So full disclosure, I blame
@D RevLee for the inspiration of this thread. It's nothing he personally did, but he did post clips of the Miami v. LA Tech game asking how Brooks looked taking over for Pinckney. In doing so, I noticed some on going in season trends: missed tackles, extended drives, no push from the interior, and getting pushed off the L.O.S. I didn't realize that LA Tech gashed us for 174 on the ground that game.
This game got me curious as to a Manny Diaz led defense since his tenure here. We've been gloating about the TFL's and our total defensive numbers, but you may be surprised at an alarming trend; a trend to which the defense should be held just as culpable as the offense.
While our pass rush gets home, our run defense has been less than stellar during Diaz's entire tenure. But it doesn't always start off that way; when we begin the season, we are tough against the run, but somewhere between games 3-5 the wheels come off and they stay off. This is why we're **** poor on 3rd and 4th down defense, and this is why the T.O.P is so lopsided.
Peep this:
2016:
We began the year giving up an avg. of 34 ypg after our first 2 games
The next 11 games, we gave up an avg. of 151 ypg
2017 (Our best season in the last 16 yrs):
We began the year giving up an avg. of 111.5 ypg after our first 2 games
The next 11 games, we gave up an avg. of 154.5 ypg
2018:
We began the year giving up an avg of 78 ypg after our first 4 games
The next 9 games, we gave up an avg. of 172 ypg
2019:
We began the year giving up an avg of 60 ypg after our first 4 games
The next 9 games, we gave up an avg. of 139 ypg.
This trend has to stop if we are going to make it to the next level. This shows our defense's inability to get off the field, further exasperating our issues. No changes were made on the defensive side of the ball, and personally, I felt it was a mistake. The offense had glaring issues b/c it was just bad in all phases, but the defense got a pass b/c of the **** stats like TFLs, sacks, and the turnover chain was talked about. But since reaching #2 back in 2017, we've now gone sub .500 as a ball club between the latter part of 2017 - 2020. That's not just on the O, that's a team effort.