Enough of the Ellis Johnson love fest.

[DawgatAuburn]

If you were there or paid attention at all, you saw that Cheese did the same basic things that EJ did. In other words, he was very vanilla, rarely blitzed, and most maddeningly, rushed three and dropped eight in 99.9% of the passing situations. The biggest difference in last year and this year was that Cheese didn't have the benefit of Titus, Hannibal, Anthony Johnson and Pegues. Are you kidding me? Take those four away from the almighty Ellis Johnson last year, and how good would our defense have been? Just because one or two posters say that all our success last year was due to Ellis Johnson's coaching doesn't make it true. In fact, it's completely stupid. Ellis did nothing to get us beat last year like Ron Cooper did, but also did very little to make us win although it was considerably more than McCroomvey contributed. Consider the games people point to as surprise wins. Auburn - the pick six from Pegues was a tipped ball. Unless Ellis called for the "tipped ball pick six" defense, he gets no credit.The players made the play. Alabama - Titus and AJ combined to make that play, along with the Bama right tackle and Sarah Jessica Parker Wilson. Again, I doubt Ellis called "sack defense with a pick six" from the booth. Kentucky - the offense won this game for us. I know because it is one of only two times in the Croom era that I remember this happening (Florida being the other).

Ellis Johnson is approaching Stan Jones and Coach Hud in mythological wonder.

 

[dawgstudent]

how the defense played bad the other night. I thought they played well considering the awful positions the offense and special teams put them in.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Lunacy. Or drunkenness. Or both.

 

[3000lbchicken]

and that's the way it's been since Croom has been here. Starting your defense off on their heels every game and every possession is not good.

 

[dawgstudent]

they see why Ellis might have wanted to get the hell out of dodge (besides his wife hated Starkville rumor). He was getting no support from the other side of the ball.

 

[Irondawg]

Amen - and I'm also tired of the post that we should have given him a bigger raise. I think he was gone regardless unless we ponied up several 100K more than anyone else probably. He was a good coach and did a good job for us but that book is closed.

 

[lanceharbor7]

What gabby johnson said.

 

[futaba.79]

did what most men in his position would have done. He did what he had to do to make his family happy. Football was secondary in his decision to leave. </p>

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I guess most of it has to do because we refuse to blitz on the 3rd and long but we give up way too many first downs on 3rd and long. We did it last night and did it all year long last year.

 

[Ivehadbetter]

Why not make the qb throw a hot route and tackle?? Instead we rush 3 and drop 8. If you give any qb long enough, he can pick up a third and long.

 

[DowntownDawg]

....and I agree 100%. The defense performed admirably most of the game, and we'd have gotten likely the same result with EJ. I won't debate that he was the best coach on our coaching staff last year. However, the defense lost a few games for us as well as winning a few. Aside from the consistent, if vanilla, defense that we played. He always had a couple of games that the defense just laid down in. See South Carolina (where the offense did enough to win), and Arkansas (same) from last year. Tulane, Georgia, and Kentucky in 2006. I hope Cheese doesn't continue that trend.

 

[Goat Holder]

but I hope so because it makes me feel better about losing Johnson. I mean it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that big-time players make big-time plays.

 

[maroonmania]

the defense stayed in most of the night due to the rest of the team screwing up, I thought they played fairly well. I mean two of the FGs we gave up were from 48 yards or more and we stopped two deep scoring threats with INTs. Also, without the bogus calls against Wright and Smith, we likely hold them to even fewer points. The only reason I would slip the defense to a B is that in the 4th quarter when we had to make a stop, LT was ripping off 8 and 9 yard runs on us on first down routinely and kept the ball. I don't believe that would have happened last year.

 

[olemissbydamn]

I wouldn't blame the game on the DC.

However, I do think you will wish Ellis was still here before the season ends.

 

[rebelrouseri]

.

 

[Goat Holder]

I think the issue is if he's significantly better than Harbison.

 

[KDawg12]

The only thing that bothered me about cheese last Saturday was that we stayed in the 3-3-5 defense in the 4th quarter while they were running the ball down our throats. Maybe it was because we had little depth at DT, but we still have a few guys that can play there and give us a 4 man front.

 

[Sutterkane]

The D played ok Saturday considering we gave up 5 turnovers. If you had told me we had 5 turnovers and only gave up 2 tds before the game, I'd have taken it.

The only thing that really concerned me regarding the defense was tech's drive in the 4th quarter where they ran the ball down our throats and the fact that it never seemed like we had a pass rush the whole night. I'd love to see some qb under pressure stats for Saturday, as I'd bet there were not many instances of hurries, blocked passes, etc.

 

[Sutterkane]

oh wait that happened last year when he was here. I don't care if they were a top 10 team. No excuse for 40+ points from anybody.

We will miss Titus Brown more than anybody from last year defensively, player or coach.