No shite. There are probably still dumbasses who think we should just line him up on the edge like Micah Parsons. Forget that Parsons is 3 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than Perk. It was really hard for DCs to game plan for him his freshman season, because they had very little film on him and only a couple days during game week to watch it, break it down, build, install, and practice a game plan against him.

Going into last year, though, some of the best defensive minds in the country had a full season of film and 8 months with a staff of overqualified analysts to break it down and come up with ways to counter him. The easiest was just to run right at him. Everybody did it when he was lined up on the edge. He's 6'0' 210 and just got destroyed in the running game by 6'6" 320 pound tackles. His only move was a speed rush around the LT, and even if he "beat" them he was just running himself out of the play. The RB was 5 yards up the field before he emerged at the QB 10 yards and 5 seconds too late.

And on passing downs, they'd sometimes give the tackle some help with a TE or RB. Or, like Jordan Travis did so well in the opener, they'd indentify him when he lined up on the edge and throw something quick, either right over his head or check to a quick hit route that he could get out before Perk got there. After that full off-season of film, there were zero plays last year where the OL and QB didn't know exactly where he was.

Which still would have been fine if we had other playmakers on defense to make offenses pay for scheming around him. Like Tigerknights said above, accounting for Perk should have freed other guys up. But he was wrong, it didn't. And that wasn't as much on House as it was the absolute lack of talent on all 3 levels of the defense. House absolutely sucked overall, but got a little too much criticism for how he used Perk imo. Perk is a tweener, but he had some help his freshman season that he didn't last year:

'22 Ali Gaye >>>>>> '23 Savion Jones
'22 healthy Mekhi Wingo >> '23 hurt Wingo
'22 JAQUELIN ROY >>> '23 Maason Smith
'22 BJ Ojulari >>>> '23 collection of "Jacks"

'22 Baskerville/Penn >>> '23 Penn/Speights

'22 every DB >>>> '23 every DB

So basically, they couldn't really gamble with him last year like they did his freshman season, because there was zero help behind him. But I actually think House did a pretty nice job of eventually finding a role for him. It didn't look the same as it did in '22, but his numbers wound up being pretty good and similar to his freshman season.

But the communication--House's inability to communicate--certainly made it less fun and hamstrung the whole defense. I don't think House can communicate well at all. With the HC, his position coaches, the players, the fans. I remember being really, almost aggressively unimpressed when he addressed the media. You'd think someone wouldn't go into coaching if communication wasn't a strength. And I think it really hurt last year's defense that was already talent depleted.

I don't think House was able to simplify and teach what he wanted in a way that the players could understand well enough to play free. They seemed to always be on their heels, waiting for something to happen instead of dictating it. We missed a lot of talent last year, but the biggest losses might have been Brooks and Baskerville being out there communicating and leading.