Actually, Some Men Are An Island: The Big 12 Cornerback Inequity

Great stuff, Scip. Tantalus approves of the Prince treatment. And a sheriff reference? That’s mighty mighty.

I picture Vash in a shako. Right or wrong?

Aaron Williams is the best corner in the country outside of maybe Patrick Peterson

Scpio,

I know you’re talking cornerbacks but are you going to cover safeties? I want to like Gideon but something tells me he’s smart but not physically talented. Is my Earl Thomas man crush too strong?

Should I like the guy?

I’m having trouble remembering which of our guys I hated two years ago because he refused to hit anybody, then was only passible physically last year. Was that Chykie? Beasley? Anyhow, whichever guy that is, I don’t like.

Good write-up, but: if loving Garrett Gilbert is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.

PS – that was Beasley but you should never hate a Texas Longhorn.

Beasley had his one shining moment against our great comeback at stillwater in 07.

I assume we are staying in nickel coverage to get all those guys on the field?

Aaron Williams is the best HS football player I’ve seen since I moved to Central Texas. Yes, that list includes Garrett Gilbert.

So if I’m coaching against Texas I might try to run the ball .

Still not sure I’m ready to go with elite status for Curtis yet. Not at the same level as Aaron Williams or Earl Thomas. I have been impressed with him though since he basically shut down Dez Bryant by himself his soph. year when half the starting secondary was out.

I certainly don’t think Nebraska’s defense is going to suck next year, but I firmly believe without Suh Texas beats Nebraska in the Big 12 title game by 3 TD’s. Hell Nebraska may not have scored.

Loan denied!

After next year’s draft there’ll be a rash of newborns in the Metroplex christened things like “King,” “Emperor,” and “Czar.”

I became an Aaron Williams believer the second I saw him climb an air ladder to pick off a Landry Jones throwaway.

The x-factor here is that WR is a position where a sufficiently talented freshman can contribute immediately. Ryan Broyles had actually earned the #4 WR slot (first off the sideline) as a true freshman before he earned himself a one year suspension. Speaking of which…

“He has stolen our analytical hearts, much like an unminded gas pump.”

Just cut and paste that into your edit, and you’ll be golden.

So, who’s got true freshmen capable of contributing immediately? OU’s got Kenny Stills, and UT’s got Mike Davis. Outside of that, I’d say it’s a crapshoot.

I liked Curtis Brown as a sophomore, he gave Dez Bryant and Crabtree more trouble than most even if he couldn’t corral the Raider legend in the final seconds.
Last year teams, especially OU, tried to pick on Cu. Brown in the red zone. I think half his pass deflections came on fade routes. I don’t think we’ll see that this year.

As for Nebraska, we all believe their defense will be very strong again but it’s hard to properly rate their ability to play nickel and dime or Jared Crick’s potential for this year when they had the league’s greatest tackle I’ve ever seen beating double teams en route to leading the team in tackles. Are they holding Texas and OU to a combined 16 points again?

I’m splitting hairs, but I’m drunk right now, so I don’t care. You leave out Dejon Gomes. Nebraska’s dime back (bag?) and probable other safety for the coming season (I don’t think we actually distinguish between strong or free safeties anymore).

When he does play corner, he’s probably the most opportunistic defensive back in the conference. Prince, Aaron Williams, and Curtis Brown are athletic rarities. The other guys are solid starters (and for the record, the coaches say the Alfonzo Dennard is far stronger than Prince), but are they clutch? Gomes came up with key picks against Missouri and Texas, and managed to knock a ball out of Kerry Meier’s arms feet short of the goal line in our moment of uncertainty against Kansas last year. He’s a damned good cover corner, though he gambled a bit in places (out of position against Briscoe against Kansas) and got caught looking in the backfield other times (getting called for PI on Shipley in the waning moments of the CCG was a notable moment), but I’m not sure there’s anyone with quite the uncanny sense for the moment that Gomes has in creating turnovers or making otherwise solid plays (and I hope that last parenthetical didn’t ruin my entire argument). Dude’s the fucking tits.

And SR, we likely aren’t holding Texas and OU to those totals this year, but it’s unlikely that they will be holding Nebraska to the paltry 22 we collectively scored in those two games, either.

With a new year comes hope for an a competent offense in Lincoln. Just ask, well, any of you dudes about the prospects for a noticeable running game in Austin. I’m not saying it’s probable, just that it’s possible.

Hope springs eternal in ’10.

I keep waiting for Chykie to have the revelation that Ced Griffin had when he turned from tantalizing physical prospect to super-stud corner. He’s running out of time.

Yeah. You better be able to run the ball this year when you play Texas. And who can do that in the Big 12? A&M has the backs and play action with an OL that can’t block Henry James. Or even Trips. OU will give it a shot. Maybe have some success. Nebraska will put their hopes and dreams and reasons to exist on an attempt to RTDB against Texas. It’s their only shot. After that it ain’t happening.

Nebraska won’t be as dominating and intimidating on defense wwithout Suh in a similar fashion that Texas after Vince wasn’t the same on offense. Generational players tend to leave a hole when they depart. But they’ll still be an all day affair for any offense, especially in Lincoln

This a fun and interesting series. A different way of looking at the entire picture.

Most national people don’t rate Williams very high because of his complete and embarassing whiff on Broyles’ junior high stutter-step move. Hard to disagree

Scipio’s next post should be titled “Texas to the Big 12; It tolls for the. Bitches.”

lesseeee
Jimmy Williams…..uhhh…..Jimmy Williams???
you mean that guy from V-Tech 15 years ago?
or
Jimmy Smith?
I definitely recommend you get one his CD’s

Most interesting to me will be how Nebraska’s defense plays against an “honest” offense, as opposed to the throw-on-every-down, wide-open, four WRs sets that Texas & OU rolled out there last season. Obviously, Nebraska proved against both Texas and OU last season that they can put 6 and 7 DBs on the field, disregard any running threat with only 4 DLs (anchored by Suh), and 1 LB (now departed Dillard) and completely shut down the pass-happy offenses of Texas and OU.

But what will happen if both Texas and OU are able to force Nebraska to play honest defense, not 6-7 DBs? What if Nebraska has to use 7 players to stop the run…you remember…like 4 DLs and 3 LBs? What if Nebraska only has 4 DBs on the field ?

Is anybody scared or impressed with Nebraska’s LBs now that Dillard is graduated?
Is anybody scared or impressed with Nebraska’s DL without Suh or Barry Turner?
Now that both Asante and O’Hanlon are gone at Safety, does anybody know if they have any Safeties who can both play the run and cover a slot WR?

It strikes me that Nebraska has two things to worry about with it’s defense….replacing 5 really good players (Suh, Turner, Dillard, Asante, and O’Hanlon), and having to play base defense against the top teams in the Big XII South (Texas, OU, and A&M). Gone are the days of every Big XII team playing Spread offenses and throwing the ball every down…this ain’t 2008 anymore. Clearly, the brothers Pellini figured out how to shut down the wide-opn Spread offenses of the conference by flooding the field with DBs, but can they take their current talent and get it to shutdown the alleged balanced offenses of Texas, OU, and A&M going forward?

Frankly, if I’m a Nebraska fan, I’m as worried about the Washington and A&M games as the Texas and (possible) OU games.

Glass Joe-

It’s all a fair question. It is unclear whether our defense will be adept at taking on beefed-up offenses. The jury’s out on our linebackers and safeties (though the latter positions will be occupied by guys with a lot of experience). I think our line will be stout enough, but like I said, the linebackers are a glaring question mark and that could spell trouble, if offenses quickly and successfully pick up the power game.

However, I’m not convinced that this shift to power offenses emanating from the South will be a smash hit this season. OU clearly has some recent experience running for power, but no one’s seen that sort of scheme, let alone success with it out of Texas for quite a while, and the power game is simply not a match for A&M’s talent (no line, impressive skill players, and a QB who is better when creating chaos than when read a defense in the pocket). The power game takes a lot experience and patience to work out. It’ll UT’s linemen a pass on the talent (because I don’t know any better), but will they be able to execute from the get go? And are people sure that Greg Davis has the patience and personal aptitude to stick with a scheme like this if it’s initial success is mixed?

So, in a sentence, yes, I think it’s fair to question whether Nebraska’s personnel is suited to deal with the return of power offense in the Big XII, but we should also question (and not take as an article of faith) that these newfangled power offenses will know what they hell they’re doing.

ransom, you twit*. Aaron Williams is Champ Bailey. I really doubt one missed tackle is the reason why Williams is flying under the radar. You’re prone to stupid comments. This is one of your finest.

*twat

Green,

I’d be less concerned about “power” offenses, and more concerned about balanced offenses. OU, Washington, and A&M can certainly play that game, and it remains to be seen if Texas really will / can.

When I think about the offenses of the Big XII in 2008, and then think about the offenses that I fear we’ll see in 2010, I can’t help but think that this conference will be won by one of the three good-to-great defenses (Texas, Neb, OU) that can also achieve some semblance of a balanced offense, even if it’s only an average offense. Yes, the imbalances amongst the teams in this conference is THAT bad in 2010. Get ready for a year of bad football conference-wide.

Scipio,

Found this piece and the other on the talent discrepancy at defensive end versus offensive tackle got me thinking and I did a little research. I can barely construct a paragraph let alone a mathematical formula, but I did find something that was of interest to me and dovetails with what you wrote

Went back and listed the top 3 offenses in terms of total offense and the top 3 defenses in terms of total defense for each of the 14 years of the Big 12. 8 of the 14 conference game champions were among the leaders in total offense while 12 of the 14 champions were among the top 3 in total defense. The only exceptions were Texas in 1996 when John Mackovic absolutely pantsed Charlie McBride with his greatest game ever in Austin and then CU in 2001 in the epic meltdown in Irving.

Even more interesting is that in 2002 when the Mike Leach experience came to Lubbock we saw a dramatic surge in total offense numbers but only 4 of those 8 total offense leaders won the title game while 8 of the 8 winners since 2002 have been among the top 3 in total defense.
 
Following the reasoning that defensive end and cornerback are the two most critical defensive positions on the field it would reason to me that teams that are strongest in these areas would be in the best position to win the conference title if past trends remain constant.

Thanks to the Huskers on this thread for your insights.
 
ChemEinCo -
 
We won’t see another Earl Thomas for a while, so don’t let that be your comparator. Gideon is an average player. Fans don’t conceive of average very well. The internet has trained us that everything either sucks or is awesome. No one can conceive of OK.
 
He’s not great in run support and he can’t turn and run with a receiver in man coverage. You have to shield him a bit. He can play center field well if you keep everything in front of him and he’s going to make sure everyone is on the right page coverage wise. He catches a lot better now, too, and he will convert those mistakes into turnovers.
 
Most big plays on a high level secondary aren’t physical exploitation – it’s a blown coverage. In that sense, he’s pretty invaluable.
 
Most national people don’t rate Williams very high because of his complete and embarassing whiff on Broyles’ junior high stutter-step move. Hard to disagree
 
There’s the ransom we all know and love.
 
HammondB3 -
 
Many thanks for catching my name error. Corrected.
 
Glass Joe -
 
Great post. I could say the same for us. I think the Washington game in Seattle will be very instructive about the Huskers. Just as our Tech-UCLA-OU stretch will be for us.
 
Philosophically, if I’m going to be weak at one position on the football field on defense, I want it to be LB as compared to DB and DL. You can work around LB. But if your DL or secondary sucks, good luck with that.
 
Davey -

Thanks. Interesting post. Your conclusion is the same as mine, even if we got it in different ways. Last year, the elite defense model certainly held true as both Nebraska and Texas on offense were pretty feeble in Big 12 play.
 
I would broaden the key positions as all DL and cornerback. The reason I picked DE to focus on this year specifically was because the league has such weak OTs globally. I’m just looking for what the big macro trends are league-wide.
 
Great contribution, Davey O’. Please put together paragraphs again.

Remember when Vince threw that interception. Hard to disagree that he sucks.

Can’t really disagree with your CB evaluation. But for us, it means that you will need a good TE or slot receiver you can try and get matched on a safety. To hide Gideon, we may play more nickel than we otherwise would with two NFL CBs. I can’t wait to see if Scott can cover or if he’s just a headhunter. It could be the difference between really good and great for our defense.

Barton -
 
Great point. Earl Thomas gave us so much flexibility. And he allowed us to shield Gideon completely. If Scott is similar to Gideon as a cover guy, but with more striking ability, then we’ll need to spend a lot of time in nickel and more time in zone principled schemes.
 
I like Barrett Matthews a lot and think he can be a player for us.
 
We also have some good WRs. It just depends on Williams’ consistency and how quickly the coaches feature Goodwin and elevate Davis/Hales.

If Scott can’t cover, then shouldn’t we look at moving AJ Williams to safety? It’s one thing to not have an Earl Thomas; it’s another to have two safeties who can’t cover at all.

Tell your wife hi from me.

Scip

What is Vaccaro’s role ?

I’m not Scip, but the answer to that question is:

Pain.

Vaccaro’s role is to make sure the people he knocks unconscious are only Saturdays. During the games.
 
torre, seriously, it’s a fair question. He’s a guy that has to play snaps for us because he offers too much to keep on the pine.

Scipio,

I agree with your thoughts on the entire defensive line. Talking with friends who coach in college they laugh about certain cliches spouted by talk radio and broadcasters, but two that are tried and true are the ability to control the line of scrimmage and the importance of being able to pressure the quarterback with your base defense. Texas might not have individual players starting the year that are of the quality of Kindle or Houston, but the overall depth of the front and the athletic ability I truly believe will compare with the fronts from the 80’s when you consider the potential improvement of the talent currently on campus.

Aaron Williams’ presence allows Texas to stick with last year’s Cover-1 that keeps Gideon deep where he is effective. If the offense goes 4-wide, Texas has to play some zone or bring on another corner.
I’m betting on zone in that instance.

In 2011-12 with experience at linebacker and safety and no proven corners left I’m betting we see a heavy dose of zone and safeties playing nickel provided Muschamp finds one that can cover a slot receiver.
Leaving 3 linebackers on the field though, with acho uno ocho and Keenan Robinson as seniors might be the best option for the year after.

Jordan Hicks will be on the field. Trust me on that one.

Thanks for all you do Scipio. It’s truly appreciated..

Simply the best. Great, informative write-up. And it’s f’n July. Keep it coming.

I’d put our base nickel up against any secondary in the country. So I guess Robinson and Acho are our backers in nickel?

I freely concede that when Ced Griffin was a youngster, his appearance on field produced more groans from me than Michael Caine applying a genital cuff.

Berger: That’s what I was thinking myself. We gotta get Acho on the field and as a Mike or Will in the nickel is one way. They can get Earnest/Allen/Norton out there as Mike against a team that’s trying to power the ball between the tackles and pull linemen but otherwise I want to see Emmanuel and Keenan.

I’m not sure their will be a better pair of pass-defending linebackers in the conference next year than that tandem. Especially with Keenan Clayton gone. I expect that to burn hotter than Sooner fans are anticipating, even if he did drop 7 picks against Texas.

“8 of the 14 conference game champions were among the leaders in total offense while 12 of the 14 champions were among the top 3 in total defense.”

Announcers throughout the networks breathe a sigh of relief that “Defense wins championships” remains a viable cliche.

There will be much gnashing of teeth among peeps when Terrence Frederick gets picked up in the 6th or 7th round and sticks in the league for a number of years.

OK, who didn’t have to google terrence frederick?

On a serious note bizzle, did he play against us last year?

Great stuff, as always. Though I think you’re being a bit too kind to Dennard, way too kind to Gettis and I don’t have a clue what to do with Leonard Johnson yet, but the potential is definitely there. That’s all I’ve got, keep this stuff coming.

Great stuff, especially for July. Just to play devil’s advocate (too much agreement/conformity can get a bit boring), let’s examine this CB on an island concept and the relative importance of the CB.

It is frequently (normally?) the case that the CB is not on an island against an excellent WR but is backed up by a safety or is part of a zone D (as explained in “Islands in a Stream”). When a CB is on an island, it is straight forward to reassign him with a crossing pattern. The effectiveness of a CB on an island is hugely influenced by the effectiveness of the pass rush. In summary, CBs are mostly not islands who control their own fate but are cogs in the D machine.

The importance of a CB (and the definition of what you want from the CB) varies, depending on how much/effectively the opponent passes and runs. If the opponent rushes well, the DC may want to play a lot of zone so that the DBs can provide better run support. In this scheme, DBs become relatively less important and safeties become relatively more important because safeties can both cover and tackle. Safeties also tend to to be smarter than CBs. If value is defined by skill multiplicity or well roundedness or leadership, safeties are at least as valuable as CBs.

One measure of the importance of a player is how often he is double teamed. For example, DEs frequently are chip blocked by a TE and also blocked by an OT. Then only time Suh (DT) was not double teamed was when he was triple or quadruple teamed. Are CBs ever doubled teamed? OTOH, many WRs draw a double team (i.e. dedicated CB with safety support deep). If importance/value is defined by the number of double teams that you draw, then CBs are relatively less important than some other positions.

Here is my counter argument for the importance of CBs: it is the position most likely to give up the big play/TD so it is critical to have CBs not make mistake. Re: my double team argument, it is all relative so having a CB that can cover a WR by himself (where most CBs would need safety support) is just as valuable (in terms of football calculus) as having a player at a different position draw a double team.

Re: position most likely to give up a big play

CBs get a bad rap because their mistakes are highly visible – I wonder how many big plays occur on a slant or screen that are caused by a linebacker/safety missing a tackle or a defensive linemen missing an assignment and not applying pressure to the QB?

I looked up the NFL Defensive MVP (awarded since 1971) and here is a brief summary of winners by position:

LB: 14
DT: 7
DE: 9
CB: 5
Safety: 4

Kafka, I think the NFL MVP awards are more an indicator of positions that are able to collect stats. I think any coach would tell you that CB / DT are the most important positions on a defense. The ability to erase an receiver entirely with one player, allows the defense to outnumber the offense at the points of attack (disregarding a mobile QB).

I think having 3 very good players at CB will allow us some flexibility in coverage. I think we will see a lot of nickel, with C.Scott in the box, and a man free look behind. I think we will bring more pressure this year to get the ball out of the QBs hands quicker, so that we hopefully don’t have to leave C.Scott and Gideon on islands for more than a 3 step drop. I think we should be okay as I would put money on either one of our safeties being able to cover the other teams #4 options for a 3 step drop route combo.

Design Your Defense

fico:
“The ability to erase an receiver entirely with one player, allows the defense to outnumber the offense at the points of attack (disregarding a mobile QB).”

Not following your arithmetic here. If one CB erases a WR, how does that allow the D to outnumber the O elsewhere? For example, if a CB covers a WR one on one OK, doesn’t that just leave you with 10 on 10 elsewhere? Wouldn’t a CB have to cover 2 or more receivers to permit the D to outnumber the O elsewhere?

CBs that can completely cover a good WR are rare, that is why excellent defenses such as OU or NU flooded the field vs UT with DBs, playing 5, 6 and even 7 DBs. That is also why so much zone is played.

fico:
“I think we will bring more pressure this year to get the ball out of the QBs hands quicker, so that we hopefully don’t have to leave C.Scott and Gideon on islands for more than a 3 step drop. I think we should be okay as I would put money on either one of our safeties being able to cover the other teams #4 options for a 3 step drop route combo.”

Why do you think the horns will be more effective pressuring the QB this season than last? Since Bama ran wild on UT, the top teams may try to run more vs the horns. This would tend to reduce the effectiveness of the horns pass rush since UT would have to allocate more resources to defending the run and fewer resources to rushing the QB.

If either Scott or Gideon replaces Earl Thomas as the cover safety, that will be a big step down from Thomas. Gideon has not impressed as a cover guy and Scott may be OK as a pass defender but he has not actually shown that yet on the field, right? OU and NU will probably stress more than ever hurry up Os to try to take Muschamp out of the game. If effective, this means the horns may need at least one smart safety (on field coach) even if is an athletic hit. This reduces the probability of a blown coverage but gives the opposition a mismatch to exploit.

Kafka
“Not following your arithmetic here. If one CB erases a WR, how does that allow the D to outnumber the O elsewhere? For example, if a CB covers a WR one on one OK, doesn’t that just leave you with 10 on 10 elsewhere? Wouldn’t a CB have to cover 2 or more receivers to permit the D to outnumber the O elsewhere?”

I should have said in the case above the defense will outnumber the offense at the points of attack on rushing plays (disregarding mobile QBs). Meaning if AW can take Julio Jones out of the game by himself, and McEroy isn’t a threat to run, we now outnumber the O 10 to 9. This is part of the reason we stoned the shit out of Bama, minus the second quarter (missed tackles are not the fault of scheme).

The comment about more pressure was also a response to the running game. We can bring 5 or 6 man pressure and stuff the running game while also tagging that with a “peel” call or whatever term WM uses to designate to the backers that if the backs flare out into a pattern, the LBs will peel off their blitz.

Earl provided unmatched play making ability to the secondary, we will not have that this year and I don’t think we will try to force it with either Scott or Gideon. I don’t think having Scott or Gideon covering the #4 option, while bringing pressure it to much to ask from either one of them. All they would do is flat foot read and play the ball or hands, becuase the ball will be coming out quick with E.Jones, Acho, Randall, Okafor / 1 other defender getting after the QB.

dick.

5 unassisted tackles on Thanksgiving. Big whoop.

“CBs that can completely cover a good WR are rare, that is why excellent defenses such as OU or NU flooded the field vs UT with DBs, playing 5, 6 and even 7 DBs. That is also why so much zone is played.”

AW is rare, but he is ours. OU and Neb flooded the zones with 5-6 DBs becuase they could. Meaning they were able to get pressure with 4. Hi Suh, Hi McCoy. That is the dream of every D coordinator to only bring 4 with a two shell behind it and get pressure damn near every snap. Neither will be as effective this year at doing that.

AW will shut out #1, Curtis will be very tough for a #2 to handle. Chykie on a #3 seems like match in our favor as well. We are going to let these 3 do their thing, and get after the QB, allowing Gideon/Scott to hunt heads and make plays on the ball.

bizzle,

5 unassisted tackles by a CB is not a good thing. Was he one of the guys chasing Colt down as he separated from them on his 70 yard run?

Is your new DC changing anything up in the secondary? I guess yall are switching from 4-2-5 to a 3-4?

fico:
“I should have said in the case above the defense will outnumber the offense at the points of attack on rushing plays (disregarding mobile QBs). Meaning if AW can take Julio Jones out of the game by himself, and McEroy isn’t a threat to run, we now outnumber the O 10 to 9. This is part of the reason we stoned the shit out of Bama, minus the second quarter (missed tackles are not the fault of scheme).”

So you are just talking about rushing plays where the QB is so not a runner that he can be ignored. That is a very special case (i.e much less general than your original statement). Even in that case the 1 on 1 coverage by the DB does not create numerical advantage but simply preserves it. BTW, a non running QB can contribute to the running game by starting to roll out and handing off to a back running the other way. The D may not have to honor the QB’s running but they do have to honor his roll out. The QB’s roll out fake is misdirection that wrong foots the defenders and sets up blocks.

Missed tackles actually can result from scheme. For example, if you replace an LB with a CB, the CB at the point of attack is much more likely to get run over by the power TB (or his blocker) than the LB would be. CBs are to tackling as WRs are to blocking.

UT did not do a good job of defending the run vs Bama.

“I think we will bring more pressure this year to get the ball out of the QBs hands quicker
…The comment about more pressure was also a response to the running game. The comment about more pressure was also a response to the running game. We can bring 5 or 6 man pressure and stuff the running game while also tagging that with a "peel" call or whatever term WM uses to designate to the backers that if the backs flare out into a pattern, the LBs will peel off their blitz.”

Run blitzing and pass blitzing are two different things. If you are pass blitzing, you might choose to drop a DL guy into zone coverage and bring a CB. This CB might luck into the path of the TB on a running play but there is a real good chance that the TB runs over the CB.

Peeling out of a blitz is easier said than done, especially if the guy for whom the blitzer is responsible delays his route a bit. You can only bring 5 or 6 rushers so often. Mack and Muschamp want to apply effective pressure with 4 rushers so they are unlikely to start bringing 5 or 6 rushers more frequently because it increases the probability of giving up the big play. UT was effective pressuring the QB last season, it won’t be easy to improve on that performance.

Kafka,

How many of those LB’s are effectively a stand up defensive end who is there to rush the pass first and foremost (i.e Taylor, Greene, Lloyd, Marion)

Kafka:
"So you are just talking about rushing plays where the QB is so not a runner that he can be ignored. That is a very special case (i.e much less general than your original statement). Even in that case the 1 on 1 coverage by the DB does not create numerical advantage but simply preserves it. BTW, a non running QB can contribute to the running game by starting to roll out and handing off to a back running the other way. The D may not have to honor the QB’s running but they do have to honor his roll out. The QB’s roll out fake is misdirection that wrong foots the defenders and sets up blocks."

90% of the time the QB is not a runner and does not need to be accounted for in the running game. You gain a numerical advantage in the run game with a lock down corner because you don’t have to line up in a two shell with safeties 12-15 yards off the ball to defend the deep ball. Even if you drop one in the box and keep one back you now have an 8 man front.

 The D can honor the roll of a QB using whatever roll out rules their coverage dictates, but the extra man in the box to the backside, be it a nickel back, backer, or safety is responsible for the cut back, i.e. the miss direction you alluded too. Normally this play would have a pulling guard to the backside as well. Follow the guard (pulling lineman) to the ball every time. If the D was in man free as I indicated and they got a roll out the FS would roll to the play side 1/3 of the field while everyone else is still locked in man, if the running back blocks play side then the LB/NB responsible engages the back and try to collapse the pocket on the QB. If the D is in cover 1 in this scenario it matters not what the QB does, the only person with eyes on him is the FS and the DL, everyone is focused on their man… i.e. no missteps due to the QBs roll.

"Missed tackles actually can result from scheme. For example, if you replace an LB with a CB, the CB at the point of attack is much more likely to get run over by the power TB (or his blocker) than the LB would be. CBs are to tackling as WRs are to blocking.
UT did not do a good job of defending the run vs Bama."

UT defended the run pretty damn well against Bama, minus the second quarter which shouldn’t all be on the D since they were on the field the whole damn quarter. A CB is more likely to get trucked by a running back than an LB but players make plays. Take his legs out, jump on his back, trip him do whatever it takes to get him down/ slow him down until help arrives. Somehow the excuse of "well I am CB and that is Trent Richardson" does not fly with Muschamp.

"Run blitzing and pass blitzing are two different things. If you are pass blitzing, you might choose to drop a DL guy into zone coverage and bring a CB. This CB might luck into the path of the TB on a running play but there is a real good chance that the TB runs over the CB."

You are alluding to a zone blitz. I am not, even though technically we would be playing a variation of zone behind the blitz (cover 1 ) it essentially a man coverage. For example, we walk C.Scott into the box on the passing strength side, (if the O is in Dice, TE and 1 WR and 2 WRs to the other side, he would walk to the 2 WR side). This allows the LB to the passing strength to be an edge rusher, you DL slants to the TE, with your fifth defender the LB, coming of the back edge running the heel line playing cutback. This allows the play side backers to flow quickly front side, that gives the D a 4 on 3 advantage at the point of attack. TE, T, G versus DE, LB, DT, LB.

"Peeling out of a blitz is easier said than done, especially if the guy for whom the blitzer is responsible delays his route a bit. You can only bring 5 or 6 rushers so often. Mack and Muschamp want to apply effective pressure with 4 rushers so they are unlikely to start bringing 5 or 6 rushers more frequently because it increases the probability of giving up the big play. UT was effective pressuring the QB last season, it won’t be easy to improve on that performance."

Peeling off is not that difficult. If your man is the back and he shows protection you add to the blitz and engage him, not try to get past him, and collapse the pocket. If the back is engaged he will not be going anywhere and you attempt to walk him back into the QB ala Sergio Kindle damn near every snap the past couple years.

Every coach wants to pressure with just 4, if we can that will be great. My argument is that our CB skill allows us to come with 5 and 6 man pressure packages whenever we want, not only when we "have too", because our CBs are better than any set of WRs we will face. In doing so we can still protect our safeties enough to allow them to do what they do best, head hunt (Scott) play center field (Gideon).

Some plays may be given up, but the amount of plays made due to the pressure will far out weigh the plays opposing Os make on us with this group of DBs.

Longest post of my life.

dick, at the risk of derailing, DeRuyter (from the limited bit I’ve seen/heard) plays far more zone than Kines did, bless his old soul.

The A&M corners obviously aren’t on Texas’ level, but I think they could surprise some people if they pick up the new scheme quickly. Frederick, Dustin Harris, Judie (juco transfer) and Hurd (true freshman) are better athletes than we’ve had at corner since ’02.

Which, admittedly, isn’t saying much.

I like Dustin Harris. A lot. But he’s a year away.

Whatever. We dominated Suh in the first half then intentionally LET him run through our line to:

A) Set up a dramatic ending. Duh. We win all of these.
B) Help a player who had seen great hardship in his life get to finally achieve his dream of seeing New York City.
C) Give Nebraska fans hope again. Above all, we are a selfless sibling to our dear friends in Lincoln.

Dustin Harris is an NFL athlete at corner. The jury remains out on Harris’ head.

Davey O’Brien:

“How many of those LB’s are effectively a stand up defensive end who is there to rush the pass first and foremost (i.e Taylor, Greene, Lloyd, Marion)”.

I’m not sure if I understand your question but I will take a crack at answering it. The trend in LBs is that they are getting a bit smaller/faster/better at defending the pass. When a DC faces a passing team, it is not unusual for the DC to spin down an LB to DE and/or a DE to DT. Unless the LB has been spun down to play DE, run stopping and pass D are higher priorities than pass rushing/blitzing (i.e. LBs spend a lot more plays defending the pass or the rush than pass rushing)..

fico:
Let’s simplify: a CB who covers a WR 1 on 1 does not create a numerical advantage. If you have an equation, subtracting 1 from both sides just maintains the equality. For a CB to create a numerical advantage, he has to cover more than one person, not cover just 1 person. If a CB can cover a WR without safety support, then he is reducing a numerical disadvantage (eg: 6 DBs covering 4 WRs) rather than creating a numerical advantage An DE or DT who draw a double team create a numerical advantage for the D. I don’t want to spend anymore time explaining this to you.

“UT defended the run pretty damn well against Bama, minus the second quarter which shouldn’t all be on the D since they were on the field the whole damn quarter. A CB is more likely to get trucked by a running back than an LB but players make plays. Take his legs out, jump on his back, trip him do whatever it takes to get him down/ slow him down until help arrives. Somehow the excuse of "well I am CB and that is Trent Richardson" does not fly with Muschamp.”

UT gave up to the Bama TBs something like 225 yards on 41 rushes for 4 TDs. That is not good. Again, let’s not waste anymore time on this particular topic. If you disagree, so be it. I don’t know if you played football, but quite often it is mostly about physics. If possible, you want to avoid having 180 pound CBs tackling 220 pound TBs head on. I don’t find your argument that UT is going to be run blitzing a lot more next season very plausible.

“Peeling off is not that difficult. If your man is the back and he shows protection you add to the blitz and engage him, not try to get past him, and collapse the pocket. If the back is engaged he will not be going anywhere and you attempt to walk him back into the QB ala Sergio Kindle damn near every snap the past couple years.”

I played MLB and TE, I know from MLB experience how you can get caught in no man’s land. I know from TE experience that if you time it right and hit the blitzer right, you have a big advantage getting out on your route and the blitzer has a hard time recovering (think judo). The fact that the blitzer and receiver are going in opposite directions does not help the blitzer.

“My argument is that our CB skill allows us to come with 5 and 6 man pressure packages whenever we want, not only when we "have too", because our CBs are better than any set of WRs we will face.”

The idea that UT will be able to bring 5 or 6 rushers on every play is completely divorced from reality.

I prefer to stop this “debate” because it is a waste of my time.

Kafka:

There is nothing complicated about numbers, the run game, and how they relate to a lock down corner. There is a numerical advantage at the point of attack on rushing plays when defensive players are dropped into the box. 1 CB eliminates 1 WR completely, meaning no over the top help, thus allowing a S to drop into the box. 6OL + 1FB = 7 blocking surfaces. 4DL + 3LBs + 1S = 8 members of the legion of Boom in the box. 8>7 numerical advantage to the defense thus allowing for an unblocked Boom Squad player to meet the RB in the hole 1 on 1, if the OL and FB execute perfectly. Advantage D.

Yes, you want to avoid having a 180 pound CB taking on 220 pound RB as much as possible but players must make plays when it happens. Every offensive play is not going to go exactly where the defense wants it too. Nobody is game planning on having their skinny ass CB being the primary force player in run defense. I never said anything specific about run blitzing more than we did last year I merely indicated that 5 and 6 man pressure packages can work just as effectively against the run as they do the pass. You mentioned the CB, and zone blitzing as your pass blitz examples. I did not mention them when discussing 5 and 6 man pressure packages that are applicable both to the run and pass. I think we will pressure more overall than last year but not specifically in running situations.

Nobody was talking about a blitzing backer peeling off to cover a TE or WR. I specifically was referring to RBs and posted as such. Maybe you lacked the athletic ability to accomplish this feat but our LBs do not. The blitzer and receiver are not going in opposite directions if the back shows protection and is engaged by the LB…. he is locked up, he is not going any direction, unless it is back into the QB. If no protection is shown and the back goes into a route immediately, there should, again, be no confusion on the backer’s part.

Read my post again, watch the Bama game again, and take the 2nd quarter with a grain of salt. As I stated earlier, the D was on the field the whole 2nd quarter. Cut those 2nd half rushing stats in half and then get back to me on what they looked like for the game. Also like I mentioned before, scheme was not the problem, missed tackles and vaginitis were.

“The idea that UT will be able to bring 5 or 6 rushers on every play is completely divorced from reality.”

Yes, we have the personnel to bring 5 or 6 on every play. There is nothing false about that. Will we do that? No we won’t. I never said we would. Will we do it a lot? Yes we will. We have rarely played a large amount of zone under Akina, and I don’t expect us to run more of it when we have 3 NFL corners, 1 3 year Letterman at Safety, and NFL athlete at the other safety spot. We will run a lot of cover 1, just as we did last year. We will probably bring AW inside to the nickel and let the C.Browns man the corners, drop Scott on a RB or TE or have him pressure, and Gideon in center.

Do not insult my intelligence with some passive aggressive, “holier than thou” attitude when it is clear that you not only lack the ability to comprehend what is written before you, you also lack an understanding of the fundamental concepts of the game of football.

fico:
Since the interchange between you and I is a complete waste of space, we could improve it immensely by no longer responding to each other’s posts. Not only will this save both of us time, it will improve the quality of BC by reducing the need for BC readers to skip past our yawningly boring interchanges.I have already started by not reading your latest post.

Best of luck to you (and sincerely hoping that I never hear from you again), Kafka

P.S. I love you