AJC Article about our Defense Today

[alpha]

Link:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/georgia-tech/tech-defense-adjusts-on-607084.html

Some snippets I found interesting (this is not the full article):

He and the defensive staff called on players to run material that they had not practiced in quite some time, schemes that Groh said, “were really not major factors in our plan [entering the game].” It worked.

After racking up 112 yards on those first two possessions, the Bulldogs had 160 yards on nine possessions after that and 80 came on a possession that included a 55-yard run.

Before installing certain adjustments, Groh first gave players a choice on the sideline.

“He said we have to be honest with him,” linebacker Kyle Jackson said. “If we have to pull some things out [of mothballs] that we didn’t know, could we run it successfully? If one of the 11 guys said, ‘You know what, coach, I don’t think I can remember that,’ then we’re going to have to scrap it and fight with what we’ve been doing.”

Slowing the passing game was Tech’s first priority. With a few adjustments, mission accomplished.

“We would like to do a better job against the run, but this was a team that we saw as a red-hot passing team with a quarterback who completed [64.5] percent of his passes last season,” Groh said. “They had some very good ideas and had obviously studied how we played, but there’s always a counter move.

“I was very pleased with besides some of the physical skills that our players showed that they were able to take the information we gave them on the bench.”

Not sure what to make of that yet. Seems like a good thing that the defense made some unexpected adjustments but on the other hand, sounds like we sold out to defend the passing game and got run over.

 

[GTLiebs]

Link:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/georgia-tech/tech-defense-adjusts-on-607084.html

Some snippets I found interesting (this is not the full article):




Not sure what to make of that yet. Seems like a good thing that the defense made some unexpected adjustments but on the other hand, sounds like we sold out to defend the passing game and got run over.

And if we had sold out on the running game and made Georgia count on Joe Cox to take them to victory? It may not be what we really want of our defense in the long run but if we can shut down the part of the opponent that we want to shut down, that's an improvement. Another benefit is that we seem to be able to adjust on defense without waiting til halftime when (rumor has it) CPJ makes the adjustments.

 

[JacketDan]

Truthfully in the stands I felt like we were at least in position to make plays and just had players that still aren't violently attacking the guy with the ball. Even in those opening series where we struggled Cooper missed a tackle on 3rd down that would have been a stop and Kyle Jackson missed another one.

On the whole the team tackled fairly well, but we seem to have some up the middle tackling issues that we need to work on. On the 55 yard run we missed the guy up the middle twice.

 

[GTLiebs]

Another thing to suggest. If we can show improvement and adjustment on the fly in the middle of the game, what might we do over the course of a season?

 

[JacketDan]

Another thing to suggest. If we can show improvement and adjustment on the fly in the middle of the game, what might we do over the course of a season?

My ultimate hope is that this season the defense will work like CPJ's offense did his first year and week to week we get more comfortable and install more of the system.

We are definitely missing the d-lineman for it though.

 

[ND_jacket]

Defensive adjustments were something we couldn't make successfully last year. Not week-to-week and not in game. I think this season we've got something different. The DC is communicating with his players in a way that Wommack didn't do, and I think it's going to help a lot.

 

[GTLiebs]

Defensive adjustments were something we couldn't make successfully last year. Not week-to-week and not in game. I think this season we've got something different. The DC is communicating with his players in a way that Wommack didn't do, and I think it's going to help a lot.

On an unrelated note, you must be proud of a school from your home state softening up an opponent for us.

 

[ND_jacket]

On an unrelated note, you must be proud of a school from your home state softening up an opponent for us.

It's my other alma mater (BS NDSU, PhD GT), so I'm greatly excited. If I could have afforded to spend a week in Lawrence, I would have. Instead, I'm headed there next weekend to watch the Jackets in person.

 

[gtbuzz2011]

It's my other alma mater (BS NDSU, PhD GT), so I'm greatly excited. If I could have afforded to spend a week in Lawrence, I would have. Instead, I'm headed there next weekend to watch the Jackets in person.

Awesome! You should've taken a whole week off... Then again, what would you do with a whole week in Lawrence?

 

[ND_jacket]

Awesome! You should've taken a whole week off... Then again, what would you do with a whole week in Lawrence?

Well, I'm in between jobs (move to London in 17 days), so it's not like I have anything better going on. Well, unless you count spending time with family before moving abroad for two years. I think what there would be to do in Lawrence for a whole week is drink. A lot. My liver probably would not forgive me.

 

[GTEE12']

Maybe I'm the only one, but I was actually fairly pleased with our defense by the 3rd and 4th quarter. The first couple times our defense was on the field all I could think was "Oh God, not again"... it seemed just like last year. But, as the game progressed and everyone got comfortable it seemed like we started getting stop after stop, something I wasn't exactly used to seeing.

Granted some of it was SC State committing penalties and also the fact that it was SC State on the other side (Though I do think that they are a pretty good team). But, if we had been a little more focused and didn't give up that big play we would have held them to a FG, which I think is impressive. I'm pretty confident that they'll clean up the little things that hurt us today and after a few games we'll be clicking fairly well, especially once we get our LB's comfortable with their assignments. All in all I believe we'll have a decent defense this year, considerably better than last year, if things continue to progress like they did during the game.

 

[gtbuzz2011]

Well, I'm in between jobs (move to London in 17 days), so it's not like I have anything better going on. Well, unless you count spending time with family before moving abroad for two years. I think what there would be to do in Lawrence for a whole week is drink. A lot. My liver probably would not forgive me.

That's actually pretty cool. I have a cousin who moved out to London a few years ago and she loves it over there. I haven't gotten a chance to visit yet, but I hear great things.

Who are you working for?

 

[PJ_RULZ]

The article indicated to me that we wanted to play it somewhat vanilla but was forced to show our ACC opponents more of our techniques.

 

[GTLiebs]

The article indicated to me that we wanted to play it somewhat vanilla but was forced to show our ACC opponents more of our techniques.

Actually I think it said we had to use techniques we never really practiced much and that it was a bit of a gamble to use.

Quoted as:
"He and the defensive staff called on players to run material that they had not practiced in quite some time, schemes that Groh said, “were really not major factors in our plan [entering the game].”

Before installing certain adjustments, Groh first gave players a choice on the sideline.


“He said we have to be honest with him,” linebacker Kyle Jackson said. “If we have to pull some things out [of mothballs] that we didn’t know, could we run it successfully? If one of the 11 guys said, ‘You know what, coach, I don’t think I can remember that,’ then we’re going to have to scrap it and fight with what we’ve been doing.”

 

[gt_white_gold]

Well, this at least gives me hope for the future. I think that we will be fine on D by the time our big competition comes around.

Actually I think it said we had to use techniques we never really practiced much and that it was a bit of a gamble to use.

Quoted as:
"He and the defensive staff called on players to run material that they had not practiced in quite some time, schemes that Groh said, “were really not major factors in our plan [entering the game].”

Before installing certain adjustments, Groh first gave players a choice on the sideline.


“He said we have to be honest with him,” linebacker Kyle Jackson said. “If we have to pull some things out [of mothballs] that we didn’t know, could we run it successfully? If one of the 11 guys said, ‘You know what, coach, I don’t think I can remember that,’ then we’re going to have to scrap it and fight with what we’ve been doing.”

 

[Robert E. Bee]

Maybe I'm the only one, but I was actually fairly pleased with our defense by the 3rd and 4th quarter. The first couple times our defense was on the field all I could think was "Oh God, not again"... it seemed just like last year. But, as the game progressed and everyone got comfortable it seemed like we started getting stop after stop, something I wasn't exactly used to seeing.

Granted some of it was SC State committing penalties and also the fact that it was SC State on the other side (Though I do think that they are a pretty good team). But, if we had been a little more focused and didn't give up that big play we would have held them to a FG, which I think is impressive. I'm pretty confident that they'll clean up the little things that hurt us today and after a few games we'll be clicking fairly well, especially once we get our LB's comfortable with their assignments. All in all I believe we'll have a decent defense this year, considerably better than last year, if things continue to progress like they did during the game.

Agree with you. We have to keep in mind this was our first time out in 3-4 and it was against a team that runs a competent balanced offense. The jury is certainly still out on the 3-4, but in our 1st outing under Groh, the D displayed a resiliency and adaptability.

This week, they should practice with more confidence and hopefully improve markedly for Week 2. And hopefully, Kansas will be as inept as they were this past Saturday. The D could use some more confidence-building in Week 2 away from BDS.

In Week 1, I think we tried to be as vanilla on D as we did on O. Maybe we did and maybe we can keep it that way against Kansas. But we'll need to be ready for a serious test on both sides of the ball vs UNC.

The good news is that in order to find a way to eventually win the ACCC, the D will not have to develop into a total juggernaut. It just has to be good. It is a work in progress and all our quality athletes just have to get confident in their movements and have some success. Holding SC St to 10 was a success, and I'm sure the D will make its share of mistakes against Kansas. But they should gain a ton of confidence and be a much better unit going into the UNC game than they were going into this SC St game.

 

[MadTownJacket]

The good news is that in order to find a way to eventually win the ACCC, the D will not have to develop into a total juggernaut. It just has to be good. It is a work in progress and all our quality athletes just have to get confident in their movements and have some success. Holding SC St to 10 was a success, and I'm sure the D will make its share of mistakes against Kansas. But they should gain a ton of confidence and be a much better unit going into the UNC game than they were going into this SC St game.

Never thought I'd agree with you, but I do. I don't understand why a lot of people were upset about having 10 points scored on us, when in reality, if we had last year's defense, they probably would have scored 17-20 on us. Sure, our defense isn't perfect, and it may not get there until maybe next year or the next, but it's definitely an upgrade from the past two years. It's obvious that our offense is still rolling, thanks to Nesbitt, so all we need to do is produce a few defensive stops and we can still go to the ACC Championship game.

 

[ND_jacket]

That's actually pretty cool. I have a cousin who moved out to London a few years ago and she loves it over there. I haven't gotten a chance to visit yet, but I hear great things.

Who are you working for?

I'll be a postdoc doing research at the London School of Economics.

 

[gt_white_gold]

Well, try and enjoy it. Just don't live in London. They have more smog than anywhere else in the EU.

I am also sure that you are going to travel a good bit. It is great to be able to go somewhere that you would not normally able to go just for a weekend trip.

I'll be a postdoc doing research at the London School of Economics.

 

[gtsmckdwn222]

I am excited about our defense. Groh is in some respects the defensive version of CPJ. He can play chess too, and make adjustments to counter the Offensive Coordinator and make him make some adjustments.

P.S. London is an awesome city with an excellent subway system and so much cool stuff to do, you will definitely enjoy yourself. For a unique pub experience, I recommend the Anchor, right on the water and previously visited by William Shakespeare after plays. Also, if you like Guinness or coffee you will be in heaven, because both are awesome in London.

I'll be a postdoc doing research at the London School of Economics.