Vic Fangio Scheme Breakdown with Shawn Syed

paradoun of the two. Drivetime with Travis Wingfield begins. Now let check your pulse if not furt of what is up? Dolphins And welcome to the Drivetime podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going? Everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, the Vic Fangio episode, we're breaking

down Miami's big time hire at defensive coordinator. We'll tell you about his resume, his accomplishments and rankings over the years, the bones of the defense, and what it looks like from a numbers perspective. We'll get some testimonials and bring in a closer to wrap it up. For the fine details on the Fangio scheme, Sean Sayed wrote a banger of a deep dive up on the read optional about the Fangio defense and how it's made its way across

the National Football League. We'll get to know the newest member of the Miami staff here on the podcast from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is it is oficial. Vic Fangio will be the next defensive coordinator of your Miami Dolphins, and he brings with him a very, very impressive resume. Let's start there. In this deep dive edition of the podcast. We're putting

the season review series on hold for the day. Let's go ahead and start with his resume and it goes back to nineteen seventy nine. It's almost a decade before I was born, when he was the linebackers coach and eventually defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Dunmore High School in Pennsylvania. He then moved on to an academy high school, Milford Academy in Connecticut to be the DC there in

nineteen eighty two. In nine eighty three, he was the North Carolina graduate assistant and then eighty four eighty five he jumped to the USFL and the Philadelphia slash Baltimore Stars as their defensive assistant. Then he made the move to the NFL Saints linebackers from eighty six to ninety four. He was in the Panthers defensive coordinator from ninety five to ninety eight before moving to that same position with

the Colts from ninety nine to oh one. Took the same position for the Texans two thousand and two to oh five. He stayed in the same division there a few times. You see that from a NFC Central to the AFC Central or AFC South. Eventually, with the twos and Texans from six to oh eight, he was the Ravens special assistant to the head coach slash defensive assistant.

He took the linebacker's job for the Ravens and oh nine and then twenty ten went back to the college game to be the defensive coordinator at Stanford, working with Jim Harbaugh. Then he followed Harbaugh to the forty nine Ers job, where he was a DC for four years there before signing on to the same position with the Chicago Bears from twenty fifteen to twenty eight team. Then he finally gets his head coaching gig twenty nineteen, twenty twenty one the Broncos head coach, and this last year

he spent with the Philadelphia Eagles. Fans of the office will find this cool. He played at Dunmore High School when he was a high schooler just outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then he eventually became the assistant to the head coach, so kind of a Dwight Shrewt moved there. He moved to a different high school in eighty two that year before the one year in college and then the USFL and then of course makes the jump back to the pros. And what does he do besides coach a room that

earns a nickname. You understand how good a position group has to be to get a nickname. Legion of Boom, the Purple People Eaters. He had the Dome Patrol in New Orleans. Over his nine aggregate years there in New Orleans, the Saints ranked fifth in yards per game with three hundred yards per game. They were fourth in scoring again over those nine years eighteen point one points per game, and they were third and sacks with four hundred and eight and tied for third with three hundred and thirty

six takeaways. Then he gets his first defensive coordinator job and he helps take the expansion Panthers to the NFC title game in year two of its existence. Then onto the Colts where he worked under Jim Mora. This guy's been with like every coach you can think of. He goes to the Texans and run his defense under Dom Capers before heading up to Baltimore to coach Ray Lewis in an All Pro two thousand and nine season. Then we mentioned the six years with Jim Harbaugh, and he

goes up to Chicago and Harbaugh left for Michigan. There he worked with John Fox, and when John Fox was relieved, Fangio became the first Bears defensive coordinator to stay on under a new head coach and go to the next regime with a three year extension since Buddy Ryan stayed on with Mike Ditka in nineteen eighty two. Then rookie head coach Matt Nagy gave full control of the Fangio defense Perer story I was reading earlier before I put

this podcast together. Full control of the defense, and he repaid that by leading the NFL in turnovers in twenty eighteen with thirty six and the most interceptions with twenty seven that season. Man, if we can get anywhere close to those numbers in terms of takeaways, that's you in the division. Like, if you flipped that this year with the Dolphins offense this year, you would have won the division.

For that effort, Fangio was named Assistant Coach of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America and the same honor a few weeks later from the Associated Press that led to his first head coaching job with the Denver Broncos. Let's go ahead and circle back and focus on his time from twenty eleven and on from the

Niners Bears to Broncos. His last eight years as a DC that combines the Niners and Bears jobs, he had a defense that finished in the top five four times of total defense and the top ten six times in total defense that ahead of his appointment as the headman in Denver, and those defenses he had there were very good too. They essentially still were the same remnants of

what he built this past season. That was a championship defense in twenty twenty two, constructed by Vic Fangio, you know, after a few years putting it together there to put together for a new staff of this season, and if the Denver offense this year was even just average, then that would have been a team we're watching into the postseason.

Where the Broncos went in the right direction this offseason was bringing in Jiro Everro to run that defense, which stems from the same principles on the defense he ran. So let's go year by year back to the San Francisco days, starting no, going back to twenty eleven. We start in twenty twenty two, though, he was a consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles, and you saw the Eagles get after it with really, in all honesty, a lot of the same principles from a Fangio style defense. They were

third in total defense. They had fifteen more sacks than the second place sacking team at seventy compared to Kansas City is fifty five. Uber our Championship round takeaways was how to pressure upfront, and that's how you kind of can control games and remove my preconceived moniker that your defense is as good as the offense is playing. Not when you can get pressure with four Philadelphia seventy sacks Kansas City fifty five. They'll meet in the Super Bowl.

The Eagles had the third lowest passer rating against eighty one point six. They were seventh ranked in scoring defense at twenty point one points per game. They had the twelfth ranked red zone defense and the fourteenth ranked third down defense. Let's go ahead and do that for all the teams that he's coached going back to twenty eleven.

So the Broncos in twenty twenty one is the head coach eighth and total defense third and scoring twenty first and takeaways six and passer rating third and red zone twenty eighth and third down. The next season they were twenty first in total twenty fifth and scoring twenty ninth and takeaways and despite being sixteenth and passer rating fifteenth and third down, they were still number one in the red zone. In twenty nineteen, it was better. So they had like a down year in twenty twenty. I'm not

really sure what you would call that. There was opt outs that year, the COVID year, people missing from games, you know, just a lot of stuff going on that was different in twenty twenty. But twenty nineteen is first year twelfth, and defense tenth and scoring twenty fifth and takeaways never really got to takeaways in Denver twenty first, twenty nine and twenty fifth, sixteenth and passer rating, but again first in red zone thirteenth and third down defense.

So always top three in the red zone in red zone scoring like that is if you can do that in today's NFL. And again with this Dolphins defense Dolphins offense, rather, you're gonna win a lot of games, you're gonna compete for the division, You're going to compete in January and beyond. Like that's what you need as exactly what you need.

Go back to Chicago when he was the DC his last year, there was an amazing one third in total defense, first in scoring first, and takeaways first, and opposer passer rating opposing passer rating sixth in red zone and fourth and third down defense. Like they were great across the board. And the years prior to that wasn't any worse. I mean they were tenth, fifteenth and fourteenth, and defense ninth,

twenty fourth and twentieth and scoring defense. So that's you know, I guess they had the scoring fell off a little bit there, but again, personnel, there's some lean years in there they were first, thirteenth, thirty, second, and sixteenth. And takeaways in Chicago, the passer rating was only really good one of the four years, the first, eighteenth, twenty third,

and twenty sixth. But again red zone six twelve, eleventh, twenty first, like they were always a good red zone defense besides that first year, and then third downs where the fluctuation comes to the most for his defense is fourth, twentieth,

twenty second, and twenty ninth. So it gets better as he goes each stop along the way in the key categories like total and scoring in third down red zones, pretty much always good, and then the takeaways and passer rating, those things kind of work together, right, usually pretty good, but not so great those couple of years there in Chicago.

You go back to San Francisco. He always had a good defense there the four years there, fourth, fifth, third, and fourth in total defense, tenth, third, second, and second and scoring defense. Takeaways they were fourth, sixth, fourteenth, and first. It's a defense that generates takeaways. Man, we'll talk about that more in a second. They get eyes in the

football and they attack that way. They were fourth, fourth, sixth, and fifth in posing passer rating, but the red zone wasn't as good like weird twenty eighth, thirteenth, twenty eighth, and fourth, and then third down defense was twenty six, fifth, third, and eleventh. Excuse me, so again those Bears and Broncos ratings, you know they were not up to par. Those were some lean years in terms of their personnel. Just you know,

for your information. Not trying to make an excuse or tell you like he's a great coach regardless, but let's just say he's not going to have that problem here short of another instance of losing seven to eight key players and stars for your defense the whole year like we had last year. But if that doesn't happen, those numbers will not happen. Let's next look at how he does,

Like what are the ingredients? What goes into the stew I want to go ahead and look at his most recent stop in Denver between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty one. How did the Broncos attack opposing offenses. We'll do that and break down some of the film I watched on his games. That's next Yime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation, The VIC Fangio episode

of the Drivetime podcast New Dolphins Defensive Coordinator. We've broken down the statistical ranks of where he's been over the last decade plus told you about his resume. Let's go ahead and jump into the film and what NFL Jesus we call it gisis where they rank Vic Fangio style defenses. And I just went back and cumulatively took the last three years with the Broncos because it's it really tracks similarly. I mean, the Bears was the same, the Niers was

the same. He's not gonna overhaul what he does. Obviously he's smart enough to adapt and change things year to year, but it's it's principally the same idea as you know, year after year. So let's go ahead and talk about what he did in Denver. They ran out of their base package, which was a three four twenty one percent of the time. And I'm gonna go ahead and say it in everyone listens to this podcast knows this, but apparently people that don't don't know this. Three four and

four three is a fraction of your defense? Can we all agree to agree upon that it's less than a fifth of your defense? Typically here it's twenty one percent. A little more nickel defense is your base like getting caught up in whether a coach runs three four or four three is not relevant. I mean it is to understand the defense they play and what they want to play on base downs. But man like it is a fraction of what you run. This is not nineteen ninety four.

I don't know why it's so prevalent. I mean, I know I've seen, you know, beat writers and people that cover the game professionally talk about it like it is and so maybe that's where the fans get it from. But you're four three and three fours. That's not how the NFL works anymore. It hasn't for like twenty years, but we still talk about it that way. Anyway, the base heat ran in Denver was three or four, which

is twenty one percent of the time. And he also ran the four three four point six percent of the time. So it's some hybrid variables there in terms of their fronts, and we see it with Philly two. It means a consultant there some five down front. So like there's there's some variety and versatility he builds into a system, which you have to love because he'll morphit around the players that he has. But as we always say, you know,

the nickel defense is your base. So those are your fractions nickel over the three years, sixty two point one percent of the time. But here's a big figure that's not common in the NFL today, dime packaging ten point nine percent. So eleven percent of the time they have a sixth defensive back on the field or more. And they ran twelve players from quarter which is seven defensive backs.

Situational based sub package. You know, we don't believe in putting on more linebackers, a more defensive linemen to rush to quarterback. We believe in getting pressure with our system upfront, with our ability to create one on ones, and then we disguise and confuse quarterbacks on the back end and give them more cover guys to handle thirtain lungs so

that guys can't get open. Like the game against the Chiefs or the Chiefs and Bengals game on Sunday, the Bengals had that third and sixteen and Hayden Hurst sprung a little you know, flag route wide open. Why is he not covered because you weren't aligned properly. You didn't have the right personnel in the field, get your right personnel out there, and get a stop on third and sixteen. So that's kind of the idea that we'll talk more about the structure of it. The box counts seven man

boxes was just eighteen point eight percent. That's your average you know, four three three four defense type of Look, you're four defensive backs or even your five defensive backs with the rat in the whole eighteen point eight percent of the time a normal box light boxes are ran seventy three point seven percent of the time. Sixteen hundred and twenty six plays out of the three thou eighty five came with a six man box. What does that tell you? Two high safeties they don't bring that safety

down and it's usually from nickel personnel. So we're gonna go four two five, and we're gonna play all five defensive backs out of the box and try to win our gap assignments accordingly. Now that of course can shift on early down personnel. That's why you have it only seventy three percent of the time. You can shift that base upon the offensive ability to match their personnel. So it's not like some definitive number. But it tells you.

This defense is based upon the ability to play two high safeties and forced defenses to be patient to run the football and take underneath stuff and limit big plays. That gives well with the defensive personnel we have here and then stacked boxes seven point five percent of the time. But again, the box count idea here tells you they prefer to play down a man in the run count in the gap assignments to get more on the back

end against coverage. And I like that when you're dealing with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, the best quarterbacks in the league. I like the idea of defending the pass and eight or nine yards average pertempt compared to three or four yards on the ground. The coverage structure here you go, single high safety. You're gonna think this is funny because it's going to contradict everything I just told you. But I'll tell you why that's the case.

Single high safety pre snap forty three point three percent, two high safety pre snap thirty seven point five percent. Travis, that number is lower. You just lied to us. Hang on cover zero seventeen point four percent of the time. So there is there's so much variety in this defense.

We'll talk to Sean here in a minute about that, but it definitely is capable of confusing quarterbacks based upon the ability to show different pictures different times and change what you do pre snap and post snap and then other coverages one point eight percent of the time. Again, this jives with the ability to confuse quarterbacks and force them to think and make decisions on the fly after the snap. This is pre snap structure, so it changes.

You're not camping out in one thing. You don't rotate the same way every single time. It's constantly evolving. So the quarterback can't say, well, last time that safety started on the far hash and then buzzed the crossing route from the backside take away the over route like he wanted to deal with mesh. Well, next time you've bluffed the mesh, you go back to the middle of the field and you pull down the opposite safety, like you have different things you can do. Interchangeable safety plays a

key in this defense. That's why those coverage numbers pre snap and the post snap rotation is so not aligned, if that makes sense. Unaligned, I don't know. They play man coverage twenty point three percent of the time. They play zone coverage seventy eight points even percent of the time, But that can be difficult to plot because a lot of coverages are hybrid based, especially in this defense. You know, man,

front side, zone, backside, vice versa. A lot of times man coverage converted to zone in this defense based upon you know, the way they stack or bunch or motion. It's not as easy as just listing out numbers. That's why we're going to get to my guest here in a moment. He's going to break it down for us further. But it's not always, and almost never is what you see is what you get. It's constantly changing and evolving.

As far as their rush packages rush plans, they go three man rush in Denver they did eleven percent of the time, the four man rush was fifty seven point six percent of the time, and your five man rushes, you know, blitzing was eighteen percent of the time. They had seventy eight snaps of seven rushers twenty three snaps of seven rushers, so about twenty percent blitzer rates there. For the Broncos under Vic Fangio, they rarely go Joe break.

They just don't bring the all out blitzing rushing attack. It's if they do come, it's typically just five guys. Then there's one hundred and sixty four snaps of less than three rushers. Think end of game, end of half, third, and a mile situations, all kinds of scenarios that play into that, But the primary number here is the fifty seven point six four man rush. In total, it was four or fewer rushers seventy six point nine percent of

the time during the three years in Denver. So expect far fewer blitzing, better coverage, better disguise, better shells in the back end, and trusting Bradley Chubb and Jalen Phillips and Emmanuel Ogba and Christian Wilkins and Zach Steeler and Melvin Ingra if he comes back, Andrew van Ginkol, if

he comes back, four guys go get the quarterback. We'll play good coverage in the back end and give you hopefully an extra If this defense can get two tenths of a second longer time to throw, that sack production, the turnover production, the third down defense, all of that, all of it will ratchety way way up. And really, if you look at defenses that typically can generate the most takeaways or be stout in the red zone. It's because they change the picture on the quarterback. They confuse

you and give you multiple looks. You can never give a quarterback the same look over and over again. A quarterback of the ILK of Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes, whatever the case may be. You have to consistently change what they look at. And that's usually how mistakes are generated, right by confusing the quarterback and forcing poor decisions to put the ball where you want them to put the ball. And you do that by changing it up. I've seen

five games of his now. I went back and watched against one against Mahomes, one against twa and twenty twenty one against Aaron Rodgers when he was with the Bears, and a couple other games with the Broncos, and I just wanted to see how he went about that. And it was like the takeaway is that there was no takeaway.

It was always different. It was always, you know, show mugged up pressure in the a gap and pull a guy out, Show a seven man pressure package and pull two defensive tackles out and rush the ads, show nobody and delay green dog puts them user athletic linebackers to key. If a running back is staying in protection, go get him. Go at the quarterback, don't you know, sit here and wait for him to get out into the pattern. So just constant change, constant evolution, constant muddying up with the

quarterback with the posing offense. Sees is kind of the bread and butter behind that film study that I did here on this Monday. So that's the bones and all. Let's go ahead and do some testimonials here next before we get to my guest, and Sean said, I always like to look at the reaction on social media about big moves, and this one comes with some praise that jives with what I've taken from my research on coach Fangio and some of the benefits that come with hiring

someone of his pedigree. Randy and Mueller, former Dolphins GM said on Dolphins hiring a Vic Fangio is big. His experience and perspective is what is very valuable for players and others in the building. I love that their young decision makers want more football acumen. How big is that? Like, don't be the biggest ego in the room, don't be the big swing and d in the room that just thinks you know everything and you want to control everything

and eventually lose the thread. Like putting good people around you. Coaches talked about delegating, how important he finds it to delegate and trust the people he puts in place and do that. I love this move for Mike McDaniel. I talked about it on the previous pod, like, that's the biggest move to me, is the ability to attract a big name, to get him here and tell him like we have something good we're building, and the coach to be willing to just do whatever it takes to win.

Nothing else matters. Jay Feeley, former Dolphins kicker, perfect hire for McDaniel. I like that his scheme and philosophy are complimentary to the offensive scheme. Your offense is explosive. You don't need high risk, high reward defense. You need one that makes it hard on opposing offenses and forces them to have long, extended drives. Yeah, we've talked about that. And then Jordan rod Reek, who covers the Rams and the NFL for the Athletics, she tweeted this when the

reports came out on Sunday. The McDaniel fangio combo in Miami is such a full circle situation. I remember McDaniel obsessively pouring over that scheme a couple of years ago to coaching clinic. He's the one who said playing it was the ultimate ego bait for offensive play callers, death by ten thousand paper cuts. I cannot wait to hear Coach mcdalan talk about this higher and how tough this defense is to attack. We get great transparency from coach

on that, and he's always informative that way. And frankly, we saw that script play out and the win over Buffalo right going back to what Jaffeely talked about, if you can shorten the game against these star quarterbacks, limit them to seven to nine possessions per game, and then take care of your own business on your own possessions, like, for instance, a forty five yard bomb to Jilen Waddle on third and twenty two, and sharp red zone execution

after a takeaway creates a short field, then you have a winning formula. You can score quick, you can limit possessions and frustrate a quarterback like Josh Allen. We have months to break this all down, but it makes perfect sense to me. With the marriage of the styles of these two coaches. I want to go ahead and take our last break right here and finish up on the other side with some real x'es and o's talk. I brought in a foremost voice on this topic. You've probably

seen it make the rounds on Dolphins Twitter. Now he wrote a deep dive on the Fangio influences and schemes. We'll go ahead and get to Shaan Sayed next here on the Drivetime podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Before we get to Sean Sayed, I want to go ahead and start with this topic right here, talking a little bit about positional analogs. What has coach Fngio had in the past in Denver and Chicago, What do we have And we'll talk to Sean about

that here in just one second. But first my opinions on the topic. Why not right? I think Javon Holland has the most to gain here from this switch to more, you know, playing the playing the quarterback, playing the eyes of the quarterback, the interchangeable nature from him and Brandon Jones, and whatever else they might do at the safety position.

Those guys tend to have big roles in this defense, especially when you have that much range, that much athletic ability, and you're that well and tuned to the finer nuances of the game. You know, this play style. This concept takes me here, That concept takes me there. Like the knowledge of the game will really help a player like Javon Holland and Brandon Jones who is so so so studious.

I think it benefits the corners like an Xavien Howard, who maybe doesn't have the same four four speed he used to at this stage of his career, especially running on bad growings last year. I think that the ability to kind of zone turn, put his butt to the sideline, camp out and watch quarterbacks and you know, break on Paul's that way will accentuate his playmaking ability we saw

for so many years down here. Beyond that, I'm not sure what it looks like for the rest of the room, you know, Like if they bring Nick Needham back, who's been in the same defense his whole career, Kator Cohu, I just trust him to play in any defense because I think he's a really good player, but we haven't

seen it yet. And then upfront is where I think the big advantages come from I think Christian Wilkins his ability to penetrate and shoot gaps and kind of put the offensive line in a bit of you know, peril in terms of having to deal with his speed and explosiveness inside to match what you have on the perimeters, and the way this front can generate one on one matchups just based upon its own ability to win their

own matchups. Because if you don't double Christian inside and you put your elbows on the outside, he can cross face and get inside and get interior pressure, which is the worst for a quarterback. So then you deal with that, you pull on your running back, or you bring across a tight end to kind of help Chip inside there,

whatever the case may be. Then you free up the edges for Chubb and for Phillips and the amount of success that he has had getting great pass rush situations for his guys in the past, whether it was Chubb and Denver, von Miller and Denver, whether it was Khalil Mack in Chicago. I think he has the weapons here, the guns to play that style of defense that can

really really harass opposing quarterbacks in a great way. The linebacker area is where I don't know, I think they might have to kind of remake that position because the linebackers and Vic Fangio's defenses have always been super athletic. They can play backwards as good as they can playing forwards,

which I don't know we have that here. And they have to be sizeable to be able to come down and fit the run because if you're going to be light in your box counts with the two high structures, you have to have a linebacker who can kind of thump that way. He's always had that, you know, going back to even Roquan Smith his rookie year with the Chicago Bears, or you know, Patrick Willis Navarrel Bowman back in San Francisco. He's always kind of had those guys

to fit that mold. I'm not sure Miami does. It makes for an intriguing off season to look ahead in terms what they might do with that position, but I think it's something to keep an eye on there as far as what they might want to do to make

this defense. Vic Fangio's all right, there you go. Let's go ahead and get to my guest, now Shan Sayed and joining me now here on the Drivetime podcast is the brain behind said schemes who penned a deep dive on the Vic Fangio scheme, scheme that has really infiltrated the majority of National Football League defenses these days, and now Miami has the czar of it all. He's Sean Sayed. You can find his piece, the Book of Fangio on

the read optional sub stack. They crank out great high level content on the regular and Sean, of course a big big part of that. Sean, thank you so much for jumping on today. Travis, thanks so much. I really appreciate it. I hope the Dolphins fans are super excited for Vic Fangio. You know, I think it was a domino in the coaching world that everyone was really waiting to see where he fell. Dolphins fans, you know it's

gonna be something different. I think it's been really fun, and you know, Fangio as a guy who I love writing about him. It's been a lot of fun for us last couple of years. It seems like the guys we've been going after in terms of the high, you know, high profile players and coaches, whether that was McDaniel, whether it was Tyreek Hill to Ron Armstead and now Vic Fangio a good batting average here for Chris Career getting

his guys the last couple of years. And Sean, I don't want to you know, to I was thinking about asking you a qualifying question, tell us to explain your bona fides, But forget that. Just go read the story The Book of Fangio up on the read optional sub stack. I'll tell you all you need to know about Sean's football knowledge. And we could go eight to twelve hours on this, probably, Sean, but we're gonna try to keep it around twenty minutes or fewer. We'll see if we

can accomplish that. But I think we start right here. And since you so aptly named your story the Book of Fangio, I want to start with the contents page, as it were. Can you kind of give us a ten thousand foot view on what makes this defense? What it is like? What are the defining traits of the

Vic Fangio defense. So to me, you can't really talk about modern events in the NFL without kind of mentioning and tracking Vic Fangio because at its core, the defense, I think it uses flexibility to give really multiple post snap looks to an offense and a lot of the traits that the Fangio tree uses. They're different from what Dolphin fans are used to seeing. So you're gonna see way more two high shells, you're gonna see light boxes,

You're gonna see a lot less blitzing. And to me, I think that that's smart because the defense can then encourage the offense to run the ball into what may look like optimal looks for the offense, but they can play as heavier boxes when safeties are really triggering downhill, and really in the modern NFL, when rushing is less efficient than passing, you need to be able to stop the pass game in different ways and be able to prevent those big plays that Dolphins fan you know, love

seeing Tyrie Hill and Jaalen while run an offense. So the Fangio d events puts a roof over the offense and makes you check the ball down over and over. I think Jordan Rodrigue was reporting on a quote for Mike McDaniel, not back in the day, but a little while ago where McDaniel kind of mentioned the Fangio defense as really an EO test for an offensive play caller.

So how many times can you make the right call going down the field picking up small gains without either turning the ball over, getting either into a suboptimal look based on an early down run they gets blown up or a second down sack, or just getting impatient and dialing up a shop like kind of into the defensive hands.

So it's a really fun system because I think it's it's flexible, and I always love using it, just calling it modern defense, because I think it is a beautiful adaptation to where we've been kind of with the Pete Carroll rise in that kind of a defensive tree, and now we're here where it's so popular with guys like

Brandon Staley and Sean Desai going forward. It's funny you referenced Jordan rod Reeks tweet because before you came on, you're the last part of the podcast here, Sean, I brought in the closer as it were, and I referenced the Jordan rod reek tweet about the death by ten thousand paper cuts from Mike McDaniel, you know, a few years back at a coaching clinic, which we used a bunch of that content from Coaching Clinks for coach when he was hired last year. This time around the hiring cycle.

I want to go back to something you mentioned about the linebacker position, or I guess I should just say, you know, running against what looks like a favorable box count, because so many quarterbacks and offensers are built upon Hey, if you have a lightbox count and you have a favorable you know, number of hats to put a hat on a hat, run the ball, check to a run.

How do they accomplish that? Because I'm looking at the same thing you're talking about with the lightbox, you know, I think it was like seventy three percent of the time. How do you line up in a lightbox like that and still defend the run, you know, in a beneficial way.

So one of the ways to do it is if you think you're a regular nickel with four down linemen, two defensive linebackers, right, So technically that's a quote lightbox where you have six guys there, but oftentimes a safety is going to be rotating down there for one, right, so that can make it seven. But also the way that they do it is the way that they play the regular quarters technique, or honestly, even when they're kind of playing to a cover two side, the safeties triggered downhill.

In some of these old Bears clips that I'm watching with guys like Eddie Jackson, they get into the box so quick. I think that that's a technique thing, but also the general philosophy of fitting a run from depth with safety's and saying, hey, look, maybe we're not going to get as many kind of minus two yards stops, but if we can get you where you're getting one and a half and two yards over and over, Eventually the bet is that you're popping and they get impatient.

And I think the McDonald the way they run their offense kind of front that Shanahan tree is there's always going to be or there can be a kind of quote unblockable support player. And the way that the Fangio Tree us it is that's coming from further depth, right, So I think of stopping the run, it is a little bit of a resource allocation problem. Right. You could put eleven guys in the box and say we are

not going to let you run the ball. That of course is going to open up problems in the past game. And the way that the Fanjai Tree balances it is they're going to tip their balance to the pass game while using technique on the back end, and then also up front where if you have a bigger body that's athletic, can kind of maybe take two gaps up or play their gap and then fall into another gap up front where you can have less guys on that line but

still be able to stop the run effectively. Yeah, that's really good there. It just makes me think about what you can maximize out of Javan Holland and Brandon Jones, because Javon, for my money, can do anything anything you ask that football player to do. He could probably play, you know, running back, he's that good of a player. And then Brandon Jones, like he excels in the instinctive nature of the game and timing up his runs to the lion scrimmage, and it makes me think that those

guys can really fit that role. And then also in that nickel package like Kator Co who our rookie this past year who was phenomenal for you know, for any measurement, but for a UDFA rookie. He tackles as well as anybody. He had twenty eight run stops this year, which was sixth most among cornerbacks. So I think that it's kind of that Aran Johnson thing in Buffalo where you're in your nickel defense, but you have a great tackling nickel

cornerback that goes a long ways too. So something else about the defense that you wrote very very you know, eloquently about which it's I told you, Sean, it's hard to get through that material in a way that is like comprehensive and not you know, putting you to sleep.

And you did a good job of that. But what I want to ask you about here is like, just give us the bones of the idea of this cover six cover eight, Like, what does it look like when you achieve the ideal cover six that obviously pairs well with that cover eight when you do it correctly, What does it look like? So the reason why I'm so such a proud pusher of the word cover eight as opposed to just cover six is to me, cover six or cover eight, it determines what you're playing to the

passing string. So, really, simply put, is the kind of the more or better receivers? Right, So if it's two receivers but there's only one on the opposite side, or if it's two by two the side with the two receivers instead of a tight end. So cover six to me is quarters to the passing string, and then cover eight to me is halves to the passing string. And the way that the Fangio Tree likes to play cover eight and one of the toughest clips on the defensive

side you saw is the Chargers against the Jaguars. The Jaguars had a really big touchdown, but they're they're trying to play five over three to a trip side. So if you have two receivers to that side, the offense is really overloading one of the halves of the field. And the way the defense fights back against that is saying, hey, let's play man coverage away from it. Our linebacker is gonna have to take a running back. We are going to have to trust a cornerback on the back side.

But then we can play with five guys over three to the front side. And that gives you different flexability in terms of matching different routes, or if the kind of a fast receiver is working across the field instead of having a linebacker chase that, a safety can kind of play down to that with debt, and I think what the Fangio the specifically kind of that twenty seventeen range.

Those Bears teams do really well is they play it in their base looks to make sure they have a cornerback that's fitting the kind of outside or the outside piece of the run game, and you are going to have to be kind of an aggressive force defender. And I think that's just something that it uses the flexibility of players really really well, and they do a good job. There's this great kind of the way they ran it

against the Cowboys. I think it was in Fantais last year in Denver, where you know there's one clip cover six one clip covering and just flipping it it, flipping it and using it in different ways where they need to win that kind of first half second of the snap.

Right when the quarterback takes a snap. We want to have them hesitate just a touch with how our safety is going to rotate, and then we want to be able to get that rush already, kind of get there their selves going forward and use that together to win that first second of the snap post snap stop the offense. Yeah,

it makes perfect sense. And when you kind of break it down that way, it makes me think about the way the Dolphins have traditionally the last couple of years had such good like two gap technique and the players to execute that two gap where you know, Phillips and Chubb play the run on the way to the quarterbacks so effectively. Or Christian Wilkins, who had the most tackles by a defensive lineman since nineteen ninety I think it was nineteen ninety one at least. He just gets off

blocks and makes plays. And Zack Zeeler's very similar that way. So it seems like you could also kind of benefit from that in terms of just playing better football up front in addition to having more guys on the back end and coverage. And you know, I was going over some stats of Fangio's defenses over the years, and we

heard about the ben but don't break stuff. Man, can you like take us through that, because I'm looking at the red zone rankings, and you know, defenses always kind of change what they do down on the red zone. But man, his red zone defenses are always really good. How does they do that? Yeah, the Fangio red zone stuff, it's so interesting to me because you have to be good in the red zone if you're going to accept the hey, we're going to force you to check it.

Down over and over churn out these drives where we're okay saying if you take fifteen places to score, it look like good job on you guys. To me, in the red zone, I think it's really it's a technique thing where they play. I think they call it Red nine where it's it is a cover three week side rotation where they'll move their kind of free safety a little over to the trips for one example, if they're

playing in trips. But it's just it is guys playing with what speed I think, with confidence and not putting players into suboptimal looks where a safety may be conflicted. Kind of in two ways. Now the offense, of course, they get paid too. And I think something that I really look forward to is hopefully those training camp clips kind of come out where you see you know, Fangio McDaniel kind of fighting back and forth where they're really

drawing those things up. And to me, I think something that should be encouraging for a Fangio led defense, and that's kind of hard to quantify is they're just really well coached, like players are extremely talented, especially in those older defenses, but it seems like they're just not making mistakes where there's not coverage bus where you know, safeties don't have bad eye, for example, where they're seeing some guy go out even though they know if they have

deep responsibilities. So it's me the red zone stuff, it's a it's not that they're running some extremely complicated schematic structure, but coaching, I think in a lot of ways, is hey, how can we maximize the player that we have on the field. And I think that's something that you know, Vic Fangio has just shown over and over that he is able to do. So I think that's something that mine should be excited about. Sean sayed here on the Drivetime podcast. He wrote a great piece on the read

optional The Book of Fangio. Go check it out. It details this scheme very in depth. You won't find anything better out there on the interwebs. A couple more for you here, Sean. And we've seen you know, this coach and this defense, and a couple of tapes I wanted to go back and watch where against top quarterbacks. You know, he was in Denver when they just seemingly found a way to give you know, Mahomes fits every year when they were over there. How does he and his defensive

structure confuse some of these top quarterbacks. Like the disguise that seem to work so well to confuse these quarterbacks that have seen so many snaps and so many coverages. Really he's seen at all. How is he doing that against these top end veteran quarterbacks. To me, the Fangio defense, it's not like too prideful. So I think they understand, hey, we have a high level threat on the offensive end. We're not just going to solve this person one on

one the whole entire game. Right when Tyreek Hill is on the opposite side of the field. It's difficult to do that. I think one way, You know, Dolphins fans plane out is happy to think about that old Chargers game. But Staley comes really strongly from that Fangio tree and

shares those ideas. So to me, it maybe less about just hey, we're going to totally confuse you and have some crazy coverage rotation, but it's saying, hey, from our base looks that we run often, we have five or six different answers and different ways to plug and play

with how we're going to solve our problems. So whether it's something as simple as hey, we usually have the safety away from the trips dropping down to kind of take imagine Tyreek Hill going on a crosser, Well, this time we're going to have the opposite safety to it, right. So it's a combination of having the answers to the test right or different ways to solve the problems, but also the understanding of, hey, this is when we're gonna

call this play. So that's another thing that's really hard to quantify where specifically, you know Vick Fanju, he's not someone who just calls tons and tons of blitzes, but when they do send pressure, especially when Fanjo calls those max pressures, HF seems like he has an innate ability

to know when he can manipulate those pressures. So it's a real good combination of having the flexibility on defense specifically from a two high structure where if you're in a one high structure where that single middle of the

field safety is covering that deep middle. If you're gonna get to different coverages, specifically a two high coverage, you're going to have a safety who started on the line and is running back kind of with a panic, almost as opposed to from that solidified twos structure holding that twos structure as long as you can and dropping late first of all, Right, so we're going to delay the quarterbacks processing as much as we can and to get

two different coverages from that two eye structure. So to me, it's a it's a great combination of Hey, our basic looks are gonna look so similar, and because we have multiple answers, we have different ways to try and frustrate you. Now, if the offense is gonna score points, right like Pastrick Mahomes is going to score points when you play against them, but sometimes all it takes is really one or two plays where you can get a sack, and especially when

your offense is rolling. It's a great combination and way to win. It makes it makes perfect sense. I'm glad you referenced the Chargers game from earlier this year. I went back and watched the twenty twenty game against the Dolphins and it was kind of a similar a similar situation where they just didn't really have open receivers down

the field. And if the Dolphins can achieve that with the way they were able to create pressure with their front this year, they were third and pass rush win rate according to ESPN, and we saw Phillips and Chubb and Wilkins and the entire crew just have their own, you know, instances of one on one victories, but the ball came out so fast it was hard to convert

those into sacks. And so my question to you, Sean is how would you describe the pressure packages or even just the four man rushes and the way he creates opportunities to not just make quarterbacks hold the ball, but to get home up front and convert those pressures into game changing plays like sacks, tip balls to get picked off. How does the Vangio Fangio I should say pressure packages

work out. So one of the maybe smaller critiques at the Fanjio package is you're not going to see the most exotic blitzes with different twists or different kind of schemes from that or that maybe you're used to seeing

across the league. But have five guys up front causes so many problems for the offensive line because at outset it says, hey, we kind of need to play almost the equivalent of man coverage on offense, where I have this guy in front of me, and when you can make that a one on one constantly, as you said, which I think the Dolphins have done a good job of that, and you know, guys like Philips are going to be happy to have this again, where if you

can get those one on ones consistently, your best guys are going to get home. And I think that's something that in Minnesota that happened where their defense maybe not the most popular this year, but getting Zadarius Smith just over the kind of weakest length in the offensive line. An offensive line is really a weakling system where if you have, for example, your right guard is just a little shaky that day, that's where you want to pack on defense. I think Fanji understands that and knows how

to attack it. So to me, the thing is going to be those five down fronts, where maybe they haven't been as popular with Fangio himself, but you know Stale used it a lot expecifically with the Rams. The Eagles are using it a ton this year, and Fanjio is seeing that on tape every single week this year. I think that's gonna be something that we could see from Miami.

But also those edge rushers in that regular Nickel four down front, but if you can get home with four, it gives you just all that flexibility on the back end. Once you have to send you know, a fifth guy to kind of get pressure. It unfolds your coverage structure in different ways, whether it's you know, forcing people to have to play just in different spaces than they're used to.

But what I like that you know Fangio has done is instead of just having defenders kind of dropping to a landmark, turning around and often you know, looking like, hey, this guy's just covering space. So when you watch the replay on TV, you're like, what's going on with the defense?

They do a good job of closing that space and you know, matching routes where if they are going to send pressure, it's gonna look like man coverage and maybe you know, one of those quote bonus fire zones they would call it, but really it is, it's gonna play out almost like man coverage. So it's a combination of putting players in the best matchups one on one closing

that space in man coverage. And you know, as you said, you know something that maybe if the Dolphins of ruggled with being able to close that space is really really outavantageous. It's a good combination of hey, when the rush is doing good, the coverage is gonna look better. But also when the coverage is doing good, the rushes are gonna look better. So honestly, you want to have both those

things good, but they can really work kind of in Unison. Man, it's only a February, and you got me fired up for training camp in July and into August. I cannot wait to get out there and watch these two offenses

and defenses goal up against each other. I want to finish up with a couple of things here Sean number one, just kind of briefly in each area of the field, Like, tell me about what a Vic Fangio defense looks like ideally in terms of personnel with what he's had successfully in Denver, Chicago, San Francisco up front, in that second level and the back end, what does it look like when it's humming at all three levels in terms of

the personnel he has at those spots. I think that it's it's really cool to track the scheme over time because it's had so many incredible players. So think of it just as a base three four and using base not as they're going to spend most of their times

in nickel. But I think as a teaching progression. You start at base in your three looks, having a nose tackle that can you know, really fight that center and kind of as they say, steer the wheel, get into a good leverage and kind of attack the run that way,

not passive, but able to keep the linebackers clean. So when you have Navarro, Bowman Patrick Willis a lot of those tackles that they made were because those guys up front were working so hard, and I think the defensive linemen also those kind of four eyes, those guys on the inside shade of the offensive tackles. You could think of Justin Smith for example from the Niners day. So guys that can, they're still have the ability to attack

the offense. And I think it is really space for obviously you know Aaron Donald you see succeeding with the Rams. Those edge guys are kind of higher. They end up as hybrid linebacker pass rushers. You know, fans, you had Bradley Chupp with them, right, So it's a nice reunion for them and a space where when we're in our nickel looks, it becomes a kind of two four or five where you're you can get your hand in the dirt.

If you wanted. Guys like Kleil Mac really played that role really well, where they're the edge center in the three four face look, but then they're also getting after the passer as the defense to end in those kind of sub or nickel looks. The linebacker position is really interesting one. As I said, even guys like Roquan Smith, I think that if the ability to kind of temple the running back have really good instincts, and then speed and coverage is going to be a really big thing.

I think if you're a linebacker who maybe your instincts in matching routes isn't as good, or if you're just you know, you're just not as quick to get to the ball. Sometimes dad can cause a problem because every single defensive call has a weak point. There's no perfect defensive call. If there was one, we would just see it constantly. But the weak side linebacker in pass coverage is the kind of natural weak point. For example, you think of quarters, that linebacker a lot of the time

ends up matched up on the offensive slot receiver. And even I think on Super Bowl Sunday you'll see where the Eagles used Davante Smith in that role because they know they can get it matched up on a linebacker cornerback position. I think Fan Joe has been has had a lot of good corners, and the more flexibility really the better, right, So I think Pat sertain Is is one of the top cornerbacks in this league already at such a such an early point in his career, particularly

because he can play man coverage really really well. You're not going to be asked to play as much man coverage i think in the Fantais system than what the Dolphins have been running previously, but still being able to play flexible and really closing that space in zone coverage is huge because if you're gonna play quarters and you're gonna kind of put your roof over the defense, you still want to be able to take as much air out and if you're going to play six or seven

yards off, being able to kind of compress that it just makes the quarterback's life harder. And I think the cornerstone of defense is those safeties. I have a hard time thinking, Okay, if I could choose one star on the defensive putt in one position, maybe you know, it's maybe it's that nickel spot like Jalen Ramsey was playing

in different ways for the Rams. Maybe it's having a stud corner, but the safeties have to be able to do so much because that week safety not week in any player since, but kind of just away from the passing strength they're fitting downhill. In the run game, they're you know, trying to take that third receiver with speed coming across the field where your other safety has to

really be able to cover a lot of ground. So I think that you know, the prime example for me is Eddie Jackson, you know, Simmons in in den or just versatile of guys. I think that that is something that the fanjio true really really loves to have. And you can see different ways that different iterations have used

a personnel. Well, you know immediately should think of Philly, Well, they have a really really unique, I think five man rush package where they have guys that can clog up those interior gaps and just cause all sorts of problem for the offensive line where letting your edge rushers be comfortable they're still playing at six man box. Have those cornerbacks who are playing at a high level. And then you have guys of course like Brandon Staley where he

has a different flexibility of Derwin James. So to me, it's it's a good combination. Keep saying good combination because it's so many things working together, high level players that the scheme knows how to take advantage of and won't just paint fully into a corner. To me, it's going to be cool to see, Well, Okay, how do we take guys like Jovon holland his really really interesting, unique skill set and not force him to do things he's super uncomfortable with, but really use them as kind of

a weapon against the offensive different ways. Yeah, that's that would be a number one on my board because I think that he has the ability to really impact games in that way. And you talk about these analogs you look at from the Dolphins defense compared to Fangio's past, Like, I'm looking at those lists, I'm thinking that there's gotta be a reason that Vick was like, yeah, Siam, you up in Miami because I have these pieces I can

go to work with right away. And then also you're kind of talking about the putting the onus on the offense to be patient. Take what's there with this Miami offense and the quick strike ability of Tyreek Hill, Jalin Waddle into a tung of vloa. You get teams behind the on the scoreboard all of a sudden that becomes even more difficult to do. So it's music to our ears. Sean, we got a lot smarter today on the podcast. We really appreciate your time. You can find him on Twitter

at syed Schemes. His work is everywhere read read optional, substack. He wrote for the Vikings sp Nation blog this past season covering ed Donitel's defense protege of Vic Fangio. Go read his work, follow him on social Sean, thank you again so much for your time. Is there anything else that you've worked on and or are working on right now? You can plug here on the podcast for us. Travis means so much. I really appreciate the kind words. It was. It was real fun to talk about. I'm kind of

doing an analog to the Fangio side. I'm doing a Shanahan piece that I'm working on with the readoptional. I know that's gonna be really fun. You know, the Dolphins immediately jump up as just a top team. I'm gonna watch with an offense scheme that I really really love, a defensive scheme that I love just doing some freelance writing. Just cutting up that all twenty to follow the twitter. You know any Dolphins outlook looking for a writer. I'm excited to see you Dane on Fangio. It seems like

a match made in heaven for me. Travis. Again, really appreciate you having me on. Well, we're gonna have to get you back on here, man, because it sounds like you have a lot of to work to do on these two coaches, and we're gonna be knocking on your door here to get some more takes from us that sound good. Absolutely, absolutely, thanks a lot, Sean, And there

he goes. Like I said, we get smart on the podcast, and we have smart people on here, so really appreciate him jumping on with us, and quickly wanted to provide you guys a quick life update for Sean, who since we taped that podcast, has accepted a new job at Summer Sports, a quantitive analysis company aimed at creating precision and player acquisition and roster management in the National Football League, also the Summer Sports Show podcast. He is going to

be the incoming director of communications for Summer Sports. Congratulations Sean, We'll deserve men and we'll have him back on the podcast plenty here in the future. That's gonna do it. For my time here on the Draftime podcast. We'll come back with the twenty twenty two review series picked up on the next show we do here. I'm not sure which one we're at, but we'll have that for you

guys when the next podcast is out. Go ahead and check out the YouTube channel for media availabilities for Dolphins Today for any potential press conference is coming up, the introduction press conference. I'm sure you're all gonna want to hear that. Check out the podcast, subscribe, rate and review on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. Follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. Follow the team at

Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast with Steth and Juice, and an international podcast here on the network as well, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time finds up Caroline and Cameron. Daddy, He's coming home.