I see a lot of "why don't our corners look back for the ball" and "why do we suck in the secondary now".. So let's just shed a bit of light on what Saban wants his defense to do.
Saban has always been and FOREVER will be a "stop the run" defensive coach. You wanna know why we never lose a game by more than 7 points? Cause we stop the run! It wins you 95% of the games you play (if you're Bama
and it allows your defensive adjustment TOs get easier as the game goes along. How does it work? Oh, that's easy! You recruit BIG meat heads to eat up space on the DL. You coach them to "find the ball" and to have "gap control".. You also recruit BIG Lbers that looooove physical collisions.! you teach discipline discipline discipline.. But gap control is the most important concept! You must beat your man and get the ball carrier, without moving a yard! That's why they need to be BIG.!
Now to the Dbs, if you have these big guys doing this up front, guess what? Yep, those DBs are all alone! So those corners are on an island. But you gotta risk something in this defense, and a coach that likes his job will run 70% and throw 30%... So you wanna gamble with the 30! The corners are taught "press" and "bump and run" coverages along with many more, but those first 2 are what's giving this board the Hersey Squirts. Bump and run is to bump the man off the line to throw him off his route and mess up the timing. You force the WR outside and hopefully run him out of bounds during the route, if not you stay in his hip pocket with a hand on him and look back for the ball when, and ONLY when the rec does. If you're not in position, then you take the ball out when it hit his hands or try and pull it away from him. But you have to make the tackle! That's your main responsibility! The reason for this type of coverage is to keep #'s in the box to stop the run, and force the QB to "make the throw against a challenge".. Playing OFF / ZONE coverage presents no challenge to the QB and is an automatic 5yd easy pass play.
The more you can get the other team to throw it down field, the LESS likely they will be successful in the passing game. What has been happening is QB coaches are letting their QBs throw it to "spots" more often against certain coverage. Also the "back shoulder" throws are made to beat man coverage. But still, you have to have the timing right and it's still a lower % throw and catch. Our DBs are suffering from confidence IMO. Everyone wants them to get their head around, but they're taught to NOT do so UNLESS their in position. They don't think they are at the time, when in fact they are. The elder guys have the confidence and always do a great job. The young guys always struggle. It is what it is and it will always be what it is... I would not trade our defensive strategy with ANY other team in CFB.. Just my 2 cents
Please add to or correct anything I boogered up. RTR.
Saban has always been and FOREVER will be a "stop the run" defensive coach. You wanna know why we never lose a game by more than 7 points? Cause we stop the run! It wins you 95% of the games you play (if you're Bama
and it allows your defensive adjustment TOs get easier as the game goes along. How does it work? Oh, that's easy! You recruit BIG meat heads to eat up space on the DL. You coach them to "find the ball" and to have "gap control".. You also recruit BIG Lbers that looooove physical collisions.! you teach discipline discipline discipline.. But gap control is the most important concept! You must beat your man and get the ball carrier, without moving a yard! That's why they need to be BIG.!Now to the Dbs, if you have these big guys doing this up front, guess what? Yep, those DBs are all alone! So those corners are on an island. But you gotta risk something in this defense, and a coach that likes his job will run 70% and throw 30%... So you wanna gamble with the 30! The corners are taught "press" and "bump and run" coverages along with many more, but those first 2 are what's giving this board the Hersey Squirts. Bump and run is to bump the man off the line to throw him off his route and mess up the timing. You force the WR outside and hopefully run him out of bounds during the route, if not you stay in his hip pocket with a hand on him and look back for the ball when, and ONLY when the rec does. If you're not in position, then you take the ball out when it hit his hands or try and pull it away from him. But you have to make the tackle! That's your main responsibility! The reason for this type of coverage is to keep #'s in the box to stop the run, and force the QB to "make the throw against a challenge".. Playing OFF / ZONE coverage presents no challenge to the QB and is an automatic 5yd easy pass play.
The more you can get the other team to throw it down field, the LESS likely they will be successful in the passing game. What has been happening is QB coaches are letting their QBs throw it to "spots" more often against certain coverage. Also the "back shoulder" throws are made to beat man coverage. But still, you have to have the timing right and it's still a lower % throw and catch. Our DBs are suffering from confidence IMO. Everyone wants them to get their head around, but they're taught to NOT do so UNLESS their in position. They don't think they are at the time, when in fact they are. The elder guys have the confidence and always do a great job. The young guys always struggle. It is what it is and it will always be what it is... I would not trade our defensive strategy with ANY other team in CFB.. Just my 2 cents
Please add to or correct anything I boogered up. RTR.
