Cody Alexander Profile picture
Owner: MatchQuarters | Head of Football Ops at @FieldVisionMi | 6 books on defense | No Frills Daily Football Clips | '23 NFL Big Data Bowl Finalist
Sep 16 15 tweets 4 min read
Pundits will tell you it's 'shell' coverage, but it's more nuanced than that... We've now hit the point where the pendulum swings back.

Football has (forever) had a natural cycle.

Offenses start to spread out; passing becomes more explosive.

Defenses adjust by putting lighter players on the field to match the space.

Offenses predictably run the ball.
Jan 2 9 tweets 4 min read
Michigan ran one simple scheme that wreaked havoc on the Alabama run game:

A Ni 5-man pressure...

#ArtofX | ⤵️ Image In the 1st Half, anytime Bama used Across Motion, the Wolverines blitzed the edge.

DC Jesse Minter did a good job changing up the entry points.

Here, the Ni is set to the field & inserts once the WR motions to his side.

The short stunt by the DE leads to a sack.

#ArtofX | ⤵️
Jan 6, 2023 14 tweets 11 min read
👉🏻 #TCU is not your typical 3-High attack

Let me explain...

#ArtofX ⤵️ The Horned Frogs have THE lowest blitz rates in CFB at 11.6%, & the second lowest stunt rate at 9% (PFF).

They also deviate from the coverage norm, based in Qtrs rather than the typical C2.

#ArtofX ⤵️
Jan 4, 2023 12 tweets 8 min read
Everyone needs to understand the Dunning-Kruger Effect because it affects ALL of us.

Let me be the 1st to admit I've been to "Mount Stupid" on multiple occasions...

#ArtofX x #DoBetter 🌱 Image When we 1st learn something, we ride this quick high: "Look at me; I'm a genius!"

This tends to happen when we are young or learning something new, & we completely misjudge our own competency

The image calls this the "Peak of 'Mount Stupid.'"

#ArtofX x #DoBetter
Nov 26, 2022 11 tweets 7 min read
Miss State did a great job neutralizing the high-powered run game of Ole Miss

The Bulldogs base from a 3-3-5 that stems from the SDSU Aztec defenses of Rocky Long

Here are 5⃣ concepts from their hybrid defense...

#ArtofX | ⤵️ 1) Being able to bounce from an odd to an even front is important when trying to keep the offense guessing in the run game

MSU is aligned in their 4-2-5 against Ole Miss' 2-back unbalanced - a fluid front w/ the Heavy-5 taking the Dive & the ILB snapping down for the QB

#ArtofX
Nov 1, 2022 14 tweets 12 min read
A lot has been made about the #Rams "soft" zone coverage & how it has led to struggles in the 1st half of the season

Let's take a look...

#ArtofX x #NFL First, let's put some context to this:

The #Rams are a Cover 3 based defense

They run a variation of Cover 3 on about 59% of their snaps

Cover 3, played w/ ZN CBs can leave a defense susceptible to underneath throws, especially to the outside flats

#ArtofX x #NFL ⤵️