Hey PK -- What would you say you do here?

[ATXhorn17 1610]

1 hour ago, Stunns38 said:

We had some legit NFL talent on those Ds too.

Random aside: Remember how badass the year 1 Todd Orlando defense was against USC in '17? Too bad it was all downhill from there.

[Had Enough 2056]

They all botched this. Not sure the call, but you would believe that Johnson has 1 and Taffe has 2 (inside route). Pretty good example of what is wrong with Texas zone defense. The TE and WR run a simple switch concept. Johnson’s eyes never leave the WR, who becomes #2 and leaves his zone, and never looks at the TE going into his zone. Tucker is staring at the Qb, I am guessing he should be carrying the WR up the field and passing off to Taaffe (can’t see the whole field).  Perhaps Taaffe is covering the TE, because he sees Johnson is lost, but that isn’t his man. 3 defenders and nobody is doing their assignment. (That is my guess based on that picture)

Warner ran hitch/ stop n go. Great play call.

[Dnaguy 11763]

20 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

Or, maybe, they have had to defend against so many passes because passing works against them?

Tomato, potato

[Coach pop a bitch 5459]

 

[Jkwellborn 6651]

Or, maybe, they have had to defend against so many passes because passing works against them?

Yeah, if I was playing this defense, I’d pass every down until they showed they could stop it. I wouldn’t bother running the ball.

[HtownHorn 14468]

1 hour ago, Sawbonz said:

Or, maybe, they have had to defend against so many passes because passing works against them?

and they can't run the ball and the Texas offense is routinely putting up 24+ points in the 1H.

[HtownHorn 14468]

#18 really sucks. His effort is bad, his athleticism is severely limited, and he has no idea what to do when they ask him to cover.

[Codaxx 5591]

11 hours ago, Burt Macklin said:

Crawford has been one of our worst players on defense this year. Every time he’s in the game he’s messing up assignments and making mistakes. He’s unplayable. 
 

He has the athleticism to play CB, yet the staff moved him from there to a more mentally challenging position. That was always a bad sign. 

This is why I wonder if man free is the best 3rd down with Crawford is the best pass defense vs TCU. Just tell Crawford this is your guy. That gets blown up, if QJ is healthy. Nobody on the team can cover him. You would have Jamison, Watts, Barron, Crawford, and Overshown in man.. (Overshown is actually solid in man, bad in zone). That puts a lot of faith in the DL+Ford to stop QB run though. Tough situation for the defense, since they are struggling mightily in zone. Akina would approve though. 

[JBJ 3648]

16 hours ago, Codaxx said:

They all botched this. Not sure the call, but you would believe that Johnson has 1 and Taffe has 2 (inside route). Pretty good example of what is wrong with Texas zone defense. The TE and WR run a simple switch concept. Johnson’s eyes never leave the WR, who becomes #2 and leaves his zone, and never looks at the TE going into his zone. Tucker is staring at the Qb, I am guessing he should be carrying the WR up the field and passing off to Taaffe (can’t see the whole field).  Perhaps Taaffe is covering the TE, because he sees Johnson is lost, but that isn’t his man. 3 defenders and nobody is doing their assignment. (That is my guess based on that picture)

It's 50/50 on how teams choose to defend a Smash concept.   You can have the corner stay off and double the corner route or have him attack the stop.   The safety will always top the corner route.

It looks like we are choosing to have the corner attack the stop, which basically puts him in man the moment the stop happens.  When the ball isn't thrown to the stop timely, Johnson looks to be anticipating a Q/Pivot route (stop and out).  He's lost when the WR releases upfield.

[Codaxx 5591]

15 minutes ago, JBJ said:

It's 50/50 on how teams choose to defend a Smash concept.   You can have the corner stay off and double the corner route or have him attack the stop.   The safety will always top the corner route.

It looks like we are choosing to have the corner attack the stop, which basically puts him in man the moment the stop happens.  When the ball isn't thrown to the stop timely, Johnson looks to be anticipating a Q/Pivot route (stop and out).  He's lost when the WR releases upfield.

Smash concept is designed to put the CB in conflict. You are hoping the CB jumps the stop and you hit the corner route over his head. That is why most people rely on the CB to drop/carry (depending on coverage) on the corner route and rally to the stop (take away deepest man in your zone, rally to shallow). This is more of a switch concept faking the smash. #1 is running a double move all the way (stop to a skinny post). CB will have a tough time covering that, with the rub route of the TE shielding him. You have a big ask to have the Safety get over to the corner route, especially if the CB is aggressive on the stop. To be honest, both the TE and WR are both open. It would be really strange to cover what is essentially a switch concept (Corner and skinny post) and not switch receivers here in zone coverage. That would be defeating the purpose of zone, as you are having your secondary chase players across the field and switch their zones or basically asking them to play man. Texas blew a similar concept (dont remember the exact routes, but more basic) vs ISU (long drop at the end of the game, where Jamison and Cook covered the sideline route and Hutchinson went uncovered on the go). I think KSU had this dialed up based on the film. 

[JBJ 3648]

3 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Smash concept is designed to put the CB in conflict. You are hoping the CB jumps the stop and you hit the corner route over his head. That is why most people rely on the CB to drop/carry (depending on coverage) on the corner route and rally to the stop (take away deepest man in your zone, rally to shallow). This is more of a switch concept faking the smash. #1 is running a double move all the way (stop to a skinny post). CB will have a tough time covering that, with the rub route of the TE shielding him. You have a big ask to have the Safety get over to the corner route, especially if the CB is aggressive on the stop. To be honest, both the TE and WR are both open. It would be really strange to cover what is essentially a switch concept (Corner and skinny post) and not switch receivers here in zone coverage. That would be defeating the purpose of zone, as you are having your secondary chase players across the field and switch their zones or basically asking them to play man. Texas blew a similar concept (dont remember the exact routes, but more basic) vs ISU (long drop at the end of the game, where Jamison and Cook covered the sideline route and Hutchinson went uncovered on the go). I think KSU had this dialed up based on the film. 

Switch means something different, but it's not normal to swap on a post and corner (scissors).  The corner and safety would stay on their men.

[Codaxx 5591]

Just now, JBJ said:

Switch means something different, but it's not normal to swap on a post and corner (scissors).  The corner and safety would stay on their men.

Switching in the sense that the outside WR goes inside and Inside goes outside, there are a myriad of ways to run switch routes. We will disagree on this one. Makes no sense to me to call zone coverage and ask your secondary to run man making their jobs harder, when you can run your zone and pass off the WRs and give yourself easier assignments. You are effectively giving up any advantage of zone defense and violating the entire premise of zone coverage.

[JBJ 3648]

25 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Switching in the sense that the outside WR goes inside and Inside goes outside, there are a myriad of ways to run switch routes. We will disagree on this one. Makes no sense to me to call zone coverage and ask your secondary to run man making their jobs harder, when you can run your zone and pass off the WRs and give yourself easier assignments. You are effectively giving up any advantage of zone defense and violating the entire premise of zone coverage.

You can disagree all you want, but no team covers it that way.

 

 

[Fico 1743]

You are not switching routes on anything 10+ yards downfield. You carry at that point. To much left for interpretation with dudes flying at full speed at that point.

[Codaxx 5591]

5 minutes ago, JBJ said:

You can disagree all you want, but no team covers it that way.

 

 

Searching the internet and posting a clip  where a defense is running man coverage, like the first example, isnt going to sway me and I dont care enough to search the internet for examples. Best to just agree to disagree, 

[JBJ 3648]

19 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Searching the internet and posting a clip  where a defense is running man coverage, like the first example, isnt going to sway me and I dont care enough to search the internet for examples. Best to just agree to disagree, 

a) That is not man coverage.

b) You literally won't find one.

[Codaxx 5591]

1 minute ago, JBJ said:

a) That is not man coverage.

b) You literally won't find one.

A) OK. I dont know a lot of zone coverages that ask DBs to follow a receiver in motion across the formation and cover him., but each to their own. 

[JBJ 3648]

46 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

A) OK. I dont know a lot of zone coverages that ask DBs to follow a receiver in motion across the formation and cover him., but each to their own. 

It's actually not uncommon to do this, despite what the announcers say.  The fitting DB is also matching the #2 receiver at the snap, who wasn't the motion man. 

But the dead give away is that everyone takes initial steps, looks at keys, and holds leverages like they were playing zone.

Edited November 7, 2022 by JBJ

[Coach pop a bitch 5459]

 

[Codaxx 5591]

5 hours ago, Fico said:

You are not switching routes on anything 10+ yards downfield. You carry at that point. To much left for interpretation with dudes flying at full speed at that point.

Correct. In this case the outside WR goes inside the TE inside of 5 yards 

Edited November 8, 2022 by Codaxx

[Valmy77 13093]

45 minutes ago, Coach pop a bitch said:

 

The defensive line is a bright spot this year. And I loved how we were getting gashed early by Deuce and they adjusted and shut that down the rest of the game. That was cool.

Now if they could tackle a QB, that would be cooler.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Valmy77

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

On 11/6/2022 at 6:55 PM, DanTheHorn said:

What I noticed is they had Vaughn run routes directly at Ford and Martinez would release the ball the second he reached Ford and hit him in stride between Ford and the safety. I don't know if they adjusted to it or if KSt pulled a Sark and stopped going back to easy pickings.

It’s not understanding the defense and down and distance versus threat. On the play you referenced Ford had another defender outside of him and a safety over the top. Any outside breaking route was covered. Anything deep was covered. Anything bending back to the middle of the field would find vacated grass. There’s not a lot of 20 yard stop routes in college football. 
 

Ford’s initial drop was fine, but he didn’t understand where his help was, where it wasn’t and what routes would get open. That’s not to pick on Ford. Pretty much the entire secondary is guilty of it when defending anything between the numbers. 
 

We would be a significantly better defense if our secondary players just assumed that every route was breaking inside  between the numbers and short of the safety. The number of college QB’s who can legitimately threaten the field from the far hash on out breaking routes is few and far between. 

Edited November 8, 2022 by Bobby_Batronic

[Hookem2147 20926]

Dunlap's defensive breakdown

Spoiler

Defensive Snap Counts By Week and Percentage of Total Defensive Snaps Played Through Week 9:
 

Defensive Productivity Market-Share Percentages and Snaps per Production Caused Metrics Through Week 8 (snaps per disruption caused is colored coded from blue/best to white/median to red/worst):
 

Missed Tackles Versus KSU - 11

LB Jaylan Ford - 2
S Anthony Cook - 2
S Jerrin Thompson - 2
DE Barryn Sorrell - 1
DL Moro Ojomo - 1
LB Demarvion Overshown - 1
NT Byron Murphy - 1
S Morice Blackwell - 1

Quick Hits and Thoughts

A win is a win is a win. Texas mozied into the Little Apple and managed to hang on for one. These boys control their own destiny, even as many within our moldy basement have lost years off of their lives by now watching this 2022 team operate. (To be fair, many of them are not in the greatest health, anyway, judging by appearances).

Still, people continue to ask us what is happening with the Texas defense that comes apart in the second half of games. We continue to say it is a week-to-week proposition. Coach Sark often talks about complementary football, usually referring to the defense needing to hold up its end of the bargain -- but, that goes for the offense, too. We'll talk about that group in the next installment, but it only scored 3 points in the second half versus Kansas State. This week, there were a few things we noticed that contributed to things turning Western quickly once halftime ended.

One thing that improved was Jaylan Ford in coverage. Something went very wrong on the first Deuce Vaughn wheel route where Ford did not carry the little dynamo and we'd say he got burned, but how can you get burned if you don't even try to carry the guy up the seam? (What a find by the Wildcats right in Texas' backyard, by the way). K-State went back to the well on that play two more times to the opposite side of the field and Ford wasn't having any of it. Ford was not good at walling off and covering drag and crossing routes from the 3-receiver breaking inside as the game wore on, but he at least didn't allow another back-breaking lightning strike once he got hit the first time.

Also, as long as we are talking about things that are improving -- just in general -- Michael Taaffe is turning into a good player for the Longhorns. Like Vaughan, he wasn't highly recruited. But Taaffe puts himself in good positions to make tackles, is good in the open field and brings his hips through his tackles. He is a walk-on, but won't be for long, and simply can't be thought of in the same mold as the Jett Bush and Luke Brockermeyer-types on the roster by close observers of the program until he shows otherwise. When he is on the field, he has not been a liability at either the nickel or the safety position, which he has recently switched between through games. The only time he's been clearly targeted in coverage, he generated a PBU and the KSU game saw his first missed tackle of the season. Shockingly, Taaffe's snaps/production caused (once every 6.86 snaps) is third-best on the defense behind team-leader Keondre Coburn (6.19) and Moro Ojomo (6.81) among 100-snap qualifiers.

Now, there were things to worry about: the first thing we'd point to as a reason for second-half trouble is that of Texas' 11 missed tackles, 2 were missed in the first half while 9 were missed in the second half. The stat speaks for itself. The tackling was not as sure for the Horns as things became frantic in the would-be K-State comeback.

Things would not have been as dire down the stretch for Texas had forced fumbles been recovered by the defense. When your team forces three fumbles, that is awesome. But, you need to recover them, at least the majority of them. As things stand, Texas forced three fumbles and only recovered one of them -- thankfully, it was the game-winner.

Anthony Cook did play despite our great confidence that he would have to miss substantial time with a broken forearm, which is certainly good news. The bad news is, he is compromised as a player (even a much more part-time one than usual) and he often found himself in awkward spots where he was clearly compensating to some degree and did not position himself correctly to make tackles or force leverage. A few times in the second half, it was costly. Our hope is that the ailment is more minor than it sounds (maybe more of a small fracture than a clean break or something similar) and Cook will get back up to steam quickly. The actual cast was not as bulky as we'd expected and his hand is exposed and not part of the apparatus, easing some of our worries about abilities to make plays on the football.

Moving from zone coverage to man coverage (or at least more man-looks) and vice versa is tricky versus a wiley vet with the ability to read the defense and use his legs like Martinez. It was easier for Texas to get batted passes than usual against the short-ish QB, but he had a sneaky ability to navigate those situations well as things got hinky. You get in man and have your DBs turn their backs to him, he can clearly see it and find run lanes.

We don't have as many issues with the deployment of personnel as usual from the KSU game. There was no mandatory third series on defense featuring all the backups as has absurdly been the case for the two previous games.

That said, there were critical plays that could have been avoided by simply playing the best players. Jamier Johnson, for example, should not be in the game for Ryan Watts of all people when a team with Texas' second-half proclivities is trying to protect a lead. Johnson was burned for a long TD, which was predictable, as Johnson is the team's most-burned player in coverage, now allowing an 83.33% completion percentage while clearly targeted in 2022 and a coverage burn on a disturbing once every 38.5 snaps. For comparison, Ryan Watts is allowing a 53.57% completion rate when clearly targeted and has been burned once every 166 snaps. D'Shawn Jamison is now sitting at a 41.67% completion rate when clearly targeted and has been burned once every 247.5 snaps. Johnson's nearest competition in snaps/coverage burn among 100-snap qualifiers for the 2022 season is Jahdae Barron, who has allowed a coverage burn once every 140 snaps.

Yet despite all this, Texas rides on, in control of its own Big 12 destiny with three regular season games on the horizon. Our advice to the weary among us is hang onto your hats and saddle up tight.

 

[BurntOrange&White 39566]

This quote from Scipio sticks out to me so much:

 

"Texas defenders continue to guard grass rather than individuals that enter their zone. This is a coaching point. If you’re not picking up receivers and attacking the ball in the air, zone merely becomes 'Drop back and tackle the completion.”

[Codaxx 5591]

3 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

This quote from Scipio sticks out to me so much:

 

"Texas defenders continue to guard grass rather than individuals that enter their zone. This is a coaching point. If you’re not picking up receivers and attacking the ball in the air, zone merely becomes 'Drop back and tackle the completion.”

Michael Griffin says that on Longhorn network at least once a post-game show. 

[Jkwellborn 6651]

This quote from Scipio sticks out to me so much:
 
"Texas defenders continue to guard grass rather than individuals that enter their zone. This is a coaching point. If you’re not picking up receivers and attacking the ball in the air, zone merely becomes 'Drop back and tackle the completion.”

There are times when that’s exactly what you need to do. But dang, can’t drop back too far.

[satyanash 14280]

Seeing that a lot of DBs will be missing for tonight. Jamison, Watts, Cook and Guilbeau (the latter two were more obvious).

[Codaxx 5591]

1 minute ago, satyanash said:

Seeing that a lot of DBs will be missing for tonight. Jamison, Watts, Cook and Guilbeau (the latter two were more obvious).

Wait.. Jamison, Watts, Cook, and Guilbeau are all out? 

[satyanash 14280]

29 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Wait.. Jamison, Watts, Cook, and Guilbeau are all out? 

 

[CurlyDumps 4439]

I’ve seen nothing anywhere about Watts being out. 

[satyanash 14280]

Incredible 1st quarter by the defense. 13 yards of offense by Ewers & Co. and the game is still somehow tied

[tigol 2383]

D is solid.

[closetohumping 17386]

Hey PK have you thought about forcing a turnover sometime or are you content on shutting tcu out?  Think outside the box for once!!!!    

[Duane Moore 5236]

This is the D I had been hoping to see all year. 

[T-shirt Sip 2096]

15 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Hey PK have you thought about forcing a turnover sometime or are you content on shutting tcu out?  Think outside the box for once!!!!    

[CycleTex87 2953]

D looks pretty salty tonight. 

[closetohumping 17386]

Time to let gp take over

[troph 24560]

D wasn’t the problem tonight bros. 

[troph 24560]

2 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Hey PK have you thought about forcing a turnover sometime or are you content on shutting tcu out?  Think outside the box for once!!!!    

Done

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2630]

Game  duck you sark 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10138]

Keep PK above keep Sark right now... What a place

[perfectchaos007 6596]

Hats off to PK's defense tonight. They played their hearts out

[closetohumping 17386]

Gtfo pk. GP saved your ass again

[crash_davis 23081]

2 bad plays was the difference. Bad gap contain on the 75 yard run, and fucked up safety play on the TD pass. The D played lights out.

Fuck Sark and Quinn for the O shitshowing.

[satyanash 14280]

Best performance of the year, all for naught.

Let's see how they fare against Kansas. With the Big 12 title game now out of reach there's always the worry that players will start checking out.

[dieucla98 2933]

24 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Best performance of the year, all for naught.

Let's see how they fare against Kansas. With the Big 12 title game now out of reach there's always the worry that players will start checking out.

How fucking stupid are you? Big 12 title game is absolutely in reach. I get being a gaping vagina is your thing but at least have some root in reality.

 

 

[Hank_Hill 18484]

GP only working 2 games a year that both result in losses sure seems like a waste of resources 

[Levi 2576]

1 hour ago, crash_davis said:

2 bad plays was the difference. Bad gap contain on the 75 yard run, and fucked up safety play on the TD pass. The D played lights out.

Fuck Sark and Quinn for the O shitshowing.

And tbh Watts was being held by the wr. He makes tackle if not held. That 2 play sequence was gifted to tcu by the refs. 

[crash_davis 23081]

1 minute ago, Levi said:

And tbh Watts was being held by the wr. He makes tackle if not held. That 2 play sequence was gifted to tcu by the refs. 

And the play before that when Barron was held by Wiley. We've dealt with that shit for 10 years. In spite of all that, D played well enough that Case McCoy at QB would've won the game tonight.

[Elmer_Fudd 22088]

What if I told you before the game Duggan would only have 124 passing yads for the game and we sacked him 5 times?