Combined effect on Defense from an improving back 7

[three hog night]

We all got upset about the 8-10 yard cushion our Corners were giving the WR's last year.  It gave the other team 5+ yards any time they wanted it.  One nuance stands out to me as I watched games last year was that our Corners cushion was taking away the advantage we had on the Dline. 

Our Dline was quite good last year, but they never had time to get to the QB.  The QB was able to find an open WR, TE or Back and get rid of the ball very quickly.  The Dline could hardly ever get to the QB, and I don't remember any coverage sacks.

Fast forward to this year- our Corners are more experienced and ALSO playing press coverage.  The media, coaches and players all talk about the improvement in the secondary.  The WR's will not have an EASY time like last year, so the timing of the passing game will be slowed down considerably from last year.   Our Dline may be more productive than last year's because they will have time to get to the QB.

The Dline may not have much depth in the interior, but it has PLENTY at DE.  We are going to be able to come after the QB in waves from the DE.  The DT/NG interior positions have good quality as starters, but they 2nd string guys will have to step up big.  I expect an improvement in sacks and Int's because of this development.

Unexpectedly, the LB's look serviceable but not sure I am buying into the hype that they are good.  It is obvious that LB and Safety let us down last year, but those seem to be somewhat improved. My concern is that the Improved Secondary play will force more passes to TE's against LB's.   Can we handle it at LB?

[Cure]

More teams will run the ball at us and that will put more pressure on your interior depth. We shall see how they hold up, sigh is why they're putting more at DT.

[NorCalRazorback]

We all got upset about the 8-10 yard cushion our Corners were giving the WR's last year.  It gave the other team 5+ yards any time they wanted it.  One nuance stands out to me as I watched games last year was that our Corners cushion was taking away the advantage we had on the Dline. 

Our Dline was quite good last year, but they never had time to get to the QB.  The QB was able to find an open WR, TE or Back and get rid of the ball very quickly.  The Dline could hardly ever get to the QB, and I don't remember any coverage sacks.

Fast forward to this year- our Corners are more experienced and ALSO playing press coverage.  The media, coaches and players all talk about the improvement in the secondary.  The WR's will not have an EASY time like last year, so the timing of the passing game will be slowed down considerably from last year.   Our Dline may be more productive than last year's because they will have time to get to the QB.

The Dline may not have much depth in the interior, but it has PLENTY at DE.  We are going to be able to come after the QB in waves from the DE.  The DT/NG interior positions have good quality as starters, but they 2nd string guys will have to step up big.  I expect an improvement in sacks and Int's because of this development.

Unexpectedly, the LB's look serviceable but not sure I am buying into the hype that they are good.  It is obvious that LB and Safety let us down last year, but those seem to be somewhat improved. My concern is that the Improved Secondary play will force more passes to TE's against LB's.   Can we handle it at LB?

Amen - I agree!

[Phil D]

The defense will be improved,how much? we will have a really good idea of that come Aug 30  :razorback:

[PygmalionEffect]

We all got upset about the 8-10 yard cushion our Corners were giving the WR's last year.  It gave the other team 5+ yards any time they wanted it.  One nuance stands out to me as I watched games last year was that our Corners cushion was taking away the advantage we had on the Dline. 

Our Dline was quite good last year, but they never had time to get to the QB.  The QB was able to find an open WR, TE or Back and get rid of the ball very quickly.  The Dline could hardly ever get to the QB, and I don't remember any coverage sacks.

Fast forward to this year- our Corners are more experienced and ALSO playing press coverage.  The media, coaches and players all talk about the improvement in the secondary.  The WR's will not have an EASY time like last year, so the timing of the passing game will be slowed down considerably from last year.   Our Dline may be more productive than last year's because they will have time to get to the QB.

The Dline may not have much depth in the interior, but it has PLENTY at DE.  We are going to be able to come after the QB in waves from the DE.  The DT/NG interior positions have good quality as starters, but they 2nd string guys will have to step up big.  I expect an improvement in sacks and Int's because of this development.

Unexpectedly, the LB's look serviceable but not sure I am buying into the hype that they are good.  It is obvious that LB and Safety let us down last year, but those seem to be somewhat improved. My concern is that the Improved Secondary play will force more passes to TE's against LB's.   Can we handle it at LB?

That's a good point concerning the opposing QB's not having so many instant bailout opportunities at the snap of the ball.  WRs were instantly open at the snap so that an average QB could get confidence boosting completions.

I think we'll make them earn it more this year.  Normally you think of press coverage being more of a win big-lose big defense and so we should expect to give up more long passes but that may not be the case with us.

Reason being, we gave up several big pass plays last year because the DB was so far off at the catch that he over-pursued trying to get to the WR to make a tackle, leading to long pass plays. (cost us the Florida game)

As far as DE goes though, we've got Beanum who's a RS on one end and Winston who did not show a lot last year on the other end.  Winston needs to be a player that shows measurable progress this year or we will actually be hurting depth wise at DE.  He got pushed around last year some although some of it looked like he got trapped up inside when the scheme had him rushing inside, so maybe some of those weren't directly on him?

Really need Lewis' knee to be ok.

[three hog night]

More teams will run the ball at us and that will put more pressure on your interior depth. We shall see how they hold up, sigh is why they're putting more at DT.

The defense will slow down the passing game, which will increase the rushing attempts.  I just don't think it is going to be a consistent effort at running the ball on our Defense. I think our Dline is going to be better than many think, and there is the nuance of going up against our Offensive Line in practice.  In previous years, Ollison would have been our star Def Tackle, so this should give you an idea of how far we have come with DT talent.

[three hog night]

That's a good point concerning the opposing QB's not having so many instant bailout opportunities at the snap of the ball.  WRs were instantly open at the snap so that an average QB could get confidence boosting completions.

I think we'll make them earn it more this year.  Normally you think of press coverage being more of a win big-lose big defense and so we should expect to give up more long passes but that may not be the case with us.

Reason being, we gave up several big pass plays last year because the DB was so far off at the catch that he over-pursued trying to get to the WR to make a tackle, leading to long pass plays. (cost us the Florida game)

As far as DE goes though, we've got Beanum who's a RS on one end and Winston who did not show a lot last year on the other end.  Winston needs to be a player that shows measurable progress this year or we will actually be hurting depth wise at DE.  He got pushed around last year some although some of it looked like he got trapped up inside when the scheme had him rushing inside, so maybe some of those weren't directly on him?

Really need Lewis' knee to be ok.

Very much agree with you.