ivan maisel article (espn.com) on Irish defense

[maison bleu]

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- The reclamation project that is the Notre Dame defense has heard it all spring. They've heard the criticism. They've heard about the lack of a pass rush, about how they gave away big plays last season like every Saturday was Christmas.

And that's just from coach Charlie Weis.

"Coach Weis," senior defensive end Victor Abiamiri said, "is a pretty harsh critic, but he forces you to make yourself better."

See the rest here...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=2411139

 

[BigIrish]

i'm not sure if i should be encouraged by the upbeat tone of the article or not. every time i think about the big plays the irish gave up last year, i get a little queasy.

i couldn't believe the stat that charlie threw out there - every 4 out of 5 plays gained less than 2 yards? the big play will kill us next year if we don't get this defense fixed.

 

[jiggafini19]

The pass rush and secondary will improve just in time for the Linebackers to have durability (Crum) and experience (everyone else) questions.

 

[Guest]

We should be solid against the run, and we got good pressure on dropback QB's last year(Henne, Leinart,Edwards) its the dual threat guys that kill us. The secondary was awful against Stanford considering all the sacks we had.

Minter will have some more bodies to work with this year so hopefully some freshmen can emerge for us.

 

[Vince Young]

Another good read, Maison. Thanks! And cut it out, you're gonna make me start liking you.

 

[Aerosmith777]

A defensive lineman's key to winning one-on-one battles depends on strength and technique, skills developed with little more than sweat equity. Abiamiri has focused on using his hands more efficiently to ward off offensive tackles. A few days ago, Weis handed him a video of every one of the 22½ sacks made by the Giants' Michael Strahan when he set the NFL record four seasons ago.

"I have been watching that highlight tape over and over again," Abiamiri said, "trying to learn the moves he used. We have similar playing styles. There wasn't any one move in particular. I'm going to try the same things he tried. They're not my moves yet. I have a lot of work to do. I'm trying to take a page out of his book."

Just warms my heart as a Big Blue fan to read that.

hopefully next year the defense will step it up a notch, but I have to disagree w/ one thing Charlie said in the article, that you can't rely on the blitz. First of all, I'd like someone to point out to me when last year ND ever relied on the blitz. And secondly, I think that's the best way to improve a defense nowadays, to have a great blitz package and not play too conservatively. I hope they don't turn into a Cover 2 this year (which they reminded me a bit last year), just trying to sit back in coverage all day. I hate that defense in the pros, and I absolutely loath it in college b/c I don't think most teams have the speed (especially ND) to run it effectively.

 

[jiggafini19]

I think you need to have the proper personnel to run the cover 2 or blitzing schemes.

ND has neither in my mind. I could be wrong.

Still, you look at last season and who was sacking the QB it makes you wonder what this method of defense is capable of with more speed and talent.

(Note, I said MORE speed and talent. This is not to say that there isn't speed and talent there already, I just wish there was MORE)

 

[BigIrish]

First of all, I'd like someone to point out to me when last year ND ever relied on the blitz.

i thought that charlie was referencing the stanford game specifically where they blitzed a fair amount.