DB's not finding the ball in the air

[SouthLincoln Husker]

How do you teach a defensive back to "look for the ball"? He can't have any idea when the ball is thrown. They have to stick with their man first and foremost. A good, well-coached receiver will wait until the last second to put his hands up so as not to clue the DB in that the ball is about to come.

I'm not a coach, but what do you do?

You teach him to watch the receiver, if the receiver turns his head to look for the ball, so should you.

This topic is pretty stupid, mostly because you are talking about a young secondary with few veterans, and even then, some of those vets aren't perfect.

Some of you have blinders on, where you only see and point out the negatives and completely disregard the positives. It's incorrect to say that Pelini's secondary has never been taught to turn around and look for the ball. I guess all those corners and safeties, NFL or not were never taught to look for the ball by either Marvin Sanders, Terry Joseph, that one guy who came before Joseph. Nah, they were all scrub coaches that didn't teach that our secondary.

I've seen our guys this year turn their heads and look for the ball. Are they consistent? no, far from it. But you know what, I bet half the secondaries in the NFL have their moments where they don't turn their heads and look for the ball. And you know what, those guys get called for pass interference.

That's nice and all except Terry Joseph specifically said at a coaches clinic they don't teach them to look back.

I don't remember this being an issue with Sanders, as we got plenty of guys in the NFL. It seems like it just started with Joseph.

 

[Warrior10]

Along the note of DB's...it appeared that once Davie went down and Rose got burned that Kalu took over the #2 spot.

 

[husker07]

Turning and looking for the ball as cb, especially in man to man, is a really tough skill to develop. You see guys in the NFL unable to do it all the time. Like you saw last night, great ball placement (with timing) and a greater play by a receiver can beat perfect coverage. It's kind of another thing though for safeties with help over the top, playing the ball coming forward. As great as I think Gerry has played thus far, one area he desperately needs to improve is his ball skills. He has the speed to cover his half of the field and eliminate anything over the top in 2 high. Corey Cooper is a different story, he's just not athletic enough. There are probably defensive ends with more speed and explosion than him. Still a solid player though.

 

[ZRod]

How do you teach a defensive back to "look for the ball"? He can't have any idea when the ball is thrown. They have to stick with their man first and foremost. A good, well-coached receiver will wait until the last second to put his hands up so as not to clue the DB in that the ball is about to come.

I'm not a coach, but what do you do?

You teach him to watch the receiver, if the receiver turns his head to look for the ball, so should you.

This topic is pretty stupid, mostly because you are talking about a young secondary with few veterans, and even then, some of those vets aren't perfect.

Some of you have blinders on, where you only see and point out the negatives and completely disregard the positives. It's incorrect to say that Pelini's secondary has never been taught to turn around and look for the ball. I guess all those corners and safeties, NFL or not were never taught to look for the ball by either Marvin Sanders, Terry Joseph, that one guy who came before Joseph. Nah, they were all scrub coaches that didn't teach that our secondary.

I've seen our guys this year turn their heads and look for the ball. Are they consistent? no, far from it. But you know what, I bet half the secondaries in the NFL have their moments where they don't turn their heads and look for the ball. And you know what, those guys get called for pass interference.

That's nice and all except Terry Joseph specifically said at a coaches clinic they don't teach them to look back.

I don't remember this being an issue with Sanders, as we got plenty of guys in the NFL. It seems like it just started with Joseph.

Actually I stand corrected.It was dependent on the depth and location of the route as to whether they turn and look, or turn into the guy and play a jump ball type situation.

 

[SouthLincoln Husker]

2007: Frankie's last year - 245 yards per game.

2008 - 10: Bo & Sanders - from 232 to 154 yards per.

2011: Reynolds - 192.

2012 & 13: Joseph went from 168 to 215 yards per.

2014: Warren - 225.

It seems Bo has picked coaches from the south for recruiting, because out best coach was local. Its too soon to judge Warren as he is still trying to fix the direction Joseph was taking us.

 

[HuskerCarter]

Oh come on. Cook did not look like a NFL caliber QB. Granted he made some great throws, but as many great throws he had, he had twice as many bad throws. Rewatch the game, as painful as it may be, and count how many times Cook overthrew his receiver due to pressure from Randy and the front four? At times Cook looked like he was rattled trying to pass the ball. I don't remember what the end result was, but I know by halftime, the Spartans only converted one 3rd down, I think it was like 1 of 8 or something like that. It didn't get any better by the 2nd half. Granted our offense didn't do any better.

Defensive backs have to keep their eyes on the receiver, you turn and look for the ball without the receiver looking for the ball, and you run the risk of the receiver making a move and getting separation from you. At least that is how it goes when you play man coverage. When you play zone coverage, your eyes are more on the QB rather than the receivers.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Meanwhile, Cook was 11/29. That's 38%

Personally I have a hard time being too critical of anything on defense or special teams. Combined they had 4 takeaways-3 of which were in Sparty territory, and were directly responsible for one of our touchdowns. This loss was mostly on the offense.

 

[VectorVictor]

Cook made NFL caliber throws. Might be the most underrated Pro Prospect QB in the nation.

And our defense still stymied him, for the most part.

Frankly, I'm not worried about our secondary after this game--like it's been said before, lots of inexperience, but they still, save for a couple of big plays, got the job done against one of the best QB/WR combos in the conference.

I really like our chances against upcoming Rutgers now, thanks to this game--they're the only team, save for the pending MSU rematch, where I am concerned about how our secondary will play against. Here's hoping Rutgers is Top 25 by then so we can use that victory as a notch in our belt.

Meanwhile, Cook was 11/29. That's 38%

Personally I have a hard time being too critical of anything on defense or special teams. Combined they had 4 takeaways-3 of which were in Sparty territory, and were directly responsible for one of our touchdowns. This loss was mostly on the offense.

Yeah, this came in as I was posting. This is exactly why I'm not too terribly worried. Our D-Line will help cover for the inexperience in our secondary...and yes, they're susceptible to giving up big plays. But they're good enough and talented enough to where it's not a given, and their performance against MSU proved that, IMO.

 

[NUinID]

Title says it all. For the most part last night we were in position to make some plays in Cook's passes, however none of our DB's are turning to find the ball, especially with receivers running along the boundary. The same technique is employed time and time again, force the receiver into the boundary by all means, but never turn and find the ball, and it cost us. Cook was able to complete some throws he had no business making, It's not like he was throwing to the back shoulder where we couldn't make plays, he just threw it up and their ball skills trumped ours. Good thing is this is coachable, bad thing is if we don't correct it OC's will be licking their chops the rest of the season.

Wow, your really going to go here? Cook threw for 39%. He only completed 11 passes and you are going to complain because the DB didn't look back for the ball. Those sideline passes caught over the shoulder along the sideline were perfectly thrown balls with really good coverage for the most part. Because he can throw that ball he will be playing on Sundays.

I am not disappointed at all with the way the defense played in that game.

 

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

We ran half of our freaking offensive plays in the first half in opposing territory and came away with 3 points. Michigan St basically said, "here you go boys, take your W", and our offense just sat back and refused. I'm not happy about giving up 27 points, but the defense was not half the problem in this game.

 

[VectorVictor]

We ran half of our freaking offensive plays in the first half in opposing territory and came away with 3 points. Michigan St basically said, "here you go boys, take your W", and our offense just sat back and refused. I'm not happy about giving up 27 points, but the defense was not half the problem in this game.

That's because we Nebraskans are polite guests, and we don't want to be gluttons, yes?

 

[HUSKER FREAK]

I didn't read all of this so if this has been said sorry. But, they are coached to read the eyes which is the best way to cover. When you read the eyes you have to be able to determine when the ball is close and the eyes never lie that's why you make plays on what their eyes tell you. They will have to obviously get better at this and I agree Cook wouldn't have made a lot of the passes he did if the Db's would have trusted their instincts a little more.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Cook made NFL caliber throws. Might be the most underrated Pro Prospect QB in the nation.

I agree. I was very surprised after the game to realize he only completed 38% of his passes. It seemed like they were catching everything. I guess it just seemed that way because they were catching balls when the receiver was still very well covered.

For a QB like him to only have 38% completion rate, our DBs were doing a lot of things right.

 

[Mavric]

Along the note of DB's...it appeared that once Davie went down and Rose got burned that Kalu took over the #2 spot.

I definitely saw a lot of Kalu and none of Rose. Kalu made a couple errors coming up in run support - most notably on Lippet's reverse TD - but he was going full speed. He's going to be good.

 

[Warrior10]

Note from Bo's presser today: Kalu had basically practiced CB none. They threw him in their because he busted his butt all week at his Dime/Nickel spot and the other CB's behind Davie didn't. Kalu played pretty good for being thrown into the fire, something that will pay dividends down the road.