My video-game fix for the Defense....

[AzzurriDawg4]

Credit shared with Columbus Dawg - something I have been thinking about for the last 3 weeks and he recently brought it up - I call it a video-game fix because I think it might be too much tinkering at this point in the season. However, this is what I see:

Whitley is big, has decent speed and hits like a ton of bricks.
No playmakers have stepped up at OLB opposite Wright. I have seen some decent play from Lawrence, but nothing spectacular.
We are too slow in the middle of the field and too soft on the edges.
I (and CD) fear we might have taken a playmaker at safety (Banks) and turned him into an average corner. He has virtually disappeared.

So, I suggest we move Whitley to OLB. Call him whatever you want. A dog safety, a linebacker, I don't care. Call the scheme a 4-2-5, a 4-3, I don't care. Move Banks back to safety and let him play centerfield and get back to ball hawking. Let Langston and Broomfield man the corners. I believe this not only puts our best players on the field in the right places, but it prepares us better for the future. Having Whitley at OLB already will ease the loss of Wright and White next year. We are still loaded at safety with Mitchell, Banks, Thames, Matt Wells, etc.

Additional suggestions: Less PT for Zach Smith. Seriously, who is that guy paying? No more PT for Bonner or Damien Anderson (sure you made one nice play vs. UGA, but fool me once...). I understand wanting fresh legs out there, but we seem to over-substitute.

That's it. What do I know, but this at least makes the most sense in my head.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

I like Whitley at OLB, but then that takes away the fear factor for WR (and RBs-Ealey) coming over the middle in the secondary. Trust me, opposing team WRs know that he is back there and he will hit you when he can. I wouldn't mind doing that sometimes in certain situations.....but I don't know about a permanent move. Banks has seemed to disappear, but Whitley looks to be as good if not better than Banks was last year.

Our defense has given up 17 points, 16, 7, and 12(garbage time UGA got 6 more) and the 29 to LSU can't be blamed on the defense. We just need to get more pressure on the QB with our front 4. It's plain and simple. Moving guys around won't fix that. We just need McPhee to step up, I think it's taking Carmon a while to adjust to SEC play like it took McPhee last year.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

In the form of field position via turnovers. We are not creating turnovers this year. Banks got it done against top-level competition last year.

 

[tenureplan]

I think we should move Cox to DE opposite Pern when he gets healthy. That puts our best 4 linemen on the field at the same time and gives us better size up the middle.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

You can't blame coaching for lack of turnovers. KJ drops a least one pick every week and no one else can catch the ball on D either. That's players. It seems Diaz has our guys in the right place, they just take a bad angle(Whitley against Alcorn QB), drop picks(Broomfield against Auburn, KJ every game), or just miss the sack(Pernell against Auburn and every other DL against every QB in every game). Coach has us in the right place at the right time, our players just need to make the play.

 

[dudehead]

He was supposed to be such a head hunter on D coming out of high school. I'm surprised he has not figured into the mix yet.

 

[SwampDawg]

I'm not football smart enough to figure out what we can do about it, but it seems like if the other team's running back takes about 4 or 5 steps east or west he can turn it upfield most of the time without much problem. What are we doing wrong?

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

nm

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

CBs not being able to get off blocks, DE's getting sealed and folded inside, lots of blitzes up the middle that don't get there in time, OLB getting caught up in traffic.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

I wonder if the coaches even realize that corner back and safety are as different as running back and wide receiver. Sure they do a lot of the same things. It's almost detrimental that they get lumped into the "defensive back" category.

 

[8dog]

we have to get more pressure on the QB to force fumbles and to force bad throws that are pick-able.

We are getting very little pressure on the QB and getting virtually none when we rush only 4. Our DL is not good.

 

[tenureplan]

He gave up the 2nd touchdown but had a good play late in the game.

 

[boomboommsu]

Cameron Lawrence has not played decent at all. He made one good tackle against Georgia, and that was only because of an assist. His idea of zone coverage was learned from Marcus Washington: try to cover enough people/space so that you end up being too far away from anyone to cover anything. He's not good enough in coverage to be a DB, not a good enough tackler to be a LB. Some tweeners find huge success in college. He's the opposite kind of tweener. So far. He certainly could be coached up enough to be decent at something, eventually. I think the coaching staff picked LB over DB in large part because we lose three senior LBs after this year.

True, Banks is only an average CB. But his replacement under your scheme, whoever it would be, would be a below average CB.

It's not rocket science. We lack cover corners. We try to compensate for that by blitzing and zone. This frequently leaves open the flats and lanes for running backs if our LBs blitz the wrong holes. We won't shut anybody out, but we'll be in the game.

 

[Irondawg]

I like Whilte and think he's a decent player but my untrained eyes show me that he doesn't fill the hole very quickly and usually meets the RB's 4 yards past the line of scrimmage versus at the line...same with Gatling and Lawrence. And I agree our CB's are not doing great in run support on sweeps either.

If you watched the Sunday night game look at how the Giants dismantled the Bears - both their run game and passing game. Granted the Bears line is horrible and Martz gives them very little TE or RB help but still they absolutely dominated the game. I think that's the kind of stuff Manny envisions and we're simply not getting many plays where you realize teh offense has no chance. Our blitzes are picked up most of the time and we're too soft in the other areas to really force the action.

This isn't to say we're playing awful on D, we just look a lot softer that I thought we would

 

[Tds & Beer]

but I'm not going to worry about our defense muc, until we actually have a game where we give up a bunch of points. LSU game doesn't count. Defense did a pretty good job there. We are making mistakes, which means they are watching this on film and working to correct it each week. I really think we will improve over the season, as long as we stay prettyhealthy. Does anyone know when Bell might be back? We definitely looked bad on D last week, but I'm sure that changes a lot with Cox and Bell back. People got more snaps last week. I think we'll be fine. Only time will tell.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

Brain surgery and football don't play well together. I am no doctor...but I would assume that he is done for the year.

 

[Todd4State]

is I don't know if Carmon is an every down kind of player. I'm afraid he would get worn out and then people might be able to run on us some later in the game. I would be more inclined to put Devin Jones in there and then rotate Carmon in on running downs.

I agree about the rest- although I will say that what we are currently doing appears to be working OK, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't look at other things that might make our defense even better.

I think as far as the big hitting problem or lack thereof, I think that's a combination of the fact that we have a new scheme and young players in a lot of places. We're starting two sophomore DT's, a walk-on senior at LB sharing time with a sophomore OLB, and then we're starting a RS freshman at safety and two sophomores at CB. I think once our young players get more and more experience, they will become harder hitters as juniors and seniors. Some of our guys are trying to learn new postions from what they used to play in high school as well- Cox moving from DE to DT, Cameron Lawrence from safety to LB, Whitley was a QB and is now a safety, Thames was a WR in high school and is now a safety, and Banks was a QB and is now a DB. I think that hurts us as far as creating turnovers a little bit as well.

My biggest complaint about the defense is how we lose contain on scrambling QB's and the fact that we miss a LOT of tackles- especially in the backfield. I've been really disappointed with Chris White's tackling or lack thereof. Pernell is overrated. He has the talent, but he doesn't finish the job.

The good news is that Manny has done a really good job this year with the defense, and I think he's the reason why we look respectable each week. I think he is at least doing more things to play to our players strengths rather than ask them to play zone and read and react, which almost all of them are not very good at.