60MaxPowerO.com: The beginning of the Patriots hybrid defense

Good stuff from the guys over at 60MaxPowerO.com. There’s also a part one to this article but it was more about BB’s Giants defenses and I really don’t care much about his philosophy back then because you know, he had Lawrence Taylor and that makes things a lot easier.

The focus of this article is really Willie McGinest…. 

Using McGinest in a joker type role allowed him to roam and exploit gaps he was going to rush. The key here is that McGinest could position himself down or up on the line, thus creating a link from 4-3 to 3-4. So one of a QB’s reads are: who’s on the edges? If McGinest is standing up he’s probably in pass coverage (one may think ) and if he’s down, he’s rushing (again, one might think). Now, use the inverse and there’s the QB’s conundrum – is he coming or dropping?