Vick Fangio Defense for Idiots.

 

The Fangio defense core philosophy is to prevent/discourage big plays from the opposing offense. How exactly does he tailor his scheme towards that goal? 

1. Zone Match Coverage 

Simplistically, unlike traditional zone coverage where the defender patrols a zone and not the player, Zone Match instructs the defender to play man coverage once the opponent enters their zone responsibility. You may ask why is this small distinction impactful? In a traditional zone coverage an offense can effectively recognize and adjust in real time, however Zone Match can easily be mistaken for man coverage as a play unfolds therefore forcing the QB to hesitate on his initial read.

2. The Play-action Neutralizer

The Defense plays primarily from a 2 safety shell. However the safeties play about 4 yards closer to line of scrimmage than your basic 2 deep, WHY? The defense wants the safeties involved in run support and more importantly the defense is designed to adjust coverage post snap. If your safeties are too deep then a post snap coverage rotation is very difficult. The nature of the safety shallow alignment and the post snap coverage swaps essentially cripples a play action heavy game plan. A QB will be at a glaring disadvantage if he turns his back to this scheme. 

3. 3-4 — 4-3 Agnostic 

The defense is predicated on versatility. It will field 3-4 personal and stack 4-3, it will field 4-3 personnel and stack 3-4. Essentially dissolving traditional defensive alignment. As a game unfolds the variable stacks create favorable one on one matchups, which is the overall goal.

4. The Safeties are the weapons.

Ed Reed under Vic Fangio in 3 seasons was selected first team all pro all 3 years and registered 21 ints, and tied for his single season career high of 9 ints in 2008. I realize that using Ed Reed as an indicator is ridiculous, he had 21 ints in his first three seasons!!; without Fangio. Nevertheless, if you are a talented athletic safety you want to play in this system because the scheme positions you to make impactful plays.

The highlighted principles and many more not mentioned results in a defense that historically is stingy in regards to big plays allowed and opportunistic with turnovers and QB pressure. 

Needless to say I am excited!