[Warning: Long]
Looking ahead to tomorrow's matchup, I continue to feel confident, mainly because of what I see as options on the defensive side of the ball. With Flowers and Abernathy healthy and back, we can be a lot more versatile with our safeties.
We've seen the "Rabbit" package, or a variant of the dime look (6 DBs, 1LB and 4 DL or 3DL/1OLB) before, specifically using Buchanan as the insert stack LB. This has given us more speed on the field, especially for teams that like to throw to RBs coming out of the backfield. I expect to see it a ton this week, but I'm interested in the variants.
To date, Pruitt has given Buchanan the nod at the stack LB spot, with Osborne coming on to be the 6th DB who plays basically the traditional nickel position. So that's:
Safeties -- Nigel/Abernathy
Corners -- Taylor/Thompson
Star/Rabbit -- Osborne/Buchanan
But the variations are what make this interesting. You could easily see the following as well:
Safeties -- Abernathy/Flowers OR Nigel for either
Corners -- Taylor/Thompson OR Osborne
Star/Rabbit -- Nigel/Abernathy/Osborne (OR Buchanan/Jackson/Kelly/Shamburger)
--> Here I can only see Nigel/TK/Buchanan as the stack LB. I don't think this staff trusts Osborne/Jackson/Shamburger to do that, so these latter three would be the slot cornerback in my view.
The question with this last variant is who is the better in the box player? Nigel is the best athlete of that group, but do you instead go with somebody like T. Kelly, who is a bonafide run support safety and safe within an LB's responsibilities given his speed and smarts? Or do you roll with Abernathy there given that he's demonstrated he's the most intelligent player in the back end, will be where he needs to be, and is a decent tackler. Downside, he's not as physical as Nigel or TK.
If it were me, my first goal is to allow Flowers to play FS and ball hawk. That's where he's best suited. Next, I want Nigel to be deep and breaking on routes and making hits/playing the ball. I think that leaves Abernathy as the in-box safety in the rabbit package, subbing with Buchanan. With Abernathy there, you don't fear many offensive sets Mizzou is goign to throw at you. He can cover TEs; he can run support; he flex out and play the Star if they quick shift or get us in a 5 wide set. TK can maybe help here but he can't do what Abernathy can.
The DL is another place where we can experiment and be disruptive, IMO. Bituli is a good edge rusher, as well as a disruptive line backer. We should give them A gap blitz looks for days, so when we go traditional nickel, we can even walk Bituli down to give them 5 man front look with DK Jr. or Ignont solo at LB and our backend still solid with Nigel, Flowers, Abernathy, Taylor and Thompson. (Or Osborne/Buchanan) The DL is solid with Tuttle, Phillips, A. Johnson and good subs in Gooden, D. Johnson, Mincey, and Bennett (as a rush end).
In sum, I think our defense is prepared for Mizzou and has the pieces it needs. I don't think this is nearly as bad a matchup as it has been before, namely because of our improved secondary. The past is the past; I expect Pruitt to lock them down, and I expect us to pick off Lock a couple times. All that is contingent on winning 1st downs and getting Mizzou in obvious passing downs. We do that, we win this thing.
@GaTechVol @PTCVOL @Pounding Thrill @bleedorange23 @DukeSilverVol @PowellVolz @Jesse_Simonton
Looking ahead to tomorrow's matchup, I continue to feel confident, mainly because of what I see as options on the defensive side of the ball. With Flowers and Abernathy healthy and back, we can be a lot more versatile with our safeties.
We've seen the "Rabbit" package, or a variant of the dime look (6 DBs, 1LB and 4 DL or 3DL/1OLB) before, specifically using Buchanan as the insert stack LB. This has given us more speed on the field, especially for teams that like to throw to RBs coming out of the backfield. I expect to see it a ton this week, but I'm interested in the variants.
To date, Pruitt has given Buchanan the nod at the stack LB spot, with Osborne coming on to be the 6th DB who plays basically the traditional nickel position. So that's:
Safeties -- Nigel/Abernathy
Corners -- Taylor/Thompson
Star/Rabbit -- Osborne/Buchanan
But the variations are what make this interesting. You could easily see the following as well:
Safeties -- Abernathy/Flowers OR Nigel for either
Corners -- Taylor/Thompson OR Osborne
Star/Rabbit -- Nigel/Abernathy/Osborne (OR Buchanan/Jackson/Kelly/Shamburger)
--> Here I can only see Nigel/TK/Buchanan as the stack LB. I don't think this staff trusts Osborne/Jackson/Shamburger to do that, so these latter three would be the slot cornerback in my view.
The question with this last variant is who is the better in the box player? Nigel is the best athlete of that group, but do you instead go with somebody like T. Kelly, who is a bonafide run support safety and safe within an LB's responsibilities given his speed and smarts? Or do you roll with Abernathy there given that he's demonstrated he's the most intelligent player in the back end, will be where he needs to be, and is a decent tackler. Downside, he's not as physical as Nigel or TK.
If it were me, my first goal is to allow Flowers to play FS and ball hawk. That's where he's best suited. Next, I want Nigel to be deep and breaking on routes and making hits/playing the ball. I think that leaves Abernathy as the in-box safety in the rabbit package, subbing with Buchanan. With Abernathy there, you don't fear many offensive sets Mizzou is goign to throw at you. He can cover TEs; he can run support; he flex out and play the Star if they quick shift or get us in a 5 wide set. TK can maybe help here but he can't do what Abernathy can.
The DL is another place where we can experiment and be disruptive, IMO. Bituli is a good edge rusher, as well as a disruptive line backer. We should give them A gap blitz looks for days, so when we go traditional nickel, we can even walk Bituli down to give them 5 man front look with DK Jr. or Ignont solo at LB and our backend still solid with Nigel, Flowers, Abernathy, Taylor and Thompson. (Or Osborne/Buchanan) The DL is solid with Tuttle, Phillips, A. Johnson and good subs in Gooden, D. Johnson, Mincey, and Bennett (as a rush end).
In sum, I think our defense is prepared for Mizzou and has the pieces it needs. I don't think this is nearly as bad a matchup as it has been before, namely because of our improved secondary. The past is the past; I expect Pruitt to lock them down, and I expect us to pick off Lock a couple times. All that is contingent on winning 1st downs and getting Mizzou in obvious passing downs. We do that, we win this thing.
@GaTechVol @PTCVOL @Pounding Thrill @bleedorange23 @DukeSilverVol @PowellVolz @Jesse_Simonton
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