Defense regression

[roedeo]

As much as yesterday stunk, at least we don’t have national sports people sharing this shot
I can’t recall an opposing team this happy to see a touchdown before

The Falcons are on their own mission :
TankForTrevor

 

[Sheboygan]

I think the problem is both coaching and players. Collins is a smart guy and was a very good DC. You don't get a Broyles nomination at 3 different schools if you don't know what you are doing. I wonder if with the whole Covid situation he is playing more of a CEO role and handling the Covid related issues and not being as hands on with the defense as he probably would like?
I also wonder if some of these players are simply not as talented as we may have hoped. Sometimes the recruiting rankings get it right. I would not be surprised to see some of the other young guys start to get opportunities if they can learn the defense. I also would not be surprised if certain players did not return next year even with the free season.

I agree with you to a point , especially the lack of talent. But what I am seeing on D is not lack of talent. Constantly out of postion for DBs, pitiful eye discipline, especially for upperclassmen, wrapping up on tackles, poor angles of pursuit, etc. These are NOT talent problems. IMO, they fall squarely on coaching and lack of disciplne/accountability. It seems to be that we can only get FULLY prepared for a game if we have more time between games. BC's coach was hired last December, they were coming off a bad loss to VT, and they came out like their hair was on fire. By comparison, we looked timid and confused. NO EXCUSE.....

 

[LongforDodd]

One or two of your points are debatable whether it's coaching or not. Good angles of pursuit are instinctual to be successful at this level. And anybody that plays defensive football at their age should know how to wrap up, not get juked, etc.

Being out of position? definitely coaching.

 

[danny daniel]

Actually, I was surprised at the talent differential on the defensive front 7's. I think when folks take a deep breath, they'll see different body types across the front 7, regardless of what the recruit rankings and size on depth charts say.

BC's linebackers easily outclass ours. They look different and play different. It was like two Knight body types that knew their assignments and played confidently/aggressively. (Knight may get there; still young).

Would you take our DL over BC's? I'm not so sure. At one point our DL was: Ryans, Brooks, Griffin, Domineck. At a glance I'd say BC and most ACC DLs beat that on recruiting ranking/offer sheet talent.

I'm not absolving the coaching by any means, but I think front talent is issue #1 to correct. We recruited some really good DEs and have some already playing. Same goes with LB from 2020 class and Knight if he can play consistent. DT is our weakness in terms of having recruited true difference-makers, and it's a big gap, but there is a rising tide across the front 7 that will help any DC look better.

Agree with comments about the DL, especially the "long term" required to correct it. In the meantime I would like to see better performance in contested balls, better deep coverage, and something to stop the wide open receivers, especially in the middle of the field where we seem to have major breakdowns in assignments. We are not getting sacks but there is some improvement in pressure on the passer but then we too often lose containment resulting in crucial first downs. At times tackling is poor. Coaches need to fix those issues requiring not so long term as DL talent.

 

[Jacket05]

No don’t say that. We need to be tanking for Trevor, today worked out great. Thanks Gurley

Falcons lost the ability to get Trevor when they won last week! There's no way that Jets are going to win any games this year so they will have the ability to pick Trevor (unless he decides to stay at Clemson to avoid playing for the Jets). #TankForNumber2

 

[RonJohn]

One or two of your points are debatable whether it's coaching or not. Good angles of pursuit are instinctual to be successful at this level. And anybody that plays defensive football at their age should know how to wrap up, not get juked, etc.

Being out of position? definitely coaching.

I agree that angles of pursuit and getting juked are not coaching. However, I am not sure about wrapping up. It seems that many of the DBs attempt to either knock the runner over with a big hit or strip the ball. If it happened a time or two in a game I would definitely attribute it to the player. Currently, it is so many players and so often in the games that I am not sure if they are making mistakes or if they are doing what they have been told to do.

 

[gt69hjcollins]

We have made improvements in recruiting. We have special talent at a few positions. We must continue recruiting well to establish a winning program. We have enthusiastic players who play hard. However, we have coaching issues that must be resolved. Players out of position, delays in getting the calls in on defense and looking lost on defense. I have faith that Coach Collins has the ability to develop his coaching staff and improve their performance. In my opinion he needs to start the process of doing that. He is the head man and if we are to improve on defense and special teams he must step up and do what is needed. It might be a matter of simplifying the defense, but he needs to figure it out quickly or we will continue to regress.

 

[MacJacket]

Falcons lost the ability to get Trevor when they won last week! There's no way that Jets are going to win any games this year so they will have the ability to pick Trevor (unless he decides to stay at Clemson to avoid playing for the Jets). #TankForNumber2

True, but 2nd place either gets you Justin Fields or the ability to trade out for multiple 1st or 2nd round picks.

 

[slugboy]

You (usually) don't have a defensive day like Saturday if it's just one thing.

Secondary:

• Is there confusion? Yes. I saw a DB get screened from making a tackle by another DB. I've seen other examples which look like players not knowing their assignments. Is that a coaching issue or a player issue?--yes, it is.
• Bad tackling--not all the players out there, but some of them. It only takes one missed tackle to lead to a TD or massive yard gain.
• Related: Not everything needs to be a solo tackle. Sure it's embarrassing to hold on and get dragged for 5 yards, but someone else will finish the tackle, and 5 yards is better than 50 for losing the tackle.
• Not getting a jam at the line of scrimmage. This keeps coming up in our games, but I see it in the NFL too. Combined with bad hip position and other issues, it's leading to us getting beaten inside.
• Speed issues: On Saturday, Juanyeh Thomas got blamed for a touchdown in man coverage, but the cover man was about 3 yards behind the receiver. It might have been the Nickel Back. Some of this is a depth issue, where the first three cover men are fast enough but the 4th or 5th cover man gets beat.

Interior DL:

• We could use a beefy NT who can collapse the pocket.
• If we don't have that beefy NT type then we need a tandem of DTs who can do the same

LB: Could really use a touch more speed there.

DE: Not so bad. Not holding the edge as much as I'd like. This isn't where I'd focus.

Scheme:

• I'd say we're riding the 4-2-5 come H*** or high water, but we've shifted to a 3-3-5 on occasion. There's only so much you can do schematically, but there are a couple of pieces you are supposed to need to make a 4-2-5 work
  • A NT to get that double/triple team in the middle and hold. We're young, and we need one more guy to make that happen--this is a talent gap​
  • speed and quick+good decisions at the LB position. We don't always get both. This is a current talent gap that can be made up by long-term coaching and conditioning and recruiting​
  • Secondary players who play like fast linebackers. We have some of what we need here, but we can't have a gap to exploit in the back 5, and we do.​
• Our defense is about making quick decisions, and teams like Clemson will option to make you pay for that. They know how to play our defensive scheme and it showed
• Against BC we needed more beef on the field, and we can't change our defense in a week to be a more traditional scheme. We needed to, but couldn't.

Falcons lost the ability to get Trevor when they won last week! There's no way that Jets are going to win any games this year so they will have the ability to pick Trevor (unless he decides to stay at Clemson to avoid playing for the Jets). #TankForNumber2

The Falcons are currently at the #4 draft pick. I thought the Jets might actually win yesterday, and I do think they'll get at least two wins this year.

FiveThirtyEight thinks the Jets win two games and the Falcons win 4, which also leads to the 4th pick overall.

 

[Ash]

When I heard the sales pitch for the "Effort Based" defensive scheme I liked it. I thought it was innovative and possibly what we neened to be differnt enough to compete with our schedule. I have to say...the product on the field has not panned out. I don't now what the root cause is on the coaching side, but we do not seem to be headed in the right direction.

 

[armeck]

Apparently, and sadly, all the “juice” Collins has been pitching since he’s been here has just been Kool-Aid

Not even that... it's been Flavor Aid.

 

[UgaBlows]

Move Charlie Thomas back to linebacker he made a ton of plays there last season. Move Bruce Swilling back too. find faster Lb’s and safeties and get them coached up and start playing them now.....and i’m sorry Curry, Juanyeh and Tariq can not graduate fast enough, thank you for everything gentlemen but we need the future to get here tomorrow.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

I was watching the Cardinals vs. Seahawks game last night and I was struck by the play of Budda Baker. This is guy is 185 lb. defensive back who has a nose for the football and lays the lumber every chance he gets. It reminded of so many other great defensive players. What they all have in common is they take delight in making plays and delivering pain. When I look at our defense, I do not see one guy much less several guys who play with that attitude. That is what we need. I think what we are missing is a collective attitude of being a good defense. The Black Watch defense was a great example of what I am talking about. They had a few top notch players but for the most part they had a lot of average guys who played like it meant something to them collectively and took pride in being known as a top notch unit. How can we recreate that?

Go Jackets!

 

[VintageWreck]

What? Really?

Collins: “We are building an ELITE football organization and a high performing team. We did exceptionally well in all facets of the game today. Boston College is an outstanding program, the Clemson of the North. Had we scored five more touchdowns, we would have won. I told the team at the half, ‘when you’re getting your butt whipped on tv, just remember, I’m totally behind you.”

jk

 

[VintageWreck]

To

I'm on page #4.
Sorry. Just cannot make it to page #8!

 

[danny daniel]

I'll throw out one other theory after the last two consecutive weeks which is founded on nothing other than speculation. Are our defensive signals getting stolen? Are our guys giving tells? I really hope we can self-scout and figure out a light switch there to turn this thing around, otherwise we have real issues. I don't expect our D to be game-changers given the issues up front, but the striking lack of resistance today reminded me of MTSU. While the MTSU game felt worse being there Live, I had similar feelings of helplessness today, and it turned out our signals were stolen.

Stollen signals can hurt you but has little or nothing to do with man coverage often getting beat deep, missed tackles, and not covering people at all in the middle of the field. Not to mention late subbing and late signals from the sidelines, not getting ready before the snap, and more than 11 on the field. Did I leave out penalties?

 

[Jacketman99]

I agree with you to a point , especially the lack of talent. But what I am seeing on D is not lack of talent. Constantly out of postion for DBs, pitiful eye discipline, especially for upperclassmen, wrapping up on tackles, poor angles of pursuit, etc. These are NOT talent problems. IMO, they fall squarely on coaching and lack of disciplne/accountability. It seems to be that we can only get FULLY prepared for a game if we have more time between games. BC's coach was hired last December, they were coming off a bad loss to VT, and they came out like their hair was on fire. By comparison, we looked timid and confused. NO EXCUSE.....

I have heard much of this from.the coaches in press conference and the athletes. So I am sure these things have been a focus. Some guys just aren't that good. They look like Tarzan but play like Jane. I would bet as soon as some of the young lbs learn the defense they might start getting some snaps. Same goes for some of the younger dbs. However I believe the coaches also need to do a better job putting these guys in position to succeed especially in the first half of games.

 

[Ibeeballin]

One or two of your points are debatable whether it's coaching or not. Good angles of pursuit are instinctual to be successful at this level. And anybody that plays defensive football at their age should know how to wrap up, not get juked, etc.

Being out of position? definitely coaching.

Not necessarily. Due to being own by the man i can’t post the videos (lol) but you can get out of position by simple not doing your job.

3 instances I’ll point out:
On the TE wide open in the middle, instead of dropping back in is zone, Curry decides to cover the flat route where the Nickel back was already positioned

On the missed blitz up the middle by Curry, the DE loses contain and the CB chases a route going in the inside to the safety and leaves his guy wide open for a big gain.

Pa again, Curry overcompensates and not try to let the TE get a catch, so he turns his back in zone which the QB sees and proceeds to for a big gain

No coach is coaching that

 

[slugboy]

Not necessarily. Due to being own by the man i can’t post the videos (lol) but you can get out of position by simple not doing your job.

3 instances I’ll point out:
On the TE wide open in the middle, instead of dropping back in is zone, Curry decides to cover the flat route where the Nickel back was already positioned

On the missed blitz up the middle by Curry, the DE loses contain and the CB chases a route going in the inside to the safety and leaves his guy wide open for a big gain.

Pa again, Curry overcompensates and not try to let the TE get a catch, so he turns his back in zone which the QB sees and proceeds to for a big gain

No coach is coaching that

If you've got an old teammate or bud who wants to share a few screen shots, we'd love to have as many guys who know how to read an offense or defense as we can get. Even if they just say "yeah, he's right on that".

I did have a lady (friend, I had a girlfriend at the time) comp us some Falcons tickets back when they were awful (before, not this time) if we'd just explain what the Falcons were doing so she'd understand. We should have paid her for the tickets, because nothing they were doing made sense to us. I've never seen a defense look so confused. We could tell what we thought they should have done, but explaining someone doing the wrong thing is harder.

 

[bke1984]

The players do control who plays. If i can’t get lined up or know the players, you can’t play! Unfortunately, for us our starters look so bad that you probably could not tell the difference if we did play the freshman

If this is true then we should be playing the freshmen