Defensive Adjustments Question

[1BamaNorth]

Really difficult to defend a veer scheme in a 4-2-5.

 

[irvingtontide]

The biggest tale for me will be how they respond. Maybe vandy caught a few breaks and the game was an anomaly. We come off a big Georgia win that the defense played most the 2nd halve. So you have fatigue and a classic trap game that was noted last week.
The defense got a stop 2-3 times on the first drive alone. Two different penalties gave them the first down. You had the 2 #2’s on the field plus the slap to the QBs helmet was on a 3rd down incompletion. So they converted on two penalties and got a TD. We follow that up with a pick 6 which gives all momentum to vandy and they play to shorten the game with a 13 point lead. Which plays right into their offense’s strength. Still we showed no discipline against the option and that’s on coaching.

Georgia game being another one that looks horrible but is kind of a weird one to judge. It’s hard to stop Georgia in 3 downs on a good day (we did it all day) it’s a lot harder when they decide in the 2nd quarter they are going for it on 4th down all game even from their own 30. We still have to find a way to stop one of their 7 different 4th down conversions. The 3rd quarter we made Georgia drive the field it took 11 plays to get 3 first down and took over 4 mins off the clock. And they still hadn’t crossed the 50 yard line. That would have worked beautifully if it wasn’t followed by a 3 and out. Which just gassed the defense and Georgia was off to the races. We need to get our defense a breather with a few sustained drives.

Even with all that and possible scheme mismatches our DC has to do a better job. Our head coach also has to reign this team in MM outburst on the field can not be a theme or this staff will lose the team and fan base.

 

[CB4]

Defensive adjustments? I'd be in favor of it.

Can we add tackling to that as well or is that too big an ask? Our defense had a drug problem on Saturday. Our players would grab the ball carrier, then get drug another five yards….

 

[Coach D]

I disgree with that statement. I've actually been pretty surprised at how often we've done something different than the 'base 4-2' front. Womack actually has run a 3-4 alignment (or at least that personnel grouping) more this season than we ran it across the entire season last year) and he's got multiple variants of how he fills out that 4 in the 4-2 front with the number of DTs, Bandits and Wolves. He's also run the 3-3 alignment (same personnel as the 4-2 sometimes, but also sometimes taking the wolf off and having Campbell play that role with Jefferson as an ILB) way more than I would like as it hasn't been that productive so far except when we've stacked 2 LBs into the LOS to show blitz and then had variable drops based on the call.

I agree. I did a poor job of phrasing what I meant being broad. I was counting the wolf position as a DL no matter and counted it as a 4-2 whether he was on the line or up and moving in the middle. The little variance as far as him moving is not a big adjustment for the offense. More of the d being weaker if he’s in the middle. They even had him line up a foot in front of the LBs when the offense snapped the ball I believe a couple times. Just poor scheme. I meant exotic more like against Uga like you said above having the Lbs on the line. That got uga in the first half. As far as every other game it’s not been imaginative too much. I was hoping for more what USF does To get to the QB on passing downs to create confusion and pressure. Our blitzes are not much if any better than under Golding. It’s easier showing on the whiteboard, I always talked and drew not typed. Lol

 

[jjv0004]

The defense has looked bad the entire year. Go back and watch the games against subpar competition that had long and sustained drives and watch how often guys were wide open in the secondary but the QB could not get them the ball. This defense is not good and I see no reason to believe they will get better. They miss Braswell/Turner and it really hurt that Caleb Downs and Trey Amos transferred.

 

[CB4]

The defense has looked bad the entire year. Go back and watch the games against subpar competition that had long and sustained drives and watch how often guys were wide open in the secondary but the QB could not get them the ball. This defense is not good and I see no reason to believe they will get better. They miss Braswell/Turner and it really hurt that Caleb Downs and Trey Amos transferred.

I’ve been pointing to this really since Wisconsin. You could possibly overlook the 22 play drive versus WKU as “first game, working the kinks out”. But our inability to get off the field on defense has been atrocious. And some of the times when we have gotten the opponent “off the field”, it was more about the offense not executing than it was us “bowing up and stopping them”.

 

[countrytider]

I’ve been pointing to this really since Wisconsin. You could possibly overlook the 22 play drive versus WKU as “first game, working the kinks out”. But our inability to get off the field on defense has been atrocious. And some of the times when we have gotten the opponent “off the field”, it was more about the offense not executing than it was us “bowing up and stopping them”.

Going into the Vandy disaster, Bama had the #1 3rd down defense in the nation.

I know it looks bad. Awful, to be honest…the way Vandy handled our defense.

I still maintain they are a better unit than that, and Vandy was a one-off running an offense straight out of 1960.

I don’t think we are as bad as we looked Saturday. We won’t face another offense like that.

 

[Ledsteplin]

I was disappointed in Wommack making excuses about how Vandy used plays not seen before. They need to understand that all teams treat Bama differently from other teams. Bama is the game all teams have circled on their calendar. It's the game they prepare most for. Bama can expect new plays not seen before. Trick plays. And other different looks. You have to be ready to adjust, and quickly on the fly. If you don't, then a team like Vandy will beat you. If they didn't understand this, I hope they do now.

 

[B1GTide]

Going into the Vandy disaster, Bama had the #1 3rd down defense in the nation.

I know it looks bad. Awful, to be honest…the way Vandy handled our defense.

I still maintain they are a better unit than that, and Vandy was a one-off running an offense straight out of 1960.

I don’t think we are as bad as we looked Saturday. We won’t face another offense like that.

Alabama could not stop GA on 4th down. IMO, you have to include 4th down stats with 3rd down stats if an opponent plans on going for it anyway. Not fair, but it is the reality. 3rd down stats are about stopping drives. Alabama stopped GA 7 times on 3rd down, then gave up the first down anyway. Those should not count as 3rd down stops because they stopped nothing

 

[bamamc1]

I have several good friends who coach high school ball in Alabama. Each one of them to a man has said they want to play against spread teams week in and week out. The kids are all familiar with it because it's all they know. They cringe at the thought of playing wing-t, veer, etc. teams because it's such a huge difference and very hard to simulate in practices.

 

[davefrat]

We've been outcoached and outplayed the last 6 quarters.

And if we've made any actual in-game adjustments, they haven't been very effective.

There's reason for concern, but there's also a lot of football left to be played.

Get things right this weekend against SC.

 

[countrytider]

Alabama could not stop GA on 4th down. IMO, you have to include 4th down stats with 3rd down stats if an opponent plans on going for it anyway. Not fair, but it is the reality. 3rd down stats are about stopping drives. Alabama stopped GA 7 times on 3rd down, then gave up the first down anyway. Those should not count as 3rd down stops because they stopped nothing

I agree. I will add tho that several times we actually did make a stop whether it be 3rd or 4th down…we had a penalty go against us to extend the drive..

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

I have several good friends who coach high school ball in Alabama. Each one of them to a man has said they want to play against spread teams week in and week out. The kids are all familiar with it because it's all they know. They cringe at the thought of playing wing-t, veer, etc. teams because it's such a huge difference and very hard to simulate in practices.

Great point!

 

[22Musso22]

Here is the current state of our defense:

 

[deltatider]

I’ve not been impressed at all with this defense. While the defensive numbers/stats haven’t been bad, it doesn’t reconcile with what I’ve seen on the field. Our scheme just looks like it sets up such that we are in a disadvantage against the run. And frankly I’ve been disappointed with the physicality….too many instances like the play against Wisconsin where we hit the TE 7 yards shot of the first down only to have the guy drag a couple of our players with him and darn near pick up the first down. Similar to some what was happening against Vandy. Like someone mentioned in another post, this defense has given up a number of sustained drives against lesser opponents…that was a red flag to me.

 

[B1GTide]

Wommack gave a whole bunch of platitudes in the presser today. One of his game keys to victory was to be "situationally elite". SMH. How about you start with being situationally adequate.

 

[GboyBama]

Wommack gave a whole bunch of platitudes in the presser today. One of his game keys to victory was to be "situationally elite". SMH. How about you start with being situationally adequate.

Yeah, I heard that too.

Man, that was a bunch of word salad / coach-speak mumbo jumbo. I didn't hear a single actionable idea in there, so I finished listening even more alarmed than I was after Saturday.

 

[bamaclimber]

In DeBoer's press conference today, when asked about defensive adjustments, he rambled for a few moments and then mentioned the worst thing you can do is panic. I don't disagree. However, when you're still getting steamrolled by Vandy at the end of the third quarter, I think something more than staying calm needs to be in your repertoire.

I didn't hear an awareness of how big this loss was. This was a historic loss, of season, maybe early tenure-defining proportions. Very little of what he said about the team being committed and preparing well lined up with the game performance. I would have liked to have heard some thoughts on how he's going to address the disconnect between what he saw/sees and the actual results on the field.

Getting Shula press conference vibes.

 

[tusks_n_raider]

Wommack gave a whole bunch of platitudes in the presser today. One of his game keys to victory was to be "situationally elite". SMH. How about you start with being situationally adequate.

It sounds like the kind of thing someone would say when they are faking it until they make it.

 

[KrAzY3]

Pruitt is a PE teacher right now. His show cause is until 2029, but I believe that would only really influence on field activities and interacting with recruits.

I don't see why he couldn't at least be brought in as a consultant.