Pat Narduzzi has never been an NFL coach, but his defense has made it to the professional ranks nonetheless.
The Minnesota Vikings, under the leadership of first-year defensive coordinator Brian Flores, adopted a variation of Pat Narduzzi’s defense early this season and it’s been a radical success. The Vikings rank as one of the top defenses in the NFL, allowing just 17.8 points per game and 4.8 yards per play in that time.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reported how Flores’ time spent as the Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers coach last season influenced the way he’s made adjustments to his defense this season.
Seifert reported that Flores frequently visited with Tiquan Underwood last season to watch film together, and as those sessions continued, Flores grew “enamored” with what he saw from Narduzzi’s unique defense. It’s an uncommon scheme designed to stop the run at all costs, often leading to massive sack totals, and it requires defensive backs to operate on islands in one-on-one coverage.
It’s largely worked at Pitt, with leading sacks totals in four of the past five seasons and a run defense that ranks among the best in college football — prior to the 2023 season, of course. But it’s so unique that, reportedly, Northern Illinois head coach Joe Novak wouldn’t let Narduzzi run the defense.
Additionally, Narduzzi told ESPN that Alabama head coach Nick Saban turned then-Georgia defensive coordinator Kirby Smart when he brought up Narduzzi’s defense.
The Vikings are having success integrating Narduzzi’s defense, leaving opposing coaching staffs completely lost at points this season, and perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise. The NFL loves defensive backs that come out of the Panthers’ scheme, with Jordan Whitehead, Avonte Maddox, Dane Jackson, Jason Pinnock, Damar Hamlin, Damarri Mathis, Erick Hallett and Brandon George drafted since Narduzzi arrived.
It does take a certain kind of cornerback to come in and play in Pitt’s defensive scheme. And it’s tended to prepare the Pitt defensive backs — not to mention the defensive linemen — for the NFL.
“If you watch college football, you see those guys are out there,” Narduzzi said in October. “I think it’s more and more people are doing what we do, whether it’s man free or quarters. I’ll tell you what, you’re going to watch Wake Forest, they play a lot of off quarters. I would much rather be pressing than playing off.”
Why? Narduzzi broke it down.
“Go rewind that game maybe in the first quarter and see Marquis play off, and he’s got that 6-foot-4, 210-pound wideout, and he throws a hitch and he’s got to come up there and make that tackle. If he misses that tackle, it’s out the gates, and we’re going to be talking about tackling or how bad the tackler was. I would rather him try to throw that fade and have to throw it way down the field than to have to make that tackle right there.
That’s not easy. You’re 50/50 making tackles in the open field. He had from that wall to that wall to make a guy miss, and ‘Quez made that tackle. That is not easy to do. If you’ve ever played corner or lined up out there — Bostick can tell you there, guru quarterback over there, just what he would rather see is probably that off corner free access out there. If you throw a hitch and that guy takes off and goes, little spin move, little — it’s iffy.”
Narduzzi pointed to both college and NFL teams playing more press, and while he said there might be a clinic down the line, there are a lot of reasons why that’s the case.
