A Novel Defensive Plan

The biggest problem in the majority of NFL secondaries today is a lack of height. 6' 4" receivers are snagging balls from 5' 10" defensive backs. It seems that any fast player with leaping ability and hands is seperated into two pools at the high school level, receiver or DB. If you were to force all teams to play all of their DB's at receiver and their WR's in the secondary, opposing defenses would get a huge, immediate boost. So why is it more teams don't utilize a WR in the secondary more. Granted, playing both ways is an extremely tiring task, as anyone who played high school ball can most likely attest, but a receiver who poses a deep threat to defense with no one to deliver the ball to him would undoubtedly be more beneficial playing on the opposite side of the ball.

Extrapulating that (as my mind becomes head football coach of the New England Patriots), why not play Randy Moss in the secondary? You're team is hurting in the wake of injuries to both Tom Brady and Laurence Maroney and you're defense is pretty good but not keeping you close enough in games. You move Moss into the secondary (substituting Deltha O'Neil, who was horrendous against the Chargers) and across from Ellis Hobbs. You match him against not necessarily their best receiever, rather their taller one, who is often their best (see Burress, Plaxico and Wayne, Reggie). This puts someone with immense acceleration, tremendous hands and leaping prowess that is unmatched in the NFL into a position to pick off and defend a lot passes.

What happens to Moss on the offensive side of the ball, you may ask? He will still play several downs with the offense. True, this will be a personal sacrifice by Moss for the greater good of the team. For him, however, it will be worth it to come back with a big contract and play with Brady again in 2009. For the Pats' secondary, you suddenly have a sound squad and a better defense. You will still have Warren, Wilfork and Seymour up front and Vrabel, a great rookie in Jered Mayo and a Pro Bowl season from Adalius Thomas at Linebacker. You then have a much better coverage team with Moss, Ellis Hobbs, Harrison and an up and coming Brandon Meriwhether in the secondary. Your defense becomes a much stingier one.

Moss doesn't have the caliber in quarterback with Cassell to exploit his greatest strengths. Cassell manages a simple offense and passes past the 15 yard mark are worse than hit or miss (with the awful third option of INT). As is evident by the first few weeks this season, Cassell and Moss are not on the same page and when they are, Cassell cannot deliver the football and Randy has not been helpful with his traditional highlight reel catches. The offense will excel with a focus on running/pounding/swinging the ball to Sammie Morris and Kevin Faulk and the WR screens to Wes Welker rather than Moss' sulking streaks down the sidelines to wish for a ball 30 yards downfield from a mediocre quarterback. The offense becomes more manageable for Cassell and thus more productive and the defense becomes more reliable and possibly even better with big plays (any plays really at this point).

It is a very risky idea to actual put into action. What if Moss becomes even more irritated or worse, injured on the defensive side of the ball? What if the lack of his offensive production hurts the offensive to the point stagnant? It cannot be worse than the lackluster team they are throwing out at this point in the season.