***The Nebraska Defense - Blackshirts 2021***

Undone said:
If I zoom out I feel like this is what I see:

-Banker and then Diaco completely lost any sense of being able to stop the run

-Chinander comes in with his vision of a dynamic 3-4

-Everybody on the D line got beefed up big time in the weight room/training table

-By 2020 we had turned around Riley's crap run defense

But the one problem that still sticks out like a sore thumb is that we don't have a true edge rusher. I love Nelson, but I don't think he'll ever be effective in this role. What you really want is the lankier body type that you can then add weight to as needed - like the Grant Wistrom body type.

Chinander just hasn't landed that guy.
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We still don't and that will hamper this defense against good teams. I'm curious to see how Buffalo does but especially OU and conference play.  Neither Nelson nor Payne are the proper type of players to be 3/4 OLB,  square peg in a round hole out of necessity.  

The depth chart was interesting however as it listed DE instead of OLB and the only LB were ILB. DT/NT/Edge and Tannor/Nelson/Payne were all listed.  Basically whatever they want to call it we need to be able to generate a pass rush with 4 and not have to bring extra all the time.  That isn't happening and it will be a problem in conference and against OU. 

 
runningblind said:
Neither Nelson nor Payne are the proper type of players to be 3/4 OLB,  square peg in a round hole out of necessity.  
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Agreed.

Nelson, Payne, and Tannor are all listed as 6'3". Your true effective edge rushers tend to be more in that 6'5" range; both height and wingspan are a big deal.

The only way you can really take a 6'3" guy and have him take on the average offensive tackle in the B1G is if he is a legitimate freak athlete IMO. Someone will probably chime in with shorter guys who are effective pass rushers on other teams or in the NFL - but again I said "legitimate freak athlete."

 
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E_LKZTrWYAYAWUI


 
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"First Husker to earn the Big Ten's weekly defensive honor since 2016." No top-tier defenders in five years.

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Decked said:
These guys need a legit Randy Gregory type pass rusher (or two) to be competitive playing anyone with a pulse 
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What makes it suck even worse is that to my eye, it seems like on 3rd & longs JoJo always gets tasked with manning up against a slot receiver and rarely gets used as a blitz man.

 
Decked said:
These guys need a legit Randy Gregory type pass rusher (or two) to be competitive playing anyone with a pulse 
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It's pretty amazing how we never even get on one of these type of players final list, let alone get one to commit.  Athletic Defensive Ends are pretty much a unicorn in Nebraska, which blows.   I know we have beat this subject into the ground on the board, but for some reason I decided to say it again.  :)

 
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Undone said:
What makes it suck even worse is that to my eye, it seems like on 3rd & longs JoJo always gets tasked with manning up against a slot receiver and rarely gets used as a blitz man.
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On the positive side of this, he has the ability to cover them.

 
Undone said:
What makes it suck even worse is that to my eye, it seems like on 3rd & longs JoJo always gets tasked with manning up against a slot receiver and rarely gets used as a blitz man.
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With the depth NU has at CB, I would like to see these utilize 1 of these guys as a true nickel, & bounce JoJo inside to a LaVonte David type role in these situations.  I get you have limited time in college football & it makes such moves challenging, but it terms of maximizing coverage ability...

 
floridacorn said:
With the depth NU has at CB, I would like to see these utilize 1 of these guys as a true nickel, & bounce JoJo inside to a LaVonte David type role in these situations.  I get you have limited time in college football & it makes such moves challenging, but it terms of maximizing coverage ability...
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Hoping (and guessing) we have some more exotic things to throw out there against teams like Oklahoma. The real question is whether we'll be able to get good teams into situations where we can use them.

 
Have a question about Sacks.

In the first half of Illinois, we had three sacks.  Since then, we have only had one against Fordham.  Why?  What changed?

We have had only one sack since Tannor was flagged for roughing the passer.  

I know Fordham called a lot of quick passes.  I don't remember if Buffalo did the same thing.  Between Fordham and Buffalo, they passed the ball 80 times and we only have one sack.

Yes, the easy answer is, "We don't have an elite pass rusher."  But, did someone get injured at half time of Illinois I'm not remembering?  

Thoughts?

 
BigRedBuster said:
Have a question about Sacks.

In the first half of Illinois, we had three sacks.  Since then, we have only had one against Fordham.  Why?  What changed?

We have had only one sack since Tannor was flagged for roughing the passer.  

I know Fordham called a lot of quick passes.  I don't remember if Buffalo did the same thing.  Between Fordham and Buffalo, they passed the ball 80 times and we only have one sack.

Yes, the easy answer is, "We don't have an elite pass rusher."  But, did someone get injured at half time of Illinois I'm not remembering?  

Thoughts?
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I think part of it is lack of a really good pass rusher, and the other part is Fordham and Buffalo getting it out quick. I don't remember the exact stat (Frost referenced it Monday), but I think the Buffalo QB was pressured like 11 times all year in 2020. We knocked him around pretty good, it was a reasonably effective pass rush. There wasn't enough of the consistent pressure against Fordham though (also a lot of quick stuff), and "reasonably effective" isn't going to be enough for Rattler.

I'm not overly concerned for the pass rush for the season, but I am concerned about it against teams like OU/OSU. 

 
Husker in WI said:
I think part of it is lack of a really good pass rusher, and the other part is Fordham and Buffalo getting it out quick. I don't remember the exact stat (Frost referenced it Monday), but I think the Buffalo QB was pressured like 11 times all year in 2020. We knocked him around pretty good, it was a reasonably effective pass rush. There wasn't enough of the consistent pressure against Fordham though (also a lot of quick stuff), and "reasonably effective" isn't going to be enough for Rattler.

I'm not overly concerned for the pass rush for the season, but I am concerned about it against teams like OU/OSU. 
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You can have an elite pass rusher and if the QB is getting it out quick enough, he's not going to do squat.  This is where the DBs have to come into play.  They have to cover in a way that allows your pass rusher to get to the QB.  

I remember in the Fordham game, we were playing a lot of soft coverage.  The QB was able to get the ball out on a lot of quick routes like slants and they moved the ball.  At half time, we started playing a lot tighter coverage and we basically shut down their offense.  I think they only gained like 40 yards after half.  I'm not sure if the one sack came after half or before.  

I'm very surprised we never got to the QB in the Buffalo game.  The amount of pressures we got on him is encouraging.  I haven't rewatched it to see if they were getting the ball out quick or not.  But, you would think we would get to him at some point over 50 passes.

 
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