I have noticed, all year long, that the Tigers are not tackling well. One facet is the shoulder hit vs. the wrap up. The DBs are especially bad at this, including Pat Peterson on occassion. Another facet is the grab and throw. Again, the DBs seemed enamored with this technique most of the season. Lastly, how many times did the LB'ers or Rahim Alem pressure the QB only to recklessly blow right past him, normally ending in either a completed pass or a decent rushing attempt? It happened a lot. Yet, nobody seems to be screaming for The Chief's melon on a platter? On defense, LSU ranked: Sacks - 76th Tackles for Loss - 43rd 3rd Down Conversions Against - 45th Red Zone Defense - 33rd Time of Possession - 103rd First Down Defense - 63rd Why no hate for the defensive coaches?
Because of the improvement over last year. And because of the most important stat: Scoring Defense: 12th (16 ppg) Take out the 3 cupcakes and it is 21 points per game, still pretty good (about 27th nationally) Also, consider how bad the offense has been this year. 3 and outs by the offense mean the defense will be on the field a lot longer. The defense has kept us in games when the offense has struggled.
I'm not screaming for his head considering our defense last year, but I'm not overly impressed either. Our defense is not playing to the level I'd like to see. It seems to me there is a general lack of excellence on this team and I think that starts with Miles.
Anyone else noticing defenders taking bad angles when the quarterbacks were in their sights? Shoulda had like 14 more sacks because of those.
Well, I would say without looking at the stats that the defense routinely could not get the other team off the field. They did play good redzone defense and held opponents to fgs and had a ton of turnovers early in the year. Even the small schools and bad offensive teams were able to stay on the field. Opponents converted so many 3rd and longs I wouldn't even know where to begin on that. In the end, if you have every watched a Chavis defense, that is his style. All you have to do is talk to a long-time Tennessee fan they are going to tell you better expect to see plenty of this.
I think it's an issue for both coaches and players. I'm no expert, but I'm guessing the bend but don't break defense was adopted because it's simpler than some highly complicated blitzing scheme. As we have a new DC, picking such a defense would be easier for players to adapt to, as opposed to the debacle on defense last year. That said, Chavis has sometimes called zones where we got flat out beat, third and long where we just rush three despite known problems with our DL, and so on. In time, these wrinkles will get smoothed out, and as the players get better adapted to the scheme, more intense pressure packages will be seen. On the players, we've had a big problem in recent years with missing tackles and getting beat by the OL of other teams. Also, we can't have the game turn into a slip and slide contest every time we play on a different playing surface. A majority of that can be fixed, but mistakes happen. In short, the players need stability in order to grow, and as long as Chavis, who I do think is a good DC stays, that stability will be there. As for this year, it's been a work in progress. I expect it will get better in the year to come:tigereye:
Not to mention they've been under Chavis 1 season... let them have another year or two and they'll be a solid lights out unit. Takes a little time to train them to a new system...
Not his style guys. It's been don't break, not "lights out". You are going to be sadly disappointed if you think you are going to get a "lights out" defense out of Chavis.... if you don't like the bend but don't break style you shouldn't have hired a "bend but don't break" defensive coordinator.
I usually like the more aggresive style of defense, but I have been pleased with what we put on the field this year. However I do understand the "tackling" or "lack of" problem. While I can support the "bend but don't break" style I would like to see better tackling. There were many oppertunities to get the D off the field with better wrap up.
UT was 10th scoring D last year, with a horrible O. LSU is 12th with a bad O. that is "lights out". i wonder if people would prefer the "lights out" D of the championship 07 season that was 17th? chavis has been nothing but a home run.
