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A Deadly Linebacker Duo-a breakdown bears LB
A Deadly Linebacker Duo
By Jeremy Stoltz
Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher have been to multiple Pro Bowls apiece. Yet what exactly do they do on the field that makes them so valuable? New metrics can help us find the answer.
For years now, the Chicago Bears’ defense has hinged on the play of linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs. Urlacher – seven-time Pro Bowl selection, five-time All Pro selection and former NFL Defensive Player of the Year – and Briggs – six-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time All Pro selection – have earned their accolades.
In Lovie Smith’s 4-3 defense, the middle linebacker has many tasks. Against the run, he needs to be able to anchor at the point of attack as well as chase down ball carriers from sideline to sideline. Urlacher’s blend of size and speed allows him to accomplish both, although he’s never been outstanding taking bigger blockers head on.
Yet against the pass is where he really shines. In a base Cover-2 formation, the field is split into two halves for the safeties to each cover. This leaves a gap down the middle. In order to keep opposing offenses from eating up yardage down the seams, the middle linebacker must be able to drop quickly back, up to 15-20 yards, and cover that zone. Urlacher can not only wheel back to the middle zone quicker than most linebackers, but he also has elite height and awareness, and quick hands, making it nearly impossible for quarterbacks to drop in passes over his head
Without his work covering tight ends down the hash marks and receivers coming over the middle, the Bears’ Cover 2 could not be successful.
Briggs’ role in the defense is equally important. His job against the pass is to cover the shallow zone 5-10 yards down the field. When an opposing player catches a pass in front of him, he’s charged with coming up and making the tackle. The defense allows the short pass and is dependant upon defenders not giving up yards after the catch.
This is where Briggs excels. In all my years watching him play, I think I’ve seen him miss three total tackles. He eats up any ball carrier that comes near him and hits like a brick wall. He’s arguably the most efficient tackler in the game.
This also has great significance against the run. Briggs mans the weak side. In the Bears’ 4-3, the strong side players are tasked with eating up blockers and filtering runners to the weak side. When everyone does his job, the running back is directed right to Briggs, who almost always makes the play.
This is why quality performances from Briggs and Urlacher are so crucial, as so much of defense’s success is directly attached to how well these two execute. Yet not only do they execute but they also perform with impact.
Football Outsiders has developed a metric called a “Defeat.” A Defeat is defined as any play – tackle, assist, pass defended, interception or forced fumble – that does one of three things:
1) causes a turnover
2) causes a loss of yardage
3) stops a conversion on third or fourth down
Surprisingly, the player with the most Defeats in 2010 was Jacksonville’s Daryl Smith with 35. He was followed by the Giants’ Justin Tuck (33), Miami’s Cameron Wake (32) and Pittsburgh’s James Harrison (31).
Briggs was 13th on the list with 28 Defeats and Urlacher was 15th with 27. That’s a total of 55 plays between the two of them that strongly affected the outcome of games played in 2010. In 16 regular season games, the two averaged nearly 3.5 Defeats per game. That is 3.5 plays that result in a turnover, tackle for loss or third-down stop. These are the types of plays that can swing momentum, take points off the board or bury an opponent late in the game.
Only a few other NFL teams can boast a duo that had more impact than Briggs and Urlacher in 2010. These stats don’t tell the whole story of each game and only put value in certain accomplishments, but they give us a better idea of just how much impact these two players have week in and week out. And why both have had decorated careers that could land each in the Hall of Fame.
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Yet against the pass is where he really shines. In a base Cover-2 formation, the field is split into two halves for the safeties to each cover. This leaves a gap down the middle. In order to keep opposing offenses from eating up yardage down the seams, the middle linebacker must be able to drop quickly back, up to 15-20 yards, and cover that zone. Urlacher can not only wheel back to the middle zone quicker than most linebackers, but he also has elite height and awareness, and quick hands, making it nearly impossible for quarterbacks to drop in passes over his head
this is the part of the game most do not appreciate or understand, or how makes urlacher great...Takes a remarkable athlete to have the speed to read/diagnose the play and then get back in coverage 15 yards off the line, and esp at 6'4' 260, he is almost singular in this ability in the NFL. because so many conditiond to big hits or a dance after a tackle, being "great", this ability goes mostly unnoticed and def. underappreciated. Also like a revis at Corner, just his getting back stops most qb's from even trying, so doesn't show up in a stat sheet or game film- because the qb goes somewhere else or gets sacked when he is providing the deep coverage.
You see Urlacher even fool the best Qb's that sometimes underestimate this ability, be it the knock down of brady's pass in the end zone that harris should have intercepted that may have turned the game around, or the pick of rodgers in the NFC championship game, where again, didn't expect or see the range urlacher had..Urlacher hasalways been under appreciated for this ability.
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guess no one has an interest in diagrams or metrics and showing some different aspects of the game. Thread's of strategy, tactics, and/or gamesmanship just seem here to not get much response at all. Oh well
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I'm here, DB. Anyway, I remember the game well against the Patriots. Urlacher is arguably the most athletic MLB in the league today, even over Patrick Willis and the ageless wonder, Ray Lewis. Urlacher recorded like four sacks this season, a point that should not go unnoticed, and he was an absolutely beast in just covering up the middle. Urlacher is definitely like the Darrelle Revis of the MLB position in that he blankets players from getting too many yards from his position. We have arguably the best group of linebackers in the NFC, and may in the NFL with the possible exception of the Steelers.
Briggs doesn't provide as many sacks as Urlacher, but he is not called upon to do that in this defense. Instead, as the article said, he is a run stuffer, and is one of the main reasons why off-tackle runs often falter over time.
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High Fives / Like - 1 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
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Originally Posted by
dabears54 
guess no one has an interest in diagrams or metrics and showing some different aspects of the game. Thread's of strategy, tactics, and/or gamesmanship just seem here to not get much response at all. Oh well
Sorry, I had to go to stupid work.
Urlacher was always a special athleate. The two years playing under Rivera were a good part of why he goes unoticed at times. Rivera got him to his peak and the fact is he was so good that plays weren't going his way. The guy is a total prick, but as a player he is just so well respected.
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Im glad they got help with Paea. Collapsing the pocket means Urlacher and Briggs arent needed except in middle range to backoff
TE's and RB's. Hopefully with Paea and help... you could see knocking the inside of the OL back a bit.
Peppers (and whateverother DE) can be used either to pass rush or give a push to Paea for help.
If we get the push thats needed in Paea and the rest of the DL, then Urlacher and Briggs are where we want them to be...
free roaming rangers taking care of that 10-15 yard sweet spot that some QB's like Rodgers and Matthews have so much fun at.
If our front four can make the pocket collapse...with our LB's covering the middle...
any QB is going to have to panic and throw long...or take the sack,
this better be where Conte earns the paycheck...Peanut will.
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Originally Posted by
jackiejokeman Im glad they got help with Paea. Collapsing the pocket means Urlacher and Briggs arent needed except in middle range to backoff
TE's and RB's. Hopefully with Paea and help... you could see knocking the inside of the OL back a bit.
Peppers (and whateverother DE) can be used either to pass rush or give a push to Paea for help.
If we get the push thats needed in Paea and the rest of the DL, then Urlacher and Briggs are where we want them to be...
free roaming rangers taking care of that 10-15 yard sweet spot that some QB's like Rodgers and Matthews have so much fun at.
If our front four can make the pocket collapse...with our LB's covering the middle...
any QB is going to have to panic and throw long...or take the sack,
this better be where Conte earns the paycheck...Peanut will.
Yeah, hopfully next year we get a true 3 tech to play along side Paea. This line could be nasty.
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Originally Posted by
GlobeOfFrogs Yeah, hopfully next year we get a true 3 tech to play along side Paea. This line could be nasty.
Paea is a true 3t who could also fill in at NT but he's far more a penetrator than a guy who eats up blocks and just bull rushes the pass.
On the other topic, I don't think that any other team in the NFL is as fortunate to have two guys whose distinctive talents mesh as well as Briggs and Uralcher. Even guys like Pisa and Roach who are good but far from All-Pro material look better next to them. I loved his observations about Briggs tackling skills. I've always searched for a way to describde his game and there it was. Briggs is the most efficient tackler I've watched play since the days of Mike Singletary and I consider that high praise. I am so glad we didn't lose him to FA two years back.
I also have to agree that Urlacher is the most unique and most skilled LB in the NFL. With his size and speed there are things he can do that very simple no one else can even come close to. There isn't another MLB who plays the pass as well as he does and still remains a force against the run as well. If he runs out the string like he played last year he's a lock for the HOF. Then we'll have 4 former Bears MLB's with that honor; Bill George, Dick Bukus, Mike Singletary and Urlacher. The tradition lives on.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap. 
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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Originally Posted by
Dagan81 I'm here, DB. Anyway, I remember the game well against the Patriots. Urlacher is arguably the most athletic MLB in the league today, even over Patrick Willis and the ageless wonder, Ray Lewis. Urlacher recorded like four sacks this season, a point that should not go unnoticed, and he was an absolutely beast in just covering up the middle. Urlacher is definitely like the Darrelle Revis of the MLB position in that he blankets players from getting too many yards from his position. We have arguably the best group of linebackers in the NFC, and may in the NFL with the possible exception of the Steelers.
Briggs doesn't provide as many sacks as Urlacher, but he is not called upon to do that in this defense. Instead, as the article said, he is a run stuffer, and is one of the main reasons why off-tackle runs often falter over time.
Yeah dagan while hard to compare a 3-4 with a 4-3, i'd agree we are 2nd after the steelers( and if ee get a stud SLB we can be #1) and agree that briggs is a tackling machine and prob the most fundamentally sound WLB, still wish he was better at getting to the Qb- and while our system will never have the WLB a big sack guy, and don't expect that from briggs..which wen he did pressure, he did a better job.. which in the scheme of things not a big deal
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Originally Posted by
jackiejokeman Im glad they got help with Paea. Collapsing the pocket means Urlacher and Briggs arent needed except in middle range to backoff
TE's and RB's. Hopefully with Paea and help... you could see knocking the inside of the OL back a bit.
Peppers (and whateverother DE) can be used either to pass rush or give a push to Paea for help.
If we get the push thats needed in Paea and the rest of the DL, then Urlacher and Briggs are where we want them to be...
free roaming rangers taking care of that 10-15 yard sweet spot that some QB's like Rodgers and Matthews have so much fun at.
If our front four can make the pocket collapse...with our LB's covering the middle...
any QB is going to have to panic and throw long...or take the sack,
this better be where Conte earns the paycheck...Peanut will.
Izzy will be the other starter at DE, with wooton probably getting alot more time in rotation in 2011 jackie, and in 2011 expect Wright and harris the main safeties, with conte getting some time in sub packages and esp dime.. but unless an injury can see conte more for 2012 starting , with harris's contract up after this year
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