What's Wrong With the 2013 Defense?

[Buckeneye]

@LoriSchmidt: Clemson's Dabo Swinney on their success on offense against OSU: "They gave us a lot of soft coverage."

Perry is blessed as a pass rusher. Let me be Thaddeus Gibson. Let him have a crack at the LEO. In coverage he's not instinctive and a stop behind because of it.

Saw some positives from Bell - how did he not have more PT during the year?! Jamal Marcus. Love that kid. Reminds me of Trent Cole. Built small, decent arm length, fast. Really fast.

As much as these last two games have sucked, there is talent. There is potential. The coaching direction and game planning (lack thereof) have been a major concern and Dabo's quote only emphasizes this problem.

 

[Systems_id]

@LoriSchmidt: Clemson's Dabo Swinney on their success on offense against OSU: "They gave us a lot of soft coverage."

For once, I honestly don't blame Fickell for utilizing soft coverage tonight. I said it a couple of times but our back 7 looked SLOW against their skill players. Watkins and co. were leaving OSU jocks on the field all damn night. Tight man was just asking to get burned worse than we did. Fickell probably trying to force Clemson to go the length of the field, hoping they'd make some mistakes along the way. It nearly worked, with Boyd committing the mother of all blunders with a minute and a half left. Just couldn't capitalize.

 

[Buckeneye]

Win lose or draw in the Orange Bowl, the entire defensive staff needs to go. Even Vrabel. Clean house and let Urban bring in his guys.

Vrabel and the Dline are the one functioning thing this defense has. The Dline did ok tonight and has been steady through-out the year. Plus, with his pedigree, he really helps being in recruits. I'd be posses if Vrabel was let go.

 

[alexhortdog95]

Vrabel and the Dline are the one functioning thing this defense has. The Dline did ok tonight and has been steady through-out the year. Plus, with his pedigree, he really helps being in recruits. I'd be posses if Vrabel was let go.

Bosa getting hurt right when he was getting off didn't help matters any.

 

[alexhortdog95]

For once, I honestly don't blame Fickell for utilizing soft coverage tonight. I said it a couple of times but our back 7 looked SLOW against their skill players. Watkins and co. were leaving OSU jocks on the field all damn night. Tight man was just asking to get burned worse than we did. Fickell probably trying to force Clemson to go the length of the field, hoping they'd make some mistakes along the way. It nearly worked, with Boyd committing the mother of all blunders with a minute and a half left. Just couldn't capitalize.

How many blitzes did you see tonight? The one blitz I saw it didn't work. Doesn't mean you stop blitzing, LOL

 

[mleone21]

Get Urban's guys in there? Seriously? AKA more Kerry Coombs and Everett Withers type guys? No thanks. Fickell hasn't been great by any means but he was the guy that brought Vrabel here in the first place!

 

[jlb1705]

How many blitzes did you see tonight? The one blitz I saw it didn't work. Doesn't mean you stop blitzing, LOL

With this team it does because they stink at blitzing. They have one competent blitzer (Shazier) and he was poor tonight. I didn't think it was possible for a football team to be bad at blitzing, but here we are.

 

[Hstead]

With this team it does because they stink at blitzing. They have one competent blitzer (Shazier) and he was poor tonight. I didn't think it was possible for a football team to be bad at blitzing, but here we are.

I put that on the coaching too, our blitz packages do not seem to change at all from week to week and we are very predictable. Our blitzes are always picked up because the other team is prepared for them, see them too many times already. We have no imagination when it comes to blitz packages. Too vanilla.

 

[mleone21]

I would think implementing multiple blitz packages and having more guys learn them gets hindered when we had so many injuries and new guys in there on D. They were probably struggling to get the basics down. What was more disappointing was that Clemson was running many of the same plays over and over again with few noticable adjustments. I thought we were off to a good start with the D in the 3rd, but the avalanche of turnovers gave Clemson 2 short fields and made things tough on the D.

 

[Hstead]

I wouldn't really think that should matter, the backups get nearly as many reps as the starters, they go to all of the meetings just like the starters, learning blitz packages shouldn't be very hard, nothing like the backup QB understanding the audibles and game plan every week. For that matter, the 3rd and 4th team QB better be prepared too or the coach is a moron. Backup LB's should know what is going on with the blitz packages. The D-line usually rotates a few anyway and they for sure should understand. Blitzing isn't rocket science. You do not have to use incredible technique to blitz as a linebacker. Timing is important, but you just do your job and unleash your talent.

The backup MSU linebacker did fine in the Rose Bowl.

There have been zero adjustments all year long on the defensive side. We have given up the hitch, bubble, flat all season and everyone has taken advantage of it.

 

[Mike80]

Vrabel and the Dline are the one functioning thing this defense has. The Dline did ok tonight and has been steady through-out the year. Plus, with his pedigree, he really helps being in recruits. I'd be posses if Vrabel was let go.

As I said, sometimes you need to clean house. This is one of those times. He's a big boy, he'll understand.

 

[NFBuck]

Well, I think throwing the whole staff out is a "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" scenario. Especially when they've been recruiting their asses off the past two years. And I don't think it's gonna happen at all. In fact, if anybody is relieved of their duties, I'll be surprised. What I expect/hope to happen is Urban going out and finding a big name to take over the defense with Fickell retaining his co-DC title.

Coaching is absolutely an issue right now. However, injuries ravaged an already thin unit this year. The thinnest position, LB, was hobbled by the loss of Grant for large chunks. The defense also lost their on-field leader in Christian Bryant. In this game alone, they were without (arguably) the two most important players in Spence and Roby. The recruiting classes of 2010-11, that should be providing the upper-classmen on this year's team, were busts for the most part. And I think there's gonna be some addition by subtraction with some of the guys moving on from a talent/ability standpoint. Not gonna point any fingers. Next year is going to be a rebuilding year regardless with most of the OL, Hyde, Philly, and potentially Braxton and Devin Smith moving on. Might as well see what happens when some of the highly rated kids from 2012 on start seeing the field more regularly. I expect next year will be the "final exam" for most of this defensive staff.

 

[Mike80]

Well, I think throwing the whole staff out is a "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" scenario. Especially when they've been recruiting their asses off the past two years. And I don't think it's gonna happen at all. In fact, if anybody is relieved of their duties, I'll be surprised. What I expect/hope to happen is Urban going out and finding a big name to take over the defense with Fickell retaining his co-DC title.

Coaching is absolutely an issue right now. However, injuries ravaged an already thin unit this year. The thinnest position, LB, was hobbled by the loss of Grant for large chunks. The defense also lost their on-field leader in Christian Bryant. In this game alone, they were without (arguably) the two most important players in Spence and Roby. The recruiting classes of 2010-11, that should be providing the upper-classmen on this year's team, were busts for the most part. And I think there's gonna be some addition by subtraction with some of the guys moving on from a talent/ability standpoint. Not gonna point any fingers. Next year is going to be a rebuilding year regardless with most of the OL, Hyde, Philly, and potentially Braxton and Devin Smith moving on. Might as well see what happens when some of the highly rated kids from 2012 on start seeing the field more regularly. I expect next year will be the "final exam" for most of this defensive staff.

I disagree. 3 years of progressively worsening results, a scheme that isn't fooling anyone, players (even stars) who are making the same mistakes or even worse, regressing. Sympathy hires are great when a guy takes one for the team and university like Fick did in 2011, but sympathy isn't going to fix this defense. The past 2 years (and really 3 if you go back to 2011) have been the least aggressive defenses I've ever seen.

Whatever UFM does, he needs to find someone to get that edge back and attack the offenses. Much like how Nebraska used to have their black shirt defense, Ohio State needs the Silver Bullets back. That wasn't just a moniker for the helmets, it was because the players attacked, they tackled well, they got to the QB, forced turnovers, etc and the coaches called an aggressive scheme. That isn't happening anytime soon, even with withers leaving.

Not that it matters much, but I don't see that edge coming back anytime soon with the current coaches in place.

 

[NFBuck]

Well, it's what we have, so just have to hope for the best. Meyer is not a "staus quo" guy. Never has been, so I suspect if he's not firing guys, it's for a reason. The guy's record is insanely good, and I'm sure he hates this far worse than any of us message board yahoos, so I'd tend to defer to him. Like I said, I fully expect him to try to make a splash and hire a DC to take over playcalling/scheme duties over Fickell. Fickell was a fine coach when Heacock was running the D, and I suspect he can be one again in a similar situation. Talent is a mitigating factor as well. This back-seven is nowhere near tOSU standards talent wise. Recruiting misses, attrition, injuries, etc from the kids recruited from 2009-11 have sunk it. The recruiting from 2012 on, on paper, should right that wrong. I'll withhold judgement until I see who is brought in in Withers' place. I suspect most of these guys get a chance at redemption next year when some of the promising youngsters start filling those spots. If there's no improvement next year, I expect we'll see a "black monday."

Would I be upset if I woke up to find the whole defensive staff was dismissed? Probably not. But I also can see the reasoning to not go that route. I was initially in the "this coaching staff stinks" camp, but the more I look at what they were working with, I see the issue is more complex than just bad coaching/scheming. Plus, I just don't think it's gonna happen, so I'm gonna try to find the reasoning. We have one of the elite head coaches in all of football. If anybody can get this thing fixed, it's Urban freaking Meyer.

 

[Mike80]

Well, it's what we have, so just have to hope for the best. Meyer is not a "staus quo" guy. Never has been, so I suspect if he's not firing guys, it's for a reason. The guy's record is insanely good, and I'm sure he hates this far worse than any of us message board yahoos, so I'd tend to defer to him. Like I said, I fully expect him to try to make a splash and hire a DC to take over playcalling/scheme duties over Fickell. Fickell was a fine coach when Heacock was running the D, and I suspect he can be one again in a similar situation. Talent is a mitigating factor as well. This back-seven is nowhere near tOSU standards talent wise. Recruiting misses, attrition, injuries, etc from the kids recruited from 2009-11 have sunk it. The recruiting from 2012 on, on paper, should right that wrong. I'll withhold judgement until I see who is brought in in Withers' place. I suspect most of these guys get a chance at redemption next year when some of the promising youngsters start filling those spots. If there's no improvement next year, I expect we'll see a "black monday."

It was said last night (I think it was bucklion, I don't know now, the end of the game was a blur), this program is at a crossroads on the field. The results aren't there, the transition from Tressel recruits to Meyer recruits is underway right as we yahoos talk about it here. Next year will show us how UFM got to where he is and I'm certain we'll see some improvement.