The Front Seven vs. Uncovered Offensive Linemen

[edgesofsanity]

One Foot Down has put up an excellent discussion on the responsibilities of the inside linebackers on running plays and their interactions with offensive guards. It breaks down the options and different looks, and then talks about how Pitt utilized them and how Notre Dame countered. This may be elementary for some of you, but I found it quite informative.

Bottom line – ND varied their gap responsibilities along their defensive front. This created some situations that I think Pitt found difficult to handle. With both DE’s squeezing down both B gaps, things got pretty jammed up in the middle. With ND’s noseman lined up practically in A gap on the tight side, he tied up, and routinely defeated two blockers on each play. This freed up both ILBs to pursue to the ball without spending a lot of time reading uncovered guards or defeating guards on base blocks.

 

[IrishinSyria]

Thanks for posting that, it was an interesting read. If you read in-between the lines, it also emphasizes the fact that our d-line, especially Williams, has been the quiet heart of this D.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Tremendous stuff---wish we posted analyses of all phases of our team's development at regular intervals. Of course that would limit some people's abilities to complain about players or "errors" which in reality might be quite other than they seem.