The Wide-9.
We’ve heard much about it since The Walrus hired Jim Washburn to coach the Defensive Line – before acquiring a Defensive Coordinator, mind you – and we know now that the Eagles aren’t capable of utilizing it.
Sure, Jason Babin and Cullen Jenkins have combined for 12 sacks (ranked second and fourth in the NFL, respectively), but the rest of the D-Line (and team for that matter) has a total of 4 sacks. Three of those belong to the injured Trent Cole. Meanwhile, the Wide-9 has been a sieve, with Running Backs rolling through it like The Walrus through a catered lunch buffet. Even QBs have been able to gain significant yardage up the middle, as we saw this past week with pseudo-QB Brad Smith up the middle for a 5-yard TD – Yay, Red Zone D! – and Ryan Fitzpatrick’s 10-yard scamper on 3rd and 5 from the Bills 25(*)(**).
(*)Thankfully, that drive ended in an INT, not another TD… it was already 21-7.
(**)Just an aside, that really has nothing to do with the Wide-9: Looking through the play-by-play of this game, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw nothing but short passes to the right, with a few short passes to the middle thrown in, and almost all out of the Shotgun. Not one deep ball (margin of error: 3). We don’t recall seeing him through down field. Between Fred Jackson and (the sometimes dangerous) C.J. Spiller running the ball and Fitzpatrick dinking and dunking to Stevie Johnson all day, the Bills are a sneaky potent Offense.
So why was the Wide-9 successful in Tennessee, but a miserable experiment here? Well, as Sal Paolantonio explains to Mike Missanelli on 97.5 The Fanatic, the Wide-9 requires specific personnel at Linebacker and Safety – you know, ones that can actually pay the positions – and coaches who coach correlating schemes. Who knew!
Is Sal Pal a witch or some kind of magical, know-it-all football demigod(***)? No, he’s a good reporter and knows how ask people questions and discover facts and put thoughts together to make conclusions. Clearly, Walruses – Walri? – don’t have that brain capacity.
(***)Psych… Everyone knows that’s Ray Didinger!
Unfortunately, a Walrus coaches and makes football decisions for our football team. Not someone with common sense, like Sal Paolantonio.
We implore you to listen to the interview, as Sal Pal offers really great insight into the Defensive Coordinator clusterfuck that occurred last offseason. And then pull your hair out in frustration.
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