What D do u "want" to see vs NIU... and What D do u "expect" to see vs. NIU?

I thought the plan with bringing Diaco in was going to be bring linebackers from every angle through the course of the game to pressure the QB into mistakes. I'm not sure what Diaco is doing on defense. Is the cupboard that bare?

I would like  NU to hit the QB to the point where he doesn't want to get up. I would like to give their offense the appearance that a 4th or 5th guy is coming from somewhere. I want NU to have that passion to destroy people. Get that swagger back. I'd like to see the defensive players play for that "N" on their helmets. Play as a team. Gang tackle. Strip the ball. Make them earn EVERY yard. I want to hear the stadium echo "OOOOOOH" because NU's hits were just plain vicious and brutal.  I want effort. Balls to the wall. Running 100 miles an hour. Playing with reckless abandon. I want NIU's helmets popping off because of tackles and WRS getting alligator arms going over the middle. Play like a Blackshirt.

 My guess that this week  will  sadly be more prevent defense and no rush.  Lot of points scored against NU. I really want the coaching staff to have future success but it sure is hard to see right now.

 
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KCBuc said:
I thought the plan with bringing Diaco in was going to be bring linebackers from every angle through the course of the game to pressure the QB into mistakes. I'm not sure what Diaco is doing on defense. Is the cupboard that bare?

I would like  NU to hit the QB to the point where he doesn't want to get up. I would like to give their offense the appearance that a 4th or 5th guy is coming from somewhere. I want NU to have that passion to destroy people. Get that swagger back. I'd like to see the defensive players play for that "N" on their helmets. Play as a team. Gang tackle. Strip the ball. Make them earn EVERY yard. I want to hear the stadium echo "OOOOOOH" because NU's hits were just plain vicious and brutal.  I want effort. Balls to the wall. Running 100 miles an hour. Playing with reckless abandon. I want NIU's helmets popping off because of tackles and WRS getting alligator arms going over the middle. Play like a Blackshirt.

 My guess that this week  will  sadly be more prevent defense and no rush.  Lot of points scored against NU. I really want the coaching staff to have future success but it sure is hard to see right now.
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I completely thought this is what Diaco's defense would be like also.  In fact, I remember in fall camp, our O line claiming that the D front 7 was showing them one hell of a lot of different stuff constantly.

This is one area of disappointment and I can't figure out why he hasn't done this.  Maybe he isn't confident in his Corners enough to be able to let one or two go man to man coverage while bringing pressure.

To the bolded above.  I want that too.  However, this isn't 1995 anymore.  Many of the hits you saw in 1995 will draw a flag now.

That said, we should be bringing more pressure now than we have the first two weeks.

 
BigRedBuster said:
This is one area of disappointment and I can't figure out why he hasn't done this.  Maybe he isn't confident in his Corners enough to be able to let one or two go man to man coverage while bringing pressure.
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But that's what's really odd.  We are still basically covering one-on-one a lot of the time.

We're playing soft coverage without bringing any pressure.  No idea why.

 
I want the defense and really the whole team for that matter, to come out with a sense of urgency for once.  Far too often we come out flat (more so in big games) and it takes us being down something like 2 tds+ before we start to really play and compete.  Play the game from start to finish and don't let up.

 
Mavric said:
But that's what's really odd.  We are still basically covering one-on-one a lot of the time.

We're playing soft coverage without bringing any pressure.  No idea why.
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I have to believe that somehow there are some players that aren't fully understanding their rolls.  I think they are playing hard and trying hard.  But, if you're not sure of where you are supposed to be, you are going to look slow and nonathletic.

 
BigRedBuster said:
I have to believe that somehow there are some players that aren't fully understanding their rolls.  I think they are playing hard and trying hard.  But, if you're not sure of where you are supposed to be, you are going to look slow and nonathletic.
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I guess I don't know what roles that would be.  It's obviously not "supposed to rush the passer" or that would have been fixed one way or the other.  And there aren't a lot of options for coverage with they scheme we're running.

So I don't know what roles are not being understood.  Now, if you want to say our corners aren't very good/confident/whatever so they are playing too soft, I can definitely see that.  I've been saying we would have issues there since we decided to move Kalu to Safety this spring.

 
I do believe our corners are struggling.  Neither Jackson nor Lee have proven they can effectively cover.

Admittedly, I am really reaching here because I honestly can't figure it out.

It appeared to me from various plays discussed on here that we have some LBs that are in "no-man's land" and are struggling to figure out what the heck they are supposed to do.

 
BigRedBuster said:
It appeared to me from various plays discussed on here that we have some LBs that are in "no-man's land" and are struggling to figure out what the heck they are supposed to do.
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I think they're doing exactly what Diaco wants them to do - play bend but don't break.  We're fine giving up 6-7-8 yards every play as long as we make them take a bunch of plays to get down field.  We're not interested in trying to stop them for 2 or 3 yard gains.

 
If Riley and Diablo are content or even 'happy' with a defensive scheme whereby it is a 'good' defensive play to yield 6-8 yards a play, so long as we don't give up the 'big' play (I think Riley like to call those "chunk" plays) then we may have a 'great' defense this year that sets new records for all sorts of 'success' on the field, like:  most passing yards given up "per point allowed", most completions successfully yielded before a TD was scored, most first downs allowed per TD allowed, etc.  It is nonsense.

This is basically just running the so-called "Prevent" defense used only during the '2-minute' offense or when you are literally unable to cover opponent's receivers due to physical inadequacy (too slow mostly, too short, one-armed, etc.).  The idea is to attempt to keep the offense in front of you and not allow the 'home run' or big / chunk plays and make the offense move the ball down the field while using considerable play clock time with each play.  I guess we mostly all know this stuff.   And if Diablo's million dollar a year - Blackshirts 3-4 is nothing more than this, then we ought to get our money back  as I believe Walmart will refund your money, even without a receipt if you can't find one.  

Diablo also has stated that he believes real game snaps is invaluable and until your an experienced game player, you just arent' ready.  Or words to this effect.  So he may well believe his entire defense is really not ready for prime time until we get a season or so under our belts.  If so, this may be one of the every three or four years we find a stout defense and the rest of the time we are young and inexperienced, etc.  

The head scratcher for me is how can we not be well practiced at stopping the short, quick passing game as this is basically what Riley/Langs are running themselves so our defense is practicing it every day presumably.   Obviously we are not going to have a clue how to stop an run based option offense as nobody on the team will have the ability to even present a scout team look, let alone really run it well.  That reminds of the 1970s Osborne teams that could win them all until we hit OU when the wishbone just gutted us as we didn't know how to read and react and play assignment defense vs a superbly run wishbone magician.  

 
I'm hoping to see us shut down the screen game, Lee perform like a NFL QB and actually return punts.

i expect to see Lee throw 2 INT's, our run game to suffer, their back up QB look like a Hypesman finalist.

i also expect this game to go out to the 4th and we eek out a win.  Two injured safeties, Tre out, average OL play means NIU will not go quietly into the night.......I really think they will come in here thinking they can win.  And play like it.

 
If you actually play Wilbon give him some of those holes Bryant has had.  Hell let Ozigbo play.  Coaches put your players in a position to be their most successful.  

 
1995 Redux said:
We should see a much crisper passing game and harder blitzing team.

I expect to see another pedestrian passing game made to look better by stellar at times receiving play, and  basically more of the same on defense.
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+1 for you as this is exactly right except for a tweak.  

 
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