Yesterday's post about the Psycho defense made quite a few waves in the Eagles community, particularly over at r/Eagles, and I got a lot of great feedback. Rather than edit that writeup severely, I decided to put some more thoughts into a second part. This part will dive deeper into the psycho defense, and the two lynchpin pieces of the subpackage: the "okie" and the "joker."
Dom Capers in Green Bay runs a 1-5-5 Pyscho front. Their lineup looks something like the following:
The most famous and recent example of the okie psycho defense being used was during the Packers 2010 Superbowl run. That year, they had an up-and-coming nose tackle in B.J. Raji, and a savvy defensive veteran who knew the defense inside and out in Charles Woodson. The rest of the pieces fell in around them. Certain analysts maintain that a game changer at nose is not necessary, and this may very well be. However, the three teams I've seen run it best as of recently are the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, and Baltimore Ravens. B.J. Raji, Vince Wilfork, and Haloti Ngata, respectively. The Eagles do not have a dominant nosetackle on the roster currently. Fletcher Cox is the closest we could come to that, so he would most likely be inserted here, as his combination of athleticism and size might make him the perfect prototype for this subpackage moving forward.
The okie's responsibility is to disguise his assignment as best he can until the play starts, and then execute whatever he has been assigned from wherever he is on the field. Most frequently, the okie will either line up in the slot over a receiver, or lineup with the linebackers, albeit usually shaded to one side rather than right up the middle in the A or B gaps (this is the joker's role, we'll get to him later).
Charles Woodson represtented the prototype for what is wanted out of the okie position. Woodson played corner for the first few years of his career, but as his speed started to wane, his football smarts only sharpened, and Capers decided to use him as more of a safety/linebacker hybrid. Physicality is required out of the player, as they will be asked to attack guards, tackles, and tight ends on blitzes. Athleticism is required because they will be required to drop and play zone and man coverages, depending on the defense called. Being able to disguise ones assignments and get into a quarterbacks head is also a key of the position. It's a selective set of skills that isn't particularly common.
To get an idea of what Charles looked like running as the okie, check out the following gif. This psycho look is run with two down lineman, much like the version I drew up in the previous post, and 4 linebackers. Charles Woodson initially lines up in the slot at the top of the screen, not showing his hand (blitz) until the play is already progressing.
Back during the dreaded 2012 season, Juan Castillo tried using Nnamdi Asomugha in a similar role. His cornerback skillset was lessening quickly, and out of panic they tried to find him a role that could work considering how much they paid for him. It didn't work particularly effectively. He did a fine job covering tight ends that year, but thats not really the job of the okie. He was just a glorified dime linebacker, to be quite honest. This position is quite specific in what it calls for. Nnamdi had the smarts and the coverage ability, but physicality was never his strong suit.
The "joker" is the other part I am going to talk about. There is less out there regarding the specifics of what the joker entails in any given defense. His obligations in the psycho are to move around the defense, lining up anywhere from the A gap over the center to the C or D gaps outside the tackles, and rush approximately 75% of the time, dropping occasionally but with much less frequency than the okie. Just enough to keep the offensive line guessing, more or less.
The joker position has many names in many different defensive schemes. Recently, with the acquisition of Julius Peppers, Dom Capers installed an "elephant" position on his defense. In this article, Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy gives the definition of the position. "'Elephant' is a term used for a multiple-position player along the defensive front," and goes on to explain that the exact responsibilities of the position depend upon the player.
Jim Johnson used to use Jevon Kearse as a joker of sorts, moving him around the defensive line and lining him up with his hand in the ground or a stand up linebacker. The position requires excellent lateral agility as well as strength and pass rushing ability. The player best suited on our defense to do this currently is Connor Barwin. In fact, he has already been used in a joker role quite a bit as an Eagle.
Against the Seahawks this past season, if their offense was facing a 3rd-and-5 or longer, there was a good chance Vinny Curry was lining up at DE, Fletcher Cox was playing NT, and Brandon Graham or Trent Cole was the other DE. Connor Barwin then played the joker role, bouncing around the A- and B-gaps prior to the play, with Nolan Carroll in as a dime linebacker and Mychal Kendricks playing ILB. Here are a few screengrabs, Barwin is circled in red:
Two more screengrabs, both on the same play, show Barwin initally line ups to Cox's right, but stunting to his left just prior to Wilson calling for the ball. Also, I highlighted Cox in the black square to point out that we have Cox running point on our defensive line, so using him in the mold of B.J. Raji or Haloti Ngata is clearly not too much of a stretch.
The joker is already a clearly used position on our defense, but the role could be expanded if a psycho package is indeed installed this offseason. I would expect Connor Barwin to continue to get those looks, as his combination of skills allows him to execute what he needs to do perfection at that position.
The Eagles do not have a clear cut okie on the roster currently. However, the past two drafts have seen them select players that could be fitted into the role, given their physical and mental traits. Two years ago we drafted Jaylen Watkins, a CB/S hybrid player, and this offseason we selected Eric Rowe in the 2nd round, a CB/S hybrid. Watkins looks to me like more of a corner, but apparently he is putting on weight to compete at safety this summer. Rowe is the more compelling case for me.
When you put tape of Rowe on, you see a physical corner who does his best when he is at the line of scrimmage across from a receiver. He is not afraid to tackle ballcarriers, and has a nose for contact. Physicality? Check. 3 years at safety and 1 year at corner at Utah show that he is more than flexible enough to learn new positions, and he has the brains to both call a defense as a safety, and react in one as a corner. Mentality to play the position? Check.
Athleticism? Check out his spider chart, which references his Combine measurables compared to other cornerbacks over the past 16 offseasons.
Coverage? Ball skills?
I rest my case.
I think we have the defensive players in place to run a Psycho Okie Joker package with the best of them. It will get our deepest positions onto the field the most, and allow us to rotate and stay fresh. We know Chip has run concepts like this in the past at Oregon, and he is accruing talent that makes one wonder if he and Billy Davis are going to work some things up on the whiteboard this summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment