Safety play

[caveman99]

I for one think O'Hanlon is horrible at Safety and I have stated so on here before but if he is the best we have to start, then we have to live with it. Oh yeah, and continue to watch RB's and WR's blow past him like he is standing still.

 

This area should improve greatly next year, there are indications that the true freshman like PJ, Osborne, Fisher, Compton, etc. are looking better in practice than the starters.

[TheKiD]

O'Hanlon is only on the field because there is no-one else. Under better circumstances he would never be on the field. And Asante needs to switch to the position he is suited for: OLB.

 

We are in a bad way with our safeties.

 

Sorry Bo, I know there are many other circumstances.. and having a better pass rush would take the pressure off of them, but neither of them would start at safety at any other school in a BCS conference (might be a few possible exceptions).

 

But, Bo can't say that can he? He knows they can perform adequately in this system if other parts of the defense were performing better. It's not all on the safeties for sure, but they are definitely not helping anything.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

It's a little like in 1996 when there was all sorts of criticism of the QB play and Coach Osborne said that Frost "is the best we have". Luckily Frost improved the next year.

 

Hopefully that will be the case with Asante. That and better players coming out of their redshirt seasons next year.

[WVhuskerXX]

Im really excited to see P.J. Smith on the field next year...

[Captain K]

Wow well I guess we better fire Carl and hire you as the deffensive coordinator then.

I believe you may be half right!

[Pedro Guerrero]

OMG PELINI SAID THE FANS AREN'T REAL EDUCATED!!!

 

it's probably just too technical for us to understand

 

Actually your Billy C quote was the first thing that came to mind when I saw Bo's quote this morning.

[SOCALHUSKER]

Of course we as fans can't see the whole field, we don't know which defensive play are called or what each players assignment for every play is, but what I think most of us are complaining about is missed tackles and poor pursuit angles. Those type of mistakes can only be assessed to each individual player who makes them and not the entire defense. Yes, blown coverages are part of the problem too, but having a poor pass rush or a linebacker not in the right coverage doesn't cause our safeties to miss tackles and take the wrong angles of pursuit. Those type of mistakes are each individuals responsibility to correct and it was nice to read about them manning up to it in that article. Now they just need to work on fixing it.

 

I'm for one am tired of not seeing anybody wrap up on tackles. Instead we have guys diving in, head down, trying to punish a runner with their shoulder pads instead of sticking to the fundamentals of tackling; using an athletic body position, changing elevation, and wrapping up!! How hard is it?? We could seriously cut our yards given up by about 50 a game if we just made our tackles on first contact.

[I See Red People]

That's a nice sentiment, but when we see receivers routinely busting into the secondary and the safeties are off getting gatorade on the sidelines, it doesn't take a lot of education to go, 'Yeah, looks like he should have been covering him.'

 

I think Pelini's subtler point is that the whole defense is the problem. When you can't get a pass rush, your safeties can't perform as well. When your linebackers can't blitz effectively, same story. No, it's not all on the safeties, but time and again I see average receivers singing "Wide Open Spaces" while they trot to the end zone.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head. Can't really deny that safety play has been suspect this year.

[cmb23]

And these comments are exactly what he is talking about. You can't see the whole field when you are watching a game that you can't pause and rewind to see who at fault, and you need to get over yourself if you acctually think that you know more than Bo, and yes he is sticking up for his team what coach wouldn't?

 

Relax...I've been over myself since my mid 20's.

[TheKiD]

Of course we as fans can't see the whole field, we don't know which defensive play are called or what each players assignment for every play is, but what I think most of us are complaining about is missed tackles and poor pursuit angles. Those type of mistakes can only be assessed to each individual player who makes them and not the entire defense. Yes, blown coverages are part of the problem too, but having a poor pass rush or a linebacker not in the right coverage doesn't cause our safeties to miss tackles and take the wrong angles of pursuit. Those type of mistakes are each individuals responsibility to correct and it was nice to read about them manning up to it in that article. Now they just need to work on fixing it.

 

I'm for one am tired of not seeing anybody wrap up on tackles. Instead we have guys diving in, head down, trying to punish a runner with their shoulder pads instead of sticking to the fundamentals of tackling; using an athletic body position, changing elevation, and wrapping up!! How hard is it?? We could seriously cut our yards given up by about 50 a game if we just made our tackles on first contact.

There are times when you should wrap up and make the tackle and times when you should lower your shoulders and punish the ball carrier (you do need to be able to force fumbles/incompletions from time to time). They are simply having a hard time deciding which to do when.

[SOCALHUSKER]

Of course we as fans can't see the whole field, we don't know which defensive play are called or what each players assignment for every play is, but what I think most of us are complaining about is missed tackles and poor pursuit angles. Those type of mistakes can only be assessed to each individual player who makes them and not the entire defense. Yes, blown coverages are part of the problem too, but having a poor pass rush or a linebacker not in the right coverage doesn't cause our safeties to miss tackles and take the wrong angles of pursuit. Those type of mistakes are each individuals responsibility to correct and it was nice to read about them manning up to it in that article. Now they just need to work on fixing it.

 

I'm for one am tired of not seeing anybody wrap up on tackles. Instead we have guys diving in, head down, trying to punish a runner with their shoulder pads instead of sticking to the fundamentals of tackling; using an athletic body position, changing elevation, and wrapping up!! How hard is it?? We could seriously cut our yards given up by about 50 a game if we just made our tackles on first contact.

There are times when you should wrap up and make the tackle and times when you should lower your shoulders and punish the ball carrier (you do need to be able to force fumbles/incompletions from time to time). They are simply having a hard time deciding which to do when.

 

I would rather they just make the f@cking tackle!!

 

Hard hits aren't the only way to force turnovers!! Solid tackling forces an offense to take unnecessary risks and that's what causes turnovers!!

[cmb23]

I must have missed the part where our "Hard Hits" were forcing turnovers this year...

 

Tackle someone. If the ball falls out....bonus.

[AR Husker Fan]

Actually with HD DVR i can see 3/4 of the field and i routinely pause and rewind to see guys blowing coverage. However an improved line would make our Safeties look much better.

Rewind?

 

A DVR?

 

Just sayin'...

[zE bOp]

'Safety PLAY'?!: isn't that an oxymoron w this team?

I didn't think we had safeties, all I see is open space back there.

[hack]

Wow well I guess we better fire Carl and hire you as the deffensive coordinator then.

I believe you may be half right!

 

so you're willing to work with carl? that's pretty magnanimous of you.