Opponents Defensive Scheme

wishbone

wishbone

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
76
This offense is as much about having blocking skills as running talent. Our QB can only option 1 guy on the perimeter - not two....meanwhile he has the released lineman following him.
A- blocking and Shaq are sorely missed.
 

Skeptic

Helluva Engineer
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6,372
Boomergump said:
We have a bad record, granted. I am not sure we are a bad team. I have seen those. They are typically not competitive. We have 6 losses, 4 of which legitimately could have gone the other way, and 5 of which came against teams with superb W-L records. Look, there is no way to argue we are a good team either. Good teams find a way to win those type of games. We are not doing that.

If healthy, I think we had the potential to be pretty good, maybe not as good as I had hoped for. I am not going to talk you into to putting the razor down, but rather, question why you picked it up in the first place.

I will gladly say that if we find a way to win the remaining games, I will be exceedingly proud of this team AND will have had some awesome memories in the process. I don't expect it all to be easy. As always, every season, every week, you have to take where you actually are and try and build on it. There is no going back, only going forward. This season's record is no more permanent than last season's was.
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You can make a very good argument for your case. I just don't think it is convincing. I'd even agree if for say just two of those four "could have" won games we had actually won. Johnson once said -- in what I thought then real hyperbole, that "good teams don't lose two in a row," but we all seen good teams do that. In 2014, even. Nor do I think it should be easy. It's why they keep score, and I too have competed. It is just a hard slog sometimes, and it really should be to appreciate the win. (Win 12 games against Alcorn State, and you have, well, 12 wins against Alcorn State.) Alas, I metaphorically picked up the razor blade after our 9th game of the season, when we were worse defensively and offensively than before, our QB was in real danger of injury while the body language of the O linemen was one of confusion, and our once-reliable running game was further reduced to impotence and passing to desperation. (We do not do desperation well.) And the so-we-thought strengths of the team in '15 -- defense and the O line -- are in massive fail mode. In the case of the defense, yet again. Except this time, the offense could not make it good.

I have been a fan too long not to hope they win out and set up '16. But were I a betting man, and I'm not, I'd go the other way. The real question I have going into next year, with all others being a given -- lord, who would not be a bundle of nerves of the defense or special teams? -- is whether Justin Thomas is going to be able to get his game back on track and hold his option decision until he can get a commitment, or is that now gone as a matter of self preservation? Right now too often the DE or LB is making the option decision for him. It requires nerve right up to the end. Kind of a gridiron game of chicken until somebody blinks. Right now Thomas is blinking.

Unfortunately we tend to think of what might have or could have been. But they weren't. And we aren't good enough to change them. It's like the guy betting on coin flips and losing on heads on every toss, but sticking with his call based on the law of averages. He doesn't understand and won't accept that his coin toss stands alone. There is no "average" on that toss, it is either heads or tails. A bad analogy, but then scoping out four games as coulda kind of is too.
 
dressedcheeseside

dressedcheeseside

Helluva Engineer
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14,218
It's a matter of arithmetic. We have two wr's getting single coverage. That subtracts 2 players from the box on defense. The defense is using all 9 of those remaining guys to stuff the run or pressure the qb in 3rd and long. We cannot overcome the numbers disadvantage. The ironic thing is that our O is designed to create a numbers advantage. Lol.
 

JorgeJonas

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1,147
The issue isn't numbers, and it isn't scheme. No one is playing us differently on defense this year than they did in previous seasons. This season, for reasons I (and most likely everyone on this board) am not qualified or capable of explaining, the offensive line has simply not been able to block an opponent consistently. The skill positions have been decimated by injury, but that doesn't explain the failure of the line. It's worth pointing out that this isn't a numbers issue, either; instead, the line has simply not been able to win their blocking assignment. Even if we allow for the poor blocking on the perimeter, it wouldn't explain the line. They aren't being overwhelmed by numbers. Instead they are being overwhelmed by force. I continue to be stunned by that, and I don't know what the solution set is.
 

GT1992

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
161
We are getting outnumbered at times, but we are simply not blocking well up front. We have to do something to get the 9th man out of the box and that means completing something through the air.
 

Skeptic

Helluva Engineer
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6,372
GT1992 said:
We are getting outnumbered at times, but we are simply not blocking well up front. We have to do something to get the 9th man out of the box and that means completing something through the air.
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Doesn't that require, well, blocking up front?
 

Skeptic

Helluva Engineer
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6,372
GT1992 said:
Or something that is quick enough to get the ball out on the edge. Or counters that run the defense out of position.
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As I recall we have tried all that, the problem being that Thomas often takes the snap to find a DT buried in his chest. As for the counter, well. I wouldn't want to run it because by the time the QB turns to go the other way, the same DT, this time accompanied by a LB and maybe a DE, engulfs him. You've probably seen that in some of the counters we have tried and essentially gave up on. All this is fun for certain -- coach for a day or whatever -- but I doubt anybody on the board has any idea Johnson has not considered or used. If they do, Johnson ought to be fired straight away.
 

GT1992

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
161
Skeptic said:
As I recall we have tried all that, the problem being that Thomas often takes the snap to find a DT buried in his chest. As for the counter, well. I wouldn't want to run it because by the time the QB turns to go the other way, the same DT, this time accompanied by a LB and maybe a DE, engulfs him. You've probably seen that in some of the counters we have tried and essentially gave up on. All this is fun for certain -- coach for a day or whatever -- but I doubt anybody on the board has any idea Johnson has not considered or used. If they do, Johnson ought to be fired straight away.
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That leaves us with shotgun to buy time.
 

stingyoa$$

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
274
I wonder if Laskey was still here as RS senior if the offense would be different this year. I would think teams would have to respect the dive which would open things up for JT. IMO it is very important to use your resources wisely and not waste any eligibility early on in a players career. We have razor thin margins of error from a depth and production standpoint.
 

GT1992

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
161
JorgeJonas said:
This is the thing, though. Shotgun doesn't change anything. All you're doing is moving the point of impact back a few yards.
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You are giving him the time to see both downfield and where the pressure's from. I don't think anyone would argue that it would take the defensive player longer to get to a point 5 yards behind the line.
 
dressedcheeseside

dressedcheeseside

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14,218
stingyoa$$ said:
I wonder if Laskey was still here as RS senior if the offense would be different this year. I would think teams would have to respect the dive which would open things up for JT. IMO it is very important to use your resources wisely and not waste any eligibility early on in a players career. We have razor thin margins of error from a depth and production standpoint.
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Using guys as freshmen is ok if they help you that year. Laskey's true frosh year was wasted, imo. Using true frosh puts more pressure on your recruiting as you have to have a guy in the next class good enough to fill the void.

The problem with all those seniors graduating last year is there were no juniors of equal caliber ready to step in this year. Heck, there weren't even an sophs.
 

Skeptic

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stingyoa$$ said:
I wonder if Laskey was still here as RS senior if the offense would be different this year. I would think teams would have to respect the dive which would open things up for JT. IMO it is very important to use your resources wisely and not waste any eligibility early on in a players career. We have razor thin margins of error from a depth and production standpoint.
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As I recall Laskey played an awful lot as a true freshman, meaning he was needed. Ditto this group. I know Wake got to the title game against GT in '08, I think it was, with a lot of redshirt seniors and that was the wave of the future. Now Wake is Wake and that coach is doing TV.
 

Skeptic

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GT1992 said:
You are giving him the time to see both downfield and where the pressure's from. I don't think anyone would argue that it would take the defensive player longer to get to a point 5 yards behind the line.
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I think you miss his point. Right now Thomas is trying to retreat 5-7 yards and they are still all over him. Regardless of his drop, the WRs still have to run their routes. I just don't like the idea of starting your backs off five yards deep. Plus we saw how it worked out with Lee. I know a lot of teams, successful teams, use it but if you are going to go you must go whole hog and ditch the LOS snap altogether. Colleges don't have time to practice both and be really good with either.
 

JorgeJonas

Helluva Engineer
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1,147
Skeptic said:
I think you miss his point. Right now Thomas is trying to retreat 5-7 yards and they are still all over him. Regardless of his drop, the WRs still have to run their routes. I just don't like the idea of starting your backs off five yards deep. Plus we saw how it worked out with Lee. I know a lot of teams, successful teams, use it but if you are going to go you must go whole hog and ditch the LOS snap altogether. Colleges don't have time to practice both and be really good with either.
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This is exactly the point I was trying to make. We are blocking so poorly right now that whether we run a shotgun snap or one under center doesn't matter, and the shotgun might make matters worse. Regrettably, there is no silver bullet to overcome the performance of the line.
 

GT1992

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
161
Skeptic said:
I think you miss his point. Right now Thomas is trying to retreat 5-7 yards and they are still all over him. Regardless of his drop, the WRs still have to run their routes. I just don't like the idea of starting your backs off five yards deep. Plus we saw how it worked out with Lee. I know a lot of teams, successful teams, use it but if you are going to go you must go whole hog and ditch the LOS snap altogether. Colleges don't have time to practice both and be really good with either.
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Except now he's never getting a look downfield and half the time, he doesn't see where the pressure is from.
 
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