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- Thread starter ScriptOhio
- Start date
This is not new and has been a speculated issue since Knowles came on board. If true, and Day has allowed it to fester, then I would be immensely disappointed in Day to allow it. If you were Knowles and brought into run this defense, but saddled with a DL coach who won’t play ball, how would that work.
Think on it.
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GuiFMRS
All-American
On the other hand, if Knowles knows that the DL cannot generate pressure, why not adjust the scheme to take that into consideration ? If indeed LJ is "sabotaging" Knowles' job as a DC why allow it to continue from his standpoint ? Why not say it's either him or me ? He is the defense's boss and earns a couple of Million Dollars per year to do so. Why not do boss shit ?
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It’s been widely rumored for a few years that LJ was against the Jack, which was a staple of Knowles defense. Have we seen the Jack? If so who is it?
LJ hasn’t produced a standout DE since CY. Short of going back to a 4-3, which I’m okay with personally, what’s Knowles move?
I’m more of why is it allowed to continue from Days standpoint? Maybe Knowles doesn’t have the authority to make that move.
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sg86
Heisman
He has tried, which is how you end up getting beat in Cover Zero repeatedly. You can't win on D if you're calling plays based on four guys essentially being wastes of space. That's not a tenable situation. There's not a D coordinator on Earth that can work around that.
Johnson does not have four guys who can reliably generate pressure but also refuses to not have four down linemen. If the shit about Johnson demanding four lineman and control of rotation is correct, it's frankly a miracle Knowles has saved the defense as much as he has.
This team coaches too scared. They play plateaued DEs who can't get home because they're worried Curry/Melton/Jackson might be worse. They keep a completely lost Styles in at LB all game because they're afraid Hicks or Reese will somehow be more scared or miss more tackles. They keep a completely burned Denzel Burke in because they're afraid Jermaine Matthews will somehow make a bigger mistake than getting absolutely torched repeatedly. And then when someone gets hurt and they need to lean on one of these guys they've been scared shitless to give snaps to, they wonder why that guy plays with no confidence.
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I didn't want to put this in the Knowles thread because he's not only to blame. This guy is great at breaking down Xs and Os
Rushing only 2, when the QB has shown immense accuracy with a clean pocket(like all QBs) is just coaching malpractice.
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Coaching malpractice across the board. But on defense, even if Walton controls substitutions or Knowles does, I am pissed in general considering the talent on this defense. Constantly running schemes that clearly are not working, no pressure at all and when there is nobody gets home, missed tackles everywhere, blowing man coverage after looking like we perfected it last year...I don't know the answer but I expect our coaches to because it is a high paid job to figure out.
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1926Buckeyes
Head Coach
I thought this as well, but midseason I'm looking at the defense and not seeing a lot of first rounders. Sawyer, JT, and Hamilton look like solid 3rd rounders and Tyliek is a late 1st, early 2nd. Don't see any of the LBs going higher than late rounds. Maybe Sonny due to athletic profile. Igbinosun is good, but not sure he's going before the 3rd round. Hancock 2nd, late 1st round and Burke, who knows at this point. Thought he was a mid-first, but he's had an average year and an atrocious game against top competition. Ransom seems like a mid rounder who is great at some things, but not good enough in coverage. EDIT: Forgot Downs. He's an obvious elite player and 1st rounder.
Maybe it's a one game overreaction, we'll see, but not as many of them have dominated or consistently flashed like I thought they would. I thought Sawyer and JT would make a jump and Burke would be the reliable shutdown corner. They're good, not great, and you can certainly win with them, but seniors who are multi-year starters need to be a lot more consistent and reliable against same level competition.
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My dad and I were debating that very topic, or at least discussing. I agree there are no Bosa or Young types of talent this year. But collectively as a unit last year we were dominant and most of those guys are back, which leads me to think scheme is more to blame even if play has dropped off.
Another thing is maybe losing Hall, Eich and Chambers hurt more than we expected. I just figured the talent was there to replace them with everyone coming back. Which again leads me to believe scheme is a major problem because you have Simon who I thought was pretty proven and same with Styles, Hicks and Powers in the wings at LB. Still have Tyleik and Hamilton inside. Without the benefit of reviewing the film, I can't definitely say what all is to blame but it sure seems like scheme and coaching is the big culprit.
Burke has been getting torched in man coverage, but the rest of the DBs altogether shouldn't be allowing receivers to be running wild with huge gaps in coverage. Some of the missed tackles are just so bad that I'm wondering what's going on with coaching. I'll be watching that issue more closely in future games, that's for sure.
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Bill Lucas
Assistant Coach
Come on, man. You are better than that. Until Oregon you didn’t even hear his name because teams wouldn’t throw his way.
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I've noticed man coverage issues before this game. Not last year, this season. The QB might have missed his guy, but not because coverage was tight. I can't explain it and I'm rooting for Burke, but he went from an incredible freshman season, to a bad sophomore season, to an elite junior year, and this year is looking like his sophomore slump on his senior season.
Oregon clearly picked on him all night because of it. No matter what WR that Oregon threw out, he was an absolute liability. I get individual matchup issues, but it wasn't. I get having a bad night too, been there and that's hopefully all it was. My point is we had to adjust for that night at the very least, then adjust. Tough decision to make but necessary.
I'm just seeing more of what I saw in his sophomore season unfortunately. Hoping he bounces back, but Mathews has to get in there.
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1926Buckeyes
Head Coach
My only explanation for that is they wanted to be more aggressive and create havoc, and this might not be a group that's good at that. Or not yet, at least. Wouldn't think they would need the season to get comfortable, but every year is different.
Hall is definitely missed if only to provide pressure on passing downs. LB seems like a tough position in this defense. A lot of ground to cover and lot of reads to make. As for tackling, it seems like they don't do game speed tackling every week in practice. They need to go back to that.
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There is some amount of blend of coaching error and player error, but you see late blitzes where our guy gets stonewalled because we telegraphed it and the blitz starts like 5-6 yards off the LOS when the ball is snapped on a regular basis. You could argue our front 4 is good enough to not have to go blitzing on a regular basis, but it is starting to look like the front 4 is not what they should be.
Hall is definitely missed and I agree LB is tough when you only have 2 out there and they have to get to the perimeter on a very fast team like Oregon. I get the concept with heavy safety support but we just weren't getting there or missing tackles when we did (which as you pointed out may be the lack of live tackling in practice). All I can say is Knowles needs to figure out the issues and play Mathews and Curry more...playing them is not simply lighting a fire under asses, they have earned that time.
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