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:

Well, who knows, but I remember ole Dick Vermeil always had tons of experienced vet-coaches around him. Seemed to work for ‘him.’

I can only hope McVay knows what he’s doin.

Yeah and that brings up another thing. Regarding the D-coordinator: on paper, so far so good. But a lot of what makes Fangio tick is his feel for “in real time”, on the spot adjustments. Does Staley have the knack for that? Cause I don’t think that can be taught. Knowing quickly, what to do when.

The scheme ought to be good overall, and the strategies, and so on. But does Staley have anything like Fangio’s feel for how a game is going, and spontaneous ability to react to it?

Even if he doesn’t, it looks like a good hire.

I like em both. So far so good.

Problem with young coaches though is, how soon before they’re gone?

By the end of the decade every single NFL team will be coached by a McVay tree guy.

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.