Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Where do you all place Seifert as a DC amongst the all-time great DCs? If he wasn’t underrated as a HC, he certainly was as a DC. And quite a secondary coach as well. He’d have to get a lion’s share of the credit for SF’s triumph in ’81, taking a basically rookie secondary and actually making it a team strength en route to that Lombardi.

bachslunch wrote: Dungy gets extra credit for devising the Tampa-2 Defense while Seifert has no innovator credit that I know of.

I consider Seifert to be more of the innovator. Dungy just ran Bud Carson's stuff. Seifert was the first DC (IMO) to heavily utilize situation substitution. A lot of switching of DL and LB personnel depending on down-and-distance. Dabbled with Fred Dean in the "elephant" role, then used Charles Haley more regularly in that role. Had Jeff Fuller as his "nickelbacker" before Fuller got injured...kind of like a precursor to Charles Woodson.

Just my opinion, though.