Our Defensive Line

[Tdaley]

Does any remember seeing Eric Watts or Sokoya McDuffie on the field yesterday? They were two of our projected starters. I saw Gourdine, Stafford, McCarthy, Yates, Hooper and Oladele. I don't remember seeing either Watts or McDuffie.

 

[UConnJim]

I saw Watts out there and the box score said he had 4 tackles. I don’t remember seeing McDuffie, but the box score said he had 1 tackle.

 

[Palatine]

I heard the announcers call McDuffie's name. But they miscalled numerous players so who knows?

 

[huskymedic]

I don’t remember seeing McDuffie, but the box score said he had 1 tackle.

He was in the DL rotation and saw playing time during both halves.

 

[ScottVib]

Both Watts and McDuffie played. McDuffie had one tackle, Watts had 4. Watts started, McDuffie rotated in.

 

[ktuck911]

I heard the announcers call McDuffie's name. But they miscalled numerous players so who knows?

They were Utah State homers... shucks, it's been a common indecency for announcers on away games for them to do that to us.

 

[Guru13]

Our Dline was underwhelming…. Gourdine almost cost us a flag and should’ve kept a cool head… I like the rotations, but they’re just gonna have to play the best 3 guys who can get pressure to the qb.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Does any remember seeing Eric Watts or Sokoya McDuffie on the field yesterday? They were two of our projected starters. I saw Gourdine, Stafford, McCarthy, Yates, Hooper and Oladele. I don't remember seeing either Watts or McDuffie.

Pretty sure I saw Nos, 37 and 97 on the field. I think in a 3-4 the Dline is supposed to occupy the Oline allowing the Lbs. to make plays including pressuring the Qb along with somebody from the defensive backfield. Obviously a Travis Jones type talent at NT would be great. Wondering how the staff feels about their defensive backs given how soft they were told to play as Guru has said. Obviously gotta get more pressure on the qb to help them out. Haven't seen the replay yet but wondering about Bremby's play.

 

[Slick]

I saw Watts out there and the box score said he had 4 tackles. I don’t remember seeing McDuffie, but the box score said he had 1 tackle.

I saw Mcduffie

 

[jdb50]

This group was a concern for me going into the year and then Kevon Jones was gone. It looked like we had one our LB's at DE in some situations and they were having a tough time with the offensive tackle. I saw Watts in all game but did not notice McDuffie until the 4th Q. Depth of this group is thin. Seeing Gourdine in the blocking wall on the punt team surprised me. Would think you would want a faster player there plus give him a rest. The D-line played tough right through the 4th Q though. Credit to them.

 

[Palatine]

This group was a concern for me going into the year and then Kevon Jones was gone. It looked like we had one our LB's at DE in some situations and they were having a tough time with the offensive tackle. I saw Watts in all game but did not notice McDuffie until the 4th Q. Depth of this group is thin. Seeing Gourdine in the blocking wall on the punt team surprised me. Would think you would want a faster player there plus give him a rest. The D-line played tough right through the 4th Q though. Credit to them.

It was a base 3-4. On most plays, one of the LBs would come forward on either end of the line giving it a 4-3 look. They changed the front on some plays sometimes giving it a 5-2 look and we did have 6 or 7 on the line on some occasions.

They even moved pre-snap. Not often. But they the lined up in a 3-4. Moved the left OLB to LDE. Then they shifted the 3 DL to the right just before the snap. We never saw that last year.

The problem was the complete lack of pressure. In a base 3-4 the DL are suppose to eat up the OL to give the LBs the opportunity to make plays. They played OK against the run (until the 4th quarter). But on passing downs they were a liability. None of our defensive linemen were winning their one on one battles. And none of our blitzing LBs, with the exception of one JMitch blitz, came close to getting home.

That could be a scheme problem. But it might be a personnel problem. Meaning that our LBs were losing their one one battles when they had responsibility to apply pressure. It's sometthing the staff must look at.

 

[huskymedic]

Somewhat to the points above (just a step off):

 

[Duncan Idaho]

It was a base 3-4. On most plays, one of the LBs would come forward on either end of the line giving it a 4-3 look. They changed the front on some plays sometimes giving it a 5-2 look and we did have 6 or 7 on the line on some occasions.

They even moved pre-snap. Not often. But they the lined up in a 3-4. Moved the left OLB to LDE. Then they shifted the 3 DL to the right just before the snap. We never saw that last year.

The problem was the complete lack of pressure. In a base 3-4 the DL are suppose to eat up the OL to give the LBs the opportunity to make plays. They played OK against the run (until the 4th quarter). But on passing downs they were a liability. None of our defensive linemen were winning their one on one battles. And none of our blitzing LBs, with the exception of one JMitch blitz, came close to getting home.

That could be a scheme problem. But it might be a personnel problem. Meaning that our LBs were losing their one one battles when they had responsibility to apply pressure. It's sometthing the staff must look at.

They played a lot of 5 defensive backs. 3 linemen, 1 OLB. Bembry and Randle gave them nothing of a pass rush.