Why is the Defense so much better?

ibahawkeye

ibahawkeye

Well-Known Member
It just seems hard to believe when you lose guys like Trinca Pasat and Carl Davis and our best DE (2nd best D player) has been injured since game 2 how much better this unit has been.

The 2 obvious things that stand out to me....

Jaleel Johnson has been terrific. (but Carl Davis wasn't too bad either last year so is Jaleel out playing Carl by that much?)
Linebackers- Josey Jewell I believe was injured some last year. He's so much better this year. Bo Bower has some pretty good hands and made some nice plays with the INTs but as an every down guy, he was physically outmatched. Cole Fisher has been a huge improvement. Niemann has been solid.


So if Carl and Jaleel are some what of a wash... it has to be the linebackers right?
 
ibahawkeye said:
It just seems hard to believe when you lose guys like Trinca Pasat and Carl Davis and our best DE (2nd best D player) has been injured since game 2 how much better this unit has been.

The 2 obvious things that stand out to me....

Jaleel Johnson has been terrific. (but Carl Davis wasn't too bad either last year so is Jaleel out playing Carl by that much?)
Linebackers- Josey Jewell I believe was injured some last year. He's so much better this year. Bo Bower has some pretty good hands and made some nice plays with the INTs but as an every down guy, he was physically outmatched. Cole Fisher has been a huge improvement. Niemann has been solid.


So if Carl and Jaleel are some what of a wash... it has to be the linebackers right?
Click to expand...

Linebackers are 100x better. Remember how much people ripped on Morris, Kirksey, and Hitchens their first year??? Then they got older and much, much better.

Plus King has stepped up from good to Elite this year, making a huge difference in the secondary.
 
deanvogs said:
Linebackers are 100x better. Remember how much people ripped on Morris, Kirksey, and Hitchens their first year??? Then they got older and much, much better.

Plus King has stepped up from good to Elite this year, making a huge difference in the secondary.
Click to expand...

Agreed on both points. And King changes offensive schemes and limits that side of the field.
 
IOWA's D under Ferentz has always depended on solid linebacker play. Tremendous improvement there from last year.

We're also much better at setting the edge. That, as much as anything, burned us the last two years. (and we'll need it tomorrow bit time)

But all 3 areas are playing better as a group...Line and DBacks have been solid. And it never hurts to a Desmond King game-changer.

Imagine what they'd look like with Ott. Oh man...
 
The defense is good because of the offense. Just how many times and for how long has Iowa been behind in any game this season? Iowa State? Wisconsin?

Iowa's offense makes Iowa's defense so much better. And vice-versa.
Iowa's defense is good against the run. Not so good against the pass. If the defense can pin their ears because Iowa's offense has backed an opponent into a corner, they'll be more successful. Any defense.

I'd also say that after seeing the Maryland game, Iowa's defense needs some work covering the QB run.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
IOWA's D under Ferentz has always depended on solid linebacker play. Tremendous improvement there from last year.

We're also much better at setting the edge. That, as much as anything, burned us the last two years. (and we'll need it tomorrow bit time)

But all 3 areas are playing better as a group...Line and DBacks have been solid. And it never hurts to a Desmond King game-changer.

Imagine what they'd look like with Ott. Oh man...
Click to expand...

Nate Meier last year at times was just physically overmatched. The kid was already tough as nails now that he has got a little junk in the trunk he is a beast. He can now funnel everything to the inside where the linebackers and safeties can clean up.
 
It is linebacker play. They are making the tackles at first contact more than not. Last year, I saw so many missed tackles and repeatedly said " this is not Iowa! That's what bad team defenses do -- not the Hawks damnit!"
And a lot of those missed tackles were on the edge.
Bo Bower missed a bunch last year and I think that had a lot to do with him losing his starting position. But I don't mean to slam Bo, he's a high motor guy we need, but he seemed to be a bit out of position too much and couldn't finish the tackle on his own.
 
The fundamentals by the back 7 was very inconsistent last year. Iowa has lacked experience/talent in the past, but the fundamentals have always been there. The tackling, guys being out of position to make plays, it was very un-Iowa like last year. I think PP made a huge effort to get back to fundamental, assignment football.
 
HomerChampless said:
The defense is good because of the offense. Just how many times and for how long has Iowa been behind in any game this season? Iowa State? Wisconsin?

Iowa's offense makes Iowa's defense so much better. And vice-versa.
Iowa's defense is good against the run. Not so good against the pass. If the defense can pin their ears because Iowa's offense has backed an opponent into a corner, they'll be more successful. Any defense.

I'd also say that after seeing the Maryland game, Iowa's defense needs some work covering the QB run.
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This is Clown logic, they have been saying this for almost 3 years now. The Iowa offense put the defense in terrible position all second half vs Becky, but Iowa held them out of the end zone. Iowa had like 50 yards of offense vs Mayland in the second half, and Maryland managed 1 TD against the D in that half.

The defense is good, because it is good. Please don't bring Clown logic to a Hawkeye board.
 
How nice to have an intelligent topic for a change. The turnaround is indeed amazing. First I would say that I disagree with you about Carl Davis. Davis did play well two years ago. Last year he was horrible. Johnson is outplaying him very badly. King as mentioned earlier is playing Elite. Guys have just all around gotten much better. As a team we are shedding blocks better. Our DL is getting their hands up to bat down balls much more often. We are taking far better angles. We are setting the edge and spilling run plays to the sideline much better. The tackling is better. Guys are playing smarter. We aren't making as many mental errors or being as slow to react. The LB play is definitely much improved. Hesse is ahead of schedule. We presently have two speed DE's and we have much faster LB's. This has lead to better match ups. The great thing is that it is a number of things and not just one or two things!
 
I have to admit...I don't miss watching Spearman chasing after the play 20 yards downfield because he wasn't in position to stop it at the line of scrimmage. Our two tackles are doing exactly what they are supposed to...and they are consistent. Occupy people and don't retreat...excellent. LB reacting rather than thinking...huge difference.

Spearman, Bower, and Q. Alston versus Neiman, Jewell, and Fisher. The latter three have more speed and are more physical and have a much better understanding of positioning and leverage. It's not fair to Bo and I'm not throwing him under the bus...but he wasn't ready to play last year...and neither was Spearman. It a huge difference in play though.
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
I have to admit...I don't miss watching Spearman chasing after the play 20 yards downfield because he wasn't in position to stop it at the line of scrimmage. Our two tackles are doing exactly what they are supposed to...and they are consistent. Occupy people and don't retreat...excellent. LB reacting rather than thinking...huge difference.

Spearman, Bower, and Q. Alston versus Neiman, Jewell, and Fisher. The latter three have more speed and are more physical and have a much better understanding of positioning and leverage. It's not fair to Bo and I'm not throwing him under the bus...but he wasn't ready to play last year...and neither was Spearman. It a huge difference in play though.
Click to expand...

Spearman was dismissed by Illinois State. 'Nuff said...
 
Not trying to diminish what our d has done but part of them being better is their opponents being worse. Just go back and look at how many catch-able balls by our opponents were dropped.

Another aspect being our offense having long drives keeping them off the field and rested.
 
First thing that came to me was LB play,but having a lock down corner is huge.It seems they play great assignment football,they seem to be in position to make the play without to many mistakes.No big super stars but they complement each other real well and that makes a great defense.Keep it quite but King's close to being our super star,love to have him back for his Senior year.Go Hawks
 
There is no one thing that has created the better play by the defense. Some of it is some new guys on the field. Some of it is guys are a year more experienced. And some of it is better coaching. Put it all together and you have a great defense.
 
Try to think of any missed tackles this year. I can't really think of any that cost us a lot of yards. I remember about 100 last year.
 
Discipline. Role responsibility football. Play within the scheme. Do your job. The de's have been doing a great job locking down the edges...condensing the field for our DT's to plug the middle and we have outstanding db's to come up and make plays as well. Athletic yet disciplined lbs...easy right. We have good enough athletes to play fundamental play your position football.
 
As someone pointed out, the offense is another reason the defense is so much better. Also I would add the special teams. Quite often this year the defense is taking the field rested and deep in the enemies territory. Last year the offense put the defense with their back to the wall too often. It's a lot more exciting when the offense is making 75 yards runs or 40 yard passes. No checking down to a 3 yard pass this year!
 
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