Coach Sark Press Conference 11.7 - 11:00am LHN

[DanTheHorn 5064]

7 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Our goal is to stuff the run, inflict negative plays, and keep passing plays in front of our defenders/eliminate big plays. We struggle on the first and 3rd elements. But it isn't a soft defense by design. When it works, it works well. We just don't execute. 

So basically what the article says. Bend but don't break is about being aggressive in the front seven but keeping everything in front of you on the backend to eliminate big plays. @SarkAfterDark says we don't run that so it would be good to know what he thinks we run.

[Dahobbs 18236]

5 minutes ago, DanTheHorn said:

So basically what the article says. Bend but don't break is about being aggressive in the front seven but keeping everything in front of you on the backend to eliminate big plays. @SarkAfterDark says we don't run that so it would be good to know what he thinks we run.

If you call that bend but don't break, then it is a good defensive strategy and you should stop bitching. Again, the things people complain about, soft coverage, aren't the things that are actually wrong with our defense. 

[SarkAfterDark 1731]

8 minutes ago, DanTheHorn said:

So basically what the article says. Bend but don't break is about being aggressive in the front seven but keeping everything in front of you on the backend to eliminate big plays. @SarkAfterDark says we don't run that so it would be good to know what he thinks we run.

That isn't what I would call a bend but don't break defense. But if that is your broad definition then there is no need for us to continue this discussion.

[Hookem2147 21992]

18 minutes ago, jettrink said:

If we play bend but don't break against TCwho, they break our collective dick off and shove it up our collective ass

TCU has lived and died by the explosive play all year. When they can't push the ball down the field and score quickly, they get into trouble.

[DanTheHorn 5064]

39 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

If you call that bend but don't break, then it is a good defensive strategy and you should stop bitching. Again, the things people complain about, soft coverage, aren't the things that are actually wrong with our defense. 

Once again I did not say that our defense sucks because of it. Cowboys won two Super bowls with it. They just had great personnel and a coach that kept the team in line. It is hard to win championships in my view with it unless you have great coaches that put it together. Team has to be very disciplined and college practice hours may not be enough.

Edited November 8, 2022 by DanTheHorn

[DanTheHorn 5064]

Well Pete calls it that sometimes. 14:58 

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by DanTheHorn

[Valmy77 13570]

I am curious what would lead somebody after watching the past three seasons to think we aren't covering receivers well by design and not because we suck at coverage.

[Pato del Muerto 53413]

3 hours ago, SA-KC_Horn said:

Ok, so was it the play call or Jones that fucked up the conversion attempt?

Errrbody was shitting the bed at the end when Bijan was stuffed. 

 

Nothing wrong with the play call. If you watch the play, Jones had no chance to make that block. The end or lb was lined up way outside, had a walking start and ran straight upfield.  No tackle would be able to get out there to make that block. 
 

the problem was that when everyone was lined up, the play wasn’t changed or a timeout called.  Is that sark or Quinn?  Probably one of them. 

[markstanco 12781]

Patterson helping with prep.

Noshit.gif

[DanTheHorn 5064]

9 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

I am curious what would lead somebody after watching the past three seasons to think we aren't covering receivers well by design and not because we suck at coverage.

Again I say it is not the design it hard to teach all the intricacies. My view is teach superior talent how to cover man to man and put a safety over the top of their best receiver and it may have more success. Yea I may be all wrong I just want to go back to whatever Akina use to do because it worked.

[4th and 5 4998]

It’s not the scheme, it’s the execution.

What is not readily apparent is whether it is coaching or players.

To what extent are the coaches poor teachers?

Or are the players (LB, S) poor students?

I favor the latter.

[Dahobbs 18236]

10 minutes ago, DanTheHorn said:

Again I say it is not the design it hard to teach all the intricacies. My view is teach superior talent how to cover man to man and put a safety over the top of their best receiver and it may have more success. Yea I may be all wrong I just want to go back to whatever Akina use to do because it worked.

We do not have the talent on defense to run straight man. In fact, we are objectively much worse at man coverage than zone. Go look at Connelly's breakdowns for each game on opponent's success vs man and zone. We give up like a 70% completion in man at over 10 yards per attempt. We are really fucking bad at it. And that's largely because our linebackers/ends get abused and our safeties aren't play erasers. 

Edited November 8, 2022 by Dahobbs

[StassneyHorn 6759]

6 hours ago, pacman said:

Bijan averages almost a full two yards more running to Jones' right, than he does to Banks left.

I don’t think that was the case against K State.

[markstanco 12781]

TCU has lived and died by the explosive play all year. When they can't push the ball down the field and score quickly, they get into trouble.

I can honestly say I haven’t watched them all year but I only listen during drive time to college sports. They are oppo of texas. Starts slow finishes strong.

So, what is the deal on big plays? Real question, no sarcasm since I know nothing about tcu this year. But looking at W/L the big play doesn’t matter.

[Valmy77 13570]

17 minutes ago, 4th and 5 said:

It’s not the scheme, it’s the execution.

What is not readily apparent is whether it is coaching or players.

To what extent are the coaches poor teachers?

Or are the players (LB, S) poor students?

I favor the latter.

We will find out depending on if this problem persists.

[jimmyjazz 47059]

Great press conference thread, guys.  Well done.

[Slacks 7040]

7 hours ago, Dahobbs said:

I know people keep thinking the reason our pass defense is bad is because we play soft coverage. It isn't. Our defensive problems stem from a complete inability of our linebackers to play man and brain dead mistakes in zone coverage. Guys aren't wide open because our coverage is giving them space on purpose, they are wide open because our players aren't executing. Fortunately, despite all those miscues, somehow our scoring defense is pretty good, mainly because our rush defense is legitimately excellent. 

This. I think I mentioned it in one of three billion threads...  The defensive plan is actually working.  Last year we couldn't stop the run for jack and we had no pass rush.  Now, we can stop the run, forcing teams to win in the passing game, which requires a level of execution that most college offense cannot optimize (see: Us).  Unfortunately, we still fight against ourselves with a lack of pass rush and LB play in space...  But we're really fucking close, fellas.  We're 2 good LBs and a pass rusher away from a lot of winning.

[Slacks 7040]

35 minutes ago, DanTheHorn said:

Again I say it is not the design it hard to teach all the intricacies. My view is teach superior talent how to cover man to man and put a safety over the top of their best receiver and it may have more success. Yea I may be all wrong I just want to go back to whatever Akina use to do because it worked.

Have a pass rush that DBs can count on (literally count and then play the ball).

[horn4life 3836]

Basically the defense is burdened by the inability of the offense to sustain scoring drives for more than 3-4 minutes... for a " long drive." I did a quick look at the box scores and found several scoring drives over 4 minutes.  But only two scoring drives the whole season more than 5 minutes.  against ULM a 5:22 drive, and a 6:12 drive to close out ISU.

I love the long ball, but fuck we got dinked to fucking death by both Tech and Okie State.  Run the ball and throw a bunch of sandlot 6-11 yard passes, and let our athletes produce and POSSESS offensively.  When the other teams offense is good and runs a shit ton of plays, our defense suffers.  This shit is not rocket science.  Dumb down the offense to throw underneath, and run the damn ball.  A Possession underneath passing and run games opens up the deep pass anyhow.  Plus the advantage of a dink and run offense is you can go no sub and keep their defense on the field and tiring.  

Perhaps even more importantly, this team still has a fragile psyche.  Sustain drives and eat clock.  That's how you win games.  Two fucking  drives the entire season more than 5 minutes?  That's not dominating football.  It simply isn't.  And we have the fucking tools!!!!  Just be happy with first downs, rather than explosive 20+ yard plays.  They explosive plays will come, IF you pound them with the run and tosses underneath.

down off soap box....

[C-Man 27759]

TCU has lived and died by the explosive play all year. When they can't push the ball down the field and score quickly, they get into trouble.

That and injuring opposing QB1’s

[theBlackJuanba 71]

4 hours ago, Loop 1604 said:

hmm is he though?

That's what I'm wondering out loud, too. At one point in the game, Fox showed a graphic about our runs to the left, up the middle, and to the right. 

5 rushes to the right for 23 yards, 0 TDs. 

7 rushes up the middle for 57 yards, 0 TDs. 

6 rushes to the left for 125 yards and 2 TDs.