Schiano Says Revis Used Often In Man Coverage; NFL Films' Greg Cosell Disagrees
98.7 The Fan (CBS Tampa Bay) - The more Greg Schiano speaks, the less people in this area believe what comes out of his mouth.
It started with his gushing over Josh Freeman during the preseason, saying things like "Hall of Fame throw" or "not many people alive can make the throws he can."
Then there was the dispute where Greg Schiano said that Josh Freeman being placed in the inactive suite was a "mutual" decision by both parties. Freeman's agent claimed that to be a lie.
Schiano might be caught in yet another lie where he says fans don't know what they're looking at.
There has been a debate as to whether the Buccaneers were using Darrelle Revis to the best of his ability. Revis has always been a shutdown corner in man coverage, yet it appears the Bucs have used him more in zone this season. This was a claim denied Wednesday by Greg Schiano.
"Well he is being used, often times, in man-to-man coverage," Schiano said of Revis on Wednesday. "Whether the whole coverage is man-to-man or just him taking a guy out of the play man-to-man, most fans won't be able to figure that out by watching it."
I believe it to be asinine to ever question publicly what the "fans" are seeing. I don't think it is that hard to decipher between man coverage and zone coverage, yet this coach thinks fans are that dumb to not know the difference?
"We do use his skills differently than some other guys because he has the ability to cover one-on-one," Schiano continued. "Does he do it every snap? No, there are times where you give him a breather and let him play zone, but there aren't very many."
Perhaps fans are not smart enough for Greg Schiano, but NFL Films' senior producer Greg Cosell has watched more NFL film than most people alive. Cosell disagrees with Schiano's assessment.
"This is not a defense that all year has played much man (coverage) and they certainly didn't against the Eagles," Cosell said of the Bucs secondary coverage.
"Actually, they hardly played any man (coverage)," Cosell said of the Bucs secondary coverage. "We watched that tape over and over and they hardly played any man, it was almost all zone (coverage)."
As for Revis in particular, Cosell was surprised by the Bucs usage of him.
"We counted 2 plays in which you could truly say Darrelle Revis was playing man (coverage)," Cosell said of Revis' play against the Eagles. "Revis only lines up on the left side of the defense which makes the defense fairly predictable from a coverage stand point."
Greg Cosell believes the Buccaneers are not taking advantage of a big weapon that they have on defense.
"That's what the Jets built their entire defense around," Cosell said of Revis' ability to play man coverage. "Revis would play 'cover zero man' and they would have 10 other players to do different hybrid type things."
While the Buccaneers might not be taking advantage of Revis schematically, is Revis as strong in zone coverage as he is in man coverage?
"I don't think he is, although I think he is so gifted that ultimately he could do anything," Cosell said of Revis being as strong in zone coverage as he is in man coverage. "He spent his career playing man-to-man coverage. That means he spent his career with the defensive coaches saying, 'hey Darrelle, you got him." That's fairly simple to do. When you start playing zone coverage, and you haven't played a lot of it, you have to teach a lot more."
Last week, Greg Cosell told Justin Pawlowski and Jim Lighthall that the Eagles struggle mightily against man coverage, assuming the Bucs would play much more man coverage than they had in previous weeks.
"In looking at that game and charting it," Cosell said on Fan Interference Thursday morning. "I would say that there were two snaps in the game where I thought that Revis was playing what we call 'cover zero man' with no help."
"This scheme against the Eagles was a really intriguing tactical game," Cosell said of Schiano's game plan.
The best coaches adjust to their personnel.
Not only is Greg Schiano not adjusting, he's getting caught in lies as the season moves on.
Greg Schiano's only excuse might be that Revis is still recovering from his ACL injury, but that might be another lie if he tried it.
On September 17, NFL insider Mike Garafolo reported on "Fox Sports Live" that Revis is unhappy with the amount of zone coverage Schiano runs and would rather just play "Revis Island."
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