What do we change on defense.

HUSKERCR said:
Our DBs play 6 yards off the receivers, always positioned to the outside.

This leaves us wide open to over the middle slants, which is where a lot of the damage is being done.

Mixing things up, jamming the receivers at the line, playing to the inside, etc. would

add at least some uncertainty to the QB's thinking.

When your defense becomes predictable, you're cooked as we were last Saturday.

Well done.
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Adding to this, it also gives you an extra defender, the OB.

 
PaulCrewe said:
RedDenver said:
I'd say fan expectations are the first thing that need to change. There's no magic fix to what ails us. We simply aren't in synch on defense - whether it's ability, experience, coaching, or whatever. This is going to be a rough year on that side of the ball. Hopefully the players get better at the fundamentals, especially tackling. I think the Pelini's get it fixed, but it might not be back to snuff until the end of the year or next year.
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I am sorry Red Denver but I call BS and here's why. Crick, Baker, Stache, Compton, David, Fisher, Zo, Courtney, PJ, Cassidy. All the players listed have started a minumum of three games prior to this year. How should the expectations not have been high. All players(sans David) with three years in Bo's defense. That is why this is completely baffling to me. And honestly with these guys my expectations will always remain pretty stout. Someone just needs to snap on the rest of them and be a pissed off, embarrassed leader of the group.
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Yeah, "starting 3 games" isn't really a good way to judge experience. We are just plain inexperienced in the secondary, fact of the matter. Gomes, Hagg, and Amukamara were incredibly good, we see that now. They were amazing, and having all three of them leave at the same time creates a big set of shoes to fill. The D-line has been fine (not like stellar, but still good), we saw that in the Wisconsin game. But with pretty much an entirely new secondary, its going to be a hands-on and sometimes difficult learning experience.

 
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PaulCrewe said:
RedDenver said:
I'd say fan expectations are the first thing that need to change. There's no magic fix to what ails us. We simply aren't in synch on defense - whether it's ability, experience, coaching, or whatever. This is going to be a rough year on that side of the ball. Hopefully the players get better at the fundamentals, especially tackling. I think the Pelini's get it fixed, but it might not be back to snuff until the end of the year or next year.
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I am sorry Red Denver but I call BS and here's why. Crick, Baker, Stache, Compton, David, Fisher, Zo, Courtney, PJ, Cassidy. All the players listed have started a minumum of three games prior to this year. How should the expectations not have been high. All players(sans David) with three years in Bo's defense. That is why this is completely baffling to me. And honestly with these guys my expectations will always remain pretty stout. Someone just needs to snap on the rest of them and be a pissed off, embarrassed leader of the group.
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What are you calling BS on? Fan expectations? There is a magical fix? We are in synch on defense?

As someone else already mentioned, 3 games isn't experienced IMO. You've only got Crick, Baker, Stache, David, and Zo as having started a whole season. That's 3 from the DL - where we're playing ok, 1 at LB, and 1 at DB. I think that tells a lot of the story right there. The back seven only have 2 guys with much starting experience. The other thing to note is those are the 2 position groups where we have new coaches this year. It might take awhile for them to mesh with the philosophy, scheme, players, etc.

I stand by my statements.

 
I would play a 5 man front with my three best rush ends and play two linebacker since only two are good. cbs are gonna get burned regardless so may as well sell out to stop the run and pressure the qb. we have a better chance to stop people passing on us with pressure than sitting in coverage.

 
bournehusker said:
I would play a 5 man front with my three best rush ends and play two linebacker since only two are good. cbs are gonna get burned regardless so may as well sell out to stop the run and pressure the qb. we have a better chance to stop people passing on us with pressure than sitting in coverage.
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worked in 09' - our DB's were better, but the key to their success started up front. i thought for sure this year our young DBs would be helped by our line. thus far, not the case. makes me wonder how much involvement Bo has w/ the defense these days. We attribute the success (and failures) to him - but w/ the offensive changes and young OC he might be giving 20% at most to the D...and now you're seeing the results of that.

 
Our DB’s play so far off the ball it is like Phil Elmassian is coaching them again.



Compton overruns far too many plays and gets taken out of the equation when he does that. He also appears to be a complete liability in pass coverage.



Ankrah has ZERO effect on a game.



Cassidy and Stafford bite way to much on play action.



We replaced an average LB coach with a below average LB coach.



Why was the DL lined up so far off the ball against Wisconsin?



Our nickel and dime packages are terrible because the teams just throw to whoever Blatchford or Thorrell are covering.



The biggest thing wrong with our defense – Bo isn’t calling it anymore.

 
The first thing we need to change is the attitude of the coaches. They've been too quick to state we're "awesome". They allow too many sloppy things to happen and apparently would rather try to fix things by plugging in another player than coaching effort and technique and thats across the board from the DC on down.

JP is at least attempting to make his unit better even though it hasn't been enough but at least I'll say if a guy has a problem one week it is usually fixed the next week. Never mind the fact they revert back some (thats on the player) at least you can tell its been addressed. I would say Els has done a good job on special teams he just doesn't have crap to work with at the LB spot because we were recruiting hybrid type players rather than traditional LB type players because of league play. That will change over the next 2 years but we're going to be very weak there next year too.

 
zoogies said:
deedsker said:
Hammerhead said:
Bring back Marvin Sanders!
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:yeah
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No not that!
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Was whatever he allegedly did to force his retirement *that* bad that we can't forgive and forget? We've been able to forgive and forget a lot of things over the years as a program...

...and the difference between Raymond and Sanders appears to be that the later focused on fundamentals more and how to read routes appropriately--plus, it appears that we're playing Cosgrove-Soft coverage now, and not too many people were enamored with it when it was here the last time.

 
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bournehusker said:
I would play a 5 man front with my three best rush ends and play two linebacker since only two are good. cbs are gonna get burned regardless so may as well sell out to stop the run and pressure the qb. we have a better chance to stop people passing on us with pressure than sitting in coverage.
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Who's the second 'good' linebacker?

 
Fischer needs to be off the field NOW.

I've said it before. He's a great kid, literally brilliant, great GPA, showed incredible tenacity and determination in fighting his way back from a gruesome injury.

None of that means anything regarding his performance on the field, which is ABYSMAL. I swear to god, he is one of the worst starting linebackers I've ever seen NU trot out there. He is getting blown up by slot receivers. Just completely taken out of the play. Have you seen him shed ONE BLOCK? ONE?!

Sorry, rant over. But Fischer is literally taking weeks off of my life every time I watch him play.

 
matthew_m_g said:
Was whatever he allegedly did to force his retirement *that* bad that we can't forgive and forget? We've been able to forgive and forget a lot of things over the years as a program...

...and the difference between Raymond and Sanders appears to be that the later focused on fundamentals more and how to read routes appropriately--plus, it appears that we're playing Cosgrove-Soft coverage now, and not too many people were enamored with it when it was here the last time.
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No, it's that we don't need to forgive and forget. Marvin was a good coach, bit of a lazy recruiter by several accounts, but he's done now and we should move on. Corey is a very promising positions coach. Whatever coverage we are in, you don't think Bo made that call? The DBs coach didn't go and make a decision that Bo did not direct for his defense. It has everything to do with our new personnel. As many have noticed, it's not like Fonzie is playing off his receiver, because Fonz is Fonz. You don't want to see those other guys playing bump; we saw some of Aaron Green doing it against Fresno, I believe, and he got toasted. Routinely.

And Raymond is really the one more focused on technique. Too much was made about that being a big change, in my opinion. It's only a change for the better. This is still Bo's secondary and he has his guy that is a great techniques guy, who is also a stud for us on the recruiting front (something we can't have enough of, especially on our staff). We should be thankful for Raymond, very thankful. One of, if not, the best new hires this offseason.

 
I honestly think we need to mix up our packages. We tend to stay in 4-3 or nickel and man-to-man in a lot of cases with cover 2 help over the top. I'd love to see some mixing up like 5 man fronts or have a LB or S walk up. Cause some confusion before the snap. We tend to be very bland on D often times and it looks like we are playing too much zone, bend but don't break. I think we rely on our front 4 too much to get pressure, too.

 
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