re: Bama Football Tidings

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A few notes on the defense in the second half...

Some observations on a deeper dive into the defense when I could stop and look:

1) The single biggest thing, which I felt on Saturday but wanted to watch all the defensive snaps my way, is that they cut way down on the number of stunts and games up front. It was more of "align and play", and the front seemed to really blossom. Barmore is much more comfortable just playing on a shoulder and attacking. Dale was much better, which may just be about the mentality of injury-recovery, but the less lateral things he has to do the better he performs, and 98, while he wasn't dominant, held his gap, has "heavy hands" and creates piles and wads, which helped in the run game, and both got good push on the bottom of the pocket. Against a smaller QB who likes to throw in the middle, that is a huge thing because it constricts his vision and makes him uncomfortable, as well as teh knockdowns. Its one thing to slant, or even the tight space switch where two interior linemen swap gaps, but Bama had been running a fairly large number of more exotic loops and exchanges and I think the DL were really struggling with the movement, reading on the run, and the lateral elements of that type of game.

2. Fewer ILB X stunts- Dylan Moses is not a good interior blitzers. He doesn't do a good job of finding angles and doesn't disengage with blocker well, and Bama had featured several of those this season, where the DL all play to the outside and the LBs blitiz in the A gaps, with one going first and the other crossing behind. I haven't done a full breakdown, but in just skimming through the defensive snaps for the first four games, it was somewhat effective against Missouri and not so much since then. A straigh A or B gap blitz where the LB rushes in his gap is not bad, but anytime it has involved a X or some kind of disguise, it has been mostly counter-productive.

3. On that same line, there was only one realy effective drive in the second half for Georgia, and that was a result of two errors. #7 has an explosive play on a double move on the Bama sideline, which was entirely about eye discipline. Hellams identified and assigned correctly, was in good phase, and then took that extra glance into the backfield and got burned on the out and up. Hellams played much better for the most part, and the Safety play as a whole was much improved, especially when Battle returned. I noticed that he was very active in communicating, and even corrected the LBs a couple of times. The next big play was against the inside X blitz and the two LBs ran right into the blocking scheme, while the DL is taking itself out of position by the loop. After that, most of the games were slants and LB edge rushes, and there was big improvement.

4. #31 is improving every game, and when the interor guys started getting push and playing with aggression, he really got in gear. He is going to be special. A note on #47. He is not a super explosive player, but gets good push, has good hands, discipline in technique and pushed the pocket well. He is not a "finisher" in rush, but, with a little more work on technique, he could become a Damion Square type of player, competent everywhere but "rush end" and a guy who in a set number of snaps, makes the rest of the defense better. Power rush with the ability to seperate off of a blocker and close the gaps on his side.

5. #92 continues to improve snap after snap and game after game. Like #31, when the interior stabalized with more solid play, he and #4 could let their athleticism and ability come to play and you could see the change. There was good four man pressure, and the LBs could play freer.

6. I have mentioned the Safeties, but they have taken so much abuse I wanted to emphasize it. #13 is a freshman, but getting better rapidly, Hellams, as I mentioned, is showing why the staff likes him, #3 was better and plays better with #9 back there, and #9 looks like he is growing into the leadership. If 94, 98 (Burroughs), 47 and 58 can play effectively in the interior techniques and 18 can get back, (the improvement without him is notable) there is the nucleus for a very good defense, and especially if there is more effective use of 32 and 8.

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