NFL Mel Kiper Jr. wants "2-high" looks outlawed...lol (70 Viewers)

[Fiyo]

I'd rather have 2 high safeties than 2 drunk safeties.
Oh, wait

Don't forget, drunk seemed to work for Snake Stabler and going back to the '50s, Bobby Layne, maybe that decades' best quarterback

 

[TXSaintfan1]

Mel Kiper can have a Coke and a smile…

 

[dennisrwood]

So Mel wants the offense to dictate what set the defense can play?

 

[Doug B]

During that entire era of football that Mel glorifies, there was no such rule against "2-high" safeties.

Despite being identified with Dungy and the Buccaneers, the roots of the Tampa 2 actually come from the Pittsburgh Steelers and their Steel Curtain defense of the 1970s. Dungy openly admitted that it was based on concepts he'd picked up in Pittsburgh, where he'd played as a safety from 1977 to 1978. "My philosophy is really out of the 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers playbook," said Dungy during media interviews while at Super Bowl XLI. "That is why I have to laugh when I hear 'Tampa 2'. Chuck Noll and Bud Carson—that is where it came from, I changed very little."

Tampa 2 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The aforementioned Bud Carson later took the two-deep-safeties concept to the New York Jets in 1985. That year, the Jets made the playoffs as an 11-5 wild card. Carson's team split with the Miami Dolphins and prime Dan Marino that season. The first time Marino faced Carson's defense, he passed for 136 yards, no TDs, and a pick. During the return match against the Jets, Marino forced the downfield game to eke out a 21-17 win -- 3 TD passes but also 3 INTs.

As the NFL is a copy-cat league, the strategy spread. Two-deep safeties gave defenses a strong chance against the elite passing games like Miami, San Diego, and Green Bay (remember Lofton & Jefferson together?). Fans who remember the 1980s NFL will remember that none of those high-flying downfield passing squads would win a title -- "defense wins championships" became the conventional wisdom.

 

[Mamba]

Tampa 2 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The aforementioned Bud Carson later took the two-deep-safeties concept to the New York Jets in 1985. That year, the Jets made the playoffs as an 11-5 wild card. Carson's team split with the Miami Dolphins and prime Dan Marino that season. The first time Marino faced Carson's defense, he passed for 136 yards, no TDs, and a pick. During the return match against the Jets, Marino forced the downfield game to eke out a 21-17 win -- 3 TD passes but also 3 INTs.

As the NFL is a copy-cat league, the strategy spread. Two-deep safeties gave defenses a strong chance against the elite passing games like Miami, San Diego, and Green Bay (remember Lofton & Jefferson together?). Fans who remember the 1980s NFL will remember that none of those high-flying downfield passing squads would win a title -- "defense wins championships" became the conventional wisdom.

Good stuff. The lesson to me is, let the game keep evolving.

 

[texasjefe]

So all of these new movies about Dracula evolving over time is fiction?

Grandpa Munster too!

Mel's a good dude. Long past his prime and no, two-deep aint going away, but he's got a point in that chicks dig the long ball. And football games in the 1980s when he was the pre-internet draft guru - they were real and spectacular.

 

[DerrickB]

He should have. Lol