What is the best scheme for a Tech defense?

[elwoodgt]

I know we would all like our CBs to be pressing more and giving less room, but we have to be real about some limitations we have out there. If you look at the Austin brothers, neither one of them is long and neither one is fast. They both have good short space quickness and way above average tackling ability. Turning and burning or defending high pointed footballs is really not their thing. Step runs pretty well when he is healthy. I don't have a strong opinion on Simmons, but he does have some length. Walker looks legit fast to me, but he is inexperienced and maybe not so physical (too early to call at this point). Gray has a good body and athletic ability for the position, but Griffin is a little undersized. Additionally, we are not long at the LB position either and our footspeed is very average. Asking us to cover all over the place, up in people's faces is a tall order.

If we try and press, we are going to need safety help against the bulk of the teams we play. It is just a reality at the present time. I want an aggressive D too, but I understand some of what we are doing.

Boomer, I get it. We don't have the horses to play aggressive press man in the secondary. We shouldn't have to.

The idea of the option offense is to take the best defender out of the play by leaving him unblocked. You don't play fair, by matching up your players to theirs one on one. You "option" their best defender, leave him out of the play altogether, and create a numerical advantage against the rest. Maybe our 7 small and slow guys can't win enough battles against their 7 big and fast guys, but if we bring 8 we can.

So back to defense. I get that we can't expect our guys to play press man coverage head to head against the best receivers in FBS and win. That's not a winning strategy. If we play "fair" we lose. So how do we not play fair? How can we, for example, create a numerical advantage at a specific point of attack, leaving their best player out of the play during the critical moment?

It's true that I love me some Zone Blitz, but that's what it did. It would change assignments at the last minute, leaving blockers with no one to block. Some all-American left tackle would be all set to pancake our defensive end, then the ball would snap and he'd find that DE back pedaling into shallow coverage while the linebacker shot through the gap to chase the QB out of the pocket. Sure, that left tackle beats our DE 10 times out of 10 straight up. But if he's got no one to block, what good is he?

 

[elwoodgt]

http://www.sbnation.com/platform/am...322/creative-pass-rush-schemes-the-zone-blitz

 

[ilovetheoption]

Not to point out a detail in an argument that's more about possibility and counter factuals than facts, but they didn't score on every drive. We recovered a fumble that led to a score and a pick six bounced off Austin twin #17.

I think part of the strategy is assuming that more, plays (bend) avails more weird bounces (good breaks), especially when those plays are more difficult to execute (short passes to wideouts, perimeter runs).

It seems satisfying to be "more aggressive", but how with this team? And if it's not a sexy scheme, do you think that our scheme affects recruiting, and how?

Yes, I was being a little bit over the top when I said every drive

I understand the strategy, conceptually, i do. I just trust a college quarterback a lot more to make a succession of easy, short throws against soft pressure than I do to make one long throw, under high pressure. I think it's more likely that a competent college offense can march the field against a bend but don't break defense more frequently than they can execute against a high pressure defense.

The way GT plays defense, I think every individual play is more of a chance for something to break the opponents way than it is something to break Georgia Tech's way.

I'm for every possession being a 3 and out. Either they score, or they turn it over, or they punt, but no long drives. Teams have proven they can long drive GT to death. Make them prove something else.

 

[alentrekin]

Make them prove something else.

Yeah, I guess I have been doubtful of our pass rush, and don't see the sense in blitzing PJD or either Sam.

I don't have an eye for this stuff, but have we done anything schematically sound like we do on second half on offense. CPJ sometimes holds the belly, midline or counter until he sees a tendency. Does anyone see that out of our D?

 

[Sideways]

I know we would all like our CBs to be pressing more and giving less room, but we have to be real about some limitations we have out there. If you look at the Austin brothers, neither one of them is long and neither one is fast. They both have good short space quickness and way above average tackling ability. Turning and burning or defending high pointed footballs is really not their thing. Step runs pretty well when he is healthy. I don't have a strong opinion on Simmons, but he does have some length. Walker looks legit fast to me, but he is inexperienced and maybe not so physical (too early to call at this point). Gray has a good body and athletic ability for the position, but Griffin is a little undersized. Additionally, we are not long at the LB position either and our footspeed is very average. Asking us to cover all over the place, up in people's faces is a tall order.

If we try and press, we are going to need safety help against the bulk of the teams we play. It is just a reality at the present time. I want an aggressive D too, but I understand some of what we are doing.

I
As usual, the Boomer is the voice of reason. A veritable rock of sanity in a sea of chaos. The problem is we do not have the athletes to do the press coverage scheme that so many, including me, want. I want to blitz like crazy too but the lack of speed and experience in the secondary pretty much limits what we can do. I don't know about others but I really miss guys like Jemea Thomas, DJ White,Chris Milton, Golden, and others. They were much better than many give them credit.

 

[VolJacket]

GT should do a lot a stunting and be very aggressive to make up for a lack of size and to some extent speed.

 

[Jmonty71]

The defense is too basic, too lackadaisical and too easy to break down. If Roof just adds some diversion to the scheme, it will make things harder on the opponent. It takes 0 skill to fake a LB or CB blitz. Yet, it not seen. Just adding some smoke and mirrors will strengthen the defense.

 

[Milwaukee]

The defense is too basic, too lackadaisical and too easy to break down. If Roof just adds some diversion to the scheme, it will make things harder on the opponent. It takes 0 skill to fake a LB or CB blitz. Yet, it not seen. Just adding some smoke and mirrors will strengthen the defense.

We faked a corner blitz yesterday. Watch the replay.

 

[Yaller Jacket]

I think it was close to unanimous after yesterday that without PJ, the linebacking is the weak link. Would it be possible to play with yet another safety? If PJ is back, play him but replace all others with safeties. We are facing some teams which live and die with the pass in the coming games. It also occurs to me that safeties are faster and more sure tacklers and might be more effective on the blitz. They are in the backfield quicker and are less likely to let the QB side step them. I looked at the roster and saw a number who have played some. I don't have any idea how good they are, though.

 

[alagold]

There is only ONE sure tackler on the team.That is PJ. Without him,things go south fast.Just having a guy "in position" is not enough.
Guys really need to know to tackle well early in career not when they get to college.I've seen numerous guys on hi school tape who basically "wrestle" runners down..When they get to college the runners are 20 lbs bigger AND quicker so they don't stop them at all then.

 

[Milwaukee]

There is only ONE sure tackler on the team.That is PJ. Without him,things go south fast.Just having a guy "in position" is not enough.
Guys really need to know to tackle well early in career not when they get to college.I've seen numerous guys on hi school tape who basically "wrestle" runners down..When they get to college the runners are 20 lbs bigger AND quicker so they don't stop them at all then.

Then why do you guys keep blaming Roof when it's obviously a talent deficiency we're working with? Not being snippy, just wanting to know. We're not getting the guys that you speak of that already tackle well early in their career. That's recruiting, not Ted Roof's coaching ability or scheme.

 

[Jmonty71]

We faked a corner blitz yesterday. Watch the replay.

A CB blitz? Doing this on 1 to 2 plays a game doesnt really do much. You have to commit to blitz,at least 20% of the time. Roof has them playing so lackadaisical, it shows in the poor tackling. There are ways to teach better methods. As a coach, that's on him. Read and react works well with NFL type players filling the whole roster. We don't have that.

 

[alagold]

Then why do you guys keep blaming Roof when it's obviously a talent deficiency we're working with? Not being snippy, just wanting to know. We're not getting the guys that you speak of that already tackle well early in their career. That's recruiting, not Ted Roof's coaching ability or scheme.

I understand what you say but either they have to recruit better ( don't recruit a crappy or weak tackler) or - teach /coach better.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

Then why do you guys keep blaming Roof when it's obviously a talent deficiency we're working with? Not being snippy, just wanting to know. We're not getting the guys that you speak of that already tackle well early in their career. That's recruiting, not Ted Roof's coaching ability or scheme.

Mitchell, Lewis and Alexander were real recruits with real offer sheets out of HS. Go look them up on the recruiting sites. Like I said in another thread, we aren't rolling a bunch of bums out there. The D staff needs to do a better job of coaching these guys up.

 

[alentrekin]

Mitchell, Lewis and Alexander were real recruits with real offer sheets out of HS. Go look them up on the recruiting sites. Like I said in another thread, we aren't rolling a bunch of bums out there. The D staff needs to do a better job of coaching these guys up.

I often am on the "our guys are little and slow" side of these arguments, but that's a good point.

 

[elwoodgt]

Then why do you guys keep blaming Roof when it's obviously a talent deficiency we're working with? Not being snippy, just wanting to know. We're not getting the guys that you speak of that already tackle well early in their career. That's recruiting, not Ted Roof's coaching ability or scheme.

Because recruiting is always the scapegoat when the team underperforms. If we had all 4 and 5-star guys out there, of course the D would be better. But we don't, and we never will. We are who we are, personnel wise, though of course it's critical that we recruit as well as we can.

The constraint at Georgia Tech is recruiting. To be successful here, you've got to be smarter, execute better, and use a scheme that takes advantage of the strengths of the players we have.

 

[Milwaukee]

That's a fair assessment.

 

[ilovetheoption]

A CB blitz? Doing this on 1 to 2 plays a game doesnt really do much. You have to commit to blitz,at least 20% of the time. Roof has them playing so lackadaisical, it shows in the poor tackling. There are ways to teach better methods. As a coach, that's on him. Read and react works well with NFL type players filling the whole roster. We don't have that.

Honestly, I'd say more like 40/50. I think GT's best bet is to be a balls to the wall pressure team, accept that you're going to get exploited sometimes, and live with that. It's akin to being a full court press team in basketball. Yes, you understand that you're going to get punished, and sometimes, a bad enough matchup will come along that you'll just get carved to pieces. That said, a decent amount of the time it'll pay off, and when you've got an offense that REALLY pressures the other team, you don't need to shut the other team down, you just need some wins.

 

[GTHOSCHTON]

my 2 cents would be to use Victor Alexander and Simmons as the ends on passing downs and Gamble and Freeman on the inside that would give us more athletes on the field, playing Francis on passing downs is a waste...and line up a 5th wherever you want, I also think playing a 5 man front on running downs would help, I don"t think we mix our fronts enough

 

[ilovetheoption]

This question is worded wrong imo. It should be what philosophy is best for Tech defense. I like what we run now but we need to add the physical and most importantly smart D. For instance last week, knowing what we knew about Pitt, i wouldve added Dlineman(Adams) and stood the DEs up outside for contain to take away the jet sweep and forced Pitt to make plays in the passing game.

I want more pressure and build a fence on the 1st down marker and force quick throws and have guys who can tackle in space. I would like to see the secondary hold their alignment until the snap of the ball. I like movement shifting from the DL, Backers standing up in the gaps putting 7 guys on the line, safety blitzes. Understanding simple football concepts, if there is back going out there route behind so get depth and rally up to the flat. If there is a shallow drag route there is always something deep. Never cover grass while playing zone because you will never get picks/pbu like that. Im promise you could simply smart our way into three 3 n outs

Are you of the opinion then, that GT should be a heavy blitz team?