Bad fundamentals still a problem

[88ND]

In lieu of us winning the simple defensive tackling fundamental issues are still on going....and still horrible.

Open field tackling is atrocious!
Joe Schmidt who is our best overall tackler (this has nothing to do with the number of tackles) is guilty himself of this at times. Yesterday he tried to no avail to tackle high, bounced off leaving the back with a huge gain.

Jaylon and as freakish as he is is really bad at this. Yesterday there were a few occasions the seas parted right on front of Jaylon, all blockers were engaged, so it's Jaylon and the rb one on one. What does he do? He waits until the runner is in his lap, Jaylon stops moving his feet, does not break down.....guess what the result was????
Running back cuts left and breaks off big run. Not once but several occasions.

He isn't alone on those because frankly the whole team is pretty bad at open field tackling.

I believe this defense is the most athletic at the dome since possibly Courtney Watson's group......
But they are not fundamentally sound whatsoever.

Farley might be the worst tackler on the entire team with # 10 not far behind.

This group is more athletic than the 2012 group but they were much better tacklers as a whole unit. Not even close.

If weather is good on Saturday night SC has the athletes to make our defense look absolutely foolish if we continue to tackle this sloppy. This HAS to improve and sadly with this many weeks I have my doubts.

 

[South Bender]

I was going to say pretty much the same thing.

Jaylon - is our best player on defense, and an all-around freak of an athlete - but he attempts
WAAAYYY too many arm tackles and takes WAAAAYYYY too many bad angles on runners.

He sure has his share of quality, monster hits - but he's also guilty of the above.

Same goes for Russell and Schmidt.

Don't misinterpret what I'm saying either. We'd be up shit creek without these guys, and we're
damn lucky to have them. But these are supposed to be our best of the best. They need to do
better in leading by example - on EVERY play.

 

[echowaker]

watch every game at all levels. no one tackles anymore. everybody wants the big hit. it's horrible at every level with the nfl I think the worst of all.

 

[IrishBlessings]

Agree Echowaker, Sound tackling has become a lost art. Wish ND would spend more time practicing it. Maybe they limit the amount of hitting / tackling in practice to limit potential injuries. IMO though - No excuse for missed tackles and arm or shoulder tackles where our guy does not wrap up.

 

[Bodizephax]

We need to replace Joe Schmidt ASAP. His injury from last year has ruined him.

Great guy but a liability on the field.

 

[88ND]

We need to replace Joe Schmidt ASAP. His injury from last year has ruined him.

Great guy but a liability on the field.

With that way of thinking you might as well sit everyone but Sheldon day, including Jaylon, unfortunately.

 

[Bodizephax]

With that way of thinking you might as well sit everyone but Sheldon day, including Jaylon, unfortunately.

You must be crazy if you think Joe S. is just as good or better as Jaylon or Sheldon.

Joe S. has been a HUGE liability on the football field. I am not the only one that thinks that way--- Listen to power hour on ISD--Mike Frank said that. He also said Jaylon did not have a good game but in no way does he thinks Jaylon Smith needs to be replaced.

Watch Joe S. He is a shell of his former self. Sorry to say--he is a great story--but winning is more important than great stories in my mind.

 

[Irish Grandeur]

A lot of attention has been paid to the secondary lately but it is our rush defense that is hurting us most. I've been called out a few times for sticking up for the pass defense but the numbers don't lie:

• Rush yards/game - 180.2 (TDs 10) (avg/att 4.8)
• Pass yards/game - 153.5 (TDs 7) (avg/att 5.8)

Granted, ND has played two triple option teams so the numbers are skewed a bit but the big plays this season seem to be coming off the run.

 

[Irish Grandeur]

You must be crazy if you think Joe S. is just as good or better as Jaylon or Sheldon.

Joe S. has been a HUGE liability on the football field. I am not the only one that thinks that way--- Listen to power hour on ISD--Mike Frank said that. He also said Jaylon did not have a good game but in no way does he thinks Jaylon Smith needs to be replaced.

Watch Joe S. He is a shell of his former self. Sorry to say--he is a great story--but winning is more important than great stories in my mind.

Think he was saying Sheldon was the only one executing correctly...don't think he was disagreeing with you about Schmidt. I agree that ND's middle has been terrible at stopping the run this season so far.

 

[88ND]

Agree Echowaker, Sound tackling has become a lost art. Wish ND would spend more time practicing it. Maybe they limit the amount of hitting / tackling in practice to limit potential injuries. IMO though - No excuse for missed tackles and arm or shoulder tackles where our guy does not wrap up.

Teams do. It's called thud. They come up, hit, then stop.
Having said that the tackling on display is atrocious and nothing more than lazy play. It's easy to stand normal height and reach out with arms and grab. Or just try and hit with a shoulder ...again whilst standing erect.

Proper form tackling is only done with bending of the knees. It takes energy and effort to properly tackle, hence why I say it's nothing more than lazy play.

Go the extra mile for God sake, bend those knees, use shoulder and wrap arms..... ideally around legs behind the knees of opposing player.
It's that simple!!

You must be crazy if you think Joe S. is just as good or better as Jaylon or Sheldon.

Joe S. has been a HUGE liability on the football field. I am not the only one that thinks that way--- Listen to power hour on ISD--Mike Frank said that. He also said Jaylon did not have a good game but in no way does he thinks Jaylon Smith needs to be replaced.

Watch Joe S. He is a shell of his former self. Sorry to say--he is a great story--but winning is more important than great stories in my mind.

No and don't twist what I said. I'm discussing
the fundamental tackle or lack there of.
Every single one of them INCLUDING Jaylon is bad at it. You want to beat on Joe Schmidt when actually he plays the inside backer position 10x better than anyone else we have. If you disagree with this then you don't know how to properly play the middle LB spot.
That spot is needed to key on fullback or guard, take that on if it's your side. This allows the other LB free to make a clean tackle. Jaylon does not have the courage to play this right and displays such time and time again. He is incredible at outside and nobody closes like Jaylon.
Joe Schmidt, although suffers from the bad tackling habits of our defense and is just as bad at times ....by and large plays his spot pretty darn good.

The rest outside of Day are piss poor tscklers.

 

[Bodizephax]

Teams do. It's called thud. They come up, hit, then stop.
Having said that the tackling on display is atrocious and nothing more than lazy play. It's easy to stand normal height and reach out with arms and grab. Or just try and hit with a shoulder ...again whilst standing erect.

Proper form tackling is only done with bending of the knees. It takes energy and effort to properly tackle, hence why I say it's nothing more than lazy play.

Go the extra mile for God sake, bend those knees, use shoulder and wrap arms..... ideally around legs behind the knees of opposing player.
It's that simple!!

No and don't twist what I said. I'm discussing
the fundamental tackle or lack there of.
Every single one of them INCLUDING Jaylon is bad at it. You want to beat on Joe Schmidt when actually he plays the inside backer position 10x better than anyone else we have. If you disagree with this then you don't know how to properly play the middle LB spot.
That spot is needed to key on fullback or guard, take that on if it's your side. This allows the other LB free to make a clean tackle. Jaylon does not have the courage to play this right and displays such time and time again. He is incredible at outside and nobody closes like Jaylon.
Joe Schmidt, although suffers from the bad tackling habits of our defense and is just as bad at times ....by and large plays his spot pretty darn good.

The rest outside of Day are piss poor tscklers.

I disagree with you about Joe Schmidt being pretty darn good this year. I thought he was pretty darn good last year. This year he is stinking up the joint. He might be the best we have but that means Kelly is not teaching up Morgan and Grace. Jaylon has made a lot of plays this year Schmidt not so much. In my opinion anyway. I just think we are in trouble with Joe at Linebacker against the speed of USC. Joe was great last year and always seemed in on plays-- He suffered a terrible injury---I think he did a admirable job at rehabbing and coming back but he is a step slow or something. He is not the same player. That is my opinion. I hope he proves me wrong and has a great rest of the season. Joe is one helluva tough guy.

 

[echowaker]

I disagree with you about Joe Schmidt being pretty darn good this year. I thought he was pretty darn good last year. This year he is stinking up the joint. He might be the best we have but that means Kelly is not teaching up Morgan and Grace. Jaylon has made a lot of plays this year Schmidt not so much. In my opinion anyway. I just think we are in trouble with Joe at Linebacker against the speed of USC. Joe was great last year and always seemed in on plays-- He suffered a terrible injury---I think he did a admirable job at rehabbing and coming back but he is a step slow or something. He is not the same player. That is my opinion. I hope he proves me wrong and has a great rest of the season. Joe is one helluva tough guy.

Schmitt has been in position to make plays. he just hasn't finished. he's a team leader. I think you keep him out there unless you're absolutely convinced the guy behind him will be an improvement. Kelly doesn't coach those other guys. that's the position coaches job. head coaches at this level do much more administrating than coaching anyway. too much time required on other things. playing time is determined mostly by position coaches for the most part.

 

[FightingIrish44]

Aside from tackling, I think Schmidt and Smith need to do a better job of securing their gap or at least driving the OL back. Too many times you see them trying to two hand shiver and find the football but then get driven back a couple yards.

They need to count on their other teammates and secure their own gap first, IMO.

 

[perseverare]

Fighting44

if that is not something coachable then what?
if it is coachable, then the OP has a point.

 

[FightingIrish44]

Fighting44

if that is not something coachable then what?
if it is coachable, then the OP has a point.

It is coachable, and the OP has a point.

 

[88ND]

I disagree with you about Joe Schmidt being pretty darn good this year. I thought he was pretty darn good last year. This year he is stinking up the joint. He might be the best we have but that means Kelly is not teaching up Morgan and Grace. Jaylon has made a lot of plays this year Schmidt not so much. In my opinion anyway. I just think we are in trouble with Joe at Linebacker against the speed of USC. Joe was great last year and always seemed in on plays-- He suffered a terrible injury---I think he did a admirable job at rehabbing and coming back but he is a step slow or something. He is not the same player. That is my opinion. I hope he proves me wrong and has a great rest of the season. Joe is one helluva tough guy.

Right. Before this tackling mess was on display in real games someone posted some camp highlights in video form.
I said this I see a bunch of horrible fundamentals on defense. People playing out of control on defense. Trying to pin the ears back and make a huge hit on every play but looking silly more than not.
Some people went ape shit over my statement of that. Well here we are 6 weeks in and nothing has changed.

 

[Pazuzu]

What? Can't believe Kelly and his staff are not perfect. Wow, the Pom Pom crowd is being really negative. You guys are no longer fans.

 

[88ND]

Aside from tackling, I think Schmidt and Smith need to do a better job of securing their gap or at least driving the OL back. Too many times you see them trying to two hand shiver and find the football but then get driven back a couple yards.

They need to count on their other teammates and secure their own gap first, IMO.

I dint care the story. I really don't.
Joe Schmidt may have been slighted by mother nature but he plays the inside about as good as can be.
Those guys are not going to DRIVE back the blockers. If it's the guard they are too big. If it's the fullback they have too much momentum.
But what they are supposed to do is recognize instantly who is coming out....then immediately stand that blocker up. Smash him hard so he stops. That ends that. Then it enables the free linebackers to make a tackle cleanly. Of course they are doing the tackling like shit which is killing us.

44, that specific play you speak of Joe does a great job with what I just wrote....

Jaylon is the one that has huge issues with this. He allows the blocker to get on him 4 yards down field.....by that time you already conceded a decent gain to the running back minimum. ....because it puts the other linebacker and safety into a bad position.....a position of mercy if you will.

 

[perseverare]

JMO

Jaylon just has not been used as effectively as is his potential, neither under Diaco nor BVG.
I thought he had LT type creativity when he came in but the assignents and schemes have him playing in a box.
They just have never gotten him fully untracked!

 

[schadenfreude]

Agree Echowaker, Sound tackling has become a lost art. Wish ND would spend more time practicing it. Maybe they limit the amount of hitting / tackling in practice to limit potential injuries. IMO though - No excuse for missed tackles and arm or shoulder tackles where our guy does not wrap up.

I think this is the answer. Most teams are avoiding most contact during practice to avoid injuries. Open field tackling is difficult to teach/perfect without one on one drills.

 

[floridairish]

"I thought he had LT type creativity when he came in but the assignents and schemes have him playing in a box."

First of all comparing a college player to the greatest LB in NFL history makes no sense, If you want to make a comparison go back to LT's days at UNC.

Secondly, the notion that LT played for the two biggest control freaks in NFL history and was allowed to freelance and be creative is pure folly and urban legend. LT lined up places by mistake early in his career and because he was the greatest and most gifted LB in NFL history. He made plays anyway. The quote below was from his teammate the late Brad Van Pelt.

'' Van Pelt says. He also recalls Taylor's many mistakes, his lapses in covering his assigned man or place, and how he could end up making a spectacular tackle anyway.

''On the one hand I'm saying, 'He didn't do his responsibility,' and on the other I'm saying, 'Great play, Lawrence.' ''

 

[cgvr]

"I thought he had LT type creativity when he came in but the assignents and schemes have him playing in a box."

First of all comparing a college player to the greatest LB in NFL history makes no sense, If you want to make a comparison go back to LT's days at UNC.

Secondly, the notion that LT played for the two biggest control freaks in NFL history and was allowed to freelance and be creative is pure folly and urban legend. LT lined up places by mistake early in his career and because he was the greatest and most gifted LB in NFL history. He made plays anyway. The quote below was from his teammate the late Brad Van Pelt.

'' Van Pelt says. He also recalls Taylor's many mistakes, his lapses in covering his assigned man or place, and how he could end up making a spectacular tackle anyway.

''On the one hand I'm saying, 'He didn't do his responsibility,' and on the other I'm saying, 'Great play, Lawrence.' ''

It's not "urban legend". There was a time when when LT was given the ability to free lance. It's urban legend that he did it his whole career.

This article linked covers it in part.... NY fans were witness to one of the greatest physical talents to ever play LB. He was incredible. I attended his HOF induction as a guest of one of the other inductees....great time...even the Hall and Oates concert sounded good....

Lawrence Taylor, “There used to be a time when I used to be the rover linebacker. I could do a lot of things. Go inside, other side, be off the line. They didn’t know if I was coming or not. It’s not like that no more. It’s making life very difficult.”

Carl Banks on Taylor, “He’s not satisfied with the way he’s playing and I don’t blame him. He’s a guy who’s used to going where he wanted to go. He’s frustrated, and that effects his enthusiasm, his aggressiveness.” The fans are spoiled by the fact that he was able to free-lance and now he’s in a different role and you can’t expect the dramatics that he brought before….”

https://books.google.com/books?id=R...free-lance," said Banks, "and now ...&f=false

 

[FightingIrish44]

I dint care the story. I really don't.
Joe Schmidt may have been slighted by mother nature but he plays the inside about as good as can be.
Those guys are not going to DRIVE back the blockers. If it's the guard they are too big. If it's the fullback they have too much momentum.
But what they are supposed to do is recognize instantly who is coming out....then immediately stand that blocker up. Smash him hard so he stops. That ends that. Then it enables the free linebackers to make a tackle cleanly. Of course they are doing the tackling like shit which is killing us.

44, that specific play you speak of Joe does a great job with what I just wrote....

Jaylon is the one that has huge issues with this. He allows the blocker to get on him 4 yards down field.....by that time you already conceded a decent gain to the running back minimum. ....because it puts the other linebacker and safety into a bad position.....a position of mercy if you will.

You and I are basically saying the same thing. I don't mean "drive" as in knock the guy back three yards. I mean take on half the body and stand him up as you said. You don't need great size to do this because you're only playing half the man and securing the gap. You can do this whether its a guard or fullback and we can agree to disagree if you feel otherwise.

Our guys get caught looking for the ball instead of securing the blocker/gap and maintaining the line of scrimmage.

I've seen Schmidt take on a lead blocker and get knocked down, but I would still say he did his job because he clogged the hole up with the blocker and his own body.

 

[perseverare]

! good stuff you 2 !

 

[Bodizephax]

I dint care the story. I really don't.
Joe Schmidt may have been slighted by mother nature but he plays the inside about as good as can be.
Those guys are not going to DRIVE back the blockers. If it's the guard they are too big. If it's the fullback they have too much momentum.
But what they are supposed to do is recognize instantly who is coming out....then immediately stand that blocker up. Smash him hard so he stops. That ends that. Then it enables the free linebackers to make a tackle cleanly. Of course they are doing the tackling like shit which is killing us.

44, that specific play you speak of Joe does a great job with what I just wrote....

Jaylon is the one that has huge issues with this. He allows the blocker to get on him 4 yards down field.....by that time you already conceded a decent gain to the running back minimum. ....because it puts the other linebacker and safety into a bad position.....a position of mercy if you will.

Against Clemson (a top team with athletes Jaylon Smith recorded 9 tackles. Joe Schmidt made one lousy tackle. He is to small, slow, and gets run over. There has got to be a better linebacker to replace Joe. I don't know what you or the coaches see in him. He has got to be under 220 pounds and slow especially after the injury. BVG needs to be fired if his defense id to complicated for Niles Morgan (a 5 star recruit in one recruiting service and a great athlete with experience) or Jarret Grace or Tevon Coney or anybody to replace him. Is Kelly just playing favorites ? I don't know. He knows more than I . Hopefully he brings in a linebacker that can replace him.

 

[88ND]

Against Clemson (a top team with athletes Jaylon Smith recorded 9 tackles. Joe Schmidt made one lousy tackle. He is to small, slow, and gets run over. There has got to be a better linebacker to replace Joe. I don't know what you or the coaches see in him. He has got to be under 220 pounds and slow especially after the injury. BVG needs to be fired if his defense id to complicated for Niles Morgan (a 5 star recruit in one recruiting service and a great athlete with experience) or Jarret Grace or Tevon Coney or anybody to replace him. Is Kelly just playing favorites ? I don't know. He knows more than I . Hopefully he brings in a linebacker that can replace him.

Ok. Exactly making my point that you don't know how the middle is played. Thank you. And I mean the above statement with no malice. I'm serious.

If Joe does his job, the linebackers around him should have a ton of tackles. He is engaging the lead blocker enabling Jaylon and whoever else at the time...Grace, martini et al....to make the tackle one on one.

Think about this....
If Joe waits to take that blocker on....he just allowed the blocker to engage him 3-5 yards down field. Essentially giving the running back a 3-5 yards gain at a minimum. If Joe waits he might be able to make some more tackles but at what expense? 4 yard gains every run? 2nd and 6 is an offensive coaches dream.

No!!! Joe takes out the lead blocker at the point of attack. He does not allow the blocker to engage him...but he engages the blocker. Often times it means taking his own self out of the play, but that is fine. His teammates are now unblocked and should be taking care of the play. But this is where the horrendous tackling comes into play. We have one on one opportunity because of Joe's play yet we struggle to properly tackle with any consistency.
That is inexcusable. This isn't these players first year at pop Warner. They have played football a long time and the basic open field tackle ....the one on one tackle is such an adventure with this squad and forget about one on one open field. We are severely piss poor with that.
People flying out of control for what? To make a maybe 1 out of ten attempts hard stick?? The other 9 they are left hugging air looking silly and off goes the ball carrier.

 

[FightingIrish44]

88ND, if your last post is directed at me, you're seriously arguing with a ghost.

Your first paragraph, "no malice". Uhh, you're talking to someone who played, coached, and studied LB play (which still doesn't mean I know anything). So, I'd say that's pretty malicious when we're not even disagreeing.

Second paragraph: have I said or implied anything different? Where?

Third paragraph: again, have I said or implied he should do the opposite of what you're implying he should do. Where?

Seriously, we're not even disagreeing on anything. Can you imagine what you would think if you said "Jaylon needs to maintain outside leverage on the QB when contain blitzing", and then I countered, "see, you know nothing about LB play. Jaylon can't let the QB escape the pocket to the outside when contain rushing the QB". Its the same thing being said...

 

[88ND]

88ND, if your last post is directed at me, you're seriously arguing with a ghost.

Your first paragraph, "no malice". Uhh, you're talking to someone who played, coached, and studied LB play (which still doesn't mean I know anything). So, I'd say that's pretty malicious when we're not even disagreeing.

Second paragraph: have I said or implied anything different? Where?

Third paragraph: again, have I said or implied he should do the opposite of what you're implying he should do. Where?

Seriously, we're not even disagreeing on anything. Can you imagine what you would think if you said "Jaylon needs to maintain outside leverage on the QB when contain blitzing", and then I countered, "see, you know nothing about LB play. Jaylon can't let the QB escape the pocket to the outside when contain rushing the QB". Its the same thing being said...

Umm I quoted bodie...???

 

[FightingIrish44]

Umm I quoted bodie...???

Sorry sir. That didn't show up. My apologies.

 

[floridairish]

think this is the answer. Most teams are avoiding most contact during practice to avoid injuries. Open field tackling is difficult to teach/perfect without one on one drills.

You don't have to think, this is the answer and really nothing else needs to be said. Whether it is a golf swing, tennis back hand or live tackling, The only way to improve any skill is to practice in live simulated situations. That rarely happens anymore with tackling, whether it is a HS team with 35 players and guys playing both sides of the ball, or a Division One team with limited depth at back up positions, Guys can go down at any moment and ND knows that better than anyone, But practices today have an "injury mitigation" element built in. The upside is your players are more likely to be in uniform on Friday or Saturday, The down side is that tackling at every level has gotten worse, And continues to get worse,

If ND or any team did Live Scrimmaging and Oklahoma Style tackling drills all week, the tackling would improve. But the chance of looking to the sidelines and seeing Sheldon Day, K Russell and J Smith in street clothes increases as well,

 

[88ND]

think this is the answer. Most teams are avoiding most contact during practice to avoid injuries. Open field tackling is difficult to teach/perfect without one on one drills.

You don't have to think, this is the answer and really nothing else needs to be said. Whether it is a golf swing, tennis back hand or live tackling, The only way to improve any skill is to practice in live simulated situations. That rarely happens anymore with tackling, whether it is a HS team with 35 players and guys playing both sides of the ball, or a Division One team with limited depth at back up positions, Guys can go down at any moment and ND knows that better than anyone, But practices today have an "injury mitigation" element built in. The upside is your players are more likely to be in uniform on Friday or Saturday, The down side is that tackling at every level has gotten worse, And continues to get worse,

If ND or any team did Live Scrimmaging and Oklahoma Style tackling drills all week, the tackling would improve. But the chance of looking to the sidelines and seeing Sheldon Day, K Russell and J Smith in street clothes increases as well,

There is no think....I already stated its called THUD by a lot of folks.
It means come up like you are going to tackle and you thud them. Exactly as gay as it sounds.
Yes it is done to avoid injury.
There is something to be said about that. Grown adults can't play full blown tackle football every single day. Injuries will happen. But it appears the extreme measure has gone far too much the other way. As in never any live drills.
It's like this.....If Notre Dame is doing enough live drills for tackling then the coaching of said tackle is incorrect.....or they are not doing enough live tackling drills then lack of repetition is the culprit.

Either way whatever they are doing is so wrong. We can't tackle by and large and it's rather sorry.

 

[Telx1]

88nd and FI44... Enjoy reading your posts about LB play. I understand the position and the dynamics of taking on/out blockers versus tackling stats, etc... and how offensive schemes largely dictate this. That said, I agree with Bodi that Joe Schmidt isn't playing to the same level as last year. He was never a high speed guy, but his knowledge and ability to read mostly put him into position to make plays last year, and more often than not, he make good fundamental tackles. This year he is either to late (slow), or when in position, runners are running through his arm tackles. Is this scheme and technique or a serious drop off due to his injury? I think the later.

 

[perseverare]

88&44
are both of you in agreement that the issues you are discussing are coaching related issues?

How can that be?

 

[FightingIrish44]

88&44
are both of you in agreement that the issues you are discussing are coaching related issues?

How can that be?

For the most part, what one sees on the field is a product of coaching. The coaches either coach it, or allow it. However, the coach can't be solely responsible for turning a bad player into a great player or be responsible for every single mistake a player makes. Some guys are just naturally better than others too and plus they're human beings who aren't going to execute perfectly 100% of the time. Its the coaches job to get the best from their players.

As far as coaching issues, I have a few things to say:

1). I saw a lot of blown assignments against UMass leading me to believe the scheme isn't simple enough. However, there weren't as many against Clemson and sometimes a coach needs to make a tradeoff to give himself the best chance of winning (i.e. ND may not have the horses to play straight up, so they try to outscheme e.g. blitzing because the front four doesn't get much pressure).

2) Tackling. I don't believe there's much excuse for bad tackling. Its a product of coaching. The defenses under Diaco were much better at tackling. Game 1 of Kelly's tenure was light year's better than Weis' when it comes to tackling. If they could do it in 2010, why can't they be as good now?

3) I mentioned our LB's looking for the ball instead of securing the gap. This one is tough to say. On one hand, you don't want your LB running mindlessly into the gap he's aligned over instead of pursuing in the direction the play is going. However, if the ball carrier is still a threat to attack the gap the LB is responsible for, the LB needs to fill that gap/attack the blocker to decrease the amount of space the ball carrier has. I'm not sure how ND coaches them, but I do feel like the defense would get better results if the LB's just filled their gaps (when the ballcarrier can still attack that gap) instead of worrying about the ball going elsewhere. They need to rely on the other guys to cover it. The defenses of 2010-2013 just simply had better LB play. People like to use Fox and Calabrese as whipping boys, but Inthought these guys were darn good players and would love to buy them a drink.

So I feel like the only thing to look at is coaching, but as I said, the coaches may be looking to spend more time on scheme stuff than fundamentals out of necessity. I don't think I could fairly comment on them being bad coaches though.

 

[perseverare]

^ this is a HUGE recruiting weekend attached to the traditional rivalry game, JMO but I think it is important for prospects to come away with the notion that they will recieve top quality coaching at ND. The last thing we want them to witness is an out of control fire drill of a team.

 

[FightingIrish44]

^ this is a HUGE recruiting weekend attached to the traditional rivalry game, JMO but I think it is important for prospects to come away with the notion that they will recieve top quality coaching at ND. The last thing we want them to witness is an out of control fire drill of a team.

True, but luckily they won't know the difference unless there's a repeat of last year's USC game.

 

[perseverare]

If that happens, no explanation will suffice!

I stress the importance on the recruiting implications because recruiting is the lifeline of any program.
I bore the board with the recruiting stats but the stats or numbers are impersonal as to who is a fan of who. When I go over the recruiting status of programs over a recent and extended period and I see a distinct relationship to results, that emphasizes how important this weeks game is. There is the game within the game.

 

[88ND]

88&44
are both of you in agreement that the issues you are discussing are coaching related issues?

How can that be?

My stance on this team is no different than when someone posted camp highlights. People on here were raving about one pass deflected by #6 but what I seen in those so called highlights was poor fundamentals.
http://notredame.forums.rivals.com/threads/great-weekend-highlight-reel.20316/#post-359877

If you pull that post up you can see before the season began my concerns from the highlights. They were not highlights to me as it showed just how terrible our fundamentals are.
Nothing has changed on that note. Nothing.
Who's fault is it?
This is on the coaching staff. Pure and simple. They can't make those guys run faster or taller or stronger but they can teach the proper way to tackle.
Our defensive player might get "out athleted" against certain players but the attempt needs to be there.

If our linebacker just cant get to the edge fast enough ...then he got out athleted by the opposing ball carrier.

Those things are NOT on the coaches.

When our player does get there in plenty of time...and fails to break down, bend the knees, wrap...etc..all those things....that IS ON the coaching staff.

Our coaches can't change what God gave these kids but proper tackling has nothing to do with mother nature.

Example....if our corner back comes up to make an open field tackle on a 260# animal of a running back...and if our corner back closes the gap (distance), breaks down, bends his knees, shoulder to one side, wraps with BOTH arms around behind the knees...If our guy makes that attempt and the tackle gets broken..I can live with that. But the RB will have been slowed down by that enough to allow the rest of the defense to catch up and finish. I can live with this. Because our player is doing everything he can to make that tackle.

The problem is nobody is doing this except for one player. Sheldon Day.

Moreover how in the **** is it that our massive D lineman Day gets lower than the rest of our defense who is much smaller than he is to begin with. Yet he manages to tackle from the belt down on most occasions and there is the all world Jaylon smith who apparently is allergic to tackling below the chest.?

NO. I will tell you...its lazy play. Again for the hundredth time...it takes energy and effort to tackle properly. You might even get a bell ringing or two doing the proper way.

There are such few proper tackle attempts it's funny. Actually it's not funny. It sucks.

 

[South Bender]

Schmitt has been in position to make plays. he just hasn't finished. he's a team leader. I think you keep him out there unless you're absolutely convinced the guy behind him will be an improvement. Kelly doesn't coach those other guys. that's the position coaches job. head coaches at this level do much more administrating than coaching anyway. too much time required on other things. playing time is determined mostly by position coaches for the most part.

I think Schmidt's intangibles outweigh his physical traits. I don't think anybody would confuse Joe Schmidt with an elite athlete who has the chance to play on Sundays. It's Schmidt's leadership and understanding of all facets of the defense that get him playing time.

We all know what happened to the D last year when Schmidt went down with the injury. He's the heart and soul of that unit.

 

[perseverare]

88/44

good thread! proper forum discussion : football.