Gregg Easterbrook made a long, lucrative career out of ridiculing prevent defense (and punting instead of going for it on 4th down), and his Tuesday Morning Quarterback column was pretty compelling reading as a result of it. But the reason coaches use the prevent defense is that statistically, in the grand scheme of things, it works more often than it doesn't . Fans only remember the spectacular times it fails, but they forget all the losses that could have been prevented by playing it.
Trust me, I hate prevent defense too. I hate the whole concept of "bend but don't break" with a burning, fiery passion. But just as fans foolishly glorify the triumphs of the gunslinger while overlooking his inexcusable failures, so also they fixate on the prevent defense's failures while ignoring its many successes.
And that's not even getting into the fact that the term itself is vague, ill defined, and perhaps even undefinable .
Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel