Reply To: Monmouth

[RichHParticipant]

[quote quote=31934]I’ve been a supporter of the defense but it’s hard to defend whats happening on the field. There have been coverage breakdowns and almost no run support up the middle. This defense is a gap assignment defense (as is most). If you don’t fill or hold your gap you get huge runs. We are losing the the inside gaps. The LB’s are getting lost or blocked. I don’t know if it’s their reads or the fact that they are both young but if you can’t control the inside gaps you get what you are seeing on the field. Our coverage strategy is questionable as well. We are playing a ton of cover 5. We are using our corners for run support and asking our safeties to cover downfield. Not many teams use this. Why not try cover 3 and have your safeties as run support and use your corners to cover deep. This also would but a safety in the middle of the field where were are getting killed by TE’s and shallow crossing patterns. Play action is drawing out LB’s up and there is no coverage in the middle of the field. Our run defense on the outside seems good. Our DB’s do a good job turning things in and the line and LB’s seem to scrape to the wide plays better then they plug the plays up the middle. The entire middle of the field is exposed in our defense both in the run and the pass. Our corners are being asked to do to much as are our safeties. You can’t play a 2 deep zone (always going backward at the swap of the ball) and then be expected to make a solid tackle 10-12 years down field on a RB with a 17-18 yard running head start right at you. We need to be more aggressive on defense. Me need to come up with some complicated blitz packages or simply just try to give the offense some false pre snap reads. We just SIT there in the same defensive formation on EVERY SINGLE play. We have certainly had some bad missed tackles and some blown coverages but it’s not always what it looks like…the player chasing the guy with the ball is not always the guy getting burned. I could go on and on….

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+1
I have tried to support D for the last 4 years. I am tired of posting same things year after year. With Botts calling D unsurprising we are in a cover 5 90% of the time. Weakest part of 4-2 is the middle of the field. Inexperience at LB seems #1 failing. Out of position too often. Biting on O movement not reading their keys. MU OL is good but so should our DL be. Yet we lose gap inside and LBs arent there and Ss both dropping in coverage.
We are calling a bend and react D. Few DL stunts and even fewer blitzes. The few we have called are our standard CB blitz. Most QBs given enough time will complete regardless of a cover 5. Since we get no pressure from DL we give up big pass plays on 3rd down. Level of competition drops a bit from here out but that alone will not fix this D.