One of the big topics of discussion Thursday on our airwaves was Mel Kiper Jr. saying on ESPN that he thinks teams playing two high safeties has ‘ruined the league,’ and the defense ‘should be banned.’
We’ve got one former NFL player on our airwaves as a regular, and that’s of course Brian Mitchell, who was off Thursday and didn’t get to weigh in…until Friday, when he HAD to rant on Kiper’s idea.
“This is my problem: they’ve been using two high safeties, but eventually the offense has to figure it out,” Brian said, as JP Finlay noted that the Tampa 2 is legendary…and yeah, BMitch, offensive player his whole life, isn’t feeling this just because offense is down.
“I've been an offensive player my whole damn life – why is it that we got to handcuff the defense all the damn time? If they start to figure it out, let the offensive coaches figure it out!” Brian said. “Most of the offensive coaches are not that damn good, and the rules have been made to make them have the advantage. Is football about winning, or just about passing touchdowns?”
“Passing numbers are way down through two weeks, but here’s where I land: it’s our job and profession, you did it at the highest level for a long time, but have you enjoyed football any less?” JP asked back. “I don’t understand the consternation.”
“I despise the mindset that offense is only supposed to be good. We have guys that played the game that are commentators and you listen to them commentating, it’s like they have an agenda,” Brian replied. “I mean, dude, get the hell out of the way, let the people play and the best team wins.
We can’t say, ‘oh, they're catching up with them, let’s give them another advantage’ – to hell with that! People were throwing touchdowns on the Tampa 2 and two man deep all the time, now you got to get back to utilizing that. They had started running high safety and our man to man so much, it's easier, but now you got to think a little bit more. You can figure it out because let's be real: those safeties got a whole half of the field, so all you gotta do is get somebody crossing, one of them facing somebody else coming around, you can still throw touchdowns.”
Crossing routes, drop backs, whatever…there are ways to do it, so B has some advice for Kiper.
“Mel Kiper needs to be quiet, and a lot of coaches and front office people don’t respect him anyway, because he thinks he knows every damn thing,” Brian said. “He better shut up before all the defensive coaches hate him.”
Listen to the whole conversation above!