McKewon: Trying to bridge the gap on defense

[Flood]

Before this gets any more messed up, can someone tell me: are there rules about live tackles in practice?

I hate to go back to the nineties, but one thing that stands out, is those teams utterly beat the living tar out of each other. To the point that fights ensued. Every week. It resulted in common respect among teammates, and a universal desire to do the same to every opponent they fAced.

Did New rules take that from us, or did we give it up voluntarily?

Apologies for the errors, I am on my tablet and auto correct is killing me.

 

[MLB 51]

I think the limit is two full days of live contact/tackling to the ground.

I think you can still do limited contact, such as hitting and wrapping up, as long you don't take a player to the ground.

 

[Enhance]

After a quick google search, I only found what the rules are when pre-season camp begins in college. Unfortunately, what I found didn't specify what the week-to-week rules are.

husker_99 - lo country mentioned the offense in passing, and quite frankly, I find it childish and bemusing you would take all that he said and channel it into an anti-Martinez post. You clearly have an agenda and a strong opinion. Though I disagree with that opinion, it is fine that you have it, but not in this thread. Plenty of other threads are debating the quarterback position. If you don't have any defensive input, please move your opinions to the other threads. Thank you.

I think this is a very well written article, and touches on a lot of things that have been said here (I bet he got all his talking points from this board - lol). It's true - our current players aren't that up to snuff with what we're trying to do, but to be honest, I've seen teams with similar experience perform at a higher level. We have the talent to be at least average. And if we aren't at least being average then it's time to seriously re-evaluate what is being taught to these players. I hope that's going on now, because it appears that whatever the coaches see in practice isn't transitioning to the field. That definitely falls on coaching.

 

[Danimal]

Great, informative article. It has seemed to me that Bo has us up in this wrapped-up in a system that worked in the past and in theory still works with the right players with the right technique and knowledge. Meanwhile we could likely be executing another scheme better like MSU does.

As far as TM goes since he got dragged into this thread. shouldn't he be third-string because RK was gouging that rugged SDSU defense too? The guy is a running qb and he couldn't run, cut him some slack. He needs to sit if he doesn't have his wheels, and it appears he will, but TA hasn't proven nearly enough to start over a healthy TM.

 

[robsker]

Oh I don't discount the opposition. It's just that even if he did it against Illinois, i have a feeling the same people would say...well its just Illinois.....blah blah blah

It would be likely that a good showing on offense against Illinois would be discounted and declared no big deal. And , if so, it would probably be legitimate. The Illinois defense is horrible. It is really, really, really bad. They are better on D than the Huskers... but not by very much. So... NU putting up yards and points on Saturday should not be viewed as a major accomplishment --- Illinois would leave up yards and points... probably plenty of them... to a good Texas high school team.

The question is rather... can the NU defense stop Illinois? Expect much Husker offensive success --- no matter who is QB --- on Saturday. In a sense, I hope we see a great deal of Armstrong... the context for success is there.

 

[robsker]

Great, informative article. It has seemed to me that Bo has us up in this wrapped-up in a system that worked in the past and in theory still works with the right players with the right technique and knowledge. Meanwhile we could likely be executing another scheme better like MSU does.

As far as TM goes since he got dragged into this thread. shouldn't he be third-string because RK was gouging that rugged SDSU defense too? The guy is a running qb and he couldn't run, cut him some slack. He needs to sit if he doesn't have his wheels, and it appears he will, but TA hasn't proven nearly enough to start over a healthy TM.

TA has done very well with the time he has been given. And yet... you are correct... as good as he has been in that very limited setting, against a weak team... he has not enough on his resume to supplant a healthy TM. This is not a slam to TA in any way... he simply has not been given enough of a chance to earn the right to start --- unless TM is still hobbled. If TM is hobbled and still struggling physically... the Illinois game is a good one for him to sit and continue to heal --- Illinois probably is as weak defensively as any team NU has remaining on the schedule. But they do have an offense.

 

[QMany]

It becomes a discussion of "who do you support". Taylor Martinez? Or this Nebraska Football Team? Much like the Bo Peelini conversation at this point.

You can't even make an attempt to disguise your awful loaded question? You usually troll better than that.

That is garbage.

 

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Let me remind everyone that this thread is about the defense, not the QB position.......................every thread is turning into a discussion about Bo's job and/or the QB position and it kills the point of having a topic for the threads. Keep the discussion about the topic at hand please.

 

[RedDenver]

Good article. I thought having two bye weeks this season before our toughest even got started wasn't helpful. Now I think having 2 byes to help get the defense sorted could make a big difference. Let's see what the coaches and players can get figured out.

 

[Karawithasmile]

I see some posts stating that this is a thread about the defense, but I'd like to point out one thing that jumped out at me concerning offense. Please bear with me. Sam points out that the offenses that run the read option have the upper hand right now and that defenses are still scrambling to adjust. We used to run the zone read often and well, about three years ago. We had success with it. Fast quarterback + gifted running back = a great running threat that could open up the option (pretending to fall into the zone read and then having the QB step back and throw instead) and other throws downfield. Why has it disappeared? I'm sure someone can educate me.

 

[robsker]

I see some posts stating that this is a thread about the defense, but I'd like to point out one thing that jumped out at me concerning offense. Please bear with me. Sam points out that the offenses that run the read option have the upper hand right now and that defenses are still scrambling to adjust. We used to run the zone read often and well, about three years ago. We had success with it. Fast quarterback + gifted running back = a great running threat that could open up the option (pretending to fall into the zone read and then having the QB step back and throw instead) and other throws downfield. Why has it disappeared? I'm sure someone can educate me.

Not sure... but perhaps our QB Taylor is banged up and has been banged up for a long time --- or there is fear that running him too much will cause him to be more banged up. Or both. Perhaps that is why they went away from it.

 

[TGHusker]

Nebraska practiced more tackling to the ground in the past week — 10 minutes of it, but it's more than nothing — in response to the poor angles the Huskers took against SDSU and UCLA. NU coaches do not teach players to tackle like they've become the arm of a flying sofa, so when you see that technique on the field, that's more a function of player panic than coaching.

This is a philosophy I disagree with. And this is a coaching decision, not only a player panic situation. The coaches determine how much contact the teams have in practice, and if we're not doing live tackling on a weekly basis tackling will suffer.

This is sounding more Cosgrovian by the minute. And I don't like it.

I remember when we were critical of Cosgrove for the no tackle in practice policy. A hard hitting D is made in practice.

 

[NUance]

Suh's pure, raw strength allowed him to split double teams like a zipper. He'd make any scheme look good. In his absence — and with NU's youth on the line — the Huskers are actively looking at different solutions.

Trow.

 

[Enhance]

I see some posts stating that this is a thread about the defense, but I'd like to point out one thing that jumped out at me concerning offense. Please bear with me. Sam points out that the offenses that run the read option have the upper hand right now and that defenses are still scrambling to adjust. We used to run the zone read often and well, about three years ago. We had success with it. Fast quarterback + gifted running back = a great running threat that could open up the option (pretending to fall into the zone read and then having the QB step back and throw instead) and other throws downfield. Why has it disappeared? I'm sure someone can educate me.

My educated guess - fear. Fear that if Martinez went down there wouldn't be a capable back up. Fear of injury to Martinez period, especially since he got nicked up pretty well in 2010 when he was running a lot. And when you look at all the other weapons we possess, including all our running backs and receivers, the need for Martinez to do his thing with his feet is less desirable.

Eric Crouch said the other day that when he played, he was actually coached to stay in bounds and fight for the extra yards if he could. The basic eye-test with Martinez shows that he's been coached to rag doll, slide or head out of bounds as often as possible. Maybe he's banged up beyond what the coaches say, or maybe they're trying to desperately preserve his body. No idea.

 

[irafreak]

I brought this up once before but Gary Barnnett (former Buff coach) mentioned that he's noticed that teams that run a spread style of offense have softer defenses due to practicing against these finesse offenses in practice all week. The offense spreads you out...the defense plays patty cake...is it any wonder we get crushed on the ground?