Going to one word calls. Get the calls in and get the defense set. Kevin Williams has a high ankle sprain, so it looks like Piper at LG.
Simplifying the defense
- Thread starter inWV
- Start date
If complexity is the reason our defense has sucked, that really pisses me off. One of the best defenses we've had in 20 years was when Bo was Franks DC and installed a really simplified 4-3. The kids thrived in it.
When the D is struggling it's usually time to cut back, unfortunately some coaches just try to force it down players throats & refuse to cut back. Too much thinking slows the D down.
When the D is struggling it's usually time to cut back, unfortunately some coaches just try to force it down players throats & refuse to cut back. Too much thinking slows the D down.
I don't know if complexity was an issue or not but for sure POOR TACKLING was the first and most important major issue. Pathetic at times.
That can result from a variety of factors not just being poor at tackling (although we now know they weren’t practicing live tackling for years now). It can also result from not being in the right place at the right time, not giving 100% every play. Not being lined up correctly. Taking wrong angles, etc.
I think I’ve seen every one of these issues in every game this year. I don’t know what we expect this staff to fix in 2 weeks, but isn’t going to be perfect. Simplifying the defense is probably a great start though. Give every player out there less time to think about things and spend more time swarming to the ball and putting themselves into better positions to make plays.
The one thing I'll say is that every team misses tackles, it's just that there's two or three other guys that can then make the tackle. We've always got guys one on one in the open field with no one there to help.
I was just thinking the same thing. Something very wrong with a defense that doesn’t have lots of guys around the ball making the tackle. Way too many 1v1 in these huge acres of space. Very few people are going to make those tackles all the time.
On one hand I’m a fan of simplifying. On the other hand, we got made fun of on national TV for opponents’ simple alignment diagnosis.
Seems there’d be ways to meet in the middle, like simplifying calls while teaching guys how to disguise looks a little better to be less “predictable.”
These are all things that should have been done before the season, but at least we have some different voices leading the way.
Seems there’d be ways to meet in the middle, like simplifying calls while teaching guys how to disguise looks a little better to be less “predictable.”
These are all things that should have been done before the season, but at least we have some different voices leading the way.
So your saying that these players have been in this system for two to three years and they still don’t know their responsibilities and the coaches don’t know if the system is too complicated.. These coaches see them every day and can tell whether the light goes on or not. Unless they don’t care.
Carriker said on the radio I think after the NW loss that the defensive calls that Chin was making made no sense.
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They run fast tempo. Maybe we should plan on a few of our defensive players having “injuries” while they are on offense.MJ said Indiana ran 104 offensive plays in their last game
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The NW game was a complete disaster. To be honest, I have never been a fan of what Chins was doing. He put players in bad positions to make plays.
As for the NW game specifically, they ran that split zone over and over all day and we could not adjust. Double up front on the tackle, bring someone across the play to pin the LB every time. No safety run support. I seriously would have fired Chins after that game alone.
I think this also about trying to be ready faster since Indiana operates fast. That was my takeaway from the PC. I hope we slow our offense down. We need to keep our defense off the field.
It was driving me nuts to see our guys staring at the sideline as the offense was lined up ready to snap the ball. Then it was a mad scramble to line up. Stupid. What happened to having a veteran MLB who could make the calls.
couldn’t be any worse than the guy we just fired
I wonder if we will see more 3 man front. Aranda used a 3 man front at Wisconsin and LSU, although Baylor runs a 4 man front almost exclusively. Busch spent a good portion of the last several years with Aranda.
I kept hearing from Carriker how tough it was to go from a 4-3 to a 3-4 because the responsibilities for the D line and backers were so different. Then we saw Chin flipping it around during games. I’m not sure if it was just eye candy to try to confuse the offense but it sure seemed to confuse our defense. Hopefully we just get lined up and ready at the snap. Then blitz the hell out of them. As Charlie told his guys. “Play the run on the way to the QB”.
Other than the obvious issues the defense has, my main concern would be Indiana coming out in one formation, us getting the defensive call and then Indiana moving to a different formation or a check call before the defense can re-adjust.
At any rate, it can't be any more of a cluster than we've seen through 4 games.
Even with the offense adjusting their call at the line, you can't be scrambling to try to line up at the last minute. It just doesn't give a young player time to figure out where he needs to be and what his responsibility is. I yearn for the day when you've got a junior or senior MLB who can make the calls on the field instead of having the whole damned D staring at the sideline up until a millisecond before the ball is snapped. It looks to me like we tried all kinds of exotic alignments with our front 7 and the guys were often confused at the snap. Maybe we would be better off lining up in a base formation and then just let a backer call for blitzes and coverages based on what he sees.
I hate those stupid D call cards they hold up.
we're about 2 spots from the bottom of the pack in our defensive statistics. Not much room to drop. No way it could be worse than what we saw vs Georgia Southern.
"All out blitz...again...maybe you will accidentally run into the dude with the ball"