Offseason Schematic Adjustments?

[drew003]

All this talk of firing coaches, wholesale philosophy changes, ect... is a bit over the top and not realistic. But I think we will see some schematic adjustments next year. Not philosophical changes, we will still play with TEs/FBs and zone blocking and we will still be conservative on defense and primarily sit in a Cover 2 or 3 shell. But I would be surprised if we don't see some schematic variations. Ferentz isn't stupid, and he knows we lost 4 games this season the exact same way, despite having pretty good talent. You lose the same way 4 times, you're going to re-evaluate some schemes.

So I think the useful discussion is then, what schematic adjustments (not unrealistic wholesale changes) should we implement. I'll put forth a few of my thoughts.

On offense we need to successfully implement some "spread" passing tendencies. We have shown spread formations over the last two years, but we've never been proficient at them. I'll place some blame on Stanzi who I think lacks the arm talent and decision-making to execute the short/timing passing game at a high level. But the reason, in my opinion, our 3rd and intermediate and 2-minute drill has been terrible is because we are terrible in the short/timing passing game. If we add a successful spread package, that features some short-timing passing I think we will see improvement in 3rd down conversions and 2-minute drill.

On defense, we simply have to implement some Blitz packages. We need defensive players in the Back 7 that can blitz (that means some explosive athletes) and then we have to develop some packages where we can situationally blitz. 4th and 10 is a perfect blitz down, for example. I'm not sure I've see us blitz two players this season. At some point, you need to get good QB's, who are rolling, out of their rhythm, big play be damned. I'd also like to see us upgrade our athleticism at safety, thus at least giving us the option of playing some man schemes at times.

 

[BSpringsteen]

On offense we need to start having some purpose. We've shown an ability to ram it down the throats of top lines, but then abandon the running game. We throw deep to often on 1st down, and put ourselves in too many 3rd and long.

We should only ever pass out of the shotgun, or run play action rollouts. Other than that, run the ball and use the run to set up the play action.

Keep them on their toes, no more predictability.

On defense, the cover 2 only works if we get pass rush. If we don't and a QB can just sit back and wait for plays to develop, every QB is going to be deadly accurate against us.

On Special Teams, they should all be starters on the O or the D, and the only way someone who isn't on the 2 deep sees the field is to displace one of those guys on special teams.

 

[tm3308]

The offense I've not had much issue with outside of philosophy. More specifically, how that philosophy plays out in particular instances. It's bugged me for years how we routinely get the ball with under two minutes and at least one timeout, and then elect to sit on it, comfortable with a 7-point or less lead going into half. That's come back to bite us before, and it will again.

On defense, I don't think we need to blitz more. We need to blitz more effectively, and not make it obvious when we are and when we aren't. Show it and then drop back into the base defense, disguise it when you're coming. Also, when playing the ball-control spread teams (NW, IU), bring the corners up and play a straight Cover 2, not the soft version we usually play.

Our base is VERY effective against most teams, because most teams want to stretch the field vertically, and when they try it, they pay for it in interceptions. Even when a team makes adjustments and tries to run more of a ball-control spread, the QB will make a few dumb throws because it's in the back of his head (see Pryor's picks on Saturday). But guys like Persa, Kafka, Basanez, Chappell, etc.? They don't want to do that. They are TOTALLY conditioned mentally to look underneath, and therefore not tempted to force a deep throw. That makes our base defense far less effective. By keeping the corners in the flats, we take some of the coverage pressure off of the linebackers (this is especially important when we don't have guys like Edds, Angerer or Greenway on the field), and gives the D-Line more time to do what they do best against teams that don't give you a lot of time to get pressure without good coverage.