Monday, December 1, 2008
Hannan / Sports Lane Kiffin Hire Naturally Devolves Into Hot-Chick Ogling
Posted by Caleb Hannan on Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Unfortunately for the kids, that Silver-and-Black husky won't be making the move to Knoxville.
You there, under the rock. Have you heard the news? Tennessee officially hired former Oakland Raiders
Vols fans seem to think this was the right move. Probably in part because Kiffin's dad Monte, the Ben Franklin to the now-ubiquitous Cover-2 defense, is rumored to join his staff. And because he seems to be taking this whole recruiting thing pretty seriously. And also because he's only 33 years old.
Why is age important, you ask? Well, because younger men tend to have younger wives. Who in turn tend to look more photogenic. All of which is to say, three days before the press conference officially announcing her husband's hiring, Lane Kiffin's wife Layla already had a Facebook group created in her honor.
Behold, "Our Coach's Wife Is Hotter Than Your Coach's Wife."
(h/t: Deadspin)
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"Kiffin's dad Monte, the Ben Franklin to the now-ubiquitous Cover-2 defense"
This is incorrect.
In 1996, Tony Dungy brought his version of the Cover-2 with him to his new job as Head Coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This is when the idea most recently returned to today's NFL lexicon. However, the Pittsburgh Steelers, during their mid-70's "Steel Curtain-era," was the first NFL organization to have major success using some version of the Cover-2. Dungy played defensive back for the '77 and '78 editions and it was there that he first learned the Cover-2.
Its important to understand that the Cover-2 is a very good situational formation used on longer passing downs by teams at every level of football. It uses a four-man, or "true," pass rush, while dropping the other seven defenders into a zone pass scheme. This makes the Cover-2 susceptible to the run, one reason it is a situational formation.
Additionally, an accurate QB, given enough time, can pick apart the coverage by exploiting the "soft zones," small gaps in the zone coverage scheme. Based on the defensive personnel he sees on the field, a smart QB should be able to recognize Cover-2 before he steps out of the huddle. (A Cover-2 requires faster players, who tend to be smaller than every down defensive players.) The Cover-2's easily identifiable, smaller personnel group tipped of opposing offenses before the snap, allowing them to audible the play call and exploit the knowledge. That is, until Monte Kiffin got his hands on it.
As the Bucs Defensive Coordinator in 1996, Kiffin tailored Dungy's Cover-2 schemes to his undersized defensive roster and adapted it, so that he could almost any play from his playbook out of the formation. He figured out a way to make the Cover-2 his primary defensive formation while accounting for its known weaknesses. This took away any pre-snap advantage the offense could gain from defensive personnel and substitutions.
Kiffin's Tampa-2 displays Dungy's Cover-2 philosophy in many ways; it relies on smaller, faster players with a tough mentality, it asks the four defensive linemen to generate pressure on the QB without the aid of additional blitzers and, of course, it starts in Cover-2 formation.
The Cover-2 formation has four down linemen rushing the pocket, a cornerback (CB) covering each sideline, three linebackers (LBs) responsible for the middle of the field and two safties, splitting the deep halves of the field. The name "Cover-2" refers to the two safties covering "over-the-top" or deep.
What Kiffin did to transform the Cover-2 into an every-down defensive formation, what's now known as the Tampa-2, was change the way he employed his middle linbacker (MLB.) Instead of committing the MLB to the box for run defense and short coverage, Kiffin would have his MLB read and react to the play as it was happening. If the call is a run, then the MLB defends the run just like he normally would in a Cover-2. The difference comes on passing plays.
When the MLB sees a passing play, he drops straight back into deep coverage, instead of holding his position to cover short and medium routes up the middle. Moving the MLB into deep coverage basically converts the Tampa-2 defense from a Cover-2 scheme to Cover-3, only the switch comes after the play has begun. This, in turn, changes the locations of the soft zones that opposing QBs might want to exploit.
When the MLB drops back into coverage, he cuts the safties' coverage responsibilities from half the field each to one third, as it is now a Cover-3 formation. The MLB covers the middle third of the field, allowing the safties to move further to the outside in support of the CBs and play passes more agressively.
Knowing they have back up from the MLB also means that the safties can move closer to the line of scrimmage, before the snap, to bolster the run defense. The idea being that the safties are responsible for less of the field than normal and would have an easier time returning to their proper position in the case of a pass.
On the flip side, when the MLB drops into deep coverage, the two outside linebackers (OLBs) and the CBs, must take on more coverage responsibility to fill the void. This means that there are more soft zones in short and medium pass routes but fewer chances for long pass plays against the Tampa-2.
For a team running Kiffin's defense, that is perfectly fine. They'll give up short gains, they just don't want to let up a score. (One of the Titans' slogans this year "bend but don't break," is most commonly used when describing a Tampa-2 defense's mentality.) That's why a Tampa-2 needs fast, aggressive players. Because they're not trying to just force a 3-and-out, they trying to force a turnover. They'll give up shorter routes if that gives them a chance to make a big play somewhere else on the field.
The Tampa-2 defense seeks to force bad offensive decisions with pressure and turn them into big defensive plays with their speed. In fact, the Colts' Tampa-2 defense won their game at Cleveland for them yesterday. Down 3-6 with the Browns on offense, Colts' speed-rushing defensive end (DE), Dwight Freeny, forced a fumble while sacking the QB. Then, the Colts' undersized, speed-rushing DE, Robert Mathis picked up the fumble and returned it for the game's only TD and winning score.
Since the '96 intro of Kiffin's Tampa-2, two teams have won the Super Bowl using it as their primary defensive formation. The Bucs' record-setting defense was guided to a championship by Kiffin, with the scheme he adapted from his old boss, a year after Dungy left for Indy.
When it was Dungy's turn to take his Tampa-2 defense to the Super Bowl, he found himself matched up against Lovie Smith, the Chicago Bears and their Tampa-2 defense. In a past life, Smith had been one of Dungy's assistant coaches at Tampa Bay and had taken Kiffin's defense with him when he departed to the Windy City.
This year, both Indy and Tampa Bay seem poised to secure playoff spots again. So, at least two of the twelve teams in the playoffs are Tampa-2 teams. Likewise, two of the last twelve Super Bowl winners have been Tampa-2 teams. Still, this hardly seems ubiquitous.
It is more likely that Mr. Hannan is confusing the Cover-2 formation with the Tampa-2 defense. The Cover-2 formation is a situational zone coverage scheme run by teams in high school through the NFL. The name "Cover-2" refers to the two safties playing deep coverage. Usually, when an announcer refers to the Cover-2, this is what he is talking about. It truly is ubiquitous.
If an announcer mentions the Tampa-2 during a game, it implies so much more. The Tampa-2 is a defensive philosophy being realized with the use of a Cover-2 formation. To adopt a Tampa-2 defense is to commit to the ideals of Dungy, Kiffin and the Steel Curtain. Speed over size, gang tackling, ball hawking safties and CBs. Each defensive position requires a pretty specific skill set, that is found in, maybe, a handful of the available players per position. A roster built around the Tampa-2, cannot simply switch to another defensive style without first going through some drastic changes. Those who chose to use the Tampa-2 must be committed to the philosophy on a long-term scale and willing see their way through a major roster turnover, if they wish to be successful.
The point is this, Monte Kiffin is a well respected defensive mind, who deserves better than an uninformed, passing mention of his accomplishments in a blog posting about his son't hot wife. Twelve years ago (a lifetime in NFL coaching trends) he took the defensive philosophy of an incoming, first-time NFL head coach (Dungy), applied it to the players he all ready had and created a new defensive system, that is being used by Super Bowl contenders to this very day. Now, even as rumors swirl that he will be joining the staff of the Vols (they're kind of a big deal, in these parts,) our local journalists/bloggers seem to care very little about discerning the actual facts of his career.
Clearly, Mr. Hannon's confusion on the subject does not affect the true subject of his posting, Mrs. Lane Kiffin. Still, UT fans should understand that, if Monte Kiffin does join his son's staff in Knoxville, the Vols will be benefitting from one of the greatest defensive minds in the world of football.
Additionally, the program would be able to lure big time defensive prospects (the kind with NFL aspirations) to campus with assurances that they will be getting developed in a pro-style system by one of the game's top minds. In the ultra-competitive SEC East, those kinds of selling points may prove to be the deciding factor for highly recruited prospects.
Mr. Hannon doesn't seem to think Monte Kiffin's contributions to the football world are important enough to research before reporting them incorrectly, as an afterthought. And he's seems to believe that the majority of the public agrees with him or else he would have done the research.
Well, they are important. So important, in fact, that multiple NFL franchises have invested millions of dollars and years worth of draft picks to install the Tampa-2 defense, his brainchild, on their teams. They do so because they believe in the Tampa-2 philosophy. They do so because they believe in the Tampa-2's proven track record. They do so because they believe the Tampa-2 can help them win championships. But, most importantly, they do so because they believe in the Tampa-2's creator, Monte Kiffin, and so should you, Mr. Hannon.
So why doesn't the beautiful dog get to move with them? She or he is certainly prettier than the skinny not really blond wife. The kids and the dog are real.
As the coach's job goes, good dog, so go the fashions of the entire family. Not that I actually think the Kiffins' need to rid themselves of the (assuming here) beloved pet just because their color palette has shifted. But I'm sure Vols fans would have no qualms with a second canine. Especially if he or she looked more like Smokey.
fyi, there are some sexier pics than this of Layla (topless) posted at http://www.2-sexy-freaky-cool.com/babepics.htm
