Defensive Play Discussion

[Canadian Fan]

I think three out of four LB positions have played fairy well. As others have said, I think Ruud has done a good job on the ILB’s. In the fourth spot (OLB opposite Domann) I remain of the opinion that Nelson needs to get his head on straight as his regular loss of edge containment costs us too many first down conversions.  My best guess is he must be a great practice and locker room guy and they’re trying to reward him for that and are willing to give him some mistakes as he grows into the position.  But the way he crashes inside on our side of the LOS which makes the opposing TE or OT’s job soooo easy, is frustrating to watch.  On a couple of plays they barely had to touch him as he ran just into the pile.  On the limited snaps he was in, I thought Payne appeared much more positionally sound although more of a run stuffer at his current weight.  Wish Greene had stuck around.  Would have like to see him get some snaps at that position.  

[TheSker]

11 hours ago, lo country said:

More like a major concern that in year 3 we still do not disguise coverage....Wish we could disguise it to create the mistakes by the QB....The old show them one thing and do another.  Time to pull out whatever rabbits we have in our proverbial hat....

Who are their backups? We are getting thin...

Heinrich can play inside and out 

[Jason Sitoke]

14 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

This is a major issue.

 

 

That would be too exotic. We’re already doing twist stunts on the defensive line every other down.  How crazy can we get?

[lo country]

9 minutes ago, TheSker said:

Heinrich can play inside and out 

I know he was originally inside, then moved to outside.  I am guessing he will get some snaps tomorrow...

[deedsker]

1 hour ago, Canadian Fan said:

I think three out of four LB positions have played fairy well. As others have said, I think Ruud has done a good job on the ILB’s. In the fourth spot (OLB opposite Domann) I remain of the opinion that Nelson needs to get his head on straight as his regular loss of edge containment costs us too many first down conversions.  My best guess is he must be a great practice and locker room guy and they’re trying to reward him for that and are willing to give him some mistakes as he grows into the position.  But the way he crashes inside on our side of the LOS which makes the opposing TE or OT’s job soooo easy, is frustrating to watch.  On a couple of plays they barely had to touch him as he ran just into the pile.  On the limited snaps he was in, I thought Payne appeared much more positionally sound although more of a run stuffer at his current weight.  Wish Greene had stuck around.  Would have like to see him get some snaps at that position.  

Busted run plays always seem to comeback to Nelson losing contain. The number of times it has happened through the short season is alarming.

[Mavric]

I didn't want to clog up the Injury thread with non-injury discussion so...

 

Concerning the strongside OLB discussion:

 

I hate burst everyone's "Nelson should sit" bubble,  but according to Pro Football Focus he and Payne have been basically the same player all year.  Over the first four games (I haven't seen the grades for yesterday yet), Nelson's weighted-average grade (individual game grade weighted for snaps played) is 61.2.  Payne's is 62.9.

 

I too have been pretty impressed with Payne.  And he was on the participation report yesterday so I'm not sure why he wasn't out there more because that seems like a game that would fit his skills well.  But I don't think Nelson has been nearly as bad as people seem to think.

[admo]

With all due respect to Pro Football Focus..

 

 

 

 

 

[Archy1221]

On 11/19/2020 at 10:34 AM, Xmas32 said:

Hard to speculate IMO until he goes through the combine style testing.  With him being a tweener, you'd need to project a bit for the next level.  Could he retain his athleticism at the next level if he had to bulk into a OLB?  I'm just not sure.  JoJo's been putting out some good tape thus far so he's definitely going to get a look or two at the next level.

He could be a Daniel Sorensen type

[Mavric]

 

[Mavric]

Can't believe this is any worse that what got Martinez's run called back.  Not the first one, I don't see much there.  But the second is pretty obvious, imo.

 

 

[Mavric]

 

[Mavric]

 

[Mavric]

 

[Mavric]

 

[ColoradoHusk]

4 hours ago, Mavric said:

 

Nelson does a good job of setting the edge against the run, but he is not good at defending the pass. I know he’s not asked to do it often, but Iowa picked on him on the last drive of the game for an easy first down catch to keep the clock moving.