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Re: Good News.....Kane is staying!

PostPosted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 9:17 am
by ALEX LIFESON
JasonB wrote:
birddogger wrote:For those of you with football experience:

Why has the defense regressed? Stronger competition, injuries, scheme, talent?

I haven't watched enough to get a handle on this. Memphis has more talent it seems, but did we catch up-and-coming Tulsa and ECU, which seem to be playing better football these days?


I'll take a stab at this.

1) Defensive numbers looked better than they actually performed for the first several weeks because of some timely drops.

2) Ever since the Houston game, we have given up a number of huge plays out of the slot. Teams have figured out our zone scheme with man on the outsides. The first breakdowns we saw were during the Tulsa game, when the corner would bite inside on the slot, leaving the outside receiver running free. They adjusted to keep the corner outside, but now the safeties aren't able to match up with the slot once they get past the LB zone.

3) In modern football, you have to generate negative plays in order to stop the other team. Sacks, penalties, turnovers. Teams have started to take advantage of the SMU blitz packages, so SMU hasn't been blitzing nearly as much the last three games. The quarterback has had enough time to wait for the slot receiver to shake the LB coverage and get past the safety. With the blitzes early, the other team didn't have that much time to throw. And there were lots of overthrows and drops when it was there.

4) The new scheme - I'm not a fan. This past game, we played a three man front, one DE dropping in the LB group, two middle LBs, and then a three safety line. Our stength is DL, so taking one of those players off the line and playing them in coverage doesn't play to strength. Sitting 3 in favor of 43 takes playmaking and athleticism off the field, which is another bad aspect of the scheme. Playing the second leading sacker in the country 10-15 yards off the line of scrimmage is playing against his strength. I'm hoping that scheme was driven by injury rather than a new idea. But playing a passive defense like that plays against the strength of the defense. It also creates a lot of holes on the field, which allowed for easy completions as well as the QB scramble.



Good stuff JB.

Re: Good News.....Kane is staying!

PostPosted: Thu Nov 14, 2019 4:51 pm
by White Helmet
Can Cameron Jones not play safety? We got him a waiver to be eligible and he's hardly on the field. Maybe on ST. He cant miss more angles/get outrun more than Denbow.

Re: Good News.....Kane is staying!

PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:26 am
by JasonB
White Helmet wrote:Can Cameron Jones not play safety? We got him a waiver to be eligible and he's hardly on the field. Maybe on ST. He cant miss more angles/get outrun more than Denbow.


I think there have been some injury issues with both of the transfer safeties. Give them a year with Kaz and they will be fine.