Sometimes, things are simpler than we like to think they are.
There’s probably a “the greatest trick Nick Saban ever played” joke in there somewhere, but since Kirby’s running the same defensive scheme in Athens, I’m not gonna go there.
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It’s actually genius if you think about it. Show zone (not always the same zone) and switch to man after the ball is snapped–on every play. You gotta have the athletes to cover playing man though.
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The last play was cover 2 zone. We play zone. They play zone.
The tricky part of what they do isn’t that they look the same at the snap. So you have to read after the snap whether they are truly in zone or not.
The two back to back fades MSU ran in the playoff game are instructive. I’m the first they throw the fade and #5 has his back to the qb. They hit it for a big gain. As they are about to cut into alabama’s 10-0 lead and make it competitive, they throw the same pass. This time #5 is looking at the qb from the snap. QB doesn’t see it, throws it and #5 picks it off and the rout is on.
Alabama played man on the first play and then switched to zone on the second but they looked exactly the same when they lined up.
I think what the tweet are getting at is that alabama expects to be running with the receiver even in zone coverage, not just letting guys run free.
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I think you hit the nail on the head.
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