Post by FUBeAR on Sept 30, 2016 7:33:17 GMT -5
12 yards off is a bit excessive unless you have immediate underneath help from a 'walked' LB or rolled up Safety. But 8 yards (or so) off in a base zone coverage vs. that O is OK...as long as the DB's come up and make SURE tackles. Remember those Sammy WR's are BURNERS. With a lot of blitzing, you almost have to deploy some variety of man coverage or minimize the deep help in a zone blitz scheme. With Avant fighting a strained hammy all season and Houzah out with a knee injury, Mercer didn't have a lot of speedy options at CB by the final game of the 2015 season. Sammy, 2015, IMHO, wasn't lost because of the defensive game plan - it was lost because of poor execution (missed tackles) and the accompanying "here we go again; another loss in the 4th quarter" mindset that is SO VERY, VERY HARD to not have with a team of young men that HAD lost so many games in the 4th quarter throughout the 2015 (and 2014) season. I would imagine the more recent late wins over Chatt and FU faded quickly when those 2 big plays 'hit' and the losses to TTU, Woffy, WCU, VMI, and El Cid flashed back to the front of the Team psyche.
Anyway, VMI's O is different than Sammy's and PRESSURE is THE way to get after it, IMO. That said, as mentioned above, pressure means less deep help for CB's; so you may not like the 'cushions' that you see when Mercer does blitz, but there is good reason for it. On the other hand, with Jeremy James, Eric Jackson, Stephen Houzah, and Kam Lott all healthy, Mercer now has more speed, athleticism, and depth at the CB position than they have had in previous seasons...so maybe a little press man coverage will be seen this Saturday. VMI has some very good and very experienced Retrievers though - I think #21 Sanders caught 59 passes in last year's game (in the 1st half) and #6 Forlines is a wily one. Those guys will catch their share on Saturday, but if the Bears can get #8's jersey dirty (VMI has real grass!) and make him throw it to the wrong color jersey a time or 4, it'll be all good...and we can worry about the Homewood BullPups in November...who knows they may have well over 100 cumulative yards rushing as a team for the season by then. Take away a fake punt (10 yards) and they are currently averaging around 5 yards rushing / game vs. FCS competition.
If you are going to play off receivers against a team like Samford, VMI, or UTC (and before that App State), you have to make tackles. The idea is eliminate the big play downfield and force the offense to dink and dunk you all game. You make a quick strike team take 12 or 15 plays to score, there is a pretty decent chance they will eventually make a mistake, get behind the sticks, or throw one to the wrong color jersey. Defensive backs, though, have to come up fast and make the tackle. Those offenses survive on yards after the catch.
Once in the redzone, the defense can clamp down a bit more. Those offenses are heavily reliant on space to make their machine work, and when the goal line gets closer, the space gets smaller. That's where good defenses will make their mark, in my opinion.
That philosophy can lead to some gaudy offensive numbers, but tends to keep you in the game. The defense's goal is to keep the other team from scoring, not keep them from completing passes.
