Vanilla defense becoming more flavorful?
- Thread starter Hawkfromnorwalk
- Start date
trj
Well-Known Member
Now you got me thinking. Press coverage would mean Sash and Greenwood are up on the los, in coverage, man to man without any help over the top. This also means that you can't provide help over the top to your corners who are good, but not lock down corners. Man, that is big risk considering Persa completes 70% of his passes. I just don't think I would have been comfortable with Sash/Greenwood in press coverage. Moving forward with Hyde at a safety spot, yes, I am all for it.
I can't remember who the sam linebacker was that game, Dibona? Johnson? Whoever it was gave up passing yardage beyond the 5-7 yds. stuff. Nielsen/Tarp your best cover linebackers were injured. My point of this rant is Homerhawkeye777 is correct personnel will dictate what you can and can't do. Going to press coverage out shear frustration is not the way go. Some years moving forward the Iowa O will have to put up points against a traditionally mediocre NW defense because you are going to be limited to what you can do defensively.
SteveGarvey
Well-Known Member
The offense and defense were both culpable in the NW game. The O should have scored more points and Stanzi made a horrible throw but the defense had chances to stop NW and couldn't when needed.
It's silly to say it wasn't a group effort in the loss.
cmhawks99
Well-Known Member
Ding, ding, ding on all accounts......well the bum thing is a little stronger than I'd have gone, but I won't miss him all the same.
Chad
theantiAIRBHG
Well-Known Member
cmhawks99
Well-Known Member
Why.....You mean I’m going to miss him being a constant media distraction. I’m going to miss him making horrendously poor attempts on balls in the air from time to time, or I’m going to miss him not trying to tackle the guy who intercepted a ball. I’m going to miss him putting himself above the team….
Iowa fans are funny to me…..they think KF should have benched the guys who “they†thought were giving poor performances, yet DJK who PROVED he was obviously a distraction they are “ok†with?!?!
Hmmmmmmm…….that’s open minded.
Chad
theantiAIRBHG
Well-Known Member
I'm sure you were right there at the fore front wishing Ferentz would sit down DJK for his actions the entire year right? So I suppose you never cheered when he caught a TD pass, or converted a 3rd and long to keep a drive going?
Hawkeye "fans" that want things both ways are "funny to me".
cmhawks99
Well-Known Member
So can I assume you are laughing in your mirror right now....
People rarely see the turn of their own words, it makes for fun dialogue. Like me cheering for an Iowa Td is in anyway related to the conversation at hand. I happened to like DJK despite his failings and there have been others that I thought were poor teammates and I cheered for them as well. Completely, totally, ridiculous attempt to explain away his poor habits and actions.
Chad
homerHAWKeye777
Well-Known Member
Press coverage with who?
Prater? Prater is/was still a bit undersized and loses plenty of battles against bigger, more physical WRs. He's on record stating that he wants to get bigger and stronger for his SR campaign ... and that is part of the reason why he didn't jump to the NFL after his JR campaign. [the '10 season marked his 3rd year on campus]
Hyde? Hyde is a little bigger, but he's still young and lanky ... and furthermore he was still a bit inexperienced. [the '10 season marked his 2nd year on campus]
Bernstine? Bernstine is big, physical, and fast enough ... however, he's repeatedly been noted as still being a bit on the inconsistent side in coverage. [4th year on campus ... but injured a lot in prior years]
Castillo? From what I understand, Castillo is still a bit on the slow side. As a result, if a WR gets a step on him in press-coverage ... then he's beat. [3rd year on campus]
Furthermore, when executing press-coverage, you still need the LBs to be effective in their coverage responsibilities too. If you watched the Northwestern game, then you quickly realized that Persa was keeping an eye on whomever was covered by LBs (particularly, those who were covered by Troy Johnson). Even if Iowa employed press-coverage, we'd still likely be stuck with a LB in coverage (to cover Dunsmore or the RB) ... and Persa still would have eaten us alive there. And, on top of that, without the safety help over the top, Persa likely would have been able to burn us more for big-gainers too.
Now look to the PAST.
In '07:
Godfrey - Big, fast, strong, .... AND EXPERIENCED! After being mediocre, at best, in '06 ... Godfrey really put things together as a SR. He had the strength to win many battles when jamming guys ... AND, on top of that, he had the speed to get back if the WR got a step on him. [4th year on campus ... a TR SR]
Fletcher - Big, strong, and pretty fast ... AND pretty experienced! After really sucking in '05 and '06, Fletcher really started showing flashes in '06. He was mainly brought in when we needed a physical DB to execute press-coverage. He got beat a bit by Hardy ... however, we got killed more there because we were missing our starting MIKE LB and FS (Shada was playing FS in that game). To Fletcher's credit, Hardy only had something like 4 grabs on the day ... but missed tackles on him is a big part of what killed us. [4th year on campus ... a RS JR]
In '08:
Fletcher - Big, strong, pretty fast, and EXPERIENCED! Otherwise see above .... he's a guy who already had a good bit of experience in press-coverage too. [5th year on campus ... a RS SR]
Spievey - Good size, very good speed and great athleticism, ... and surprisingly confident for his first year back from ICCC. Also, it's worth noting that he had a full year of starts under his belt in the JUCO ranks ... where he was really successful and played really aggressively. A lot of folks threw the ball in his direction ... however, he really responded well and developed pretty quickly. [3rd year in college ... a RS SO]
THE POINT: Just look at the personnel in '07 and '08 ... both seasons where we executed a good bit of press-coverage. In those seasons we had guys who could pull it off. We had guys who were either athletically a bit freakish OR we had guys who turned out to be phenomenal cover-guys.
In '09, Spievey and Prater were a great duo, however, part of our success there was that we were able to give safety-help on Prater's side. Don't get me wrong, Prater was very good ... we were notably better in coverage with him in than when we had Lowe or Castillo in instead. However, Prater was still a little short ... and he would sometimes make bad reads.
In '10, I really liked both Prater and Hyde ... however, Prater simply wasn't as good as Spievey. Thus, we couldn't really give Hyde extra safety help without it leaving Prater on an island. And, as we all witnessed, Prater got burned for big plays many times when he was stuck on islands. Thus, we really weren't well suited to pull off press-coverage.
theantiAIRBHG
Well-Known Member
So can I assume you are laughing in your mirror right now....
People rarely see the turn of their own words, it makes for fun dialogue. Like me cheering for an Iowa Td is in anyway related to the conversation at hand. I happened to like DJK despite his failings and there have been others that I thought were poor teammates and I cheered for them as well. Completely, totally, ridiculous attempt to explain away his poor habits and actions.
Chad
[/QUOTE
I'm not sure I follow what you're point is?
When did I ever attempt to explain away his poor habits and actions? All I asked you was if you cheered for him when he scored a TD in the black and yellow, because I know I sure did!
I guess maybe a better way of talking about the absence of DJK that we should all adapt is: the difference between missing him in and out of uniform. Because I would pose the assumption that it is OK to separate the two persons and cheer/ridicule as we see fit? Agree?
Personally, I could care less if DJK was snorting cocaine out of Sally Mason's cleavage, as long as he was hauling in 30 yard TD scores every Saturday.. but maybe that's just me
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cmhawks99
Well-Known Member
So can I assume you are laughing in your mirror right now....
People rarely see the turn of their own words, it makes for fun dialogue. Like me cheering for an Iowa Td is in anyway related to the conversation at hand. I happened to like DJK despite his failings and there have been others that I thought were poor teammates and I cheered for them as well. Completely, totally, ridiculous attempt to explain away his poor habits and actions.
Chad
[/QUOTE
I'm not sure I follow what you're point is?
When did I ever attempt to explain away his poor habits and actions? All I asked you was if you cheered for him when he scored a TD in the black and yellow, because I know I sure did!
I guess maybe a better way of talking about the absence of DJK that we should all adapt is: the difference between missing him in and out of uniform. Because I would pose the assumption that it is OK to separate the two persons and cheer/ridicule as we see fit? Agree?
Personally, I could care less if DJK was snorting cocaine out of Sally Mason's cleavage, as long as he was hauling in 30 yard TD scores every Saturday.. but maybe that's just me
Ironically enuff, me neither. Ironic because I am a born again Christian and quit drinking myself 9 years ago. All the same I know who I was and what you or anyone does is their business. I’m down on it, I think it is a tragedy and I’m not judging when I say experience has taught me that’s going the wrong way. But as long as DJK was a consummate teammate, what he did really didn’t affect me! I could feel for him and not really be involved emotionally at the same time.
The problem is he proved NOT to be a consummate teammate and although these kinds of things are hard for people to quantify… the behind the scenes stuff, i/e: locker room, leading by example, not being a Prima Donna, etc is where champions are made and as we found out DJK was likely a distraction for 5 years.
This team had average to poor leadership and DJK WAS a part of that. Sometimes when it appears someone is being unfairly singled out (like many thought DJK was) and then all of a sudden this stuff happens, we then look back and say….”oooohhh I guess we didn’t have all the info”
I propose DJK did more harm than good….that’s my opinion, but an educated one, because I have dealt with a lot of supremely talented guys who we ultimately had to fire and we improved when they were gone.
So in review, I’m not anti-DJK, he was indeed fun to watch at times, but no I will not miss him and I propose our chemistry, effort and lack of distraction will improve immensely with him gone.
Chad
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homerHAWKeye777
Well-Known Member
When did I ever attempt to explain away his poor habits and actions? All I asked you was if you cheered for him when he scored a TD in the black and yellow, because I know I sure did!
I guess maybe a better way of talking about the absence of DJK that we should all adapt is: the difference between missing him in and out of uniform. Because I would pose the assumption that it is OK to separate the two persons and cheer/ridicule as we see fit? Agree?
Personally, I could care less if DJK was snorting cocaine out of Sally Mason's cleavage, as long as he was hauling in 30 yard TD scores every Saturday.. but maybe that's just me
The problem with DJK is that he purposely brought attention to himself and it was a distraction. Furthermore, he was a well-liked guy who demonstrated VERY BAD habits on the practice field.
When you have a guy like that ... rather than bringing the team together and making the team better ... a player like that creates a DIVIDE on the team and negatively impacts their development (particularly the development of young players who look up to him).
Fortunately for DJK the coaches are all about educating young people and trying help them mature and develop. As a result, he was given a bunch of chances to prove himself on and off the field.
Unfortunately for the team, it also allowed for DJK to bring down the team. Instead of Keenan Davis, Colin Sandeman, and Don Nordman getting those extra reps ... DJK got them. Heck, the number of reps that DJK got also took away from McNutt's reps a few years ago. Consequently, it could be argued that McNutt could potentially be even further along had DJK not been around.
Did I cheer when DJK caught passes? Sure! However, I also hoped that DJK would finally mature and get his act together. I held out hope that he would become more of a leader and be less of a cancer to the team.
However, the benefit of hindsight also leads me to wish that DJK had never become an Iowa WR. Just because he was a talented guy doesn't automatically imply that we were better off having him on the team.
cmhawks99
Well-Known Member
seepig
Well-Known Member
I thought this thread was about vanilla D? In any event I think we alllll forget that NOrm wasn't on the sidelines for what 7 or our games last year....may have had something to do with it. I would hate to think we might be stuck with Phil as the head D man...what a debacle that was with him making the Def. calls.
homerHAWKeye777
Well-Known Member
I don't have a problem with either Phil or Darrell calling the D. The issue there is that we didn't know how long Norm would be out. Thus, we were then forced to have some coaches split duties and also have Phil and Darrell as co-coordinators.
While I don't have much of a problem with the play-calling ... particularly because injuries made us play some really inexperienced guys and that ended up forcing our hand with regard to how simplified our D would HAVE TO be .... I do believe that having Norm at the helm INHERENTLY makes the unit better. Having Norm at the helm gives the group an added dimension of confidence ... at the very least. After the dominating defensive performance that Iowa had against Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl ... the players very well know that Norm has a very special defensive mind.
Heck, after the bowl game against Mizzou and the adjustments that Norm had the D make in the second half ... that just further proves the added value that Norm has. There's a reason why Ferentz wants Norm as a memember of the program in whatever capacity possible.
MoseSchrute
Well-Known Member
Here is a dumb question. Who among our conference foes, if any, does the GT offense most resemble?
homerHAWKeye777
Well-Known Member
Nobody. However, Mizzou O resembles Northwestern O and the prior incarnation of Purdue's O.
Furthermore, Norm was responsible for Iowa's defensive adjustments against Wisky 2 years ago ... he had the guys change their reads because Brett was having Wisky exploit his intimate knowledge of our D to throw off our DL with some misdirection. After Iowa made the adjustments, our D completely shut them down.
cmhawks99
Well-Known Member
Not To mention Illinois and UM both run spread options that are derivatives of the triple-O….. we play very good D. We aren’t smarter than Norm Parker, Kirk Ferentz, Derrel Wilson, Phil Parker et al….
When they call bad plays they are still better than our good ones.
Chad
PJHawk
Well-Known Member
For chrissakes Homer - Sandeman and Nordman could have a lifetime of extra reps and never approach the level of playmaking and talent that DJK brought to this game. I always liked your posts but your last statement comes off as a real horse's @ss. It's no surprise "chad" agrees with it.