Upon Further Review- Louisville

Nesta had a great play where he pushed the guy he was blocking run into the runner.
Yeah, it was all over Twitter. I saw it and live and thought holy bleep.

I’m trying really hard to cut these down some and not go through every play, but that was a great show of strength. He is fast and STRONG. He’s coming into his own this year.

He responded to the Twitter video. The guy who showed it used a baby bottle to point him out and Nesta said, “baby needed his ba ba” and it cracked me up.
 
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Lance, any comment on our CB play? You have all those different angle shots that we didn't get to see on TV. One of the other posters who went to the game said they gave up too much cushion and often left guys wide open.
It was the way we schemed for the game to not let Louisville get deep, rush with only four, and force the QB to make good decisions. I’m the first half it worked great.

Second half, Louisville adjusted and I wouldn’t say I liked the way we played their adjustments.
 
Terrific breakdown and analysis, as usual!! Didn't Belichick start his career by breaking down film? Can see an NFL or college team giving you a call soon! :)

I hate those chop blocks too! Am disappointed in Roche's play thus far. Felt the same about the hyped Trevon Hill last season. We'll hope Roche adjusts more as the year progresses.
 
@Lance Roffers this is great.

The chop blocks and holds were very annoying. Glad we came out unscathed. All of us have issues with the defensive alignments and over all awareness (knowing when you have backside help in run fits, setting the edge, forcing players back towards your help side)

These are some simple fixes that can drastically change the defense. This defensive line is impressing me. Roche had a few bad plays in the run game but he also did some nice things as well. I don’t think his overall game was as bad as canes fans want to make it.

My only lil nitpick is about the Louisville RT..... former Miami commit Renato Brown is a RS FR. He won’t be leaving for the league this year. He doesn’t have many starts under his belt.
You’re right. I’m wrong.

I had him as a RS Sr. on my roster I used, which was incorrect.
 
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Hey @Lance Roffers. What other defensive adjustments do you think would be effective besides the pattern match and better alignments?

I have seen Diaz call cover 2 plays without blitzing and it be successful. I think we should do that more in passing situations What are your thoughts?

Also do you think we could be more efficient on defense getting more physical with receivers?

I appreciate your write ups and respect your knowledge of the game. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Terrific breakdown and analysis, as usual!! Didn't Belichick start his career by breaking down film? Can see an NFL or college team giving you a call soon! :)
Very kind. Thank you so much for taking the time to say this. It’s comments like these that really blow me away.

Truly not the way I see myself, but what a cool thing it is to have people value your contributions. It’s a labor of love.
 
Hey @Lance Roffers. What other defensive adjustments do you think would be effective besides the pattern match and better alignments?

I have seen Diaz call cover 2 plays without blitzing and it be successful. I think we should do that more in passing situations What are your thoughts?

Also do you think we could be more efficient on defense getting more physical with receivers?

I appreciate your write ups and respect your knowledge of the game. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Cover-2 can eaten up with running a guy deep on boundary and a post next to it. Louisville has the receivers to run that effectively. Not sure I want Tutu running a post from the slot and a S having to decide where to go with Fitzpatrick or Braden Smith going deep attached to it.

Four Verticals can also cause that defense a lot of trouble and Louisville can really run that as well as all but a handful of teams.

Gurvan Hall had an undisclosed injury and only played 26 snaps. Not sure I would want Amari Carter in deep coverage all game.

Finally, the way they played it allowed them to creatively add another box defender in the run game where needed.

Louisville is a great offensive team. I knew they’d get their yards. I’d have pattern-matched on the edges is my biggest adjustment.

Other question about physical with receivers. Louisville schemes to make it hard to get hands on Tutu and he’s the type you miss a jam and it’s a TD. Again, I believe the goal was to play off and force them to execute over and over for long fields. You saw that even more in the 2nd half after we got a lead.

Execution in several areas and a few tweaks to the scheme is all that I really advocate for at the moment. We need the personnel to get better or new ones to come in at certain spots (LB, striker, boundary CB).

I’m not freaking out over the defense’s performance. Louisville is good on offense.
 
It was the way we schemed for the game to not let Louisville get deep, rush with only four, and force the QB to make good decisions. I’m the first half it worked great.

Second half, Louisville adjusted and I wouldn’t say I liked the way we played their adjustments.
I can’t help but feel like if Roche plays contain on 2 plays Louisville ends up with 7-10 less points and everyone feels like the defensive effort was good.
 
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Very kind. Thank you so much for taking the time to say this. It’s comments like these that really blow me away.

Truly not the way I see myself, but what a cool thing it is to have people value your contributions. It’s a labor of love.
That comes through loud and clear!

Gotta say that, as a side benefit, I've learned a lot too.
 
Cover-2 can eaten up with running a guy deep on boundary and a post next to it. Louisville has the receivers to run that effectively. Not sure I want Tutu running a post from the slot and a S having to decide where to go with Fitzpatrick or Braden Smith going deep attached to it.

Four Verticals can also cause that defense a lot of trouble and Louisville can really run that as well as all but a handful of teams.

Gurvan Hall had an undisclosed injury and only played 26 snaps. Not sure I would want Amari Carter in deep coverage all game.

Finally, the way they played it allowed them to creatively add another box defender in the run game where needed.

Louisville is a great offensive team. I knew they’d get their yards. I’d have pattern-matched on the edges is my biggest adjustment.

Other question about physical with receivers. Louisville schemes to make it hard to get hands on Tutu and he’s the type you miss a jam and it’s a TD. Again, I believe the goal was to play off and force them to execute over and over for long fields. You saw that even more in the 2nd half after we got a lead.

Execution in several areas and a few tweaks to the scheme is all that I really advocate for at the moment. We need the personnel to get better or new ones to come in at certain spots (LB, striker, boundary CB).

I’m not freaking out over the defense’s performance. Louisville is good on offense.

Thanks Lance. My questions were not Louisville specific. I was thinking more of the big picture.

I know every opponent is different, but in your in depth review of so many games, what non blitz coverage strategies are strongest for us over time?

Do you think Blades can hold up his side consistently in cover 1. If so, how could we help Ivey or a younger guy on the other side?

I ask these things because I wonder what would be the best way to play on the backend if we rushed four more often on passing downs. Most of our opponents don’t have a Tutu level talent in the slot, so. I a more thinking about a potential hiccup game.

I would hate to see us lose to a lesser team blitzing opponents who scheme us up with quick passes and allowing scrub quarterbacks to get red hot. I know Diaz believes in the negative play stats, but I think we are too aggressive pursuing them. Pressure from defensive ends and incompletions kill drives pretty well too.
 
Yup. NOT Pressing the hole was something I harped on with Knighton last week and showed Cam doing it correctly last week.

I should’ve mentioned that and it was my bad.
Ha. Easy. It was definitely not a call out. You just posted, again, one of the more comprehensive game reviews anyone on the Internet provides. That's why I half-expected it. I know you can't cover every single aspect of every single play. Thought Cam deserved some props since he was crushed for the lack of this (last season).
 
#83 (Ford) did that block on least 3 attempts on Phillips and he also took out Cam with the same block once other time.
Not surprised considering that every time #83 tried to block like a man he was run over and abused. The biggest mismatch all game was #83 in pass blocking. He literally lost every march up.
 
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Just as I thought, LB was as poor as I suspected from watching through these slanted eyes of mine
 
Dude. I spit out my tea.

“Korean Jordan” vs. this quip for the heavyweight title.

Ha ha!!! What I lack in true football knowledge, I make up for by being a smart@***

But what you, Lu and Roman, Macho, Liberty, Motor City, Tru -- and several others I know Ive forgotten -- provide here, it's a football/Cane education

It's one thing to think you observe something, its a whole 'nother to have it explained in detail. I greatly appreciate that...
 
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I can’t help but feel like if Roche plays contain on 2 plays Louisville ends up with 7-10 less points and everyone feels like the defensive effort was good.
Not with the amount of yards we gave up.

The startling thing from this team is the poor LB / Striker play.

Granted I've been blessed with watching Kuechly for nearly a decade, but our LBs make the wrong decision time after time.
 
Cam’Ron Harris- His night was cut short when he landed awkwardly in the end zone, but before that he showed off speed I didn’t know he had by hitting 22.0 mph on his long run. That was the top speed registered by a RB this season thus far and will undoubtedly make him some money with the folks in NFL scouting circles who saw him more as a bruiser at the RB position.

Wow! That type of speed is no joke, had no idea he was that fast.

Lance - do you know how this is measured, is it by a third party source?
 
Not with the amount of yards we gave up.

The startling thing from this team is the poor LB / Striker play.

Granted I've been blessed with watching Kuechly for nearly a decade, but our LBs make the wrong decision time after time.
Louisville has averaged 6.0 and 7.7 yards per play the last two games against us. Can you guess which year was higher?

2019. Were we disappointed with the nearly identical yardage total last year, albeit on significantly less plays? I’m not sure yardage is such a big deal when Louisville ran like 86 plays, and the entire 3rd quarter our offense had the ball less than one three and out. If we posses the ball normally for that quarter Louisville has 1-2 less drives easily throughout the game.

I agree on the striker and LB play, and as Lance and others have shown there are multiple times where the play call is correct and the execution is poor to outright bad. Roche got sucked into the middle of the field twice against a back he should have clearly stayed home on. Hawkins doesn’t score on 3rd and long in the 4th if he doesn’t, in fact it becomes a 4th and long that they have to go for. That’s 30 yards and 7 points right there. Similarly on the onside kick, if Harley doesn’t freeze that drive is dead but instead the D goes back on the field once more. In both cases the coaching had nothing to do with the result, the player made a mistake and it cost us significantly.

I’m not making a contrarian case that the defense played lights out or that it was all on the players. But there are mitigating (or aggravating) factors for the defensive performance Saturday night that include 1) the limited time the offense possessed the ball and 2) clear, drive-defining plays where 1 player makes a critical error that allows Louisville to extend a drive or score.

The zip-code blitzes and personnel packages/decisions make a lot of sense to criticize to me. I don’t know that I think Baker is much more than a decent DC, maybe even just competent, but there’s more to the depth to the success or failure of the D than just yards.
 
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