The Defense

[Steve]

you may be able to teach stripping but could come as a sacrifice to tackling.

Personally, I don't think it is worth even trying to teach stripping, at least in terms of regular tackles. Pass rushers flying in off the edge when the QB is holding the ball poorly (1 handed) have a fair chance of knocking it lose, the rest … not so much.

In a good year, you might get 1 or 2, but at the expense of missed tackles. However, if you watch a lot of NFL football, it seems like the majority of fumbles happen with lucky solo tackles where the defender happens to "accidently" knock the ball loose just making the regular tackle. Either a helmet hits, or the arm wrapping up punches it loose.

The Tillman thing is interesting, but I am not aware of other players who have managed to consistently repeat it. I know coaches who have come back from clinics, and tried, but then gave up on the peanut punch. Good in theory, but hard to accomplish in practice. It is worth pointing out that despite the fumble, Pettigrew is running him over, and since even Tillman misses the majority of the time …

EVERY defensive coach at every level that I am aware of tries to COACH turnovers.

To be honest, the biggest thing that probably contributes to defensive turnovers is how well the offense performs. Going back to the Mike McCoy era, we scored a fair number of points, using long drives that eat up a lot of time, it put tremendous pressure on offenses. Yes, pass rush, good technique and all that contributes, but you HAVE to do that anyway. The extra pressure from an offense to shorten the game WHILE continueing to score is probably the number one thing.

We are already doing the one thing that analytics people have already found to work. That is play mostly zone defense, so that the defenders can see the ball and react to it in the air, so that they have a chance to make a play on the ball. It doesn't help that much, but it is the only thing that has any sort of reasonable statistical association to defensive takeaways.

[Steve]

Now that we have resolved what is required to get more takeaways, how about fewer points allowed?
I'm sure luck does play a role, we have all seen ridiculous things happen but can coaching & talent tip the scales? I believe so.
And, in the event that our pass rush is making the QB uncomfortable, getting in his face, putting their hands in him, moving him off his spot, forcing him to hurry throws to avoid sacks while the LB/DB speed & talent are making life difficult for receivers we will accomplish one of two things more frequently. 1. Get a takeaway. 2. Force a punt. I prefer 1. but believe 2 provides a substantial advantage and will increase the QB's distress as the difficulty of obtaining 1st downs becomes an obvious problem.
Great defense is a powerful tool with or without takeaways. The takeaway numbers make D life easier but it's points not allowed that result in W's.

Sacks and turnovers are import parts of winning games because of the field position. But as many will point out, there are ways to overcome that.

The turnover is more important because if the D takes it away, the other team cannot score in that possession, and there are only 9-12 possesions per game for each O, so denying a score on one or more of those starts to dramatically limit the number of scoring chances an O has.

The other will be the combined impact of Hill (who returned punts as a freshman), Reed (KOR) and Darius Jennings adding to our PUTRID return game. We lose the ST third of the game every week (just about) and it puts us behind the 8-ball. The D wasn't that great last year, the O wasn't that great, the only way to overcome that is to play good to great ST, and we went the other way with ST.

[Steve]

Only with luck can a team give up fewer points...

Or play better ST and don't miss tackles.

[FoutsFan]

Personally, I don't think it is worth even trying to teach stripping, at least in terms of regular tackles. Pass rushers flying in off the edge when the QB is holding the ball poorly (1 handed) have a fair chance of knocking it lose, the rest … not so much.

In a good year, you might get 1 or 2, but at the expense of missed tackles. However, if you watch a lot of NFL football, it seems like the majority of fumbles happen with lucky solo tackles where the defender happens to "accidently" knock the ball loose just making the regular tackle. Either a helmet hits, or the arm wrapping up punches it loose.

The Tillman thing is interesting, but I am not aware of other players who have managed to consistently repeat it. I know coaches who have come back from clinics, and tried, but then gave up on the peanut punch. Good in theory, but hard to accomplish in practice. It is worth pointing out that despite the fumble, Pettigrew is running him over, and since even Tillman misses the majority of the time …

EVERY defensive coach at every level that I am aware of tries to COACH turnovers.

To be honest, the biggest thing that probably contributes to defensive turnovers is how well the offense performs. Going back to the Mike McCoy era, we scored a fair number of points, using long drives that eat up a lot of time, it put tremendous pressure on offenses. Yes, pass rush, good technique and all that contributes, but you HAVE to do that anyway. The extra pressure from an offense to shorten the game WHILE continueing to score is probably the number one thing.

We are already doing the one thing that analytics people have already found to work. That is play mostly zone defense, so that the defenders can see the ball and react to it in the air, so that they have a chance to make a play on the ball. It doesn't help that much, but it is the only thing that has any sort of reasonable statistical association to defensive takeaways.

You are correct. The pass rush is what generates turn overs and not much else. A lucky helmet on a ball or shoulder pad on a ball can cause a fumble but its a once or twice a season thing. Pass rush can cause sacks on the QB (most of the fumbles come this way) or pass rush causes bad passes which are easier to intercept. Again it focuses on pass rush, we need to improve this in a big way.

[wu-dai clan]

Or play better ST and don't miss tackles.

:nod:

We've got George Stewart..
We tackle like Sam Cane.
We've got this.

[Steve]

You are correct. The pass rush is what generates turn overs and not much else. A lucky helmet on a ball or shoulder pad on a ball can cause a fumble but its a once or twice a season thing. Pass rush can cause sacks on the QB (most of the fumbles come this way) or pass rush causes bad passes which are easier to intercept. Again it focuses on pass rush, we need to improve this in a big way.

Except that teams with consistently good pass rush that don't change coaching staff, or personnel still have wildly varying numbers of turnovers from year to year.

Pass rush is another thing that can vary wildly from season to season too, at least in terms of the number of sacks, although if you use pressures, those tend to be a lot more stable from year to year. You just have to get a lead, and then keep playing good defense to give yourself the best chance. But chance is still a huge part of it.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/24142400/coaches-their-everlasting-quest-coach-turnovers

[FoutsFan]

Except that teams with consistently good pass rush that don't change coaching staff, or personnel still have wildly varying numbers of turnovers from year to year.

Pass rush is another thing that can vary wildly from season to season too, at least in terms of the number of sacks, although if you use pressures, those tend to be a lot more stable from year to year. You just have to get a lead, and then keep playing good defense to give yourself the best chance. But chance is still a huge part of it.

https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...oach-turnovers

True, I was speaking more game to game than season to season. In today's NFL with the player turnover and such it is impossible to predict performance carryover to the next season or from the previous season.

[Xenos]

Q&A with Popper that somewhat had a Bradley related question:
image.png

[Steve]

It's worth remembering that Gus coached in Tampa under Tony Dungy and Rod Marinnelli in the Tampa 2 D, before he went to Seattle and then later learned the single FS style of over/under 34/43 D from Pete Carroll. All of them have used cover 2 at one time or another in the current D we use.

[like54ninjas]

Drue Tranquill couldn’t believe it when the Chargers drafted Alohi Gilman


The second-year defender was over the moon to reunite with Gilman.

By Michael Peterson@ZoneTracks May 14, 2020, 8:00am PDT Share this story

• Share this on Facebook (opens in new window)
• Share this on Twitter (opens in new window)
• SHAREAll sharing options

Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
On day three of the NFL draft, with several of his former teammates still yet to hear their names get called, former Notre Dame star and current Chargers linebacker Drue Tranquill was off making use of his time instead of keeping up with the NFL draft ticker.

Unbeknownst to him, the Bolts were about to reunite him with one of his favorite teammates from his time in South Bend.

When asked what his reaction was to the Chargers drafting Alohi Gilman with the No. 186 pick, Tranquill told reporters during a virtual press conference on Wednesday that he actually first heard the news from his wife.

“My wife was the one who actually told me. I wasn’t following it. She screamed downstairs and said ‘WE DRAFTED ALOHI!’ and I was like ‘NO WAY!’ I was too pumped. I called him right away. (I was) so excited for him.”

Aside from being understandably excited about the team adding a familiar face in the building, Tranquill had a funny story to tell about his time going through the pre-draft gauntlet.

“When you’re going through the scouting process, the first question a lot of scouts and coaches asked me was ‘If you could take one teammate of yours with you to the NFL, who would it be and why?’ and I kid you not, my answer every time (last year) was Alohi.”

“He’s a leader, a future captain, he’s going to stand out on special teams, defense, and every facet of the game,” Tranquill said. “He’s just a guy who loves football. I think he fits really well in our culture.”

Here are some of my other takeaways from Wednesday’s virtual press conference:

Tranquill played MIKE when he got snaps in 2019

When asked if he called the defense at all last year, Tranquill told us that if he was on the field, he “had the mic.”

“That’s actually one of my favorite parts of the position. I like getting the call and commanding the defense. I don’t think I have trust issues but I like the idea of getting the call and making sure everyone else has it than trying to get it from somebody else.”

While there is still the possibility he plays some WILL in 2020, it’s enlightening to hear that he didn’t play any snaps at all there as a rookie. This maybe gives us an idea of how much Kenneth Murray will play on the weak side as a rookie while Tranquill and Perryman rotate at the MIKE to begin the season.

He isn’t sure if he’ll play more or less on special teams in 2020

When I asked if anything has been mentioned about his ST snaps increasing or decreasing this coming season, Tranquill said there hasn’t been any word on that just yet. Obviously he is set to see some extra snaps at linebacker but when you remember how successful he was as a core special teamer, it’s understandable to wonder.

Tranquill did finish his answer with the idea that the coaching staff may not want to break last year’s group up anymore than it already has after the departures of Adrian Phillips, Nick Dzubnar, and Derek Watt.

On rookie LB Kenneth Murray

“Coach (Richard) Smith sent us Ken’s number and we had a short text exchange. I hear he’s a great young man and obviously a great football player for us to trade up and draft him in the first round. I look forward to getting to know him this year and growing with him.”

[like54ninjas]

[Formula 21]

Yep, TT scored on that pickup.