When discussing wide receivers and defensive secondary personnel it usually starts with speed and ability to stretch the defense along with length, ability to react and good hands. But there it was again in the spring game. WR Tristan Bailey running wide open down the middle of the field for a long TD catch and run. It didn't really matter how fast Bailey was or the speed of the two defenders in closest pursuit (DB's Hatfield and Bennyhoff) because neither of them was anywhere close to Bailey. The "coverage" was blown. I could have gotten behind that defense because it wasn't there. You can say that that was just a spring game and that was just the 2nd team defense. Mistakes happen. But they happen in with 1st team defenses too and they happen in regular season games and they happen in playoff games as well (I'll come back to that in another post). Yes speed is important but lots of big plays occur when the defense is out of position and all the QB and WR have to do is not screw up. It happens often enough I sometimes wonder why defenses don't just nail a safety down to the deep middle so at least one player is there to defend against long passes.
Lots of answers could be given to that question but you can find at least one of them at the 2:13 mark of this video - one of the best plays of last season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqAw-zuAXkU
James Robinson rumbles right up the middle in the victory at Colorado State. We discussed it at the time but if you're a Redbird FB Fan it's definitely worth seeing again. Great blocking - Robinson comes through the first two levels of the defense unscathed. There is a safety directly ahead of him but there's plenty of green space between them. Robinson is close to full speed with room to maneuver. It's a total mismatch. As we discussed at the time the safety doesn't really have any good options. If he had come up to support the run sooner he could have met Robinson coming through the hole and he would have had a good chance. But now? No chance. He won't lay a finger on him and Robinson blows right by him.
So that's one reason safeties are caught out of position. If you have a good running game they are needed for run support and if they lay back it's usually too late. We need more of that next season and we should get it. Robinson is back and the offensive line is looking good. Proctor had a really good spring game but he didn't do it all on his own. He had holes. And if safeties start to come up in run support that's when Davis and his receivers need to hurt them over the top. Speed may not even be required.
Lots of answers could be given to that question but you can find at least one of them at the 2:13 mark of this video - one of the best plays of last season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqAw-zuAXkU
James Robinson rumbles right up the middle in the victory at Colorado State. We discussed it at the time but if you're a Redbird FB Fan it's definitely worth seeing again. Great blocking - Robinson comes through the first two levels of the defense unscathed. There is a safety directly ahead of him but there's plenty of green space between them. Robinson is close to full speed with room to maneuver. It's a total mismatch. As we discussed at the time the safety doesn't really have any good options. If he had come up to support the run sooner he could have met Robinson coming through the hole and he would have had a good chance. But now? No chance. He won't lay a finger on him and Robinson blows right by him.
So that's one reason safeties are caught out of position. If you have a good running game they are needed for run support and if they lay back it's usually too late. We need more of that next season and we should get it. Robinson is back and the offensive line is looking good. Proctor had a really good spring game but he didn't do it all on his own. He had holes. And if safeties start to come up in run support that's when Davis and his receivers need to hurt them over the top. Speed may not even be required.
