Do we play bend-don't-break on defense again this year?

[blackvern]

Ya'll know that Randy Shannon was all about "Bend dont break" right? He sat in his base 4-3 cover two all day long. So now dudes who were slurping all over Shannon's great defenses are b*tching that Donofrio had to basically do the same thing, with about 1/8th of the talent that Shannon had to work with when he had his best defenses?

I mean at least Shannons defenses worked for us in the past... but giving up wr screens for 10 yardsbecause our guy plays 7 yards off the ball just does something to me... at least make them earn it ya know...to me playing tight man defense is not bend but dont break even if they have safety help
...even though randy had some archaeic blitzes at least they paid tight man coverage

 

[CanesAreAble]

Ya'll know that Randy Shannon was all about "Bend dont break" right? He sat in his base 4-3 cover two all day long. So now dudes who were slurping all over Shannon's great defenses are b*tching that Donofrio had to basically do the same thing, with about 1/8th of the talent that Shannon had to work with when he had his best defenses?

I mean at least Shannons defenses worked for us in the past... but giving up wr screens for 10 yardsbecause our guy plays 7 yards off the ball just does something to me... at least make them earn it ya know...to me playing tight man defense is not bend but dont break even if they have safety help
...even though randy had some archaeic blitzes at least they paid tight man coverage

People were BEGGING for zone when Shannon was DC (and we played more zone after 2004).

Our defense is going to look a lot better as more talent develops.

 

[CaneAlmighty]

The man had just got back in the game after sitting out about a quarter with a cramp. Why put him in press coverage with no safety help over the top? Maryland attacking him on that play down the field was predictable and the result was predictable. He was put in a position to fail. Leave him out the game or give him help over top. Don't put a guy who cramped up out on an island with zero help - just asking for trouble. Was a dumb move.

lol. More excuses. Dont blame Donofrio for McGee's failures.

Our sewage talent and CULTURE is why we failed, not "schemes". Our kids were bred to turn into losers by the previous regime and that's what we ended up with.

excuses? its basic football. you test the guy who was out hurt. especially when the guy is a CB who cramped up. Wasn't smart to put him in press coverage with zero help over the top. If it was a coach for another team putting in a player who just came back from a cramp you'd most likely think/say "we need to take advantage of him". i know i would and i know i was saying Maryland will take advantage of McGhee right before that play to anyone within listening distance of me at that game.

And if he would have played McGee off and Maryland would have dinked and dunked us killing the clock you would have been the first one to say he should have pressed McGee. That's the thing you don't get. It's easy to be an arm chair QB fan and make calls. And it's easy to call plays when you have talent that will make you look good.
D'onofrio wasn't afforded that. Heck HE HAD TO PLAY AN INJURED PLAYER.. that should tell you all you need to know.. But no, we have know it all fans that have all the answers. BTW, JoJo had to deep responsibility but decided to step up and provided over the top coverage on the TE.. Yeap, that's D'onofrio's fault as well. NOT

with 4 minutes on the clock I wasn't worried about them running out the clock. once i saw McGhee in press i had the "****" reaction. So yeah I wouldn't be calling for him to be in press knowing he just came back from a cramp. Now the part on JoJo. I don't know what his responsibility was. From the look of things it doesn't look like he was supposed to help over the top with McGhee. He's lined up the whole time directly in front of the TE. Looks like that was his responsibility to me. Pause at the 8:02 mark and see if it looks like he's supposed to be helping McGhee deep. I think you'll agree that it looks like he got TE responsibility all the way. Looked that way live and pretty much 100% sure that's what it was based on teh video.
just rewatched the LBs and they didn't even bother with the TE. so yeah that's JoJo's responsibility all the way on that play.

It was a cover 2. Safties have deep responsibilty.
JoJo steps up at the snap which is a big NO-NO. The first step a saftey should be taking on a passing down is back not up. One of the LB's did end up picking up the TE.
You have to keep in mind the following
This was the 1st game of the year in this new defense. So it is very likely that there would be some busted coverage.
Second, JoJo was practicing at CB all training camp leading up to the week before the game where he had to be switched due to the suspension of Ray Ray.
lastly, Al Golden called out the defense for free lancing and bad habits mid way through the year. The MD game was the 1st game.
Taking all this into consideration and seeing how JoJo steps up on that play, I'm going with it being a busted coverage and poor fundamentals by JoJo as the reason why there was no over the top help on that play.

Also, McGee didn't seemed bothered by the cramping. D'onofrio adjusted at halftime and pressed more which seemed to be working. Why switch back if McGee seemed to be fine? Yeah, it's always easy to second guess, but it was the right call. Players just didn't execute plus it was a great play by O'brien and Dorsey. Sometimes you have to give your opponent credit.

 

[hawaiicane]

Ya'll know that Randy Shannon was all about "Bend dont break" right? He sat in his base 4-3 cover two all day long. So now dudes who were slurping all over Shannon's great defenses are b*tching that Donofrio had to basically do the same thing, with about 1/8th of the talent that Shannon had to work with when he had his best defenses?

I mean at least Shannons defenses worked for us in the past... but giving up wr screens for 10 yardsbecause our guy plays 7 yards off the ball just does something to me... at least make them earn it ya know...to me playing tight man defense is not bend but dont break even if they have safety help
...even though randy had some archaeic blitzes at least they paid tight man coverage

Shammin left us with raw sewage at CB and this cat wants us to play tight man defense. :ibisroflmao:

 

[Staybon]

lol. More excuses. Dont blame Donofrio for McGee's failures.

Our sewage talent and CULTURE is why we failed, not "schemes". Our kids were bred to turn into losers by the previous regime and that's what we ended up with.

excuses? its basic football. you test the guy who was out hurt. especially when the guy is a CB who cramped up. Wasn't smart to put him in press coverage with zero help over the top. If it was a coach for another team putting in a player who just came back from a cramp you'd most likely think/say "we need to take advantage of him". i know i would and i know i was saying Maryland will take advantage of McGhee right before that play to anyone within listening distance of me at that game.

And if he would have played McGee off and Maryland would have dinked and dunked us killing the clock you would have been the first one to say he should have pressed McGee. That's the thing you don't get. It's easy to be an arm chair QB fan and make calls. And it's easy to call plays when you have talent that will make you look good.
D'onofrio wasn't afforded that. Heck HE HAD TO PLAY AN INJURED PLAYER.. that should tell you all you need to know.. But no, we have know it all fans that have all the answers. BTW, JoJo had to deep responsibility but decided to step up and provided over the top coverage on the TE.. Yeap, that's D'onofrio's fault as well. NOT

with 4 minutes on the clock I wasn't worried about them running out the clock. once i saw McGhee in press i had the "****" reaction. So yeah I wouldn't be calling for him to be in press knowing he just came back from a cramp. Now the part on JoJo. I don't know what his responsibility was. From the look of things it doesn't look like he was supposed to help over the top with McGhee. He's lined up the whole time directly in front of the TE. Looks like that was his responsibility to me. Pause at the 8:02 mark and see if it looks like he's supposed to be helping McGhee deep. I think you'll agree that it looks like he got TE responsibility all the way. Looked that way live and pretty much 100% sure that's what it was based on teh video.
just rewatched the LBs and they didn't even bother with the TE. so yeah that's JoJo's responsibility all the way on that play.

It was a cover 2. Safties have deep responsibilty.
JoJo steps up at the snap which is a big NO-NO. The first step a saftey should be taking on a passing down is back not up. One of the LB's did end up picking up the TE.
You have to keep in mind the following
This was the 1st game of the year in this new defense. So it is very likely that there would be some busted coverage.
Second, JoJo was practicing at CB all training camp leading up to the week before the game where he had to be switched due to the suspension of Ray Ray.
lastly, Al Golden called out the defense for free lancing and bad habits mid way through the year. The MD game was the 1st game.
Taking all this into consideration and seeing how JoJo steps up on that play, I'm going with it being a busted coverage and poor fundamentals by JoJo as the reason why there was no over the top help on that play.

Also, McGee didn't seemed bothered by the cramping. D'onofrio adjusted at halftime and pressed more which seemed to be working. Why switch back if McGee seemed to be fine? Yeah, it's always easy to second guess, but it was the right call. Players just didn't execute plus it was a great play by O'brien and Dorsey. Sometimes you have to give your opponent credit.

you didn't look at where JoJo was lined up or how the LBs reacted? It wasn't cover 2. At most it was supposed to look like cover 2 and I don't think that's the case either cause if it was than JoJo would have at least started out closer to the hash. Looks pretty clear that we didn't want their TE eating us up over the middle any more so we assigned JoJo to handle that. Just left McGhee on an island. And I'm sure McGhee probably said the cramp wasn't bothering him. But knowing cramps - you don't get back to full speed the same day. Just can get the leg to feel comfortable but its not going to operate at full capacity. And I know we had the CBs closer to the line in the 2nd but don't remember seeing many times where we didn't have 2 safeties back. I can double check that.

 

[Cityboy4life82]

When we played teams "Lousiville" that spread it around in Randy's old 4-3 Tampa Cover 2 we got our asses handed to us. At least Coach D will use a 3-4 to slow it down. And what Temple fans out of the 2,000 total did you bump into who knew anything football?

Any team coached by Bobby Petrino is going to put up points against most teams they face. Need to also point out the offense fumbling in the red zone and two FGs missed all in the 1st half by us. As for the scheme - up to the coach to put guys in a position to make the play and up to the player to actually make it. The big TD passes they got were off missed tackles by our DBs. 15-20 yards pass turns into a 50 yarders if the safety and/or CB can't make the tackle. And most of the time cover 2's don't allow the big play - 2 safeties helping over the top make completing deep passes tough unless the safety just was really slow getting over or had pressure down the seam keeping him from getting to the sideline. Didn't most people think Shannon's defense was too conservative? Seemed like most people wanted more blitzing from it.

and our DC's defense didn't slow down anything when other teams attacked. How fast did VT score when it needed to? UNC? We have guys 10 yards off all game against MD and decide to press coverage with a CB who just the play before came back in the game after sitting at least a quarter with a cramp? With no safety help over the top either? I was in the stands calling that play out loud - "**** mcghee in press with no help? Maryland's gotta test him." My boy was looking at me like why did i jinx him. But it was such an obvious play for Maryland to do. Not sure how you leave him out there like that.

Coach D as a DC >>>>>>>>>>>> Corch Randy as a DC

compare the two ranking wise

Randy was handed a Ferrari and all he had to do was not wreck it which he eventually did. Coach D is building a Lamborghini because he's a better DC than corch Randy. But hey TCU is going to have the best LB corch EVER!

Do you think coaches win with non talented players? You think Nick Saban's defense at Alabama are so dominate because they don't have talent? Every coach needs talent to win and be dominate. Great coaches use their talent effectively. Randy did his thing as a DC.

 

[Cityboy4life82]

Ya'll know that Randy Shannon was all about "Bend dont break" right? He sat in his base 4-3 cover two all day long. So now dudes who were slurping all over Shannon's great defenses are b*tching that Donofrio had to basically do the same thing, with about 1/8th of the talent that Shannon had to work with when he had his best defenses?

Randy Shannon never played a bend-don’t- break defense. Randy played a very aggressive 4-3 defense that put a lot of pressure on the QB to make plays. We played press tight man to man coverage all game with two safeties over the top making it very difficult to complete passes down field. One of the reasons almost every Randy Shannon coached defense was at the top in pass efficiency. On most passing plays an offense would have 4 players running routes against our 7 defenders. Randy’s philosophy was to play aggressive at the line of scrimmage and this is why he liked big corners who could bully the WR at the line of scrimmage. Teams would prepare for our rough tactics buy having the scout team grab and pull on the WR every play.

Bend-don’t-break requires a defense to play zone with soft coverage. Randy never ran a zone or soft coverage.

 

[Cityboy4life82]

lol. More excuses. Dont blame Donofrio for McGee's failures.

Our sewage talent and CULTURE is why we failed, not "schemes". Our kids were bred to turn into losers by the previous regime and that's what we ended up with.

excuses? its basic football. you test the guy who was out hurt. especially when the guy is a CB who cramped up. Wasn't smart to put him in press coverage with zero help over the top. If it was a coach for another team putting in a player who just came back from a cramp you'd most likely think/say "we need to take advantage of him". i know i would and i know i was saying Maryland will take advantage of McGhee right before that play to anyone within listening distance of me at that game.

And if he would have played McGee off and Maryland would have dinked and dunked us killing the clock you would have been the first one to say he should have pressed McGee. That's the thing you don't get. It's easy to be an arm chair QB fan and make calls. And it's easy to call plays when you have talent that will make you look good.
D'onofrio wasn't afforded that. Heck HE HAD TO PLAY AN INJURED PLAYER.. that should tell you all you need to know.. But no, we have know it all fans that have all the answers. BTW, JoJo had to deep responsibility but decided to step up and provided over the top coverage on the TE.. Yeap, that's D'onofrio's fault as well. NOT

with 4 minutes on the clock I wasn't worried about them running out the clock. once i saw McGhee in press i had the "****" reaction. So yeah I wouldn't be calling for him to be in press knowing he just came back from a cramp. Now the part on JoJo. I don't know what his responsibility was. From the look of things it doesn't look like he was supposed to help over the top with McGhee. He's lined up the whole time directly in front of the TE. Looks like that was his responsibility to me. Pause at the 8:02 mark and see if it looks like he's supposed to be helping McGhee deep. I think you'll agree that it looks like he got TE responsibility all the way. Looked that way live and pretty much 100% sure that's what it was based on teh video.
just rewatched the LBs and they didn't even bother with the TE. so yeah that's JoJo's responsibility all the way on that play.

It was a cover 2. Safties have deep responsibilty.
JoJo steps up at the snap which is a big NO-NO. The first step a saftey should be taking on a passing down is back not up. One of the LB's did end up picking up the TE.
You have to keep in mind the following
This was the 1st game of the year in this new defense. So it is very likely that there would be some busted coverage.
Second, JoJo was practicing at CB all training camp leading up to the week before the game where he had to be switched due to the suspension of Ray Ray.
lastly, Al Golden called out the defense for free lancing and bad habits mid way through the year. The MD game was the 1st game.
Taking all this into consideration and seeing how JoJo steps up on that play, I'm going with it being a busted coverage and poor fundamentals by JoJo as the reason why there was no over the top help on that play.

Also, McGee didn't seemed bothered by the cramping. D'onofrio adjusted at halftime and pressed more which seemed to be working. Why switch back if McGee seemed to be fine? Yeah, it's always easy to second guess, but it was the right call. Players just didn't execute plus it was a great play by O'brien and Dorsey. Sometimes you have to give your opponent credit.

That was not JoJo's responsibility. They were in a cover 3 man to man. JoJo covered the correct man. Mcghee is the field side corner and got beat badly. The problem on that play was he stayed in his back pedal and turned late to run. Part of being a Field side corner is being able to play the entire field without help. Coach D needed to make a play on defense and trusted(hoped) that Mcghee could handle that responsibility (playing entire field man to man). JoJo made a great read and jumped the tight-end route. He knew that route was coming pre-snap(**** good read). Coach D made the call cutting off every other route, which left Mcghee the Field Side Corner in man to man with no help. He has to make that play.

We rolled our other safety VT over the top of our Boundary corner. The Boundary corner is normally the most physical and plays the short side of the field and is mostly in press to disrupt the QB's second read by jamming the wideout at the line of scrimmage.

Mcghee simply got roasted and if your Field side corner needs over the top help, as a DC you are going to have a long afternoon because it limits the kind of plays that can be called. Coach D called the perfect play and everyone executed but Mcghee

 

[CaneAlmighty]

excuses? its basic football. you test the guy who was out hurt. especially when the guy is a CB who cramped up. Wasn't smart to put him in press coverage with zero help over the top. If it was a coach for another team putting in a player who just came back from a cramp you'd most likely think/say "we need to take advantage of him". i know i would and i know i was saying Maryland will take advantage of McGhee right before that play to anyone within listening distance of me at that game.

And if he would have played McGee off and Maryland would have dinked and dunked us killing the clock you would have been the first one to say he should have pressed McGee. That's the thing you don't get. It's easy to be an arm chair QB fan and make calls. And it's easy to call plays when you have talent that will make you look good.
D'onofrio wasn't afforded that. Heck HE HAD TO PLAY AN INJURED PLAYER.. that should tell you all you need to know.. But no, we have know it all fans that have all the answers. BTW, JoJo had to deep responsibility but decided to step up and provided over the top coverage on the TE.. Yeap, that's D'onofrio's fault as well. NOT

with 4 minutes on the clock I wasn't worried about them running out the clock. once i saw McGhee in press i had the "****" reaction. So yeah I wouldn't be calling for him to be in press knowing he just came back from a cramp. Now the part on JoJo. I don't know what his responsibility was. From the look of things it doesn't look like he was supposed to help over the top with McGhee. He's lined up the whole time directly in front of the TE. Looks like that was his responsibility to me. Pause at the 8:02 mark and see if it looks like he's supposed to be helping McGhee deep. I think you'll agree that it looks like he got TE responsibility all the way. Looked that way live and pretty much 100% sure that's what it was based on teh video.
just rewatched the LBs and they didn't even bother with the TE. so yeah that's JoJo's responsibility all the way on that play.

It was a cover 2. Safties have deep responsibilty.
JoJo steps up at the snap which is a big NO-NO. The first step a saftey should be taking on a passing down is back not up. One of the LB's did end up picking up the TE.
You have to keep in mind the following
This was the 1st game of the year in this new defense. So it is very likely that there would be some busted coverage.
Second, JoJo was practicing at CB all training camp leading up to the week before the game where he had to be switched due to the suspension of Ray Ray.
lastly, Al Golden called out the defense for free lancing and bad habits mid way through the year. The MD game was the 1st game.
Taking all this into consideration and seeing how JoJo steps up on that play, I'm going with it being a busted coverage and poor fundamentals by JoJo as the reason why there was no over the top help on that play.

Also, McGee didn't seemed bothered by the cramping. D'onofrio adjusted at halftime and pressed more which seemed to be working. Why switch back if McGee seemed to be fine? Yeah, it's always easy to second guess, but it was the right call. Players just didn't execute plus it was a great play by O'brien and Dorsey. Sometimes you have to give your opponent credit.

That was not JoJo's responsibility. They were in a cover 3 man to man. JoJo covered the correct man. Mcghee is the field side corner and got beat badly. The problem on that play was he stayed in his back pedal and turned late to run. Part of being a Field side corner is being able to play the entire field without help. Coach D needed to make a play on defense and trusted(hoped) that Mcghee could handle that responsibility (playing entire field man to man). JoJo made a great read and jumped the tight-end route. He knew that route was coming pre-snap(**** good read). Coach D made the call cutting off every other route, which left Mcghee the Field Side Corner in man to man with no help. He has to make that play.

We rolled our other safety VT over the top of our Boundary corner. The Boundary corner is normally the most physical and plays the short side of the field and is mostly in press to disrupt the QB's second read by jamming the wideout at the line of scrimmage.

Mcghee simply got roasted and if your Field side corner needs over the top help, as a DC you are going to have a long afternoon because it limits the kind of plays that can be called. Coach D called the perfect play and everyone executed but Mcghee

very convincing take which I will accept.
However I'm not sure I would applaud players like JoJo jumping routes.
Same thing happened vs UVA when VT jumped a slant on the play were their RB was iso on Gaines for their long TD pass.
You look at Bama's defense and they are never stepping forward on passing plays and jumping routes. Always back peddling at the snap of the ball.
If D'onofrio is teaching them to step forward I have major problems with that.

 

[Duval904]

And if he would have played McGee off and Maryland would have dinked and dunked us killing the clock you would have been the first one to say he should have pressed McGee. That's the thing you don't get. It's easy to be an arm chair QB fan and make calls. And it's easy to call plays when you have talent that will make you look good.
D'onofrio wasn't afforded that. Heck HE HAD TO PLAY AN INJURED PLAYER.. that should tell you all you need to know.. But no, we have know it all fans that have all the answers. BTW, JoJo had to deep responsibility but decided to step up and provided over the top coverage on the TE.. Yeap, that's D'onofrio's fault as well. NOT

with 4 minutes on the clock I wasn't worried about them running out the clock. once i saw McGhee in press i had the "****" reaction. So yeah I wouldn't be calling for him to be in press knowing he just came back from a cramp. Now the part on JoJo. I don't know what his responsibility was. From the look of things it doesn't look like he was supposed to help over the top with McGhee. He's lined up the whole time directly in front of the TE. Looks like that was his responsibility to me. Pause at the 8:02 mark and see if it looks like he's supposed to be helping McGhee deep. I think you'll agree that it looks like he got TE responsibility all the way. Looked that way live and pretty much 100% sure that's what it was based on teh video.
just rewatched the LBs and they didn't even bother with the TE. so yeah that's JoJo's responsibility all the way on that play.

It was a cover 2. Safties have deep responsibilty.
JoJo steps up at the snap which is a big NO-NO. The first step a saftey should be taking on a passing down is back not up. One of the LB's did end up picking up the TE.
You have to keep in mind the following
This was the 1st game of the year in this new defense. So it is very likely that there would be some busted coverage.
Second, JoJo was practicing at CB all training camp leading up to the week before the game where he had to be switched due to the suspension of Ray Ray.
lastly, Al Golden called out the defense for free lancing and bad habits mid way through the year. The MD game was the 1st game.
Taking all this into consideration and seeing how JoJo steps up on that play, I'm going with it being a busted coverage and poor fundamentals by JoJo as the reason why there was no over the top help on that play.

Also, McGee didn't seemed bothered by the cramping. D'onofrio adjusted at halftime and pressed more which seemed to be working. Why switch back if McGee seemed to be fine? Yeah, it's always easy to second guess, but it was the right call. Players just didn't execute plus it was a great play by O'brien and Dorsey. Sometimes you have to give your opponent credit.

That was not JoJo's responsibility. They were in a cover 3 man to man. JoJo covered the correct man. Mcghee is the field side corner and got beat badly. The problem on that play was he stayed in his back pedal and turned late to run. Part of being a Field side corner is being able to play the entire field without help. Coach D needed to make a play on defense and trusted(hoped) that Mcghee could handle that responsibility (playing entire field man to man). JoJo made a great read and jumped the tight-end route. He knew that route was coming pre-snap(**** good read). Coach D made the call cutting off every other route, which left Mcghee the Field Side Corner in man to man with no help. He has to make that play.

We rolled our other safety VT over the top of our Boundary corner. The Boundary corner is normally the most physical and plays the short side of the field and is mostly in press to disrupt the QB's second read by jamming the wideout at the line of scrimmage.

Mcghee simply got roasted and if your Field side corner needs over the top help, as a DC you are going to have a long afternoon because it limits the kind of plays that can be called. Coach D called the perfect play and everyone executed but Mcghee

very convincing take which I will accept.
However I'm not sure I would applaud players like JoJo jumping routes.
Same thing happened vs UVA when VT jumped a slant on the play were their RB was iso on Gaines for their long TD pass.
You look at Bama's defense and they are never stepping forward on passing plays and jumping routes. Always back peddling at the snap of the ball.
If D'onofrio is teaching them to step forward I have major problems with that.

disagree mightily

 

[CaneAlmighty]

with 4 minutes on the clock I wasn't worried about them running out the clock. once i saw McGhee in press i had the "****" reaction. So yeah I wouldn't be calling for him to be in press knowing he just came back from a cramp. Now the part on JoJo. I don't know what his responsibility was. From the look of things it doesn't look like he was supposed to help over the top with McGhee. He's lined up the whole time directly in front of the TE. Looks like that was his responsibility to me. Pause at the 8:02 mark and see if it looks like he's supposed to be helping McGhee deep. I think you'll agree that it looks like he got TE responsibility all the way. Looked that way live and pretty much 100% sure that's what it was based on teh video.
just rewatched the LBs and they didn't even bother with the TE. so yeah that's JoJo's responsibility all the way on that play.

It was a cover 2. Safties have deep responsibilty.
JoJo steps up at the snap which is a big NO-NO. The first step a saftey should be taking on a passing down is back not up. One of the LB's did end up picking up the TE.
You have to keep in mind the following
This was the 1st game of the year in this new defense. So it is very likely that there would be some busted coverage.
Second, JoJo was practicing at CB all training camp leading up to the week before the game where he had to be switched due to the suspension of Ray Ray.
lastly, Al Golden called out the defense for free lancing and bad habits mid way through the year. The MD game was the 1st game.
Taking all this into consideration and seeing how JoJo steps up on that play, I'm going with it being a busted coverage and poor fundamentals by JoJo as the reason why there was no over the top help on that play.

Also, McGee didn't seemed bothered by the cramping. D'onofrio adjusted at halftime and pressed more which seemed to be working. Why switch back if McGee seemed to be fine? Yeah, it's always easy to second guess, but it was the right call. Players just didn't execute plus it was a great play by O'brien and Dorsey. Sometimes you have to give your opponent credit.

That was not JoJo's responsibility. They were in a cover 3 man to man. JoJo covered the correct man. Mcghee is the field side corner and got beat badly. The problem on that play was he stayed in his back pedal and turned late to run. Part of being a Field side corner is being able to play the entire field without help. Coach D needed to make a play on defense and trusted(hoped) that Mcghee could handle that responsibility (playing entire field man to man). JoJo made a great read and jumped the tight-end route. He knew that route was coming pre-snap(**** good read). Coach D made the call cutting off every other route, which left Mcghee the Field Side Corner in man to man with no help. He has to make that play.

We rolled our other safety VT over the top of our Boundary corner. The Boundary corner is normally the most physical and plays the short side of the field and is mostly in press to disrupt the QB's second read by jamming the wideout at the line of scrimmage.

Mcghee simply got roasted and if your Field side corner needs over the top help, as a DC you are going to have a long afternoon because it limits the kind of plays that can be called. Coach D called the perfect play and everyone executed but Mcghee

very convincing take which I will accept.
However I'm not sure I would applaud players like JoJo jumping routes.
Same thing happened vs UVA when VT jumped a slant on the play were their RB was iso on Gaines for their long TD pass.
You look at Bama's defense and they are never stepping forward on passing plays and jumping routes. Always back peddling at the snap of the ball.
If D'onofrio is teaching them to step forward I have major problems with that.

disagree mightily

very compelling case you just made.

 

[Madbugger]

excuses? its basic football. you test the guy who was out hurt. especially when the guy is a CB who cramped up. Wasn't smart to put him in press coverage with zero help over the top. If it was a coach for another team putting in a player who just came back from a cramp you'd most likely think/say "we need to take advantage of him". i know i would and i know i was saying Maryland will take advantage of McGhee right before that play to anyone within listening distance of me at that game.

And if he would have played McGee off and Maryland would have dinked and dunked us killing the clock you would have been the first one to say he should have pressed McGee. That's the thing you don't get. It's easy to be an arm chair QB fan and make calls. And it's easy to call plays when you have talent that will make you look good.
D'onofrio wasn't afforded that. Heck HE HAD TO PLAY AN INJURED PLAYER.. that should tell you all you need to know.. But no, we have know it all fans that have all the answers. BTW, JoJo had to deep responsibility but decided to step up and provided over the top coverage on the TE.. Yeap, that's D'onofrio's fault as well. NOT

with 4 minutes on the clock I wasn't worried about them running out the clock. once i saw McGhee in press i had the "****" reaction. So yeah I wouldn't be calling for him to be in press knowing he just came back from a cramp. Now the part on JoJo. I don't know what his responsibility was. From the look of things it doesn't look like he was supposed to help over the top with McGhee. He's lined up the whole time directly in front of the TE. Looks like that was his responsibility to me. Pause at the 8:02 mark and see if it looks like he's supposed to be helping McGhee deep. I think you'll agree that it looks like he got TE responsibility all the way. Looked that way live and pretty much 100% sure that's what it was based on teh video.
just rewatched the LBs and they didn't even bother with the TE. so yeah that's JoJo's responsibility all the way on that play.

It was a cover 2. Safties have deep responsibilty.
JoJo steps up at the snap which is a big NO-NO. The first step a saftey should be taking on a passing down is back not up. One of the LB's did end up picking up the TE.
You have to keep in mind the following
This was the 1st game of the year in this new defense. So it is very likely that there would be some busted coverage.
Second, JoJo was practicing at CB all training camp leading up to the week before the game where he had to be switched due to the suspension of Ray Ray.
lastly, Al Golden called out the defense for free lancing and bad habits mid way through the year. The MD game was the 1st game.
Taking all this into consideration and seeing how JoJo steps up on that play, I'm going with it being a busted coverage and poor fundamentals by JoJo as the reason why there was no over the top help on that play.

Also, McGee didn't seemed bothered by the cramping. D'onofrio adjusted at halftime and pressed more which seemed to be working. Why switch back if McGee seemed to be fine? Yeah, it's always easy to second guess, but it was the right call. Players just didn't execute plus it was a great play by O'brien and Dorsey. Sometimes you have to give your opponent credit.

you didn't look at where JoJo was lined up or how the LBs reacted? It wasn't cover 2. At most it was supposed to look like cover 2 and I don't think that's the case either cause if it was than JoJo would have at least started out closer to the hash. Looks pretty clear that we didn't want their TE eating us up over the middle any more so we assigned JoJo to handle that. Just left McGhee on an island. And I'm sure McGhee probably said the cramp wasn't bothering him. But knowing cramps - you don't get back to full speed the same day. Just can get the leg to feel comfortable but its not going to operate at full capacity. And I know we had the CBs closer to the line in the 2nd but don't remember seeing many times where we didn't have 2 safeties back. I can double check that.

I think it's closer to this.

I think the backers and safeties were playing zone with the corners playing man. VT line-up behind the two corners on the far side. Jo Jo lines up close the line over the backers. If JoJo's assignment was to help McGee over the top, the TE is wide open over the middle.

 

[Madbugger]

Hmmm...Just rewatched the play. The corner in the slot is playing zone. It looks like he passes the receiver off to VT.

I think McGee was left on an island.