Defensive schemed to attack Peterson
November 25, 2012, 8:56 pm
Defensive players measure performance by a variety of standards: a shutout, takeaways, sacks, and of course just wins.
But defensive linemen in particular take pride in not allowing a 100-yard rusher. Coordinator Rod Marinelli acknowledged that his players were stung by Tennessee’s Chris Johnson and Houston’s Arian Foster netting 100 on the Bears.
So when Adrian Peterson finished with 108, the Bears were not happy and expected to hear about it from Marinelli in the next few days. It marked Peterson’s fifth straight 100-yard game and with an average per carry of at least six yards.
But it was what one player called a “soft hundred” because so much of the total came in garbage time (Peterson had 25 yards in the first half when the Bears were going up 25-3).
Players said there were no special arrangements made to stop Peterson while operating within the keys and gap-control of their usual scheme.
“We played a lot of Cover-2, which is the stff to do against them because he’s such a good back,” said linebacker Brian Urlacher. “We missed a lot of tackles in the first half and he got a few yards late in the game when it really didn’t matter.
“We held him in check for the most part in the first half.”
What the Bears have done is authorize Julius Peppers to make line calls within the overall plan sent in to Urlacher. Peppers is permitted to call stunts and games within the front and those were part of getting to Peterson.
“We were doing a lot of stunting,” said defensive tackle Henry Melton. “We just wanted to make Peterson go one way. It kind of hurts your [pass] rushing at times but we were still getting there on the movement. We definitely wanted to make him go one way.”
Tags: Adrian Peterson,
Minnesota Vikings,
Chicago Bears,
Brian Urlacher,
Henry Melton
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