Players chose what defense to play?

[Husker66]

I cant fathom the players don't have input...that's hard to believe.. if that's as true as the quote suggests, that really bad....

[dtbugeater]

It is pretty safe to say that the staff knew what the guys where going to pick. "Guys--should we stick with the 3 man front that is getting destroyed or switch to our basic defense?" The rather interesting part was that they chose to get their imput rather than just tell them to do it. Pretty smart way of getting the team to take some ownership.

It seemed to work well. kudos to the staff for this one.

[Husker66]

my son plays DE on his HS team and they had a similar situation this weekend. the secondary was getting torched. the line started chewing on the secondary . the MIK suggested they stop playing contain and send the ends...the result...next play my kid got a sack that resulted in a pick 6, and they shut them out and held them to 49 yards of offense in the second half....these kids probably know most the answers if they are involved. sometimes the answer might be they are flat out not the better player and losing the 1 on 1 battles.... some times its scheme adjustment...they know where they are getting beat and the work-arounds..if our players are not part of the in game adjustments conversations, that is incompetence on the part of the coaches..i cannot imagine that's the case, just can't.....it would sure answer some questions though...

[Husker66]

It is pretty safe to say that the staff knew what the guys where going to pick. "Guys--should we stick with the 3 man front that is getting destroyed or switch to our basic defense?" The rather interesting part was that they chose to get their imput rather than just tell them to do it. Pretty smart way of getting the team to take some ownership.

It seemed to work well. kudos to the staff for this one.

 

I hate 2 gap almost as much as those passes to the backfield...honest to sweet baby jebus...just hate it. we don't have Suh and crick upfront anymore...

[ladyhawke]

Honestly I don't know how to feel about this. I do find it sad that Pelini did not seem to have much joy or to be celebrating. Sure they didn't play the greatest game but I did see more effort and desire than I've seen in quite some time. Bo should be able to enjoy that but it didn't look like he was.

He was in shock plain and simple. I don't know if you got a chance to watch the news last night but he was choked up when he was talking about that play. Fisher was actually crying! It was very moving. I think Bo was happy beyond expression. So feel GOOD about this win! It was hard fought and tonight I think we saw a glimmer of Husker future. Just imagine! If this is how our second and third stringers play what's it going to be like next year when everyone is healthy! Wow! In fact, we might see this as we continue to play this year! FUN!!!!

[Zaimejs]

That explains a lot. We looked much more aggressive on defense. After that one blast up the middle they had on us, I was thinking, "here we go again." But apparently adjustments figured out that if you hit the guy who has the ball, you can sometimes stop him.

 

Excellent quote! Thanks for sharing this tidbit.

[81 NU Alum]

looked like a completely different team playing defense in the second half. Now if we could just do the same on offense. You can tell the team loves to run. But we called way too many deep passes yesterday. That is not our game. Also, why didn't we pass in the flat to Ameer? Getting him in open space is going to almost always end positively for us

[FriendlyLurker2007]

amazing defense 12 consecutive stops i believe, it honestly reminded me of 2009, if we can bottle that up and work off it for the rest of the season we will have a fighting chance

[Thanks_Tom RR]

It was a night and day difference when they switched from 3 down to 4 down. Scheme-wise but even more with attitude. You still say missed tackles, but everyone was playing fast which allowed guys to swarm around the ball and make up for those misses. Everyone has been saying we have the talent on defense this year, but they take themselves out of the game mentally when momentum turns against them. It was great to see this young defense come alive when they were down, and if the coaches asking them to own how they will run the defense, then that was a great decision. Really whatever gave them that attitude and aggressiveness, hopefully they go back to it every game. It should be what defines them this season.

[I am I]

I think we should just say it: when the players believe in the system being run and actually execute and tackle, Pelini's defense is pretty special. I think They were like 8-20 for 85 yds and a pick six. That's graveyard material right there. After that first quarter, we plain ol shut them down. What changed? The front alignment? Whatever, when "executed" his defenses shut teams down like no ones business

[BIGREDIOWAN]

While that's crazy to hear the players say that, maybe this will help bring this team together, this coaching staff, and this fanbase. People going after his reaction are the same folks that bitched about Callahan and what he was wearing or wasn't wearing. I don't care who you are, you wouldn't have put money on us winning this game with 4 seconds left and I'm sure Bo thought they were going to lose. Watch his post-game presser, he's fighting back tears talking about the catch. His reaction is his reaction.............kudos to this defense for what they did in that 2nd half and lets hope the coaches let them pin their ears back more in the future games and get after the opposing team. We need to be more aggressive on defense in the future.

[lo country]

I didn't cheer either. I was amazed that we were the recipient of a Hail Mary and a win instead of being on the other end.

 

Bo has had a a few tough weeks. The tape, Carl, the loss to Minnie, the hot seat etc..... He probably felt more than words could express at that moment.

 

I love asking the kids their opinion. It showed letting go of pride and ego. Often the first step in solving a problem.

 

No different than Washington, last year, asking RGIII what plays he felt he could run. They solidified a base and built from there. Good for Bo and Co. I hope this continues.

[mel4red]

They still can't tackle for crap ! Letting them go "school yard" may have boosted confidence and cohesiveness, but they all still need massive re-wiring on fundamentals of tackling and wrapping up . They looked kind of "ballet troupe" with all they flailing arms. FWIW.

 

[huskered17]

I think I watched a team and coaches come together Saturday. We may finally have everyone on the same page. jmo. GBR!!!

[robsker]

It is hard to interpret Bando's comments to know precisely what went down. However, context makes clear that it was a trust thing that the players appreciated (or at least Bando implies as much). That is, while we do not know what happened in detail, whatever happened involved trust, communication and was a unifying thing that helped. So... good deal..