re: A thought concerning the defensive scheme...

Thing is, zone assignments require more chemistry in the secondary and are more mentally challenging than man coverage. I don't think you would normally sit in zone on the outside until these guys get more experienced working together and communicating.

We should be primarily in man anyway with the athletes we recruit at DB.

But it becomes a problem if you can't get pressure. We haven't gotten pressure even when bringing 5 or 6. When you can't get pressure in man coverage, you're going to get torched. Too much time for the DB's to hang on their man.

To compensate for this lack of pressure Chavis runs more zone than he would otherwise. It's really a Catch 22 until the front 7 improve.