re: Interesting Defensive stats

The OP is wedded to his post.

For those who want to actually discuss it, it is fair to say that the Georgia Southern game should not be included in the stats. First of all, Georgia Southern was utterly one dimensional. We will not play anyone similar to them again this season. Second, and perhaps relatedly, the defense performed well against Georgia Southern. The only thing I think you can take from Georgia Southern if you are optimistic is that it is the only game in which our full complement of DL was playing, and we did look dominant.

From Texas on, the defense looks mediocre. Highlighting those three games - which were against a great offense, an FCS offense and the mediocre SEC offense - we are playing more plays, giving up more yards and giving up more yards per play.

What is frustrating is that the reason for this is not easy to pinpoint:

* Against Texas we were absolutely worn out - by the heat, by injuries and by our inability to get off the field.

* In none of the three games were we able to get consistent pressure on the QB.

* The LBs appear to be missing gap responsibility with an alarming frequency.

* The team, particularly our defensive backs and even more particularly Vincent and Delpit, have been lousy at making tackles.

As for what this means - our offense is not going to slow itself down so our defensive players have to get used to playing about 2 extra series a game. With the return of Lawrence, Logan and Chaisson, that should be something we can alleviate.

Our LBs and Delpit have been sure tacklers in the past. We have to assume that these guys are more upset about their missed tackles than we are and that they will return to the basics over the bye week and play much better.

My only concern is that some of our defense is taking a Clowney/Arden Key approach to the season. They are first and foremost about self-preservation, even to the point of being ineffectual. Obviously they have bright futures but playing a violent game with a focus on not getting hurt is precisely how you get hurt. And the "tape don't lie." NFL scouts will see a drop off in performance, which if it becomes systemic will drop their draft status and costs them meaningful money.

I hope I am wrong about this last point and we see a much improved Delpit and a completely motivated and healthy Chaisson for the mid-to-late season defense.

There are liar's, damn liars and there are statistics. Missing tackles is usually a result of not being where you are suppose to be at any given time. A step off and you have to reach or arm tackle. This is resolved when a team and players gets experience and start gelling as a team. We have multiple injuries and inexperienced players. Give it time. It is a fact, not a statistic, that a 1:48 second drive does not allow players on defense time to "gather thoughts and recover mentally or physically". The good thing about this years is - the less than two minute drives are resulting in points and not a three and out and a punt or with a turnover. Relax or find something else to do on Saturdays if you can't enjoy watching or going to the games.

There is more in the Aranda playbook then we have seen. Why show the blitz packages before the meat of the schedule? While it has been frustrating against the overall opponent, I am not really worried ..... yet.
Even against TX,he didn’t dial it up once it became obvious that we could match them score for score with the lead. Joe Brady in the booth, “They cannot stop us”.

Well O, get it fixed soon.

Complete focus of the off week should be positioning and tackling...

quote:

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We simply don't have a middle linebacker.

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Fertilizer. You'd be hard pressed to find another team with better talent at LB than us. - at inside or outside.