The Defense needs to get back to basics

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kingcy

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For next year. It is suprising to me how this D cannot do the basic things well.

Things tought in the first 2 days of FB practice (like the first day you ever set foot on a football field)

1. When you tackle wrap your arms around the guy (remember the tackle dummies)
2. Every man on D has a offensive player to cover, cover him until you are sure the he isnt getting the ball.
3. When covering a reciever stay with him where ever he goes (remember the if he goes to the bathroom you should be there handing him TP)
4. Dont get beat deep
5. Safetys should always stay deeper than the deepest WR.
6. If you start 10 or 15 yards off a WR, dont let him blow by you.
7. If you start 10 or 15 yards off a WR, use that to your advantage.
8. When the WR you are covering looks back for the ball, look back too. Good things can happen when you see the ball coming at you. Bad things can happen when you dont see the ball.

There is a lot of blame to go around for this season. I didnt expect a great season. 2-10 is never good but this 2-10 is about as bad as it can be. Things need to be addressed from the top down. I truly feel sorry for the Srs on this team, they were put in a no win situation.
 

jumbopackage

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Your suggestions may work when playing man defense at the high school level, but there's a LOT more to playing D these days, especially against the spread, and especially when you're out-manned.

I don't know that we have a single defensive back that I would trust to play man coverage on a regular basis. So until we get guys like that, we will be playing a lot of zone (i.e. Tampa 2) and that means that you don't have a man to cover, but a zone to cover.

And until we get some more speed on D, that means we will be getting beat more often than not.

I totally agree with #1.
I would say #2 should be we need to get pressure on the other team's QB. That was the single biggest difference I saw during the Colorado game. The D was getting all sorts of pressure on Hansen. Once Hawkins came in, we had nothing.
 

Al_4_State

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Our guys couldn't get beat any worse in man coverage than they did in zone. After the UNLV game, they couldn't stop anyone ever, except for the odd half here and there, when we got some pressure up front. Pressure up front and actually switching coverages sometimes would really help. If Bolt doesn't get fired, then he needs a fire lit under his a$$. Every team we played in conference knew they could just sit back and pick our zone apart...
 

kingcy

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Your suggestions may work when playing man defense at the high school level, but there's a LOT more to playing D these days, especially against the spread, and especially when you're out-manned.

I don't know that we have a single defensive back that I would trust to play man coverage on a regular basis. So until we get guys like that, we will be playing a lot of zone (i.e. Tampa 2) and that means that you don't have a man to cover, but a zone to cover.

And until we get some more speed on D, that means we will be getting beat more often than not.

I totally agree with #1.
I would say #2 should be we need to get pressure on the other team's QB. That was the single biggest difference I saw during the Colorado game. The D was getting all sorts of pressure on Hansen. Once Hawkins came in, we had nothing.

You are correct, but even in a Zone you need to be able to cover they WRs in your area.
 

jumbopackage

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You are correct, but even in a Zone you need to be able to cover they WRs in your area.

The complexities of playing zone D make it difficult to give simple answers though. I'd agree that they need to do a better job of playing D, but much of that revolves around needing more experience in terms of knowing where they need to be, and what they can and can't leave their obligations for. We play very aggressively on D, which is a good thing, but it can also be a liability if you over pursue or leave an assignment too soon. Even on blitzes, we have guys in a position to make plays that just run right past players they ought to make plays on.

In short, we need more speed and more experience in order to put up decent results against the caliber of offenses we are playing against. I think we have both on the way, and so I'm fairly optimistic about our future.
 
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Wesley

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I think our team needs to play more aggressive on defense. Too much watching other people do the work.
 

GoSTATE71

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we just need better athletes its obvious the guys dont know what to do out there
 

cstrunk

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8. When the WR you are covering looks back for the ball, look back too. Good things can happen when you see the ball coming at you. Bad things can happen when you dont see the ball.

This is one of the things I have noticed our coverage backs really lack - a sense of when the ball is in the air being thrown towards their receiver. Most of the time our backs just continue running with them, usually behind them, and the receiver turns around and looks for the ball or jumps and it's as easy as that.

The other complaint that I have about of pass coverage is standing 10-15 yards off of the receiver. Please put them on the line of scrimmage and make the receivers work to get by them and make them beat you. Don't beat yourself. I really hated watching Missouri run slants over the middle while our defensive backs were 10 yards from the line of scrimmage (or weren't covering them at all...). Then, get someone who can play safety to read the QB and follow where he is looking. Even against good QB's, you can know where the ball is going if you go towards the side of the field where he is looking. Have that safety support for when our defensive backs get beat.

Improve in this area and our defense will improve by leaps and bounds. And if we get beat, I want it to be because we lack the talent and lose to a truly better team, not because we beat ourself. I'm sick of the Cyclones having to play against two opponents, one of them being themselves. :sad:
 

intrepid27

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Oct 9, 2006
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I would send all our D-backs and LBs to Cale's wrestling camp and have them learn to to do a solid take down. Grab a leg and drive your shoulder through him. That is the worst unit I've ever seen when it comes to making a tackle. They all want the big hit and, if they can't do that they focus too much on stripping the ball. In the mean time the offensive player gains an extra 10 yards.
 

jumbopackage

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Sep 18, 2007
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I would send all our D-backs and LBs to Cale's wrestling camp and have them learn to to do a solid take down. Grab a leg and drive your shoulder through him. That is the worst unit I've ever seen when it comes to making a tackle. They all want the big hit and, if they can't do that they focus too much on stripping the ball. In the mean time the offensive player gains an extra 10 yards.

And two plays later they get a turnover. I'd rather give up 20 or 30 yards and end up with a turnover than have them go 3 and out and give us worse field position. I'm not saying it happens every time, but we did a pretty good job at turnover margin this year. It's our second best statistic.

I don't have a huge problem with the way we were tackling later in the year. Earlier in the season it was pretty awful.

When guys are out of position when the ball gets to where it's going, they have to arrive at the scene, and make a tackle on a guy who has already made a step that will get him a couple of extra yards, as opposed to hitting him when the ball gets there. Tackling will improve when:

A. There is less of it to do
B. Guys get stronger and bigger
C. Guys are in position to make plays