First thing that comes to mind is the DT rotation being much thinner minus Danny O and McKenzie. We were not defending the run very well to begin with either.
Most on here know we will see Mixon, Kongbo, Phillips sliding inside. We will also see more snaps for Quay Picou. I'll be interested to see if Alexis Johnson or Andrew Butcher can get involved.
What can we do schematically to help a thin DT rotation stop the run?
In my opinion we will see three things:
1. An increase of run blitzes and line stunts. We have to move guys around up front post-snap to keep from getting blown off the ball. Fortunately, having a plethora of DE's will make this a very accomplishable task.
Our pressures, blitzes, and line stunts have been improving the past few weeks as well. Still not great, but a lot better than the first few weeks.
2. Get a safety closer to the LOS. Our final 5 opponents don't scare anyone by throwing the deep ball. If it were me, I would play with one high safety. This aligns with point #1 because if you are sending a LB a safety typically drops down to take his place. Foreman, Mosley, and Gaulden can hold their own vs the WR talent left on the schedule without safety help. (They don't seem to get much safety help when there are two safeties deep, so I don't feel like we are losing much) This should help defend the zone-read type stuff better as well.
3. More bear. We had a lot of success vs A&M out of our bear look. They ran for a ton of yards, but as the Volquest staff pointed out, it was big play driven and for the bulk of the day we defended well.
I don't think bear will be as prevalent as points 1 and 2, but we'll see it.
One more item, I am curious if we will defend the zone-read differently. The way we have been doing it is right, on paper... but for whatever reason the execution has been poor. I am curious to see if we attack the mesh point with the read key as opposed to having the read key reduce down the LOS and slow-play the read.
Most on here know we will see Mixon, Kongbo, Phillips sliding inside. We will also see more snaps for Quay Picou. I'll be interested to see if Alexis Johnson or Andrew Butcher can get involved.
What can we do schematically to help a thin DT rotation stop the run?
In my opinion we will see three things:
1. An increase of run blitzes and line stunts. We have to move guys around up front post-snap to keep from getting blown off the ball. Fortunately, having a plethora of DE's will make this a very accomplishable task.
Our pressures, blitzes, and line stunts have been improving the past few weeks as well. Still not great, but a lot better than the first few weeks.
2. Get a safety closer to the LOS. Our final 5 opponents don't scare anyone by throwing the deep ball. If it were me, I would play with one high safety. This aligns with point #1 because if you are sending a LB a safety typically drops down to take his place. Foreman, Mosley, and Gaulden can hold their own vs the WR talent left on the schedule without safety help. (They don't seem to get much safety help when there are two safeties deep, so I don't feel like we are losing much) This should help defend the zone-read type stuff better as well.
3. More bear. We had a lot of success vs A&M out of our bear look. They ran for a ton of yards, but as the Volquest staff pointed out, it was big play driven and for the bulk of the day we defended well.
I don't think bear will be as prevalent as points 1 and 2, but we'll see it.
One more item, I am curious if we will defend the zone-read differently. The way we have been doing it is right, on paper... but for whatever reason the execution has been poor. I am curious to see if we attack the mesh point with the read key as opposed to having the read key reduce down the LOS and slow-play the read.
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