Defense

[Jmonty71]

When you don't have any D lineman that can force a double team, it makes covering very, very difficult, and if all of their blockers can focus on 1 or less guys, it means they have a much better chance to pick up the blitzing LB's or safety. You guys just cannot fully understand that a D coordinator cannot run some type of gimmick defense to overcome the lack of talent and size.

If Roof suddenly starts taking more chances, and we get burned, I hope you guys will be happy. I don't think so, though. I think whoever the D-coordinator is, that he will be in the doghouse forever with many of you, until we get a few high end DL's. I'm sorry guys, but I just don't see us having top 40 D-linemen right now, and maybe not for a while.

Enough ranting. If having a coach's head that loves the Institute makes everyone happy, then so be it.

Ok. So, its recruiting. Doesn't CTR do his own recruiting? So if there is a lack of talent, where does the fault lie? Has to be Roof, right? This goes back to the whole Roof doesn't have talented players thing. It stills has to fall on his lap. Year 5, he should have his type of players in place. If he doesn't, again. Who's fault is it?

 

[AE 87]

I am also one of "those people" that think we can coach better than CTR. LOL. I hear the same thing about talent. I hear he is bringing in good players. But, then I hear the talent excuse again.

Which leads to the question. How long do you wait? How many seasons should it take to build a team? He is on year 5, right? Shouldn't that been enough time?

you almost made it to the first game

 

[AE 87]

When you don't have any D lineman that can force a double team, it makes covering very, very difficult, and if all of their blockers can focus on 1 or less guys, it means they have a much better chance to pick up the blitzing LB's or safety. You guys just cannot fully understand that a D coordinator cannot run some type of gimmick defense to overcome the lack of talent and size.

If Roof suddenly starts taking more chances, and we get burned, I hope you guys will be happy. I don't think so, though. I think whoever the D-coordinator is, that he will be in the doghouse forever with many of you, until we get a few high end DL's. I'm sorry guys, but I just don't see us having top 40 D-linemen right now, and maybe not for a while.

Enough ranting. If having a coach's head that loves the Institute makes everyone happy, then so be it.

The argument of "if you don't have the talent to ..." still goes back to comparison of talent to outcomes. Is our Talent bottom 40 of 128?

 

[wreckrod]

Roof hasn't had the best talent to work with. He is just now able to go out and get what we call real players. He's had to play sooo many players out of their natural positions up until this year. I am sure wreckrod and many others on this board could coach up and call a Div 1 college football game much better than a professional coach. He will put up or shut this year and next. I am willing to give him a chance and hope for the best.

Gimme a freaking break. "Talent" is no excuse for not being able to teach guys to not lean and take steps towards the line of scrimmage before the snap. They put up neon signs all the time "HEY IM THE BLITZER OK?" It makes it super easy for the O-line or the RB to know who they need to block.

"Talent" is not why we don't show one coverage and then roll into another after the snap. Heck the DBs have been coached so hard to never ever let anyone come close to getting past them they start back peddling and then bailing out before the snap. I can consistently call what receiver is going to get the ball in 3rd and long or medium because we line up 10 yards away on 3rd and 7 and then bail before the snap "Hey throw it to that guy." And of course bam, 1st down.

We make it easy for opposing quarterbacks in a lot of ways and there's absolutely no excuse for it. And it's big things and little things. Not giving away the blitz pre-snap. Or I swear sometimes I want to take our players by the facemask and say "You DO understand that you want to try to run PAST the blocker to the QB, not THROUGH him right? Wake up." If we just had guys in position and they weren't making the tackle, ok, that's talent. But we don't.

We routinely have guys looking completely lost and that is 1 of 3 things: either we have exceptionally stupid athletes who can't understand the scheme, the scheme is too complicated to be taught in a reasonable amount of time, or the people trying to teach the scheme aren't doing a good job. I have a strong suspicion it's a combination of those last two.

No, I don't like Roof's philosophy on defense, but we could do a lot of things to better maximize his approach.

 

[jeffgt14]

I'm predicting that Lance Austin will continue to be one of the top 3 players on the defense while fans continue to complain about him.

 

[Jmonty71]

Gimme a freaking break. "Talent" is no excuse for not being able to teach guys to not lean and take steps towards the line of scrimmage before the snap. They put up neon signs all the time "HEY IM THE BLITZER OK?" It makes it super easy for the O-line or the RB to know who they need to block.

"Talent" is not why we don't show one coverage and then roll into another after the snap. Heck the DBs have been coached so hard to never ever let anyone come close to getting past them they start back peddling and then bailing out before the snap. I can consistently call what receiver is going to get the ball in 3rd and long or medium because we line up 10 yards away on 3rd and 7 and then bail before the snap "Hey throw it to that guy." And of course bam, 1st down.

We make it easy for opposing quarterbacks in a lot of ways and there's absolutely no excuse for it. And it's big things and little things. Not giving away the blitz pre-snap. Or I swear sometimes I want to take our players by the facemask and say "You DO understand that you want to try to run PAST the blocker to the QB, not THROUGH him right? Wake up." If we just had guys in position and they weren't making the tackle, ok, that's talent. But we don't.

We routinely have guys looking completely lost and that is 1 of 3 things: either we have exceptionally stupid athletes who can't understand the scheme, the scheme is too complicated to be taught in a reasonable amount of time, or the people trying to teach the scheme aren't doing a good job. I have a strong suspicion it's a combination of those last two.

No, I don't like Roof's philosophy on defense, but we could do a lot of things to better maximize his approach.

You and I, see the same things. Nail on head.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

The argument of "if you don't have the talent to ..." still goes back to comparison of talent to outcomes. Is our Talent bottom 40 of 128?

Specifically at DT, yes, in my opinion. We have a few DE's and LB's that would crack the top40-50 of 128, but not DT, in my opinion.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

Ok. So, its recruiting. Doesn't CTR do his own recruiting? So if there is a lack of talent, where does the fault lie? Has to be Roof, right? This goes back to the whole Roof doesn't have talented players thing. It stills has to fall on his lap. Year 5, he should have his type of players in place. If he doesn't, again. Who's fault is it?

Like I said, it doesn't matter who recruits. The STEM school is the problem, not the recruiters, in general. We can agree to disagree. Many of our fans/alumni will have Roof's head, but the only thing you will get with another DC is a slightly different scheme/philosophy on blitzing. Some games, it will work decently, depending on the opponent, but when we face much more talent, it will be ugly, in my opinion.

If we did find a DC that could somehow recruit big nasties in abundance, then I would say we are ready to play some top 30 defense.

 

[GT Man]

I really hope we can stop opposing offenses on 3rd down. I am so tired of watching conversions on 3rds

 

[Yaller Jacket]

Concerning defense, every year my first priority is a better pass rush from the line. And every year it doesn't happen. Maybe with, in effect, three DEs on the field, we'll finally get some rushed throws out of the line.

 

[tech_wreck47]

Specifically at DT, yes, in my opinion. We have a few DE's and LB's that would crack the top40-50 of 128, but not DT, in my opinion.

One weak position group shouldn't put you in the 90's in D though. You're saying that position drops us over 40 spots.

 

[ncjacket79]

One weak position group shouldn't put you in the 90's in D though. You're saying that position drops us over 40 spots.

Actually yes. It all starts up front and if you have to compensate on the line it limits everything else you do. Whatever the reason for losing 6 DL in the off season a few years back is still hurting us.

 

[33jacket]

One weak position group shouldn't put you in the 90's in D though. You're saying that position drops us over 40 spots.

What is funny about the dl argument. Is its the only position in the Nfl of late. Not lb. cb and s is from the 2014 team. But not 2015.

The whole narrative is bs. We had a nfl dl in 2014 and 2015.

We had two nfl dl prior to that in sneezy and barnes.

The players that had nfl shots come from the dl under paul as much as any. Even too tall is still playing ball in canada. Gamble didn't make a 53 lets see if he makes practice squad.

I just think the dl talent "out" or excuse is way over used. Its not that bad.

Of one bad dt can drop a unit 40 spots then what does one good dt drafted in round 2 or 3 do??? Well. We had that. Gotsis. And the 2014 unit was a disaster. 2015 was a tad better, but still not great.

So for me. The whole dt thing is eh. Our ends need to improve. Our lb talent does too. But its still a roof scheme. We will always see the issues we see. Hopefully this year he tweaks more of the scheme and we improve there while also getting players to play better like mitchell alexander etc.

 

[tech_wreck47]

Actually yes. It all starts up front and if you have to compensate on the line it limits everything else you do. Whatever the reason for losing 6 DL in the off season a few years back is still hurting us.

We will have to agree to disagree. There are plenty of teams with less talent that out preform us on that side of the ball.

 

[MWBATL]

When you don't have any D lineman that can force a double team, it makes covering very, very difficult, and if all of their blockers can focus on 1 or less guys, it means they have a much better chance to pick up the blitzing LB's or safety. You guys just cannot fully understand that a D coordinator cannot run some type of gimmick defense to overcome the lack of talent and size.

You are correct. Mostly that's because I remember that Tenuta didn't have great D linemen yet he concocted some serious blitzing schemes that relied on good LB's and our defense was MUCH better in his days. So I plead guilty to harboring such delusions.

The logical part of me agrees with you. Offenses have changed since Tenuta's days. The spread option was I think designed to offset such aggressive defenses and punish them. Tenuta isn't coaching as a D Coordinator anywhere anymore. There must be a reason (or two) for that. Yet I still long for those days emotionally.

I look at this weekend's scoreboard and I see a ton of points being scored on teams with much better athletes on defense than we have. Southern Call yields 31, Louisville gives up 28 (to Purdue!). Texas A&M yields 45, and UCLA gives up 44. Texas is zapped for 51. West Virginia is hit up for 31. The list goes on and on. Realistically, I am hoping our defense winds up improving, especially in overall national rankings. But, me emotionally, I still pine for the days of Tenuta's blitzing aggressive defenses that kept us in games.

I'm not very smart, actually.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

We will have to agree to disagree. There are plenty of teams with less talent that out preform us on that side of the ball.

Glad to see discussion about the D @Jmonty71 since that 1/3 of the game will probably determine 2/3 of our wins/losses. But with the lack of information, well, no news means no news.

About 113 teams outperformed our DL last year. I think we don't recruit well, especially on the DL, but I think we recruit about 60th........... so there is a gap .......

As I said before "I think our D will be rated 75th by FEI*, 59th by S&P** and our D Line*** 93rd. That's the average over the last three years. Till we are better, I won't expect anything better." https://gtswarm.com/threads/official-ted-roof-discussion-thread.12642/page-13#post-328051

 

[MikeJackets1967]

When you don't have any D lineman that can force a double team, it makes covering very, very difficult, and if all of their blockers can focus on 1 or less guys, it means they have a much better chance to pick up the blitzing LB's or safety. You guys just cannot fully understand that a D coordinator cannot run some type of gimmick defense to overcome the lack of talent and size.

If Roof suddenly starts taking more chances, and we get burned, I hope you guys will be happy. I don't think so, though. I think whoever the D-coordinator is, that he will be in the doghouse forever with many of you, until we get a few high end DL's. I'm sorry guys, but I just don't see us having top 40 D-linemen right now, and maybe not for a while.

Enough ranting. If having a coach's head that loves the Institute makes everyone happy, then so be it.

GT will survive and the defense will get better as they go along like in 2016 and 2014.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

You are correct. Mostly that's because I remember that Tenuta didn't have great D linemen yet he concocted some serious blitzing schemes that relied on good LB's and our defense was MUCH better in his days. So I plead guilty to harboring such delusions.

The logical part of me agrees with you. Offenses have changed since Tenuta's days. The spread option was I think designed to offset such aggressive defenses and punish them. Tenuta isn't coaching as a D Coordinator anywhere anymore. There must be a reason (or two) for that. Yet I still long for those days emotionally.

I look at this weekend's scoreboard and I see a ton of points being scored on teams with much better athletes on defense than we have. Southern Call yields 31, Louisville gives up 28 (to Purdue!). Texas A&M yields 45, and UCLA gives up 44. Texas is zapped for 51. West Virginia is hit up for 31. The list goes on and on. Realistically, I am hoping our defense winds up improving, especially in overall national rankings. But, me emotionally, I still pine for the days of Tenuta's blitzing aggressive defenses that kept us in games.

I'm not very smart, actually.

Tenuta had several NFL caliber players. I would agree it wasn't a huge leap upward in talent, but guys like Philip Wheeler, Gary Guyton, etc. made a difference.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

Concerning defense, every year my first priority is a better pass rush from the line. And every year it doesn't happen. Maybe with, in effect, three DEs on the field, we'll finally get some rushed throws out of the line.

I hope so, too, YJ, but generally, to allow DE's or LB's to get to the QB consistently, the DT's have to be causing some major ruckus inside, and that is where we are hurting.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

By the way, it is great to have a site like this one, where we can disagree without personally attacking each other. I really appreciate GTSwarm.