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LB Cover Skills

Context, man. The LBs were in very different spots this past season than in prior years under Manny. He adjusted. Just look at our D's 3rd down conversion % this past year versus the two previous years. I don't get why it's so difficult to understand football analysis is almost never black and white. Apparently, either guys "suck" or they're "great." Nonsense.

It can't be they looked bad in certain spots previous years and last year those spots were reduced? It can't be we reduced slow-developing zone blitzes in 2018? It can't be Gerald Willis single-handedly changes the timing of a QB who's looking for a TE or crossing WR who needs to be carried by a LB? It can't be we had 2 senior Safeties helping out in communication to help tighten some of those gaps?

The only solution to these generalized views is to watch every play. Even then, we don't know the exact call and can only make some reasonable guesses.
 
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kryptonite said:
It makes sense to be frustrated by that, but it’s often not bad angles. The D that Manny runs involves gambling on where the ball will go. It looks brilliant when they guess right, not so much when they’re wrong. But I don’t think they’re freelancing out there as much as they’re taught to make a read and go immediately. This leads to wrong choices sometimes. And sometimes it leads to a LB picking off fsu inside they’re 30.
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**** good points fam...I can agree with all that.
 
LuCane said:
Context, man. The LBs were in very different spots this past season than in prior years under Manny. He adjusted. Just look at our D's 3rd down conversion % this past year versus the two previous years. I don't get why it's so difficult to understand football analysis is almost never black and white. Apparently, either guys "suck" or they're "great." Nonsense.

It can't be they looked bad in certain spots previous years and last year those spots were reduced? It can't be we reduced slow-developing zone blitzes in 2018? It can't be Gerald Willis single-handedly changes the timing of a QB who's looking for a TE or crossing WR who needs to be carried by a LB? It can't be we had 2 senior Safeties helping out in communication to help tighten some of those gaps?

The only solution to these generalized views is to watch every play. Even then, we don't know the exact call and can only make some reasonable guesses.
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Beat me to it. PFF doesn't consider context. Pinckney and Shaq scoring well on coverage analytics speaks to how well Diaz schemed to their advantage. As fans we dwell on the negative moments that jump out where they got exposed on select plays. It's possible to have it both ways; the LBs were successful in coverage but they have limited ability that can manifest in memorable negative plays.

Anecdotally I recall more deeper zone drops from the LBs in 2017 where they struggled often. That's likely one of the factors leading to their improved coverage success.
 
WTF does PFF know?
I don't need PFF to tell me that our LB's stare at the Quarterback and don't get enough depth in their pass drops. I don't blame the players though because that's obviously what they're told to do. Either we got better at it or teams didn't attack us intermediately like they used to. But one of my main complaints about Manny's defense is that it gets dinked and dunked to death sometimes.
 
CaneDog66 said:
Could it be the safety getting so many tackles and the TFL’s the DL picked up as a contributing factor for them not gathering 100+ tackles apiece?
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We led the country in TFL's back in 2010 and I'm pretty sure at least one of our linebackers had 100 tackles.
 
They not perfect but they are still a **** solid and productive core and get sh*tted on here too much imo. 3 year starters and came back for their senior year(shaq and Pinckney) when they could have easily left prematurely like a lot of Miami’s recent guys. Imo Miami has had too many playmakers in their front 7 for just one guy to have 100 plus tackles the last 3 years. In addition to that manny likes to play a safety and have them active in the box like jamal carter and Jaquan the last couple years who each had 80 plus tackles at safety which is a lot for that position. So it’s not just them competing with the other linebackers and dline for tackles who are legit playmakers you got safeties in the mix as well.
 
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Coach Macho said:
We led the country in TFL's back in 2010 and I'm pretty sure at least one of our linebackers had 100 tackles.
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Still don’t remember that defense having anywhere near the amount of playmakers we have had at linebacker/safety/ dline the last 3 years either so of course 1 of the linebackers won’t have 100 plus tackles

I mean On the dline you had
- Marcus forston(bust),
-Marcus Robinson(situational pass rusher but productive in limited reps)

Oliver Vernon and Allen Bailey who were good college players(Bailey was better in college than Vernon) but they weren’t as productive as guys we have had recently in college*

Then at linebacker sean Spence who was a beast, and colon McCarthy who was solid

- no dominant safety like Jaquan playing in the box either
 
Not at all shocked that 90% of the posts in this thread are negative.

I'm glad they came back and expect them to have big senior seasons.
 
The scheme allows for the linebackers to use their instincts and guess. It's a double edged sword of course but isn't it what everybody was crying for when D'Onofrio was here? Everybody wanted an attacking defense that played to the strengths of it's players. Not some read and react scheme that made even the fastest linebackers look a step slow. It also relies on defensive backs being able to tackle and play in run support. If you line up with two high safeties every down these days, you'll get run all over. It's not the 90's or even the early 2000's anymore. Formations and personnel have evolved. Also, I'll take a Shaq's 2018 season :82 tackles 14 for loss and 5 sacks over (for example) Denzel Perryman's junior season: 108 tackles 5 for loss and 1.5 sacks. Racking up big tackle numbers downfield is just stat stuffing. Look at the NCAA leaders in total tackles per game last year almost all of them play on terrible defenses. 4 of the top 10 guys play for New Mexico State.
 
Coach Macho said:
Press him how? New England puts him in motion almost every play precisely to avoid that.
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There were times vs the chiefs they didn't motion him. They just lined him up in the slot on the right and had gronk on the boundary at wr. They ran that same play and eldeman ran the same route and they consistently gave him free releases. That's why the chiefs dc got fired.
 
brock said:
Still don’t remember that defense having anywhere near the amount of playmakers we have had at linebacker/safety/ dline the last 3 years either so of course 1 of the linebackers won’t have 100 plus tackles

I mean On the dline you had
- Marcus forston(bust),
-Marcus Robinson(situational pass rusher but productive in limited reps)

Oliver Vernon and Allen Bailey who were good college players(Bailey was better in college than Vernon) but they weren’t as productive as guys we have had recently in college*

Then at linebacker sean Spence who was a beast, and colon McCarthy who was solid

- no dominant safety like Jaquan playing in the box either
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Bro it wasn't just 1 line backer. Colin and Spence BOTH had over 110 total tackles a piece in 2010. Colin had 119 in one less game.

Bailey, Vernon and Forston has over 10 TFL a piece that season...Forston even led the DL in TFL that season with 12. That's 5 NFL players in the front 7...all drafted. Bradon Harris was on this team...Ray Ray Armstrong was a starter at SS on this team. He had 79 tackles 4.5 tfl and 3 picks.....Jaquan had 92 tackles, 1.5 TFL and 2 picks....very similar numbers...
 
Tee3000 said:
Bro it wasn't just 1 line backer. Colin and Spence BOTH had over 110 total tackles a piece in 2010. Colin had 119 in one less game.

Bailey, Vernon and Forston has over 10 TFL a piece that season...Forston even led the DL in TFL that season with 12. That's 5 NFL players in the front 7...all drafted. Bradon Harris was on this team...Ray Ray Armstrong was a starter at SS on this team. He had 79 tackles 4.5 tfl and 3 picks.....Jaquan had 92 tackles, 1.5 TFL and 2 picks....very similar numbers...
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Didn’t marcus forston go undrafted, Armstrong too?

Pinckney and quarterman will be draft picks, Norton, Thomas, mcintosh, Willis, Joe jackson, garvin.
Then Jaquan Johnson. 9 draft picks for sure that Im seeing with 8 in the front 7

That 2010 was no doubt productive but still is a bit more talent/playmakers on this defense the last couple of years which imo limits the oppurtunites for the backers in this particular defense.
 
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Tee3000 said:
This is not possible in any defense fam...
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Maybe I should re-phrase that. The linebackers aren't forced to play a certain run fit if they believe they've diagnosed the play. It's why the linebackers either seem to be making a big tackle for loss or completely out of position. Like I said, it's a double edged sword.
 
brock said:
Didn’t marcus forston go undrafted, Armstrong too?

Pinckney and quarterman will be draft picks, Norton, mcintosh, Willis, Joe jackson, garvin.
Then Jaquan Johnson. 8 draft picks for sure that Im seeing with 7 in the front 7
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I meant 4 drafted from that front 7...not 5. You can't count Jaquan as a front 7 player either...and you can't combine the 2017 and 2018 defense.

brock said:
That 2010 was no doubt productive but still is a bit more talent/playmakers on this defense the last couple of years which imo limits the oppurtunites for the backers in this particular defense.
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Having talented play makers sure didn't limit Vilma and DJ, Morgan and Webster, Barrow and Smith, Ray and Burgess, Russel and Burgess

It doesn't limit anything....See Delvin White from LSU
 
Tee3000 said:
I meant 4 drafted from that front 7...not 5. You can't count Jaquan as a front 7 player either...and you can't combine the 2017 and 2018 defense.



Having talented play makers sure didn't limit Vilma and DJ, Morgan and Webster, Barrow and Smith, Ray and Burgess, Russel and Burgess

It doesn't limit anything....See Delvin White from LSU
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I said 8 total and 7 in the front 7 which obviously excludes Jaquan.
Edit : actually 8 in the front 7 forgot about chad Thomas
LSU plays a read and react 3-4 defense so the linebacker is always the stars of those defenses and will put up big numbers. Terrible comparison schematically tbqh. Look at the numbers of their defensive lineman they don’t put up big numbers at all for the most part.
 
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