Interesting point McKewon

[whateveritis1224]

I was listening to the BRT podcast on my way to work today and Sam brought up a good point. The defense is 100% looking for perfection. It's hypercritical of itself and when one bad thing happens, the players start pushing to make plays and things snowball. Look at what happened against Ohio State. Miller has a 70 yard run, and all of a sudden we can't stop anything after looking so great in the first quarter.

[NUinID]

I was listening to the BRT podcast on my way to work today and Sam brought up a good point. The defense is 100% looking for perfection. It's hypercritical of itself and when one bad thing happens, the players start pushing to make plays and things snowball. Look at what happened against Ohio State. Miller has a 70 yard run, and all of a sudden we can't stop anything after looking so great in the first quarter.

 

I would agree with this statement all the way. That is part of BP's problem. He is preaching perfection in pracitice. When bad things happen they start pressing and it can snowball. Perfection is what should be strived for but players don't play fast and loose when they are worried about being perfect.

[Count 'Bility]

Todd Blackledge mentioned this in the Wisconsin game when we used another timeout on D, that Nebraska puts so much into having the perfect set for every play and simply demands to much defensively. But I also believe the proper adjustments will be made, especially with the offense clicking. Results of these adjustments may not be obvious right away, but I think we'll notice over time.

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

The problem is we play with no swagger. Although he does have his dick ups, who is really the only player that you see making game changing hits every now and then? Stafford. And while he hasn't played great, he is really the only one I ever see bouncing around before plays like he is having fun. It is somewhat a vague connection, but I think there could be a case made.

 

Edit:but I'm also thinking the lack of attitude may be largely due to the fact that guys have so much going through their heads pre-snap.

[Undone]

I'll go ahead and say that our slow/unimpressive outside play is a much worse factor than the mental aspect. Specifically, Merideth, Ankrah, Fisher, & Whaley. Very little speed, very little play making ability.

[NUinID]

I'll go ahead and say that our slow/unimpressive outside play is a much worse factor than the mental aspect. Specifically, Merideth, Ankrah, Fisher, & Whaley. Very little speed, very little play making ability.

 

The slow playing is in part due to trying to be perfect or thinking too much. Offenses can only line up in so many different formations they need to be able to get a presnap read faster and get lined up. After the play starts it should all be reacting. But I think he has them thinking too much after the play starts.

[Nebula]

Sam is a hell of a football journalist. I eagerly look forward to any article or radio appearance he does. Guy really knows the game, and can be critical without coming across like a total dick. He's a lot like Barfknecht in that way.

 

(I know a lot of you think Dirk is worse, which I definitely understand. But Lee stands alone for me. I'd literally pay a $1,000 to see Justin Verlander throw a frozen snowball into his nutsack.)

[ZRod]

I'll go ahead and say that our slow/unimpressive outside play is a much worse factor than the mental aspect. Specifically, Merideth, Ankrah, Fisher, & Whaley. Very little speed, very little play making ability.

 

The slow playing is in part due to trying to be perfect or thinking too much. Offenses can only line up in so many different formations they need to be able to get a presnap read faster and get lined up. After the play starts it should all be reacting. But I think he has them thinking too much after the play starts.

I think the biggest problem is they're anticipating, not reacting. Guys aren't reading their keys and biting on play fakes leaving somebody else out to dry. Every big play against OSU was basically a safety, linebacker, or an end out of position because he wasn't playing his assignment (at least as far as I could tell). I think we need to get back to the fundamentals, OSU didn't have any fancy blocking schemes. Every play could have been diagnosed as a run or pass from the snap and then shut down with minimal gain if guys stayed home and played their assignment.

 

It would have been perfectly fine to make OSU drive the field for every TD, because then they would be chewing up the clock in a close game. And with our offense I'm confident we have better than a 50/50 chance to win close games when the other team isn't putting up 35+.

[tschu]

At least Lee is getting to the point where he's becoming kind of tired, played-out, irrelevant, and writes less. Dirk's way more noticeable because he's putting out garbage nearly every single day.

 

But Sam McKewon and Shatel are obv the best Nebraska football journalists by a wide margin.

[HUSKER FREAK]

I can kind of see this to a point, but if we practice and demand perfection then why does it not happen. Any good team that we have played with a mobile QB in the last two years for sure we just don't look anything remotely close to perfect.

[kchusker_chris]

I was listening to the BRT podcast on my way to work today and Sam brought up a good point. The defense is 100% looking for perfection. It's hypercritical of itself and when one bad thing happens, the players start pushing to make plays and things snowball. Look at what happened against Ohio State. Miller has a 70 yard run, and all of a sudden we can't stop anything after looking so great in the first quarter.

don't forget what followed that play was: rush for 2, pass for 3, interception on your own 20.

 

I'll be the first to say that this defense is horrible. They played one of the worst games at UCLA that I've seen a Nebraska defense play. However - the the offense didn't hold up their end of the deal during the Ohio State game either. After that long Braxton TD, Nebraska still should have been up 17-7. Instead 6 plays later we were down 21-17. Those other 14 are on the offense. That's momentum, that's when things snowball...and that wasn't the defense.

[4skers89]

I'll go ahead and say that our slow/unimpressive outside play is a much worse factor than the mental aspect. Specifically, Merideth, Ankrah, Fisher, & Whaley. Very little speed, very little play making ability.

 

The slow playing is in part due to trying to be perfect or thinking too much. Offenses can only line up in so many different formations they need to be able to get a presnap read faster and get lined up. After the play starts it should all be reacting. But I think he has them thinking too much after the play starts.

I think the biggest problem is they're anticipating, not reacting. Guys aren't reading their keys and biting on play fakes leaving somebody else out to dry. Every big play against OSU was basically a safety, linebacker, or an end out of position because he wasn't playing his assignment (at least as far as I could tell). I think we need to get back to the fundamentals, OSU didn't have any fancy blocking schemes. Every play could have been diagnosed as a run or pass from the snap and then shut down with minimal gain if guys stayed home and played their assignment.

 

It would have been perfectly fine to make OSU drive the field for every TD, because then they would be chewing up the clock in a close game. And with our offense I'm confident we have better than a 50/50 chance to win close games when the other team isn't putting up 35+.

 

Are they anticipating in order to compensate for their lack of athleticism and speed? I'm starting to think that if they didn't make a guess they wouldn't be able to stop the play for a reasonable gain. When they guess wrong, big plays happen.

[True2tRA]

This is a very big problem and I think it's been pinpointed by many people far before this morning. This whole searching for perfection problem with the defense completely ties into the "thinking instead of playing" theory. We're not always going to execute to perfection and if perfection is required for Bo's scheme to work, well then it won't ever happen. These kids are thinking too much, trying too hard to "execute" instead of playing the game they've played their whole lives. These kids didn't get full scholarships to play the game for no reason. They know how to play, teach them to get better, train them into better athletes, but you got to turn them loose and let them play sometimes. Keep it simple stupid.

[I am I]

I put this in another thread. Kind of seeing a pattern here, with our stuck in mud defensive performances:

 

Could it be the 'perfect gentlemen' stems from the players "trying to put it on film" that they're in the right positions, doing the 'scheme' so much that they aren't extending themselves just simply make plays?

Guys like Martin (who is free to kind of just rush the passer) L David last year (maybe not perfect scheme wise, but always ball hawking) and Suh (who was just a beast) seem to thrive. While other guys are so dang worried about being in the right spot they don't make big plays?

[zoogs]

Eric Martin, not sure if he is 'thriving.' Boom/bust - a lot of big, impact plays, but when he's not doing that, he can be a big liability on the field.

 

David wasn't just fast, he was instinctive and flowed to the ball and was able to make up for mistakes in that way. I guess it's a talent issue I would say: if these guys had the talent level of David, we'd be doing a lot better on defense. I'm not sure the scheme is really holding them back so much as they haven't developed to that level of playing, period.