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- Thread starter maximumblitz
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Watching the game again tonight. I don't think we are a good cover 2 team. Perry actually did ok getting depth this week but the safeties are not usually in a good position. If MD Qb was a bit more accurate early on, they would have had a couple more big hitters. I think I'd rather see a Cover 3 or Man Under defense employed a bit vs teams with more receiving options. I don't see it hurting our run D very much at all and help us cover the quarters better
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Despite the perceived lack of competition overall of the teams we've faced, the offenses we have faced have been very good. This defense is improving drastically every week. You can see the talent meshing with the players buying into the scheme. Very aggressive and the confidence is there now too. The apparent depth of the secondary is a bit surprising to me (a pleasant one obviously)...I saw Conley, Reeves, and Burrows all making plays out there in addition to Powell, Grant, Bell, and Apple. We faced a very good receiving corps and a pretty solid QB and walked away looking very impressive. If this was the '13 defense, they would have put up 40+ on us. If we keep improving at this rate, I really like our chance in any game come the end of November.
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matcar
Mostly banned
Rutgers shot themselves in the foot on multiple drives. Dropped passes on several occasions when no one was causing the drop. Nova missed a few throws too. I agree that there is improvement. But it seems we need a better test to know where we really stand. Sparty will provide the test soon enough though.
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bukIpower
Head Coach
They also got lucky on a few plays too and we did have pressure in Nova maybe that's why he missed some open guys? Maybe their WRs dropped the ball a few times because our DBs disrupted them?
From my view it wasn't like Rutgers had players running free and they just didn't execute. It was a lot about what we were doing not what Rutgers wasn't doing.
I would just like to see our defense stop giving up garbage time TDs (I'm one of those people who HATE when a score looks closer than it should due to a garbage time TD). We really got gashed late in the Rutgers game and on their first touchdown drive. They gained the edge a little too much for my liking. I thought this was a game where Lee sort of got pushed around a little due to Rutgers personnel.
Overall I am more critical of our defense then most. In saying that I like our coverage and the pressure we generate up the middle. However for this defense to really take off we need to find an edge rusher. Losing Spence might prove more costly then even Braxton (easier to say that when you know what JT is doing now) but we need to find someone who can consistently bring pressure and win some one on one battles. Which Urban today and last week have laminated.
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I'm with you here on basically every point. We played well overall and even though Rutgers missed an opportunity here and there, it was not some systemic failure. We missed Dontre wide open for a TD, a wide open Devin Smith, etc. the same as Rutgers but we responded with a score most of the time...they did not do that to us. I think after the VT game, we subconsciously expect every team to play us flawlessly like they did. This was pretty apparent after the Maryland game when everyone exclaimed that their QB was regularly missing passes despite the fact that consistent pressure forced the majority of those errant passes.
Last year the chinks in the armor were incredibly apparent and I was very vocal about it from the beginning. I just don't think that is the case this year. I don't think our defense is '02 good or anything (to that end, I don't think any defense will be for awhile with the type of offenses out there), but they are much better than last year. I think they are a legitimate top 20-30 defense and with our offense, that will result it a very good team if true.
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I also just realized PSU is the #6 scoring defense nationally and the #1 rush defense nationally. We'll get our test on Saturday.
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matcar
Mostly banned
Again, we will get to see a better team in a couple weeks so nome of this matters, but I saw multiple droops balls with no disruption. The dude that Spiels said catches the ball with his body did it multiple times. And sure, Nova made mistakes when pressured but he also missed a few easy ones. All im saying is that things MIGHT be different against a quality team - which I'm not convinced Rutgers is.
It all comes to a head against MSU, so it's all good.
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