Regarding our defensive approach to Winston/F$U...

[MiamiVice7]

Here's some fodder for the "blitz more/less" and "defensive strategy" discussions...

The conventional wisdom from the outset of the season was to blitz Winston, forcing the inexperienced quarterback into a mistake. But Winston has made defenses pay for such an unimaginative approach. Entering Saturday’s game, he was exceptional against the blitz, completing 70 percent of his passes for an average of 12.4 yards per attempt with 11 touchdowns and just two INTs, according to ESPN Stats and Information.

By the time Miami arrived in Tallahassee, the secret was out.

“They blitzed a little bit, but they did it more like fire zone, slanting the line,” tackle Cameron Erving said. “They were coached well.”

Miami still blitzed on roughly one-third of Winston’s attempts, but the Hurricanes prioritized coverage over the top, hoping to lull the aggressive Winston into a mistake downfield. In the first half, the plan mostly worked.

http://espn.go.com/blog/acc (See "Winston's 'bad' game still looked good")

 

[TexasCane90]

It's been said already we needed to play perfect football in all 3 facets of the game. The first half I truly think we played our ***'s off just in that 2nd half things got away in a hurry

 

[cane33]

This just more proof.

Anybody who thinks the defense got dominated because of our "scheme" or strategy doesn't understand football. Criticizing Coach D for saturday shows your lack of football IQ.


The plan was great. We don't have the talent to execute it right now.


Think about this, Winston through 4 INTs all season before Saturday. If he had even a mediocre safety playing instead of Highsmith we would have had 3 INTs in just the 1st half. And that is because we through stuff at Winston that he'd never seen before and he made some poor decisions. The fact that he recovered in the 2nd half just shows how great of a player he is. Nothing you can do about that, great players are going to make plays no matter the defense. Our defense was shutting down their WRs and stuffing the run game in the 1st half. But Winston was able to keep drives alive by scrambling and using his legs to convert. Pretty much impossible for a defense to account for a running QB in that situation.

Coaching isn't the issue it's talent.

 

[poncho0091]

We played the game well. I believe the key to beating winston is forcing him to throw deeper passes. Take away his short game and if your safeties do their job over the top, I think Winston will struggle.

 

[DJ8Heisman]

Coach D gave FSU it's biggest test. Soft zone might be boring and ****** to some, but it made Winston look confused and definitely didn't look like the Heisman contended he was hyped up to be.

 

[OBLIVION]

It's been said already we needed to play perfect football in all 3 facets of the game. The first half I truly think we played our ***'s off just in that 2nd half things got away in a hurry

Yep

1st drive ended on a QB sack for a loss of 13 yards

2nd ended on a pick

3rd ended with Dukes ankle broken

4th drive ended with other pick

5th drive ended with an incompletion to Walfard

6th drive ended with no time left on the clock.

T.O.P 9 minutes for 104 yards

 

[DaU83]

I still would like to see exotic pressures on 2nd or 3rd and long.. If he can beat you when his time to make a decision is significantly decreased, then you tip your cap to him.

 

[Canesfan1899]

For the scheme we employed to work we need to tackle much better and slow down the run. Winston may have had over 300 yds but we didn't let Benjamin or Greene to dominate, we got beat by a young QB who wasn't afraid to check the ball down and let his RB go for nearly 100 yds in the air.

 

[MiamiVice7]

It's been said already we needed to play perfect football in all 3 facets of the game. The first half I truly think we played our ***'s off just in that 2nd half things got away in a hurry

Yep

1st drive ended on a QB sack for a loss of 13 yards

2nd ended on a pick

3rd ended with Dukes ankle broken

4th drive ended with other pick

5th drive ended with an incompletion to Walfard

6th drive ended with no time left on the clock.

T.O.P 9 minutes for 104 yards

You couldn't script a much worse 'worst-case scenario."