our run defense
- Thread starter Hunter94
- Start date
shyndy
All-Conference
O.K., I'll give my honest review of this situation.
For starters, our scheme is to tie up the offensive line to allow our linebackers to make plays. That's obvious, because it's what the coaches have said quite a few times. Keeping all of this in perspective, I have a couple of problems with what I see.
1) Just because it's your job to 'tie' up the offensive player, that doesn't mean you can still let him push you two yards off of the ball and not allow you to make any type of play on the ball. The players yesterday were getting manhandled often. Last year, Suh played 'within our scheme' and had a ridiculous amount of tackles and TFL's. We obviously don't have a Suh on our line, but do we really need a Heisman contender at defensive tackle to get backfield penetration? We shouldn't have to.
But it wasn't even just the run game. Our front line had zero pressure on Arnaud most of the game. There were many times he sat back in the pocket for three to four seconds to diagnose the field, and our defensive line just stood there and took a beating. I don't think it's a physical problem at all. More or less, I just think it's a technique issue and maybe even a motivation issue given who we 'thought' we were playing.
2) We still have VERY inexperienced linebackers. Compton has the most, but even that is only a limited one given Dillard was our guy most of the year last year. David has a lot of natural instincts but he is also inexperienced in our system and is still going to mess up quite often. It's tough for your linebackers to make plays when they have had this little game experience in a system.
*As a final side note, we shouldn't be too quick to forget that we sacked Gabbert six times last week against a line that probably has better football players.
For starters, our scheme is to tie up the offensive line to allow our linebackers to make plays. That's obvious, because it's what the coaches have said quite a few times. Keeping all of this in perspective, I have a couple of problems with what I see.
1) Just because it's your job to 'tie' up the offensive player, that doesn't mean you can still let him push you two yards off of the ball and not allow you to make any type of play on the ball. The players yesterday were getting manhandled often. Last year, Suh played 'within our scheme' and had a ridiculous amount of tackles and TFL's. We obviously don't have a Suh on our line, but do we really need a Heisman contender at defensive tackle to get backfield penetration? We shouldn't have to.
But it wasn't even just the run game. Our front line had zero pressure on Arnaud most of the game. There were many times he sat back in the pocket for three to four seconds to diagnose the field, and our defensive line just stood there and took a beating. I don't think it's a physical problem at all. More or less, I just think it's a technique issue and maybe even a motivation issue given who we 'thought' we were playing.
2) We still have VERY inexperienced linebackers. Compton has the most, but even that is only a limited one given Dillard was our guy most of the year last year. David has a lot of natural instincts but he is also inexperienced in our system and is still going to mess up quite often. It's tough for your linebackers to make plays when they have had this little game experience in a system.
*As a final side note, we shouldn't be too quick to forget that we sacked Gabbert six times last week against a line that probably has better football players.
corncraze
All-Conference
Our big problem is that we are spreading our d out too much. We are averaging only 1 to 2 LBs out per play. We don't have Suh anymore so we can't get away with only having 5 to 6 men in the box to stop the run. If you notice the majority of teams who get their rushing yardage on us, they get it from running it up the middle. This is because we simply don't have enough jerseys to stop the inside run. How do you expect for 2 LB to cover so many gaps? If the coaches put focus on stopping the run (like KSU) and line more men in the box, we are fine.
Last edited by a moderator:
That is another fair point, as well.
With the way teams run the football in the Big 10, we are going to have change our scheme a little bit. We can get away with this scheme in the Big 12 because of how much teams pass the ball, but teams like MSU and Wisconsin are going to make us look silly if we don't stop runs up the middle.
husker_hurdler
Special Teams Player
I bought into the hype in the preseason, but as of late I am really starting to question the D-Line. Watching teams average 5 yards/run is not acceptable.
melscott62
All-Conference
i think the problem with the peso comes down to our dt and our lb. david is going to be a stud, but he still is out of position a lot. and our dline is to inconsistent. where we do have problems is the QB running....all they have to do is send the rb out on a route and there are no lb's to contain the QB.
RedDenver
Heisman Trophy Winner
Danny Bateman
Heisman Trophy Winner
Yeah, but how many times did they take those smaller runs and plunge forward for first downs? Can you honestly say you watched our D stuff their running attack in important situations yesterday? Seems like the only times we forced 'em to bring out their punt team was after pass plays that Arnaud misthrew or Prince made some kind of good play on.
When Cassidy took that pick back, I thought our D was going to stiffen up right then and there and start to lay the beat down on the Clones, and they simply did not... they kept looking absolutely lost on pass plays? When Arnaud hit that final regulation TD pass to tie it at 24, all I could think was "We're a team built to shut down the pass, and we leave the freaking flat open? One of the most common zones to throw to? Where the HELL was the zone man in the flat?!?!"
It hurt us a lot yesterday that Dennard was hurt... make no mistake about it, Ciante might be an excellent corner in the future for us, and his potential is through the roof, but in the HERE and NOW, Dennard is VERY important to our pass D. Sadly enough, the majority of our sacks this year have been coverage sacks... our D-line is mediocre most of the time and just don't seem to be good enough to beat their men one on one and get a pass rush. And I agree with the guy who said QB scrambles hurt us... They always have been the kryptonite of a Pelini defense, but this year the problem is magnified by the fact that our D-lineman are not talented enough to use their hands to disengage their men until the QB is running past them.... They just stay on their linemen like big 300 lb. sacks o taters that leave gaps that QBs can simply dart through.