It all starts with pass rush, Callahan says

[formerfan]

From: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=1464521

 

HOUSTON - Nebraska coach Bill Callahan showed Wednesday that a losing season didn't take away his sense of humor.

 

When a reporter asked about the Husker defense from last season, noting that in yards allowed it was the school's second-worst in the modern era (post-World War II), Callahan feigned great pain.

 

"Thanks for bringing that up," he said, drawing a big laugh. "I was having a good vacation. The White Sox are doing well. I was following the Tour de France. And you had to mention that."

 

When Callahan did address the question, he said pass defense was the biggest weakness, for a number of reasons.

 

First was a weak pass rush.

 

"We only produced 14 sacks in conference play, which isn't good enough for this conference," he said.

 

The lack of pass rush, in turn, forced NU's defensive backs to have to cover too long.

 

"That can get you stung," he said.

 

Besides those points, Callahan said, the staff's film study revealed that Nebraska needs to do a better job taking advantage of college rules for pass coverage as opposed to NFL rules.

 

"The college rules really play in your favor as a defensive coach," he said. "You can be more physical, create more collisions and disrupt more route-runners on or near the line of scrimmage and on down the field.

 

"Look at the NFL rule. After a 5-yard bump, it's hands off and a cleaner game."

[formerfan]

When Callahan did address the question, he said pass defense was the biggest weakness, for a number of reasons.

 

First was a weak pass rush.

 

"We only produced 14 sacks in conference play, which isn't good enough for this conference," he said.

 

The lack of pass rush, in turn, forced NU's defensive backs to have to cover too long.

 

"That can get you stung," he said.

 

Besides those points, Callahan said, the staff's film study revealed that Nebraska needs to do a better job taking advantage of college rules for pass coverage as opposed to NFL rules.

 

"The college rules really play in your favor as a defensive coach," he said. "You can be more physical, create more collisions and disrupt more route-runners on or near the line of scrimmage and on down the field.

 

"Look at the NFL rule. After a 5-yard bump, it's hands off and a cleaner game."

When Callahan did address the question, he said pass defense was the biggest weakness, for a number of reasons.

 

First was a weak pass rush.

 

"We only produced 14 sacks in conference play, which isn't good enough for this conference," he said.

 

The lack of pass rush, in turn, forced NU's defensive backs to have to cover too long.

 

"That can get you stung," he said.

 

Then maybe your DC should mix in a blitz or two, or mix up his coverages

 

Besides those points, Callahan said, the staff's film study revealed that Nebraska needs to do a better job taking advantage of college rules for pass coverage as opposed to NFL rules.

 

"The college rules really play in your favor as a defensive coach," he said. "You can be more physical, create more collisions and disrupt more route-runners on or near the line of scrimmage and on down the field.

 

"Look at the NFL rule. After a 5-yard bump, it's hands off and a cleaner game."

 

I brought up this thought awhile back, and was chastised for it, hmmmmm

BTW, I thought that the majority of your assistants came from college ball, billy c????

[Steve]

We'll have a better defensive line this season and better defensive backs. It will make all the difference.

[DaveH]

Then maybe your DC should mix in a blitz or two, or mix up his coverages

We blitzed more last year than in 2003 and that's a fact. The blitz is useless if it is picked up everytime and no lanes are generated by the front 3-4. I don't care who your DC is.

 

C'mon, you can do better than that.

 

Billy C. I'm so glad JD said that so I can listen to it from all the FormerFans of the world.

[NU fan in Denver]

We'll have a better defensive line this season and better defensive backs.  It will make all the difference.

How can you say we have better defensive backs this season. We lost 2 db's that were drafted top forty. Washington was a 3 year starter. Who do we have in the db backfield with substancial experience. Just bullocks. I think grixby will turn out allright, I see him like washington was when he started. Thrown to the wolves as a freshman, burnt quite a bit, but becoming a solid player in the end. His size somewhat concerns me though going against a 6'4" 215 lb receiver. Hopefully he will turn out like Miles. As for the other corner there is no one that has been proven at a D1 level. Sure bowman sounds good on paper, but he has never played at this level. I hope he does turn out to be the lockdown corner we need. As for FS we lost an all big 12 player. Sure shanle played well in his appearance against Kstate, but we need him for a whole season, not just one game. I know there are other athletes that will hopefully step in and contribute,green, wilson, souder, brothers, defrand(if he is healthy) but my point is that we lost 2 highly drafted nfl players in the secondary last year and I don't think you can say that the players we have now are better. I don't think the secondary was burnt so much last year because of lack of talent. It was predicted as one of the top secondaries in the nation at the beginning of last season and they ended up finishing the season 110th. Hopefully our pass rush is better this year and it looks like our lbs have better speed to cover the flats and get deeper drops in coverage. All of this working together will give us a better secondary, not just better db's, which I can't say we have.

[Blackshirt34]

We did bring in Bowman to help with our secondary situation... he wont be as good as the two that left, but he will be better than throwing a freshmen into the mix right out of the gate. Bowman is supposed to be an immediate player according to the majority of people on this board in another thread, so we should have less worries about our D backs. However we will have to work with the secondary as they progress.

[Steve]

NU Fan in Denver,

 

We did lose a lot of talent and experience but just what good does it do when the players are upset about losing their DC. So upset that it effects their performance on the field. How many times did our secondary give up last season? What good does all that experience do you if the talented and experienced players in the secondary aren't doing their jobs?

 

In 1997 we gave up 184 yards in the air per game, and 49.3%.

In 1998 we gave up 194 yards in the air per game, and 50.3%.

In 1999 we gave up 182 yards in the air per game, and 43.7%.

In 2000 we gave up 204 yards in the air per game, and 45.0%.

In 2001 we gave up 185 yards in the air per game, and 44.9%.

In 2002 we gave up 215 yards in the air per game, and 50.3%.

In 2003 we gave up 178 yards in the air per game, and 50.7%.

In 2004 we gave up 268 yards in the air per game, and 56.7%.

 

That's almost one hundred yards more per game on average, and another 7 to 8 % of passes completed against us with similar numbers reflecting TD to interception ratios.

 

Our secondary wasn't motivated. Bowman, Green, Leon Jackson, and Stuntz, while less experienced, should put us in the position where we actually perform better on the field than we did last season.

[NU fan in Denver]

Im not saying that our secondary wasn't terrible last year, because it was. I'm saying that you can't count on this secondary being automatically better because we got a couple of good recruits in. One of our players expected to contribute, Green, is going through a position change. Obviously there are going to be problems when you go through your 3rd DC in 3 years. We wouldn't have had 3 dc's if there wasn't a problem. I agree w/ you that motivation was a problem last year. Maybe that came w/ players just wanting to get through the season so they could go to the draft and make their $$$$. I know it could be a little rough in the beginning. I just hope that we can see continual improvement throughout the season where they are running on all cylinders by the end.

[Steve]

Im not saying that our secondary wasn't terrible last year, because it was. I'm saying that you can't count on this secondary being automatically better because we got a couple of good recruits in. One of our players expected to contribute, Green, is going through a position change. Obviously there are going to be problems when you go through your 3rd DC in 3 years. We wouldn't have had 3 dc's if there wasn't a problem. I agree w/ you that motivation was a problem last year. Maybe that came w/ players just wanting to get through the season so they could go to the draft and make their $$$$. I know it could be a little rough in the beginning. I just hope that we can see continual improvement throughout the season where they are running on all cylinders by the end.

Actually I agree with everything you just said.

[NU fan in Denver]

Lets just hope the whole team shines and they have a kick a$$ year

[Scarlet"N"Cream]

Lets hope the DB's don't line up 10yards of the receivers as they seemed to do last year. The D-line will be better, but I think there will be some questions until Coz and Company relize they need to bring back the fear in the opponent's eyes by etablishing a killer defence, also is up to the players since they are the ones on the field.

[Huskerfan66]

I agree, it all starts with attitude. If we are the same as last year, it will just be a prevent D that tries to keep from the big play, while allowing 3-4 yards a play. We definently need to bring back the Pelini attitude and style. In your face, blitzing, attacking, flying all over the field, defense. As long as we play with that mentality, everything will fall into place.

[StuckinChicago]

We blitzed more last year than we did in 03, just so people dont get the wrong idea. Except against Texas Tech of course.

[Huskerfan66]

Maybe we did more blitz plays last year, but they sure didn't do much. I find that hard to believe, but even if it is true, we need more than blitzing this year. The whole D needs to be in "blitz mode" every play, with a nose for the ball and a mean attitude.

[StuckinChicago]

I disagree somewhat. I think that you need to be able to create a pass rush with your front four, and the ability to do that is the cornerstone of any good defense. If we blitz every play, than the offense will just start running max protect and throwing over our heads, not to mention using our own blitzes against us in teh run. You need to be able to mix it up. That's part of the reason Craig Bohl got fired. He blitzed every play too.