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What happened on this play with O’Connor?

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90scane said:
Sick of our fans picking individual plays and players. We aren’t in the game without his play vs OSU and Ole Miss. he will improve a ton in the coming years and likely makes that a pick 6 in the future.
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Sick of the inability to discuss plays and players on a message board. OP posed a legit question. It was a nice pass breakup, but a legit question on a potential game changing, national title winning pick-6.

Coming off the Ole Miss game where the team dropped no less than 4 potential INTs, and a Natty we lost by 6 points, I think it is fair to review the plays and the players that made or did not make those plays.
 
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You can make a compilation of bad plays by him from Monday night.

Giving up easy hitch routes THEN being reluctant to come tackle the guy.
Getting extremely handsy/holding on routes. (lucky they didn't call the hold on the slot fade)
Back shoulder balls are really hard to defend, but one of them was simply bad technique and body placement. He was ahead of the WR, making the back shoulder ball much easier.

He's extremely grabby, which usually means a lack of confidence in one's athleticism/speed. CB's who are insecure grab a lot. Ironically, he's the one with the most attitude in the secondary, which doesn't always align with his play.
 
Coach Macho said:
You can make a compilation of bad plays by him from Monday night.

Giving up easy hitch routes THEN being reluctant to come tackle the guy.
Getting extremely handsy/holding on routes. (lucky they didn't call the hold on the slot fade)
Back shoulder balls are really hard to defend, but one of them was simply bad technique and body placement. He was ahead of the WR, making the back shoulder ball much easier.

He's extremely grabby, which usually means a lack of confidence in one's athleticism/speed. CB's who are insecure grab a lot. Ironically, he's the one with the most attitude in the secondary, which doesn't always align with his play.
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I’m no expert at all at the Xs and Os, thus my question - do you think the CBs were playing off so far in the first half because of the Lucas suspension and then were able to press up closer second half when the CBs all slotted more appropriately or was it just a mistake first half and new strategy second half?

Would love to believe Lucas playing first half would’ve meant the CBs press from the get go but not sure..
 
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Canes Legacy said:
If he goes for the pick and misses, it’s 6. Dude jumped a route and had a pass breakup.

I know he gave up the back shoulders but this criticism isn’t it
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I'd argue the opposite. I'm okay with the back shoulder fades. Done right, that is **** near impossible to stop.
The ball hit him near the elbow, on a play he was facing the QB and breaking downhill. Gotta go for the pick here.
Then on the Mali punt return you HAVE TO touch the guy. If he slows him down for half a second, Mali has time to plant and throw.
He's not the reason we lost, CB group was a major concern with CB1 being hurt, CB2 getting hurt again and CB3 being suspended for half of the game.
He's not the reason we lost but he could have been the reason we won
 
Coach Macho said:
You can make a compilation of bad plays by him from Monday night.

Giving up easy hitch routes THEN being reluctant to come tackle the guy.
Getting extremely handsy/holding on routes. (lucky they didn't call the hold on the slot fade)
Back shoulder balls are really hard to defend, but one of them was simply bad technique and body placement. He was ahead of the WR, making the back shoulder ball much easier.

He's extremely grabby, which usually means a lack of confidence in one's athleticism/speed. CB's who are insecure grab a lot. Ironically, he's the one with the most attitude in the secondary, which doesn't always align with his play.
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This is where the officials ****ed us with that targeting call.

Heatherman was forced to call so much zone from what I could tell and they were so far off the ball to not get beat deep. Completely different coverage in the 2nd half. A lot more bump and run/man coverage. O’Connor and OJ (with his injury) just did what they could.

But I am just a fan and maybe I am not calling/seeing this correctly.

What did you see with the difference in the two halves regarding the defensive backfield?
 
kapslock12345 said:
I’m no expert at all at the Xs and Os, thus my question - do you think the CBs were playing off so far in the first half because of the Lucas suspension and then were able to press up closer second half when the CBs all slotted more appropriately or was it just a mistake first half and new strategy second half?

Would love to believe Lucas playing first half would’ve meant the CBs press from the get go but not sure..
Click to expand...
Press just isn't our thing. We're a heavy Cover-3 and Cover-4 team. And in Cover-3/Cover-4 our CB's play a bail technique while depending on the flat defender to give them help underneath. Issue is, if the offense can occupy that flat defender for a split second, you can throw hitches at the CB all day. The underneath help doesn't get there in time.

There's a more aggressive approach to Cover-3/Cover-4 which is what Indiana plays. Even when their CB's are playing "off" alignment, they are very aggressive in jumping those short/intermediate routes. (it's basically zone with man technique)

But that's a Saban thing, which is where Cignetti spent some time. That's why Saban made a comment at halftime about us giving up "access throws".

I'm not a fan of playing CB this way, mainly for 2 reasons.

1. They're CB's. They like to cover, not tackle. When you play them so far off and they are giving up short/quick routes, you force them to be tacklers.

2. We're long and fast at Corner. Absolutely no reason to coach like we're scared of the deep ball. Make them throw over the heads of our 6'0"-6'2" Corners. Playing off coverage isn't playing into our gifts (length and speed).
 
90scane said:
Sick of our fans picking individual plays and players. We aren’t in the game without his play vs OSU and Ole Miss. he will improve a ton in the coming years and likely makes that a pick 6 in the future.
Click to expand...
Yes. He's been out too 2 cbs in coverage all year. He's not perfect. He got beat by a wr who was beating everyone. We knew it would be a problem. Hopefully Slime can develop this summer and perhaps be an upgrade here
 
What was the down and distance? We saw what happens when you misjudge a route like Scott did in the same game.

We gave up 186 passing yards and 20 points to the heisman winner and first overall pick.

The coaches should have taken Oconnor off of Becker after the first jump ball / back shoulder.

Btw most of those passing yards were on free access throws the coaching staff decided to just give them.
 
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Coach Macho said:
Press just isn't our thing. We're a heavy Cover-3 and Cover-4 team. And in Cover-3/Cover-4 our CB's play a bail technique while depending on the flat defender to give them help underneath. Issue is, if the offense can occupy that flat defender for a split second, you can throw hitches at the CB all day. The underneath help doesn't get there in time.

There's a more aggressive approach to Cover-3/Cover-4 which is what Indiana plays. Even when their CB's are playing "off" alignment, they are very aggressive in jumping those short/intermediate routes. (it's basically zone with man technique)

But that's a Saban thing, which is where Cignetti spent some time. That's why Saban made a comment at halftime about us giving up "access throws".

I'm not a fan of playing CB this way, mainly for 2 reasons.

1. They're CB's. They like to cover, not tackle. When you play them so far off and they are giving up short/quick routes, you force them to be tacklers.

2. We're long and fast at Corner. Absolutely no reason to coach like we're scared of the deep ball. Make them throw over the heads of our 6'0"-6'2" Corners. Playing off coverage isn't playing into our gifts (length and speed).
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A massive thank you for explaining that to me! My knowledge only goes as far as Madden 2000 😂 So in my head, I know I’m definitely simplifying the “why aren’t we doing xyz” question.

Because I was thinking along the lines of your 2 points at the end but I guess a system is a system and it got us this far
 
He didn’t wanna be legendary.

If we missed, that woulda been a big gain at a crucial time
 
Everything y’all saying is true, but I’ll just say this. Keep watching him and bump this thread. Most good young DBs start out with PBU’s and then has they mature, gain added confidence with added reps they begin to intercept the ball. I remember Sean Taylor making PBUs on plays where he could have intercepted the ball his sophomore season and then as a junior he started catching them.
 
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