Could someone give me refresher on what our Viper responsibilities are please
September 6th, 2019 at 7:45 PM ^
he bites the mongoose
September 6th, 2019 at 7:46 PM ^
He kills the mongoose. FIFY
September 6th, 2019 at 8:21 PM ^
Rikki Tikki Tavi was offsides!
September 6th, 2019 at 9:28 PM ^
What a tikki tacki call!
September 6th, 2019 at 7:48 PM ^
Spy when we need one, will when we dont?
September 6th, 2019 at 7:49 PM ^
Read, cover, blitz and tackle.
September 6th, 2019 at 7:50 PM ^
In general it has been a close-to-the-line safety / run support / blitz role.
Hudson occasionally wound up single high Saturday. I haven’t yet bothered to find out if he did that last year, too, but that means there is flexibility between roles.
September 6th, 2019 at 7:52 PM ^
We did that some with him last year, yes. Trying to remember specific opponents - fairly confident we did it against Nebraska? - but I know that it's not new. I'm assuming we do it with opponents that are more apt to going 4-wide, where we'd prefer Metellus or another safety to be in coverage, and for Hudson to be the free hitter.
Edit: Indiana is the game I found. Here, at the 3:17 mark, Hudson is the single high safety: https://youtu.be/K0-TNB5Z_oQ?t=197
September 6th, 2019 at 8:22 PM ^
Thanks. I noticed it a fair amount Saturday in person (don’t get to do that often at all) and it struck me, but I thought it was more likely that I had forgotten/never known about previous occurrences than that it was a new thing.
September 6th, 2019 at 9:44 PM ^
I appreciate that you typically provide meaningful responses when people ask questions on here rather than trying to be funny with pointless one liners like most. Thanks for your often helpful insights.
September 7th, 2019 at 3:47 AM ^
Shut up
/s
September 7th, 2019 at 6:51 AM ^
I come for the snark but stay for the analysis.
September 7th, 2019 at 7:55 AM ^
So our Viper is essentially a strong safety?
September 6th, 2019 at 7:50 PM ^
So, the Viper role is more about physical attributes in 2019 than positional and responsibility consistency. We have a Viper to get someone on the field that runs like a safety but brings the physical force of a linebacker - hence Jabrill Peppers playing at 210, Khaleke playing at about 220.
They're not consistently playing a field-side hybrid LB position. As you saw, Khaleke is playing anywhere from traditional LB depth, to deep Safety, to on the LOS. It's totally dependent on what we want to show the other team and what part of the field/offensive attack we want our "Swiss Army Knife" to cover on any given play.
TL;DR - There isn't really a single, consistent set of responsibilities for that position.
September 6th, 2019 at 8:14 PM ^
There isn't really a single, consistent set of responsibilities for that position
Or where he lines up, right? Strong or weak?
I might be making myself look dumb here, but I'm going back to the basics.
edit: And thank you for replying.
September 6th, 2019 at 8:25 PM ^
Yeah, we will put him anywhere.
September 6th, 2019 at 9:28 PM ^
My understanding is that from a basic Don Brown X's and O's 4-2-5 perspective, the Viper is usually on the strong side of the formation (where the TE is) with the Anchor (previously Gary but not sure if this is really Paye or Hutchinson this year as both seemed to play it at times). If you designate Khaleke as "all time" Viper, then the definition gets a bit vague as he moves around on some different defensive formations as you noted.
September 6th, 2019 at 10:06 PM ^
Thank you. Good stuff. Back to the game and re, re, re, rewatch.
September 6th, 2019 at 10:10 PM ^
This would be true of the HSP or Nickel in a base 4-2-5. Don Brown doesn't really run a basic 4-2-5 that frequently though, so I think it's just more helpful to label Khaleke the Viper due to his physical traits. Sometimes our Viper looks like a SAM in a 4-3 Over, sometimes he looks like the SAM in a 4-3 Under, sometimes he's your FS in Cover 1...
To me, the essence of a Viper is more about the physical traits of the player than the position. This is why the coaches talked to Dax about "Viper" when they were recruiting him. Daxton Hill's responsibilities at Viper would be different than Khaleke's, because they're different physically. It's an amoebic position that gets deployed based on the opposing offense and the physical traits of the guy manning the position.
September 6th, 2019 at 7:57 PM ^
The viper player slithers up to the ball carrier and strikes in the blink of an eye, injecting enough gentle anesthesia to put them into sleepy time until the end of the game, whereupon they wake up feeling rejuvenated and refreshed.
September 6th, 2019 at 8:19 PM ^
Is it worth the "targeting" penalty tho?
September 6th, 2019 at 8:10 PM ^
seek and destroy
September 6th, 2019 at 8:12 PM ^
Just one responsibility
September 6th, 2019 at 8:19 PM ^
Wow, the title made me feel like something was expected of me tomorrow. Whew.
September 6th, 2019 at 8:46 PM ^
To kill all that have the ball
September 6th, 2019 at 8:50 PM ^
Viper has to get Maverick and Iceman to get along and be good teammates, as I recall. Also, he had to console everyone when Goose gets blown up.
September 6th, 2019 at 9:00 PM ^
Goose didn't get blown up, he smashed his head into the canopy when they were ejecting from the plane.
Maverick basically killed him.
September 6th, 2019 at 9:14 PM ^
Tomorrow would be a great time for Hudson to have another all time high tackle effort!
September 6th, 2019 at 9:25 PM ^
The basics for Viper is that he's a safety type replacement for a Sam linebacker in a traditional 4-3. In a traditional 4-3, the Sam aligns to the offense's strong side, and if that side has at least 2 WRs, the Sam's alignment is halfway b/w the #2 WR and the OT to that side. With today's spread offenses almost always having 2 WRs to the strong side, it no longer makes sense to employ a traditional Sam but to have your base defense have a strong safety/DB type in that role, hence, the Viper.
Additionally, Don Brown has a TON of funky packages (Cheetah, Pup, Nascar, etc.) and so that's how you can see (for example) a) a Sam such as Josh Uche on the field at the same time as Hudson, and b) Hudson lined up as a deep middle of the field (MOF) safety.
The reason to run these funky packages is twofold:
- Get your best personnel for a given situation on the field.
- Don't allow the opponent to know what you're doing with your scheme.
Hope this helps.
September 6th, 2019 at 10:03 PM ^
Thank you. Great insight.
September 6th, 2019 at 9:27 PM ^
You're not fooling anyone, Mattison!
September 6th, 2019 at 9:49 PM ^
He played some safety in that game too which probably threw you off if you were following him.
September 6th, 2019 at 10:56 PM ^
I saw it and it did and does still throw me off.
I thought I had the viper thing down after the first year and for some reason I'm understanding it less as we go along.
Thanks to MGOBros in this thread, it's sinking in again.
Now after tomorrows game? Who knows.
September 6th, 2019 at 10:09 PM ^
He randomly roams the defense with a cool name
September 6th, 2019 at 10:25 PM ^
Haven't heard Khaleke's name called on the field in quite some time it seems ...?
September 6th, 2019 at 10:29 PM ^
Word on the street is that he led the team in tackles last game.
September 7th, 2019 at 3:22 AM ^
I thought viper was a car alarm system. Sorry, I'm old, I'm in my 30s, get off my lawn.
As far as I know a vipers responsibilities are commensurate with their skill. If Jabril Peppers or Cato June is on your team, then a Viper is a SS/ WDE hybrid that both blitzes, and pass projects. They cover a lot of bases so other players can focus on more singular roles.
September 7th, 2019 at 3:27 AM ^
I thought viper was a car alarm system. Sorry, I'm old, I'm in my 30s, get off my lawn.
As far as I know a vipers responsibilities are commensurate with their skill. If Jabril Peppers or Cato June is on your team, then a Viper is a SS/ WDE hybrid that both blitzes, and pass projects. They cover a lot of bases so other players can focus on more singular roles.
September 7th, 2019 at 10:58 AM ^
All I know is that there has been a big drop off since Peppers left. Sure he only had 1 interception but he regularly made plays for our defense
September 7th, 2019 at 11:47 AM ^
Viper is a Strong Safety. Its the most fun position to play on defense. You need to be a good enough athlete to drop in to coverage, a good enough football player to read offenses, take proper angles, get off blocks and more. The Viper can play up in the box vs. run, blitz and rush the QB in certain situations, cover the TE or Slot in other cases, or if facing trips or 4 wr, can cover a receiver split out as well (though these days, the Viper would be off the field for another corner in such a situation). Depending on alignment, the Viper can also have edge support responsibilities.
Vipers need to be able to run, hit, be incredibly smart and have a love for the game and a violent thirst for action.