It’s no secret that football has seen drastic changes over the last decade or so. Most can tell you about how offenses have incorporated more spread concepts and run-pass options, but I think I speak for many fans when I say it’s not always easy to decipher what defenses have done to keep up.
That’s why we wanted to talk to coach Cody Alexander on this week’s episode of Cover 2 Broncos. Coach Alexander has coached defense at the top levels of high school football in Texas, and was also a graduate assistant under Art Briles at Baylor, so he understands the way the game is going and the challenges that come with defending the modern spread concepts that have been making their way into the NFL.
The Coach has a great website, MatchQuarters.com, that has been a resource for both myself and Joe Rowles to get lost for hours in all the various coverages and defensive breakdowns, so be sure to check that out if you want to dive into this more. He has also written several books on various aspects of modern defenses that I’d highly recommend.
It also doesn’t hurt that Cody happens to be a Broncos fan! Cody has been on the site enough in guest posts that we consider him a friend of MHR, and we’re always super grateful for the opportunity to hear from him.
In the interview we dive into a smattering of topics ranging from:
- What are the core elements of Vic Fangio’s defense.
- Why have players said his defense is one of the more difficult ones to pick up, and what does that mean for this upcoming year?
- How the AFC West is morphing into a Big 12 type division on offense and the challenges that poses to the Broncos defense.
- How the heck do you defend guys like Travis Kelce and Darren Waller?
- What’s more important, pass rush or coverage?
- What trends from the high school/college levels are making their way into the NFL?
- And plenty more
This conversation ties nicely into a lot of the stuff we have been talking about over the last few weeks in relation to Denver’s defense, and some of the issues we identified on tape that the secondary can hopefully clean up this coming season.
Even if you’re not a podcast kind of person and if this is the only one you ever listen to, you have to check out this interview to hear the coaches insights. And I don’t say that just because it’s our podcast - I’m going to go back through and listen again to catch all the things I missed while doing the interview! There’s a ton of great nuggets in there for Broncos fans.
Hope you enjoy, let us know what you think in the comments, and be sure to go follow Cody on Twitter or check out his site.