boring defensive post

Would love to see a more aggressive defense this year. Like you said, it typically pays dividends against the run.

Is it just me, or does the first play in the "bunch" formation just scream pass? The defense drops one safety, but the short side middle would be perfect for a TE to sit down and catch a TD. I'm thinking it's going to be a little tougher to defend OU this year (which seems strange, since we're so inexperienced at QB).

 

perhaps, we have the best offensive line in history!!! huh? yeah. mull that around. nice work, jkm

 

Do you think the aggressive lb play is from the proximity to the goal line or from something else?

 

Not boring,, to me. I will be interested in seeing what the D will look like this coming up season.

 

The first one looks like a run blitz. The second one looks like the formation simplified the assignments so that they just crashed. In the first 2, if you think about it there are like 10 options for them to go through (with each one of them having the QB pull it down and pass the ball). It just looks like they don't know what to do until they get a definitive key.

 

i think he has been playing out of position his entire career. the guy is 210 soaking wet. i think he should be used as a fire zone blitzer, and a situational blitzing nickelback a la brandon shelby. he has never proven to be an effective linebacker in my opinion.

 

I want to disagree with you, but I just can't. Maybe it goes back to Stoops declaring Nelson as "the best player on the team", but I keep waiting for his greatness to show up...and it hasn't happened yet.

Supposedly, the defense is going to be more physical and aggressive this year, so maybe that will change the way he plays. I hope so.

 

Vire Fulnerables!!1!

 

Him too!

 

This next play outlines some of the problems with having attacking DL when your linebackers aren't very good. This is that split screen with Stills so I can't see the numbers on these guys so we'll do this one anonymously.


4-2-5 - offense is going light with no tight ends and the double slot



DT just blows up the center driving him back 2 yards. Linebackers are waiting to see if it is a boot or a handoff. One DE isn't blocked at all by design with the QB bootleg meant to hold him.



At this point, Shannon has waited way too long and now has an OL within lockup distance. Yes its a broken record, but these guys just stand there until the OL are on them. I just can't help but think we have a key problem here (in that they don't even see the OL because they are focusing on what is going on in the backfield). Our offside linebacker still can't see who has the ball so he is standing in the same spot. To me, the guy on this play that is hung out to dry is #40 (PL Lindley). His job is to contain on the weak side. Thus he has to get out a few yards deeper to turn the play up inside (since there is literally no one outside of him). Personally, I think his positioning from a contain perspective is pretty good.



Our DT doesn't even get a chance at the ball carrier (not sure if he doesn't even see him or what). Our other DT gets a nice shove in the back and our linebacker is locked up with an OL. Our other LB is just now figuring out he has to close. Special note to the 3 jerseys at the top within 3 yards of each other especially the one that has no clue its a running play.



Running back slips through, dude still has no clue its a running play



That safety does a very nice job of coming up and attacking the ball carrier at a steep angle.



Puts him on the ground and that one dude finally figures out its a run. No clue who the safety was, but that was a nice closeout that kept a long run down to 9 yards.

 

In the last series of plays, the center (can't tell, but I'm assuming Darlington since Ikard wasn't playing) did an excellent job of recovering. Even though he was blown up off of the snap, he kept near-perfect hand position and was able to hold the DT long enough to free the back. Nice work.

If you look at picture #3, the offensive line has great position, except for the DT running unblocked (not sure why he wasn't able to close quicker).

The two positives to take away from that series of images (on the defense) is the initial burst by the DT, and Lindley's containment.

Certainly a lot of work ahead of this defense.

 

As to the unblocked DE, it's simple numbers on the run portion.

Looks like they're actually optioning off that DE on the keeper if not optioning the whole look. If you get him sucked down, you've got the keeper (or the flat) with leads in shadow already extended to the deep third and the split can crack on the pursuit from the second level. If he stays home for contain, you pop the flat again with shadow blocking in the third and the X only needing to beat the in-out pursuit of a LB. Beautiful playcall. What I'd really like to know is whether the initial exchange is optioning off a pre-snap read or if that's a hard call.

You can't bash Frank Shannon too much on this. He HAS to stay high for just a little bit here. If they run stretch from this, or even a C gap iso, he's the guy on an island without a really athletic play from the containing DE because the backside CB is off. TONS of space for that weakside CB to close for secondary contain, so it's on the DE and horizontal pursuit from the weakside LB. Hence the point of building it with the boot look, because it freezes that LB until he can make the read. If Shannon steps up too early to seal, the VERY NEXT PLAY as an OC I hit the exact same look and stretch. And giggle as we scratch our heads as to why Frank Shannon is always getting knotted up in the trash at the line of scrimmage and can't go sideline to sideline.

Did he stay high too long? Yeah, a little, and it resulted in a pretty nice pop for the offense. But the offense is doing what we want it to do, taking advantage of mismatches and numbers to be successful.

 

So this next one is one where Nelson does a really, really good job. The key is that he gets moving before the OL gets into lockup distance. Can't emphasize enough that the Achilles heel of an OL is mobility in space and you can get around them 100% of the time if you use it.



Note that we are pinched inside at DT. This presents a problem for the OL and ends up in a holding call (something to look for in the fall).



So earlier I was talking about key problems. Notice if you look in the backfield for your run key, it still hasn't happened yet. If you look at the OL coming out to get you though, you see that run (or behind the LOS pass has already been tipped). What we've seen in the previous non-goal line plays is that our linebackers don't move until they determine where the ball is going. This puts us in a weird position in that the slower the play is to develop the better chance you have to eliminate our linebackers.

It also puts up an interesting corollary with respect to our run game. Basically, most of our running plays are slow developing which tends to work well on our D because of our backer play. However, against other opponents with better backer play, that effectiveness isn't going to be there since they aren't going to stand in one spot and wait to get blocked.



Key points here, Nelson is moving and the DE has pretty good contain. The DT in the hole is being held (since the center had to do a reach block) and the other DT is sliding decently down the hole. The blocking assignments are odd - starting from right to left (OT - LB, OG - Reach DT, OC - Reach DT, OG - LB, OT - DE). Personally, that is just asking for trouble.



Because Nelson is moving, he is able to juke the OL. He is a little close honestly, but its better than being locked up. Note the hold.



Gets past the OL but his lack of weight hurts a little here as a glancing blow almost knocks him off his feet. The DT has Clay dead to rights, but his head is going to hit on the wrong side. On a personal note, the guys at the bottom of the screen are really bothering me. On one hand, I understand that the flea flicker is still in play here, but I just do NOT like the idea of guys being "blocked" by you running a half hearted flare to the sidelines.



DT pays the price for bad form. Shannon does a good job of juking his guy, Nelson doesn't go to the ground.



Nelson meets the running back for a 1 yard gain.

Notes: I subscribe to the Tecmo bowl philosophy of play detonation. When you do everything right there should be negative yards and maybe a fumble. We did everything right in this sequence and they still gained positive yards. Our DTs have got to put running backs on the ground.

To illustrate my philosophy I give you the 2000 team

 

jkm, can you find anything with a TE set? I'd like to see what the defense looks like in that situation.

 

anyone else notice the difference HD teevee has made in our lives?

 

This is one of those heh moments. I counted 11 TE sets - all were passes. We can go over a few of them, but they are a mixed bag - you have a lot of Metoyer picking on that poor walkon from Frisco. You also have the walkon from Muldrow making some nice plays against starters.

 

So, nothing really enlightening, huh? Don't worry about it, I'd rather look more at these type setups than a few TE sets that don't show anything.