Question: Has our defense been "modernized" as much as our offense?

PA Tide Fan

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I ask the question because I'm not an X's and O's kind of guy who can describe defensive coverages. I've listened over the years to football analysts describe the type of defense Coach Saban likes to play and how it possibly can be exploited. It seems like I've heard them say the same things about it for quite a few years. Since the defense hasn't been up to par the last couple of years it makes me wonder "Has it changed?" Is it constantly being changed to try and keep up with the modern offenses or is it a defensive philosophy that has been stubbornly held on to that perhaps is outdated?
 

CrimsonNagus

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Has our defense been "modernized" as much as our offense?

Stubbornly held on to? Outdated? We won a championship in 2017 and the SEC title last year. My goodness, some of you are acting like this team hasn’t won anything in decades. It’s a down year for the defense because of youth and some huge key injuries. Thats tough to overcome.
 

PA Tide Fan

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Re: Has our defense been "modernized" as much as our offense?

Stubbornly held on to? Outdated? We won a championship in 2017 and the SEC title last year. My goodness, some of you are acting like this team hasn’t won anything in decades. It’s a down year for the defense because of youth and some huge key injuries. Thats tough to overcome.
All I can say is read JessN's analysis of the game where the point is made that our problems on defense may be more than just injured players.
 

Ldlane

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I ask the question because I'm not an X's and O's kind of guy who can describe defensive coverages. I've listened over the years to football analysts describe the type of defense Coach Saban likes to play and how it possibly can be exploited. It seems like I've heard them say the same things about it for quite a few years. Since the defense hasn't been up to par the last couple of years it makes me wonder "Has it changed?" Is it constantly being changed to try and keep up with the modern offenses or is it a defensive philosophy that has been stubbornly held on to that perhaps is outdated?
We've lost 2 or 3 games over the past couple of years and all of a sudden we aren't modern enough? Sometimes you get beat and sometimes you lose.
 

rtr90

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yes pattern matching doesnt work in modern day offenses

sad we havent tried something different. We should have been blitzing more and 11 man on line like 92 team.
 

4Q Basket Case

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It’s a fair question, and one I don’t have the expertise to answer.

As Jess points out, we have done well enough against even very good teams. But the last couple of times we’ve faced elite offenses, we‘ve done well enough on 1st and 2nd downs, but haven’t been able to close the deal on 3rd and get off the field.

There are three factors that make simple black-and-white analysis of this year’s defense hard to justify:
1. We’re playing a ton of really young players, including 5 freshmen in the starting rotation. That is just too many to generate consistent performances. And we’ve seen a lot of inconsistency — missed tackles, busted assignments, communication problems, all the stuff that comes with throwing freshmen into an SECw schedule.

2. 3-4 of those freshmen are in the center. NG, DT and ILB. As any military person, accomplished chess player, or football coach will tell you, if the center isn’t strong, you have a major problem. It’s not that any of these guys are un-talented. The talent is there. The experience necessary to maximize that talent isn’t.

3. We made some jaw-dropping mistakes yesterday, all on offense, and all of them cost points. The opening drive looked great until Tua inexplicably lost the handle on the ball, deep in the red zone, without being touched. Perine dropped a snap on the next drive, Tua threw a bad interception just before the half, and an OL (Dickerson? I’m not sure) compounded Tua’s mistake with an unforgivably selfish personal foul born of frustration.

All of those are unforced errors sufficient to lose to a team that’s just good, let alone one at LSU’s level.

Point of all that being, none of those problems are a function of defensive scheme. Maybe there’s another scheme that could mask deficiencies born of inexperience. Maybe the scheme itself is deficient, and wouldn’t be helped, even with experience in the middle...I don’t have the X and O knowledge to say.

We’re going to find out next year when inexperience is no longer an issue.
 

WishIwasInBama

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I would say Saban has definitely modernized with the times but the success of the team and players is a double edge sword.

Gone are the days of 255 Lb LB’s like McLain and Hightower. Look at the body types of Moses, Wilson etc. those guys have legit cover skills. Christian Harris was a DB.

If this defense still had D Thompson, Q Williams, M Wilson (all of whom had eligibility left) and a healthy D Moses.

The simple fact is Bama is still the greatest program on the greatest run in CFB history. No team can win them all, no other team has done this for the stretch that Bama has (especially with the parody that exist today).




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KrAzY3

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You could argue that the modernization of the offense hurt the defense. Part of what Saban's teams used to rely on was control of the clock. I get that's harder to do now, but I watched Minnesota beat Penn. State using that philosophy. Alabama basically abandoned it, and the issue is it keeps putting pressure on the defense instead of alleviating it.

LSU had the ball 9 more minutes. Now flip that, imagine if they had it 9 less minutes, how different does the game look? So personally, and I found it interesting that I mentioned Oklahoma's offense in what I wrote and so did JessN, but I think Alabama just went a little too Oklahoma. They don't do enough things to protect the defense and it shows on the field. The QB and the OC have to understand that their job isn't just to try to score points. It is to set the team up for success.
 
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TideEngineer08

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When offenses are allowed to hold carte blanche, WRs can push off, you can't tackle the QB hard, and heck WRs can even step out of bounds and then come back in and make a catch, then it is going to be really difficult for a defense to stop them.

I do think there are some adjustments to be made, as well as inexperience and injuries playing a part. But there is no questioning that rules changes over the last decade and ref conditioning (mean what fouls they choose to enforce) has aided the offense far more than the defense. And this "modern" offensive revolution is founded upon that.
 

B1GTide

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All I can say is read JessN's analysis of the game where the point is made that our problems on defense may be more than just injured players.
Jess is a human being who tends to overreact to tough losses. He has questioned Saban before and been wrong. Saban is the GOAT. I may question some of his hires, but I would be a fool to think that I had considered some defensive philosophy that he had not. It is a tired phrase, but Saban truly has forgotten more about football than any of us has ever known, and this is a very savvy group of fans.
 

BamaFlum

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I would be willing to give the D staff a pass this year, but one thing keeps me questioning them: lack of improvement over the year with the young players. Yes, they will make mistakes but it’s doesn’t seem like they are improving.


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PA Tide Fan

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Jess is a human being who tends to overreact to tough losses. He has questioned Saban before and been wrong. Saban is the GOAT. I may question some of his hires, but I would be a fool to think that I had considered some defensive philosophy that he had not. It is a tired phrase, but Saban truly has forgotten more about football than any of us has ever known, and this is a very savvy group of fans.
But haven't Saban's defenses always been designed to stop the run first? That worked great against the Les Miles LSU teams of years past. We've always seemed to have problems against teams that decide to pass a lot, and not just vs. Heisman caliber QB's. I remember the 2014 Iron Bowl shootout (55-44) where Nick Marshall threw for 400+ against us. Also we can't forget the Ole Miss teams where Chad Kelly had huge passing games against us in back to back years. If we're faced with an LSU opponent that's going to continue to be a passing team going forward I think we're going to have to do some tinkering.
 

Cruloc

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The guys had more than a few busts yesterday...and there wasnt consistent pressure on burrow up the middle. When there was his throws werent as accurate.

But....
1. Tuas butter fingers fumble that was just...basically blowing a flat tire on a great opening drive where the lead could have been at least 3-0.
2. Perine not fielding the snap.
3. Interception but 12 men on the field.
4. Down 19-13 with 4 minutes left in the half...good 1st down play...bad 2nd and 3rd..punt. LSU TD.
5. 1st down interception with less than a minute...busted coverage LSU TD.
6. Start 2nd half, get a huge turnover...offense does absolutely nothing after the turnover.
7. Defense got several stops in a row, offense picked up, we were back in the game...but digging out of a huge hole against a very good and focused team.
 

Jack Bourbon

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I think some offenses these days are basically unstoppable, at least in college. I wish we could at least be better at slowing down the elite ones.
 

rgw

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Basically unstoppable. Alabama had a basically unstoppable offense stopped a few times but didn't finish a tackle or busted on pass rush rules to allow the play to be extended. The game ain't changed that much. A few plays will decide a game. You don't know when they will come. So you have to be prepared to make that play any moment you're on the field.
 

bamamc1

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We were in dime pretty much 3/4 of the game. I was an idiot and full of emotion during the game thread. We faced an elite QB last night with a lot of guys that were playing high school ball last year. That being said, there’s no other team in the nation that could have played LSU with the same injury issues and been that close. I apologize for my post about Coach Golding and after having time to reflect, our guys played hard and never quit. Isn’t that all any of us as fans can ask? There’s a lot of ball to be played and we’re not out of it yet. RTR.
 

Padreruf

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I would like to see us try some zone defense when in obvious passing situations...with the man on man we had major holes in the middle. If Burrow broke through the line, he had plenty of yards. I know the "mush rush" concept...but perhaps something else is needed. But, the next defense I coach will be the first one...LOL.

OTOH, CFB will never be the pound it out game it once was. The rules have changed and the players play 7 on 7 all off season. Everyone can throw and catch it.
 

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