The B-back Mesh

Coloradojacket

Coloradojacket

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With most defenses playing us with the Bud Foster script, 4-5 man front Middle linebacker back and crash a SS or OLB in the A gap, I began to think of ways to overcome this. I had made a suggestion on various blogs and some told me that it would only make it worse. I suggested that the B-back line up further back, thus getting the mesh further back and improving the read. To prove my point I have reviewed the 2009 VT game vs UVA 2017. In 2009, Dwyer is three and a half yards behind Nesbitt and the mesh is deeper. This year Benson is two to two and a half yards behind Marshall.

I think that Benson needs to get back further. Thoughts?
 

jgtengineer

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When you move the mesh back it turns a bad read into a loss instead of a 2 yard gain.... see Georgia Southern trying to run veer from teh gun.
 
Coloradojacket

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jgtengineer said:
When you move the mesh back it turns a bad read into a loss instead of a 2 yard gain.... see Georgia Southern trying to run veer from teh gun.
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Well, when watching in 2009 it nullified the blitz. Think in that UVA game last Saturday, Marshall had almost no time to make a read. I am not saying make it a drop of five yards, just go from 2 to three yards.
 

jgtengineer

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Coloradojacket said:
Well, when watching in 2009 it nullified the blitz. Think in that UVA game last Saturday, Marshall had almost no time to make a read. I am not saying make it a drop of five yards, just go from 2 to three yards.
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The read time is the same actually either way. Moving it back allows the dive read to play both the dive and the QB.
 
Coloradojacket

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jgtengineer said:
The read time is the same actually either way. Moving it back allows the dive read to play both the dive and the QB.
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I get what you are saying but why did it work so well in 08 and 09. And I don't think our line was any better. And I'm not trying to neutralize the Dive read guy. Trying to neutralize the crashing SS/OLB
 
SidewalkJacket

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Coloradojacket said:
I get what you are saying but why did it work so well in 08 and 09. And I don't think our line was any better. And I'm not trying to neutralize the Dive read guy. Trying to neutralize the crashing SS/OLB
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Dwyer lining up there had more to do with the fact that we were just learning how to run this offense. Neither JfN nor JD had any experience with the mesh (which is actually a read by both the QB and BB), and JD's pure talent could somewhat overcome this. CPJ is on record as saying he wants the BB as close as possible b/c he wants the ball as close to the LOS as possible.
 

takethepoints

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And there's this: Dwyer was a load and fast as the dickens. An extra yard didn't really slow things down much and it gave him a head of steam when he hit the hole. At 225 - 230 and a 4.5 40, that made bringing him down a study for any D.
 

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I'd like to see more of Jerry Howard. He doesn't have a lot of the speed and shiftiness of Benson, but he knows how to really fire off at the snap. He hits the line super fast. The more direct handoffs and midlines the better against some of these teams.
 
tech_wreck47

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bwelbo said:
I'd like to see more of Jerry Howard. He doesn't have a lot of the speed and shiftiness of Benson, but he knows how to really fire off at the snap. He hits the line super fast. The more direct handoffs and midlines the better against some of these teams.
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He looked just as fast in the long TD run early this season.
 

takethepoints

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bwelbo said:
I'd like to see more of Jerry Howard. He doesn't have a lot of the speed and shiftiness of Benson, but he knows how to really fire off at the snap. He hits the line super fast. The more direct handoffs and midlines the better against some of these teams.
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Yes, but he's a true freshman who just got to Tech this fall. Coach is not going to play him when he has a guy who has been in the system like Benson, especially when Benson is doing so well.

Others have speculated that Howard may take over at BB next season and Benson might move to AB. I doubt that'll happen, but there's no question that Howard is more the traditional BB size and Benson the more traditional AB speed. We might see a Benson (Days)/Howard (Laskey) combo more next season, however. That'd make up for some of the pain of losing Mills. We wouldn't be having redzone problems if Dedrick was still around. Or, for that matter, any other O problems.
 

steebu

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Coloradojacket said:
I suggested that the B-back line up further back, thus getting the mesh further back and improving the read. To prove my point I have reviewed the 2009 VT game vs UVA 2017. In 2009, Dwyer is three and a half yards behind Nesbitt and the mesh is deeper. This year Benson is two to two and a half yards behind Marshall.

I think that Benson needs to get back further. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

First of all: how is the mesh going to be further back? Taquan is still under center, and when he pivots out he's gonna extend his arms and wait for 39 seconds while the B-Back lunges forward to mesh. Meanwhile, the unblocked dive key is going to kill Taquan while he's standing there like an idiot with his arms extended.

I already covered this in another thread: Dwyer was further back because he was FASTER than any B-Back Johnson ever saw. He got to the mesh more quickly than anyone else, so in order to make sure the timing of the mesh was correct Johnson sat Dwyer deeper. In a conversation I had with PJ on the radio show about the speed of our option vs. Navy he said of Dwyer: "Common sense would tell you the faster guy would get there [to the mesh] quicker." That's the reason why Dwyer sat deeper in the backfield.
 

Sideways

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takethepoints said:
Dwyer.

This has been another in a series of simple answers to simple questions.
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I think it had more to do with the Nesbitt/Dwyer combo than anything. At 220 lbs, Nesbitt was a load and adding Dwyer to the mix was a linebackers nightmare. Now we have smaller quarterbacks and B backs. We need to block better it is just that simple. We will see this gap crashing a whole lot this week from outside linebackers and/or safeties. Better be prepared with a remedy or it could be a long afternoon.
 

zhavenor

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Coloradojacket said:
I get what you are saying but why did it work so well in 08 and 09. And I don't think our line was any better. And I'm not trying to neutralize the Dive read guy. Trying to neutralize the crashing SS/OLB
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He lined up further back because he got to the line quicker. It wasn't any other reason.
 

stingyoa$$

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I'm not sure JD was faster through the mesh than ZL. Didn't ZL have like 1 neg carry in his career and only 2 fumbles in 300+ carries? Dude always picked up a few yards.
 
Coloradojacket

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Not to keep driving the point but I looked at this year compare to last. Marcus Marshall was three yards back and KB is two. I just continue to wonder. Also this year we have very few B option plays.
 
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