Diaz, Baker and Zone

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If it doesn't work against the likes of Clemson and NC in your conference then you have to bring in personnel that can stop people in your conference. ***** it we got a stupid *** HC, DC and scheme! Why am I wasting my time?

You don't have to. None of us really need to hear you and everyone else constantly b!tching while contributing nothing.

Support the program or be a Gator fan.
 
Honestly don't care what stats say... If this scheme isn't changed Bama is gonna hang 50+ on us to start next season...

Dude we might be trotting out Tyler Van Dyke and his four career snaps in that game.

I wonder what happens if we lose by 70.
 
safeties were much better and Diaz’s scheme is reliant on dominate safeties. Always has been that way. Carter is slow as **** and can’t cover in space and Hall had one of the worst years I have seen from a safety since AJ Highsmith.

not sure even Manny could have saved this defense if he took over play calling.
You don't need dominant safeties to play 2-man. Carter often shifts to LB on 3rd downs. Hall is bad but he can play deep-half help over the top. His athletic limitations show up more in single-high or in run support.

We're not dealing in hypotheticals anyway. There were multiple games where the defense started out in zone and got killed then adjusted in the 2nd half or even 4th quarter and pulled a 180.
This year's CB's are definitely worse and so are the safeties.

Dean is the worst of the group, probably not much worse than Ivey, and I'd take Jackson and Bandy over Blades and Couch right now.
2019 Blades was the best of the whole group. He was legitimately shutdown in press. Scheme change has done him no favors. Couch is better than 2019 Bandy imo, not 2018.
 
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One reason might be the blitz is not getting home. Remember 4th and 17 against N. Carolina? Miami blitzed Carolina converted. Live by the blitz die by the blitz. A lot like throwing the ball to receivers who cant catch. Does not work well.
The execution of that play had nothing to do with the blitz though.
 
I don’t buy the shift away from man because the corners aren’t as good. None of the corners we’ve trotted out in recent years was particularly great. Ivey, Blades and Couch are capable of covering guys even if they struggle making plays on contested balls. It’s not like guys were getting beat consistently in man. I think the extra zone was overcompensating for poor run defense. They had to keep the back four’s eyes in the backfield because the front seven couldn’t play the run at all. All the press man in the world wasn’t stopping UNC from rushing for 500 yards against our defense.
 
Those killing our Safeties, please understand our system requests a very specific set of skills for a Safety. Even Redwine initially struggled - despite plus attributes. Yeah, football savants like Jaquan were effective in it. If we need uber cerebral/instinctual Safeties, then recruit those. If we get other types of Safeties, adjust your ******* defense. You know, coaching and coordinating.
 
This, and we don't have the dominant DT play we had with Willis and Norton/McIntosh, to me implying we needed to play more zone.

I'm no Baker apologist, nor am I a football guru, but this all seems pretty straightforward to me.
Also having CB's bail and play zone 15 yards off the line akes life easy for opposing offenses.
 
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Those killing our Safeties, please understand our system requests a very specific set of skills for a Safety. Even Redwine initially struggled - despite plus attributes. Yeah, football savants like Jaquan were effective in it. If we need uber cerebral/instinctual Safeties, then recruit those. If we get other types of Safeties, adjust your ******* defense. You know, coaching and coordinating.
And that is a damning indictment of this defensive staff, they simply kept trying to ram a square peg in a round hole. We didn't adjust or if we did it was already too late. The Oklahoma St. game was a perfect example, just played off coverage and let them go up and down the field to a 21-0 lead and then decided to play some man coverage. Just makes no **** sense.
 
Those killing our Safeties, please understand our system requests a very specific set of skills for a Safety. Even Redwine initially struggled - despite plus attributes. Yeah, football savants like Jaquan were effective in it. If we need uber cerebral/instinctual Safeties, then recruit those. If we get other types of Safeties, adjust your ******* defense. You know, coaching and coordinating.

Semi-serious question/observation for the defensive gurus on the board: is there a defensive scheme out there that doesn't require first-round talent at a specific position to succeed? I recognize that all defenses have holes and gaps and a range of responsibilities. However it seems that for Diaz's D to work we need super-safeties. For Shannon's man/cover 2 it was getting pressure with the front 4. For D'Nofrio it was...well nevermind.

Just curious if there are "player friendly" defenses out there that you like, similar to "player friendly" offenses...
 
I think the high percentage of zone is a direct reflection of the lack of corners. Man requires a lot more energy.
 
It's harder to play Safety in zone than it is a man. In man you're just helping, the CB is doing all the hard work.

Regardless of talent, man is almost always gonna force tighter throwing windows. I would rather play man and risk getting beat deep than play OUR version of zone, which allows teams to nickel-and-dime us all the way down the field.

Either way, it's not just a man-vs-zone issue with this defense. It's THE WAY we do things. That's the problem. Our zone is the prehistoric spot dropping variation. We just cover grass and don't match up with routes.

When it comes to man coverage...
I don't/wouldn't call man coverage unless I'm sending heat. It's hard to play man if you're not putting pressure on the QB.

The Miami Dolphins have the best 3rd down defense in the NFL, and it's cause they heat MF'ers up and play man coverage. The Dolphins will send 6/7 guys and play Cover-1 or Cover-0. The ball has to come out!
Even when Baker/Manny blitz, a lot of time they play zone behind it. This often leaves somebody open.

If you're creative, there's ways to prevent yourself from getting beat deep when you play man.

When heating it up...
If I play press-man there's really only 2 routes that the offense likes - vertical/fade or slant. (or screens) There's generally not enough time to throw anything else if you're sending heat. Shallow crossers and stuff like that take too long to develop. When Baker/Manny scout an offense, they can observe what said offense likes to throw when they get press-man blitzes. If they like to throw fade, prepare your CB's to play press-bail. If they like to throw slants, emphasize taking away the inside. If you're worried about an inside quick slant, drop one of your D-linemen into the throwing window.
If you're worried about them beating you deep then play off-man when you send heat. In off-man most offenses will try to throw slant. But when playing off-man, you have your DL and LB's walk up to the line-of-scrimmage like they're all coming, then drop 1 or 2 of them into the hook/curl zone when the ball is snapped. Now you're taking away any hot/quick inside routes while also preventing the deep ball.

EXAMPLE - first play of this kid's highlights...



Football is a game of chess and we ain't even trying to play it.
 
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It’s the same defense just lacks the talent. That’s it. If manny was DC it would be the same.

Willis erased a lot of issues. That dude was a beast. Then you had Shaq and Pickney who were dogs. Then in the back you had redwine and JJ. CB were waaaay better to.
Lack of talent on D and Manny has been running the D for how many years now? No excuses to not have talent there. ****, Al Golden and Coach No'D brought in more talent on that side of the ball, and no one wanted to play in that D. What the **** is going on?
 
Further we got into the season and now the off season my confidence grows worse about D units I thought would be solid... The focus was corner, then Boldin fell off a cliff, was not super confident in the LBs then UNC happened.. Thought we always recruit DE well but then the bowl game showed little proven talent. All of a sudden Im looking at the 21 D as a dumpster fire. There needs to be major growth from existing players and a couple true freshman ready to go. If King is not healthy the Bama game could be an absolute sht show..
 
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Lack of talent on D and Manny has been running the D for how many years now? No excuses to not have talent there. ****, Al Golden and Coach No'D brought in more talent on that side of the ball, and no one wanted to play in that D. What the **** is going on?
I 100% agree with you which is why I said defense would look the same even if manny was running it. He failed stacking chips and getting talent. Then the development of the talent we do have is lackluster. It’s all downhill.
 
Semi-serious question/observation for the defensive gurus on the board: is there a defensive scheme out there that doesn't require first-round talent at a specific position to succeed? I recognize that all defenses have holes and gaps and a range of responsibilities. However it seems that for Diaz's D to work we need super-safeties. For Shannon's man/cover 2 it was getting pressure with the front 4. For D'Nofrio it was...well nevermind.

Just curious if there are "player friendly" defenses out there that you like, similar to "player friendly" offenses...
Yeah, the defensive scheme is called "adjusting coverages" to your players' attributes. Ha.
 
Yeah, the defensive scheme is called "adjusting coverages" to your players' attributes. Ha.
i don't believe you remake GIF
 
It's harder to play Safety in zone than it is a man. In man you're just helping, the CB is doing all the hard work.

Regardless of talent, man is almost always gonna force tighter throwing windows. I would rather play man and risk getting beat deep than play OUR version of zone, which allows teams to nickel-and-dime us all the way down the field.

Either way, it's not just a man-vs-zone issue with this defense. It's THE WAY we do things. That's the problem. Our zone is the prehistoric spot dropping variation. We just cover grass and don't match up with routes.

When it comes to man coverage...
I don't/wouldn't call man coverage unless I'm sending heat. It's hard to play man if you're not putting pressure on the QB.

The Miami Dolphins have the best 3rd down defense in the NFL, and it's cause they heat MF'ers up and play man coverage. The Dolphins will send 6/7 guys and play Cover-1 or Cover-0. The ball has to come out!
Even when Baker/Manny blitz, a lot of time they play zone behind it. This often leaves somebody open.

If you're creative, there's ways to prevent yourself from getting beat deep when you play man.

When heating it up...
If I play press-man there's really only 2 routes that the offense likes - vertical/fade or slant. (or screens) There's generally not enough time to throw anything else if you're sending heat. Shallow crossers and stuff like that take too long to develop. When Baker/Manny scout an offense, they can observe what said offense likes to throw when they get press-man blitzes. If they like to throw fade, prepare your CB's to play press-bail. If they like to throw slants, emphasize taking away the inside. If you're worried about an inside quick slant, drop one of your D-linemen into the throwing window.
If you're worried about them beating you deep then play off-man when you send heat. In off-man most offenses will try to throw slant. But when playing off-man, you have your DL and LB's walk up to the line-of-scrimmage like they're all coming, then drop 1 or 2 of them into the hook/curl zone when the ball is snapped. Now you're taking away any hot/quick inside routes while also preventing the deep ball.

EXAMPLE - first play of this kid's highlights...



Football is a game of chess and we ain't even trying to play it.

Great post and maddening at the same time.

I genuinely feel that a few people from this board could X and O better than our coaches and a few others could identify talent better.

That's ****** disgraceful for the University of Miami.
 
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