Defensive Play

BIG ERN said:
Here we weren't even ready and had JoJo lined out in nickel. DL crashed inside and Miller got kicked out leaving a massive hole. If you watch the play live Jackson catches him but then doesn't dive or do anything? It's odd if you watch it

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It looks like Jackson is going to attempt to punch the ball from behind but misjudged and by the time he got in position or near enough the RB was at the 2.

 
MyBloodIsRed16 said:
I saw that view the first time.. I dont think he gave good effort. He just stuck his arm out while he had his other arm on the rec.  He could have gone low with his shoulder or tried to grab a leg.  Instead he just sticks his arm out.  He had a lack of effort just like this on one of Illinois other scores.  
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He has about 2 of those a game, he doesn't like to tackle in the open field.  It looks like on actual blitzes he doesn't mind, but he did not make great effort on those particular plays. 

 
MyBloodIsRed16 said:
I saw that view the first time.. I dont think he gave good effort. He just stuck his arm out while he had his other arm on the rec.  He could have gone low with his shoulder or tried to grab a leg.  Instead he just sticks his arm out.  He had a lack of effort just like this on one of Illinois other scores.  
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He's being blocked and he's off balance in the replay you can see him falling to the side after he reaches out there's no way he could have lowered his shoulder or dove. 

whateveritis1224 said:
It looks like Jackson is going to attempt to punch the ball from behind but misjudged and by the time he got in position or near enough the RB was at the 2.
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I agree with this. By the time he catches the guy they're both at full speed. He can't grab him and pull backwards or he'll get a horse collar call. So, his option is try to punch the ball out or dive at his feet. If he'd dove the guy probably stumbles in still so I think he wanted to punch it out and just misjudged it. You don't sprint to catch a guy to only "not give effort." Tackling someone from behind at full speed is not easy. 

I don't buy that he's taking plays off. In the past he did, but Lamar has really turned a corner and is playing hard. He's getting recognized in the B1G and nationally for his play this year. He's laid some good hits on guys. I think people just still think of his past play but that's not the case anymore. The kids playing hard. 

 
Also, why is it that Jackson is even the one being called out on these two plays? The first play it's a run off tackle and the second is a run inside the tackle to the opposite side of the field from Jackson. What about our DL, LB and safety they get a pass for blowing their assignment? Jackson is a boundary defender having to try and make a play on runs off tackle. A whole lot has to have gone wrong for him to be doing anything besides cleaning up or trying to strip the ball on these. 

The fact that he's even in a position to even make a play is more of a testimant to his effort than anything. So, are these the only two plays of his people can complain about? If this had been a jet sweep or WR screen he dogged it on fine, but it's not. He shouldn't even be the one making the play. 

 
Haters gonna hate, but Jackson is easily out best DB at the moment. It could be Taylor-Britt, but I think he's been a little less effective as a safety than when he can move around. Jackson got burned on a double move against OSU, but outside of that he played well. 

 
Lamar has a really good sense for the route that his receiver is going to run. He has good footwork getting into position to stay with his guy.

I think he and Bootle are really going to play a big role in these next four games. When you can count on your corners to lock guys down, you can play your linebackers tighter to the line against the run.

 
Undone said:
Lamar has a really good sense for the route that his receiver is going to run. He has good footwork getting into position to stay with his guy.

I think he and Bootle are really going to play a big role in these next four games. When you can count on your corners to lock guys down, you can play your linebackers tighter to the line against the run.
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And look, they weren't quite athletic enough to look good against OSUs recievers, but lets be honest, that is one of the most athletic receiver groups out there. Bootle and Jackson have looked especially good against the less athletic groups, which is all we should face here on out. Well outside of Minnesota, their recievers are very good too but luckily not as good at QB.

 
Halfway through the season, here are some thoughts:

-It's pretty obvious what's missing in passing situations. We're pretty much completely lacking a pass rusher. We need a Grant Wistrom or Randy Gregory body type that's a taller, athletic guy with long arms to pass rush. Could be a true rush end or hell, I'd even take an outside linebacker that could fit the build. We just don't have that guy right now and it's hurting us.

-I think Travis Fisher is a good coach. He seems to also be a good motivator.

-Feel like it's fair to say we've succeeded at (mostly) taking the guys we had and turning them into a defense that defends the run better than they did last year. It's nice to see that progress. In the three man front, we got hurt yesterday on stretch run plays. This is a basic game of numbers with 5 on 3, and your linebackers have to really have good eyes and know which lanes to attack. But all in all, our run defense is improved.

 
I was happy to see Chinander make some in-game adjustments. The main one I noticed started near the end of the third quarter I think when we started pressing NW’s receivers across the line, stopping the easy slants and crossing routes while forcing their QB to make much more difficult throws. Something small but it gives me hope since we haven’t seen simple adjustments like that in Lincoln for a long time.

 
Blackshirt_Simonsen said:
I was happy to see Chinander make some in-game adjustments. The main one I noticed started near the end of the third quarter I think when we started pressing NW’s receivers across the line, stopping the easy slants and crossing routes while forcing their QB to make much more difficult throws. Something small but it gives me hope since we haven’t seen simple adjustments like that in Lincoln for a long time.
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Chinander also adjusted how NU defended NW's zone read game in the 3rd and 4th quarter.  NW had success with it in the first drive of the 3rd quarter, but did very little after that.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Chinander also adjusted how NU defended NW's zone read game in the 3rd and 4th quarter.  NW had success with it in the first drive of the 3rd quarter, but did very little after that.
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That was especially nice to see with Minnesota coming up, their only success last year was when Morgan came in and gave them a QB run threat. This year we have the benefit of knowing he's the guy at QB, so hopefully we're better prepared.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Chinander also adjusted how NU defended NW's zone read game in the 3rd and 4th quarter.  NW had success with it in the first drive of the 3rd quarter, but did very little after that.
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And I thought our down 3 DL made some pretty good plays blowing the inside runs up. Daniels had a few TFL and Davis made a few nice plays. The QB keepers hurt us, but that was mainly because of poor reactions by the LBs and  not doing well in space.  With the exception of OSU, we seem to be a little more stout this year vs inside runs, and that is a welcomed improvement....

 
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