Thoughts on our Defensive scheme..

[Hector.sixpack]

I know Wilson said our scheme won't change much...but I think it will change some. Supposedly we have a lot of fast guys, several hybrid type players (DE, LB, S).So, I'm guessing we seeone or twononconventional lineups, butmostly blitz from every direction ALOT. Remember last year early on we would blitz but our timing was bad. Many times we'd blitz but didn't get anything out of it....until the Fla game. I think we will be better in that area. This will help offset our weakness, DE pass rush.

Man I'm ready for some football.

 

[Hector.sixpack]

I know Wilson said our scheme won't change much...but I think it will change some. Supposedly we have a lot of fast guys, several hybrid type players (DE, LB, S).So, I'm guessing we seeone or twononconventional lineups, butmostly blitz from every direction ALOT. Remember last year early on we would blitz but our timing was bad. Many times we'd blitz but didn't get anything out of it....until the Fla game. I think we will be better in that area. This will help offset our weakness, DE pass rush.

Man I'm ready for some football.

 

[LandArchDawg]

The "gloves-off" secondary play really frustrated me last year.

 

[dawgstudent]

I don't know if this what you were saying but we would show our blitzes way too early allowing the other team to easily pick them up. We would bring up Mitchell and/or one of the LB's and it would kill us. They would be blocked easily b/c they showed so early.

 

[tenureplan]

we also showed blitz and then backed off into coverage a ton too.

 

[DawgNDCity]

I mentioned this a few weeks ago and got blasted for being unappreciative of Diaz's brilliance. I think it will really make a difference if we play tighter on our blitzes, especially on 2nd and long with teams like Auburn that don't necessarily want to hit a home run on you anyway. We have expeience and depth this year at DB and we should take advantage of it. I like the general philosophy of making teams work their way down the field, but it seemed that when we gave them so much cushion we made it easy on the quarterback quicklyto find the open man for 6-8 yards.

 

[tenureplan]

Teams like Auburn are going to have 4-5 wide and a back just like we do. If we are blitzing, it is almost impossible to defend playing man to man. Thus we zone them. The corner back's responsibility in the zone is sideline to hashmark all the way down the field. Thus if he plays up on the wideout, there is a good chance of him letting him behind him or one of the slots sliping behind him on a corner route. Should that happen, it is 6 points.

That's why you don't see bump and run and blitzing together, especially against a spread team.

 

[Foronce]

but i don't see this changing until we get inside the 30or 20 ...these guys preach scoring def and not letting the o get behind them...

that and the fact i don't think we have a lockdown corner...

 

[missouridawg]

I think everyone last year was more than pleased with our "bend, don't break" philosophy and it worked great. Part of that philosophy is not allowing the big play by jamming receivers at the line.

 

[markymark.sixpack]

nm

 

[Hector.sixpack]

but I think when we blitzed it was at times supposed to be a chain reaction...as in one LB goes first, DE shoots this gap...then another LB goes and CB coming off the edge. All of this happening of course in a half of a second, but if timed right you can set up the OL and put them out of position. I'm not an expert, just what it looked like to me.Being the 2nd year in the system, maybe we'll be a little better at it out of the gate this year.

 

[Hector.sixpack]

The corner back's responsibility in the zone is sideline to hashmark all the way down the field.

I thought the CBs zone was pretty much a 20 yd circle and playing the ball. Anything over the top is the safeties. I could be completely wrong.

 

[mabtsdawg]

I've got no problem with a general philosophy of keeping everybody in front of you. That's as basic as it gets in pass defense. We proved last year that it generally works. However, on blitzing in general, the zone blitz and/or big cushion is one type. It is a safer blitz, allowing more room for error without giving up the homerun if you don't get to the QB quickly. I am not in favor of having NOTHING BUT blitzes in which we give a 10 yard cushion on the perimeter. If that's all we do, then against the good offenses, we should not expect blitzing to really get much done. The QB can simply rely on our defensive philosophy and trust that his short perimeter routes will be available.

Of course, if your DBs are horrible and cannot physically or mentally keep the deep threats covered long enough for the blitz to affect the play, then you have no choice. Last year, I figured that Diaz preferred the cushion/zone blitz, but also assumed that he didn't really trust our guys to play more agressively on the perimeter when we blitzed. To move up in the SEC west, we need to be able to play more agressively on the perimeter at least some of the times when we blitz.

Bottom line: I hope we mix it up more. I'm OK with playing it safe when we blitz as a general rule, but in certain situations, we need to take away the safe throws to the perimeter when we blitz.

 

[drt7891]

The most frustrating thing to me last year was we would give so much cushion to receivers and we would show our blitzes early in the count. Also, we NEVER lined anyone up against the slot receiver (see UAB and UK, especially..Randall Cobb ate us up from the slot). We need to work harder take away the slot this year

Also, I think we need to be "more deceptive," especially on third down. aGAIN, that was a trouble spot for us last year, and I think we can really work to improve that this year. I think using those same looks, but backing out into zone coverage or incorporating more zone blitzing will really work to our advantage on third down. That will keep offenses off balance and I think we have the personnel this year to really make zone blitzing effective for us this year (plus, that will also work to help take away some of those routes from the slot position).

I like the aggressiveness, but like a lot of you have said, we showed our cards early and often last year. I hope to see that improve.

 

[massabiggs]

Corner responsibilities in a cover 3 are different than those in a cover 2, cover 4, cloud zone, etc

 

[tenureplan]

If we are blitzing lb's, the safeties have to cover middle/deep middle and cb'sget the sidelines. If we are playing straight up cover 2, you are correct.</p>

 

[Hector.sixpack]

does is put you in a good position to make the big play to put people out of FG range. Once ppl get around the 35 the field is tighter, the plays may get a little more conservative and you can get teams to that 3rd & 8....then BAM, CB gets the QB 7 yds deep. Now they've got a 50yd field goal opportunity. Not a high% scoring try.</p>

 

[Hector.sixpack]

It is the best isn't? And I think we've got the conrners and safeties to do it.</p>

 

[drt7891]

I think we had one of the best red zone defenses in the SEC last year, as a matter of fact (I could be wrong). The most annoying problem that I mentioned earlier is we would find ourselves in a 3rd and 9 on their side of the field and give up a big play. Momentum is the most important sacrifice there because if a team makes that conversion, we give up a lot of momentum and confidence. That happened several times last year, and those are favorable downs for us to really mix it up and force punts. I'm not saying we will get off the field every time, but in those situations, we have to get it done.

 

[tenureplan]

It can get abused by a spread team. Picture 3 wideouts on the same side. One runs a curl or quick out, the second runs a deep curl (15-20 yds), and the third runs a post. The safety covers the post man, but who does the corner have? Hopefully the deep curl. Which coincidentally leaves the quick out receiver with a 10 yard cushion.

 

[bluelightstar]

We were 15th in the nation (3rd in the SEC behind Arkansas and Alabama) in 3rd down defense. Opponents converted on 3rd down fewer than 35% of the time against us. Don't think that was a huge trouble spot last year.

 

[DawgNDCity]

is really what I am after. I am fine if we want to play safe with cushion the majorityof the time, but sometimes we need to play tighter. On occasion the opposing QB needs to look into the flats on 2nd or 3rd and long and see our CB all over their guy. Then we may have time for him to panic and throw an ill-advised pass or get hit in the mouth by our blitzing linebacker.

 

[DawgNDCity]

and thankfully on the other side of the field where the first down doesn't heurt you near as much except in time of possession and momentum. I'm glad they don't give out points for those things, but I would like to see us get off the field a little earlier sometimes, specifically in big games. We're going to need to do that to take the next step.

 

[Todd4State]

that we were playing two sophomore corners for much of the year and a redshirt freshman safety.

Any complaints about our defense last year is nitpicking to me. Every defense is going to give up plays from time to time. That's just how it goes.

All I want out of our defense is to be aggressive, knock the crap out of people, and mix up coverages and give us a chance to win. Last year, we did that.


It sounds like to me that we are going to use a 4-2-5, which is fine with me. Just whatever fits our players, I'm OK with.