn St. Trevathon from Chi is a 30 year old short term solution at ILB as a FA, And Denver has a pair of FA ILBers in Corey Nelson and Joseph Jones.

DE – Brockers is going to need to be replaced, but it won’t be a high priority as there are some in house candidates and later round draft picks IMO. FYI Denver has 4 34 Ends as FAs this year including a 30 year old Derek Wolfe coming off injury. The other names are Gotsis, Heath and Harris.

NT – Unless the kid (37, man I’m getting old calling him a kid…) goes away from Fangio and goes light. Gaines is the closest thing they have, and Fangio has never been around a high drafted NT, so I’m guessing they add some day 3 beef to come in and compete. Now, I will go out and say I would love me some Leki Fotu in the 3rd. Dreamy…Anyhow, some day 3 NTs: Benito Jones – Ole Miss (really like on day 3) 325 lbs, lawrence – LSU 315 lbs.

Purcell is a NT FA from Denver, restricted, and 28 so, keep the name in the back of your head.

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It seems like there are 2 trains of thought when it comes to coaches.

1. We are going to do what we do, and what we do best, and if you beat us, you beat us.

then theres:

2. We are going to adapt and evolve and adjust and actively change, giving us the best chance to beat you.

Phillips was a #1 type personality, McVay and his stubbornness to evolve off the 11 personnel makes him seem like a type 1, but he wanted a type 2 DC.

I personally like type 2s. personal preference obviously. I love the flexibility it gives you, because I think for the most part, teams will eventually figure you out if all you do is the same thing over and over.

an ESPN article from a few months ago:

https://www.ramsfansunited.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11067&p=169273

Which coach’s defense is the toughest to read and attack?

LaFleur: There are so many guys and every system is different, but I look at Vic Fangio. Just the fronts and the multiple looks you get from him. That’s incredibly difficult.

“Well, I would say thank you for the compliment. … You hope that’s the case, you hope you are a challenging team to play, you want to be tough to prepare for because they’re tough to prepare for.” -Vic Fangio, now Denver’s head coach, on praise for his schemes

Shanahan: My hardest has probably always been Vic Fangio. He does so many things with his personnel groupings that he puts you in a bind with protections. He ties a lot of stuff together. Playing against him, I feel he packages stuff very similar to how I would think. [Bill] Belichick is very similar. They do it in a different style. You know they don’t just run their defenses. They figure out what you’re doing and then they think about how to stop what you’re doing

McVay: For us, I think Fangio and the Bears did an outstanding job of a sound scheme with versatility mixed with great players. And clearly what New England did down the stretch was impressive. Those are the two defenses that gave us the most trouble.

from Vic Fangio’s defensive scheme

https://theathletic.com/1179997/2019/09/03/brandon-thorn-vic-fangio-denver-broncos-defense-scheme/

Structure and alignment

Fangio runs a base 3-4 defense that has a diverse blend of fronts depending on his personnel and game plan for the week. Offense in today’s NFL primarily consists of 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end and three receivers), so true “base” for a 3-4 team like Fangio’s is really a reduced front that has a defensive lineman and/or linebacker subbed out for another defensive back or two. So instead of a 3-4, you’ll most commonly see a 2-4, 2-3 or 3-3 front.

This unpredictable nature of which personnel groupings, fronts and looks a Fangio defense presents to an offense makes him a nightmare to prepare for.

The standard 3-4 is generally deployed when offenses come out in 12 (one running back and two tight ends) or 21 (two backs and one tight end) personnel. We will go through multiple fronts over Fangio’s time as a coordinator to showcase some of his structural versatility and what each front looks like.

While offenses used 11 personnel around 60 percent of the time in 2018, Fangio said his Bears defense saw it closer to 80 percent.

One of the Bears’ primary adjustments was to take a defensive lineman off the field and replace him with a corner, effectively playing out of a 2-4-5 front.

The defensive line

Having two powerful, jolting defensive linemen inside the tackles is an important feature and where it all begins for the Bears defense. Few teams 2-gap as often as Fangio does, but it is balanced with gap exchanges and movement to keep offenses on their toes. These roles will be filled with Derek Wolfe, Shelby Harris and Adam Gotsis in a rotation on early downs and rookie Dre’Mont Jones coming in on later downs to provide a pass-rush boost.

“It’s just, alignment-wise, it’s like it’s old-school defense, where you line up and you beat the guy in front of you,” Wolfe said. “We’re going to be moving. You beat him, beat him, beat him, and then next thing you know, we’re slanting somewhere and moving around and misdirecting.”

“Moving” means there will be gap exchanges and stunts incorporated into the defense that are geared toward confusing offensive linemen, creating hesitancy that ruins blocking schemes.

By being creative and unpredictable with the ability to teach a wide array of technical nuances at a high level, Fangio and his staff will be able to extract the most out of this group and produce an overachieving unit.

The linebackers

The linebacker position is Fangio’s specialty, and he has helped mold some of the greatest ever to play the game, dating back to the famed “Dome Patrol” with the Saints in the early ’90s with Sam Mills, and Kevin Greene with the Panthers, Ray Lewis with the Ravens, Khalil Mack last year, and now Bradley Chubb and Von Miller in Denver.

Linebacker in the 3-4 framework is broken down into two groups: off-ball inside linebackers and edge players who primarily play in a two-point stance.

“The edge players are very important in this 3-4 defense Vic and I have been running for the last eight years,” defensive coordinator Ed Donatell said. “You need guys that can compress the edge, and then you need somebody who can rush the passer.”

Wolfe has mentioned the “fun pass-rush games that are just different” that Fangio employs, and Chubb noted the creativity in Fangio’s defense last year in Chicago.

“Sometimes they would have Khalil and Leonard (Floyd) on the same side,” Chubb said. “Sometimes they had Khalil at a 3-technique, with Leonard on the other side.”

Dialing up exotic fronts and blitzes on third downs with man coverage behind it were staples of the Bears defense last season. Putting your two best speed-rushers on one side and overloading one side of the line creates confusion and chaos, making it very difficult for blockers to decipher the deception.

Additionally, Fangio designed overload blitzes to isolate Mack on the opponent’s tackle, with the rest of the offensive line preoccupied with the numbers advantage the defense had on the other side. Miller and Chubb could be the beneficiaries of a design like this.

The secondary

Fangio and Donatell are entering their ninth consecutive season together. This is the third stint in Denver for Donatell, whose expertise is rooted in coaching defensive backs.

Their collective experience on the defensive side of the ball shows up in how well they are able to disguise their intentions pre-snap as well as mix man and zone coverages on the same play. This is made possible by having intelligent players to carry out a complex scheme, but it has to start from the top with coaches who are smart enough to implement and communicate it efficiently.

Part of the change the new staff will bring to the Broncos secondary and defense will be how it splits up zone and man coverages, with more of the former on early downs and the latter on third downs.

“The way this defense is set up, it’s going to be confusing,” Chris Harris said. “We’re going to be able to disguise, be able to make quarterbacks think instead of just coming out there like, ‘Y’all know we’re in man.’ Now I don’t have to play a guy man-to-man and cover him all over the field like I’ve had to in the past. Now I can read. I think my picks will go way up now because I’m going to have the chance to read the quarterback more. I’ll get to show you a different skill set that I have.”

Having smart, instinctive defensive backs who can hide their intentions pre-snap and then transition to man coverage on later downs when pressure is being dialed up in front of them is important, and Denver has it in spades. Harris (5-foot-10), Callahan (5-9) and recently traded for Duke Dawson (5-11) are smaller players who can play outside or in the slot, giving the defense plenty of malleability to appease Fangio’s play calling. Behind them are promising young corners with more size in Isaac Yiadom (6-1) and Bausby (6-2), who offer up a good mix of physicality, length and ball skills.

The Bears put together a brilliant defensive game plan against the high-powered Rams offense last season in Week 14, mixing up third-down coverages between man and zone while clogging running lanes, oftentimes with a 6×1 defensive front the Patriots used as a template for their dominant defensive performance in Super Bowl LIII.

Incorporating Cover 1 or “man free” allows the defense to play man coverage across the board, with a single-high free safety playing the deep middle of the field.

The Rams were held to 214 total yards and 3.5 yards per play against the Bears.

Fangio often switched the role of his safeties so each would get to play as the deep middle or man defender out of single-high coverages.

wv wrote:

And then there’s the Belichick type of systems that are complicated and harder to learn and execute. This kind of system has a higher ceiling I would think — but its harder to get there, and stay there, and you need lots of smart players.

the thing though is belichick seemingly can find these players year after year.

so there must be a certain profile of person they’re looking for?

not necessarily super athletic but just smart. can the rams find these kinds of players? i think they can. at least at certain positions.

wv wrote:

In a weird way, this may have been one of his best coaching years.

in a way, yes. but in a way it also exposed some of his weaknesses. mainly his inability or unwillingness to adapt to what was going on with the team.

i think it may have cost them at least one game. then again the way they kept that oline together was impressive. it was decimated by injuries. right now i’m thinking mcvay learns from this season and gets better. i think hiring an offensive coordinator is a sign that he has. hopefully, he’s a guy who will challenge mcvay.

wv wrote:

I say all that because of the Gurley thing. I have doubts now that McVay/Rams will ever be scary-good again.

the rams run/pass ratio was out of whack. i don’t know what the problems were. oline. gurley. a combination. i don’t know if it was the reason the offense was sputtering or just a symptom. but the rams won’t succeed if there’s no balance.