Irish pass defense summed up ...

[irish4ever]

Quote from Zibby last night pretty well summed up the Irish pass defense for that last several years ...

"Obviously, we were giving them too much space to throw the ball," Irish safety Tom Zbikowski said. "Their receivers were too open and we weren't being physical enough with his receivers. He was just able to drop back and throw off timing and he'd hit his receivers."

ZIBBY, YOU THINK?!? It wasn't just last night, it's ALL the time!!!

 

[Junkhead]

Yeah, we didn't see many broken up passes. Most of the time, when the ball was caught, there weren't even any ND DBs in the picture!

 

[Satans Little Helper]

Yeah, we didn't see many broken up passes. Most of the time, when the ball was caught, there weren't even any ND DBs in the picture!

How many times did Duke get completely beat as a safety? 4 times? 3 for touchdowns?

i am dissappointed in Walls as well. THe only play of the game he was in, lets the fastest guy on the field beat him before he looks back at the QB. He might of had over the top help from Duke, but well, we know how that went all game. Sad, truly sad overall.

 

[Irish93]

How many times did Duke get completely beat as a safety? 4 times? 3 for touchdowns?

i am dissappointed in Walls as well. THe only play of the game he was in, lets the fastest guy on the field beat him before he looks back at the QB. He might of had over the top help from Duke, but well, we know how that went all game. Sad, truly sad overall.

It is tough to come off the bench and be expected to make a play against the fastest guy on LSU. Duke should have been there knowing the circumstances. I think that we need an overhaul at the safety position.

 

[Junkhead]

It is tough to come off the bench and be expected to make a play against the fastest guy on LSU. Duke should have been there knowing the circumstances. I think that we need an overhaul at the safety position.

He won't be back. I think he's a good tackler and at run-support, but coverage is a different story.

 

[domerfor life]

Yeah, we didn't see many broken up passes. Most of the time, when the ball was caught, there weren't even any ND DBs in the picture!

That was just atrocious pass defense last night. The receivers were wide open on every play!! I don't like how they played pass defense this year. There was no attempt to throw off the timing of the offense. Just sit back and watch a good QB pick us apart.

 

[TexasDomer]

What killed us in the 2d half was that LSU could run effectively. How many times did we see #5 or #25 get hit within three yards of the line of scrimmage, but the tackler not wrap? I lost count.

All year, I've been frustrated at the lack of tackling. We run into people really well (see Crum knocking out Lambert, leading to Walls's blown coverage the next play), but I don't see people wrapping and preventing yards after contact.

 

[Aerosmith777]

All year, I've been frustrated at the lack of tackling. We run into people really well (see Crum knocking out Lambert, leading to Walls's blown coverage the next play), but I don't see people wrapping and preventing yards after contact.

This to me is actually the biggest indictment of Minter there is. Its one thing when an opposing reciever can absolutely smoke an ND DB on a Go Route. That's not coaching, that's just lack of talent, so I won't throw him under the bus for that.

But when guys catch the ball on 3rd down 5 yards short of the mark, and then make two guys miss to get the 1st, that IS coaching imo. If you're going to play defense as conservatively as Minter does, then you have to be an excellent fundamentals team, and particularly an excellent tackling team, and outside of the safeties and maybe Richardson they just aren't imo. I think part of it is they're way too undersized at linebacker-Crum imo should definetely move back to the outside next year and let Smith (either of them) start in the middle. But then a lot of it is just bad technique too.

If Minter is back next year (and I'll assume he will be), they should spend pretty much all spring and a good chunk of next fall practice working solely on tackling technique. If you want to take a team that's underman-ed talent-wise and beat a team like UM or USC next year, you have to be able to make a 3 yard pass play on 3rd and 6 translate into 4th down, not a 1st.