Q&A: Wide Receivers Coach Jimmy Robinson

Q&A: Wide Receivers Coach Jimmy Robinson

Interview Conducted by BigBlueInteractive.com Reporter WalterB

BBI: I have a general question about linebacker coverage. How are linebackers covering wide receivers in the NFL in general? Do you see them mostly in zone or sometimes in man?

Jimmy Robinson: You don’t see much man coverage with linebackers. As an offense coach that is the kind of match up you would just love to see. They should not be able to cover a wideout. If they could they should be playing DB. Yet you see them in zone. They will get out on top of a slot receiver and maybe try to carry him on a certain part of the route. But not necessarily in a true man coverage situation.

BBI: Will they try to take away certain inside moves for example?

Jimmy Robinson: Well they’ll beat on you a bit, and cause you some pain trying to cross the middle if you do try to run some crossing route underneath them. Usually you are going to take a shot if you are not quick enough to avoid them. They will try to get a piece of you to disrupt your route. So we have to be alert and aware of this at all times. And hopefully we are quick enough and agile to try to avoid getting the biggest part of that hit.

BBI: Last  year did you notice any types of coverage on defense that were more prevalent than others?

Jimmy Robinson: There is has been a little bit of a trend back toward the shell type of coverage meaning a four deep or a two deep. Teams are playing a lot of that. It can be known as Tampa two. Tampa two is a little bit different version of cover two.  – But  two deep, and corners playing up where they are rerouting you or trying to reroute you.  There is probably more of a trend toward that. They do mix it up, you can see a gamut of everything. You are going to see a certain amount of man coverage, unless a team just has corners that they feel that you have no business trying to match up on. But most everybody has good enough athletes where they can mix in man coverage with zones. There will continue to be more of that shell type coverage, cover two, cover four, what we call cover four which is a four deep type of deal. And they can play that from off or they can actually press the outside receivers and play that also from a man technique. We use a lot of that ourselves.

BBI: Are you often surprised at what you see on any given Sunday?

Jimmy Robinson: I don’t think you get that often. You know. Occasionally  they will sneak something in, but it’s more that you will see a different blitz or a different pressure. A dog pressure type thing that maybe you have not seen. The general trend of what you see is kind off what you studied and expect. It just a case of when they are going to call it, and when you are going to match up against it.