Husker in WI
New member
True, and I'm not claiming I have better ideas. I'm sure whatever I came up with would have massive drawbacks. But having a gap sound defense isn't difficult, having a gap sound defense where the guys have a reasonable chance at being able to do their assignments is. This specific play Bootle and Barry are done from the beginning, Barry because of leverage and Bootle because he's supposed to take on the Tackle. The dline and Bootle even do a good job here, and it's still an 8 yard carry by the backup.
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And I don't actually have a problem with this if they've got the guys they want at Safety. But it seems like they knew/planned on Bootle being back at Safety this week, and this is just not his strength. If this is Deontai, sure - still don't love him taking on a lineman, but a lot of times they ran this and Bootle was free to make the tackle. It's just that asking him to take down Taylor one on one is a mismatch - I don't know exactly how to scheme around that, so I can really only criticize so much. I'm sure the coaches wish we had more Safety depth too.