Rewatched Game- Defensive Thoughts

Mavric said:
1 - They were almost always double-teaming one of our DTs so that was part of it. VV actually still got some push even against a double-team so that was good to see. As has been mentioned, Randle didn't do very much. We also ran a lot of twists with the DT going outside and the DE inside so they were moving away from the QB.

2 - The RB motion was a big problem for the first quarter and change. After that, we quit running a LB out there to cover the motion back so that fixed a lot of the problem. That's a fairly simple fix so I'm not sure why it took so long. After that, it was more hesitancy on Santos' part that let the running game go. He was trying to wait and figure out who had the ball on the zone read and by the time he figured it out he couldn't recover in time. If he would have attacked the running going to his side - whether or not they had the ball - he would have stopped several plays for no gain or a loss. Have to trust the rest of the defense to make plays.

3 - I'm surprised at how many people are complaining that we played a "vanilla" defense or refused to bring more than four guys. I don't remember a game when we blitzed more than Saturday. MIKE blitzes, corner blitzes and at least two zone blitzes. In the past we rarely blitzed but that was definitely not the case Saturday.
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Thanks for some of the explanations. I can recognize when we don't have a guy in position to make the play but I am not always sure who it was supposed to be. (And I played linebacker in high school- guess there's a reason that was the end of my football career)
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As for the bolded, I guess I am complaining that we didn't blitz enough because when we did it seemed to be much better than when we didn't. I literally can think of only one play that was a big gainer when we blitzed and, like I said earlier, that one was not because they exploited the blitz. I've always been fond of doing what works until they force you to do something else. I didn't see them force us to quit blitzing.

 
Here is just Wyoming's first drive when we played other than "base" defense:

1&10, -37 - Zone Blitz - Seisay & Evans with Moss dropping; Pressure but 7 yd completion

2&3, -44 - Safety Blitz - Cooper; 2 yd run

3&1, -46 - Corner Blitz - Evans; 4 yd run, Evans offsides

1&10, +49 - Corner Blitz - Seisay with Moss dropping; pass thrown away

2&10, +49 - Corner Blitz - Seisay; 2 yd run

Out of 8 plays (counting Evans offsides which isn't an official "play"), we brought some sort of extra pressure on five of them.

 
Wyoming's second drive:

1&10, -36 - Corner Blitz - Seisay; check down to RB that Santos can't get to, 12 yd gain

1&G, +3 - Corner Blitz - Seisay; fumbled snap, 3 yd sack

2&G, +6 - Corner Blitz - Mitchell; pressure but escapes for 6 yd TD pass

Six plays, three we brought a blitz

 
I'll admit upon rewatching the game that I'm more than a bit off when I said we played vanilla on defense. Thing is, I was amazed upon first watching how many times we blitzed. Not sure what I was thinking when I said that. .. .. . ... .

 
It's sometimes difficult to draw a line between excuse peddling and legitimate variables, but in this case, despite everything we saw, I would be surprised to see a repeat performance by our D. With all that shuffling personnel and all those new faces, you really have to take the Wyo game with a grain of salt. We all know Pelini has to experiment with his new guys, and the only way to get a real test is to do it live, which of course involves a lot of risk. Weeks one and two are free. If we get mauled by UCLA this discussion will change in a hurry, but for now patience is the word of the day.

 
Warrior10 said:
1. The windows Brett Smith put the ball into were just insane. He might be the most impressive QB we see this year. EDIT: Just saw a stat that in Smith's last 5 games he has an 17:1 TD/INT ratio....that's accuracy.

Seriously, the pocket presence that Smith showed was amazing. But even more amazing than that was the windows he put the ball in. There were multiple throws (5ish) that if it the ball is 1ft behind or short we are picking it off. And I promise that every QB we face won't be able to put the ball in places he did.
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I gotta give the kid alotta credit, yea he was threading the needle, like ridiculous stuff--time after time. He was a top 10 QB last year in rating and stats, so yea, he's the real deal. Had Manziel like moves in the pocket. If he was bigger he'd probably be on a big time team. Got overlooked, apparently, when recruited.

 
I didn't notice this the first time I watched it, but I don't know what to make of Abdullah on a couple plays where (I can only assume) he was supposed to be pass blocking. Some serious Clowney-esque effort on a couple of those plays. This was the guy giving the effort pep talk after the game? Yikes.

What is up with our punt return strategy? We don't even attempt to set up a return or go for the block. Just stand there and watch the punter while Wyoming's coverage team heads toward Turner unblocked, and he doesn't even attempt a fair catch - which I guess makes sense with 8 Wyoming guys in his face.

On defense I spent most of the time watching the line. There were times we did get a some pressure on Smith with 4, but I still think it's being way overstated. It seemed more often than not he had a clean pocket to sit in and go threw his progressions. Especially toward the end of the game, when we really needed to put pressure in his face. A few of the times we got "pressure" was on WR screens, so the d-linemen weren't even being blocked. That being said, Valentine and Gregory have the ability to be star players for us by the end of the year. McMullen, Curry, and Collins had some nice flashes too. But we were still being gashed (bad) with Wyoming's running game.

Imani Cross is so much more than just a short yardage back. Tremendous vision and balance, and some nice moves for a big guy - underrated quickness. He's an every down back right now.

Enunwa is my favorite WR on this team. I'm just afraid he won't get the number of targets he'll need to be a high round draft pick, but I think he has the talent to be one.

Martinez was efficient. And I watched the INT several times in slow motion to see why people were trying to blame the WR, but from the TV angle it seemed like it went right over his head and into the defenders lap. Maybe some people in the stadium had a better angle.

All in all, still a lot of reasons for concern, but a lot of promise too. Whatever happens this season will all boil down to the ability of the coaches to put something together.

 
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Wyoming 3rd Drive - 5:00 1st Quarter - 5 plays - INT

No extra pressure

Wyoming 4th Drive - 1:20 1st Quarter - 3 plays - Punt

1&10, -25 - Twist - Gregory; 5 yd completion

Wyoming 5th Drive - 13:05 2nd Quarter - 6 plays - TD

1&10, -24 - Corner Blitz - Seisay; Santos motions with RB, QB run for 47 yds

2&9, +28 - DT Twist; Incomplete pass, defensive holding

1&15, +23 - Zone Blitz - Santos with Moss dropping; 12 yd completion

 
Smith would probably be getting a lot more credit if we hadn't been gashed repeatedly by so many offenses in the past year. Guy had a hell of a game, but for a fan base weary of such games, it's hard to be as magnanimous as we could be.

 
Chaddyboxer said:
Does anyone else think that Bando had just as good a game or even better game than Santos!?

It seems to me that Bando had a quick first step and was quite aggressive for much of the game. Santos looked a bit tentative...

I saw plenty of good things to like about Gerry as well as far as the LBs are concerned.
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I have total confidence in Bando and Gerry to become great players. I wouldnt write Santos off though, he had a great year last year, he's a very good player.

 
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Wyoming 6th Drive - 9:16 2nd Quarter - 6 plays - Punt

1&10, -33 - Corner Blitz - Evans (possibly Santos as well); 0 yd rush

3&4, -39 - Six man blitz out of 3-3 look - Seisay, Santos & Gregory; -1 yd pass, offsetting penalties

3&4, -39 - Corner Blitz - Evans; Incomplete pass

 
Warrior10 said:
1. The windows Brett Smith put the ball into were just insane. He might be the most impressive QB we see this year. EDIT: Just saw a stat that in Smith's last 5 games he has an 17:1 TD/INT ratio....that's accuracy.

2. The last TD for Wyo should have not happened...Moss was bear hugged as he about got by this blocker and was about to get Smith. That was a terrible missed call.

3. Banderas was more aggressive than Santos.

4. There were times we had 5 of 6 guys in the box where guys were first time contributors.

5. Gerry is the athlete we thought he was. When he lets himself play he is relentless.

6. After game was not impressed with Ankrah....but he I take that back now, he played well.

7. Randle was equally disappointing 2nd time....just didn't see "it".

8. Our DE's really got in there, the problem was breaking down and not letting Smith sidestep them as they flew by.

9. Gregory is an athletic force, chasing down WR's 10-15 yards down field.

10. VV show he CAN be the DT we all have been looking for.

Seriously, the pocket presence that Smith showed was amazing. But even more amazing than that was the windows he put the ball in. There were multiple throws (5ish) that if it the ball is 1ft behind or short we are picking it off. And I promise that every QB we face won't be able to put the ball in places he did.

I feel cautiously optimistic after watching the game. The O put the D is some bad spots late in the game.
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11) any thoughts as to why they were getting like 8-9 yds a pop in the ground game? That worries me, alot.

 
Didn't read all the replies.

I was at the game and then came home and rewatched the game.

There is a huge difference if you didn't go to the game and only watched the tube.

There were times that the Defense wasn't ready at all and Smith caught them at it. They were still talking to each other and then scrambling when the ball was hiked. More then once that this happen.

Also at one point, Davie (I believe) was checking with the ref to make sure that he was behind the line. No big deal, but he kept asking and didn't realize that the ball was in action. The only reason that the WR didn't smoke him was because he was watching Davie and not the ball.

The D needs to get to the line and get set quicker.

 
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