Denfense was good but not great

VideoEagle · September 23, 2012

I keep seeing lot of praise for the defense, but we have lots of room for work here. There were a lot of missed/poor tackles. And how can you let a receive get open deep on a third and long? Everyone knows its going to be a deep throw, Dickey is on the other side calling the Dreaded Draw Play. And at the end of the game, everyone knows they are going to run but we don't adjust.

Defense played well, but still has work to do.

MeanGreenDan · September 23, 2012

And the damn shuffle pass. We did not learn after the first time. Or the second.

Green P1 · September 23, 2012

If their QB wasn't just as bad as DT... they'd have had 3 more easy TDs. The D is improving and tackling better but our secondary can still not cover a freaking GO route.

MeanGreenHoops · September 23, 2012

If their QB wasn't just as bad as DT... they'd have had 3 more easy TDs. The D is improving and tackling better but our secondary can still not cover a freaking GO route.

This and they don't make game-changing plays. In a game like last night the defense has to make something happen. I so miss the early 2000's defenses. Those defenses might get burned by a play once, but if you tried it two or three times, they would blow it up and make you do something different. And they would make game changing plays. Our defense is much improved compared to the garbage during Dodge, but it's not a game changer yet.

Edited September 23, 2012 by MeanGreenHoops

Got5onIt · September 23, 2012

Only giving up 14 pts should be good enough for any team to be in it at the end to win. That's all we can ask for at this point. Not going to blame them one bit...

bleedgreen4ever · September 23, 2012

Only giving up 14 pts should be good enough for any team to be in it at the end to win. That's all we can ask for at this point. Not going to blame them one bit...

Disagree. This is a team effort. There were things the defense could have definitely done better to help us win. Cover better, and the game is 7-0. Of course, they could have used help from our inept special teams and offense, but that's beyond the point. We need to hold the entire team accountable, including all of the coaches.

MeanGreenHoops · September 23, 2012

Only giving up 14 pts should be good enough for any team to be in it at the end to win. That's all we can ask for at this point. Not going to blame them one bit...

I don't think anyone is saying that 14 point points shouldn't be good enough to win, or that we are blaming the defense, but that in a game like last night, a great defense would have won the game. The thread is good defense but not great. It was good, but not great. If it had been great they would have won the game, because the other 2/3rds of the team couldn't do it.

Snowy · September 23, 2012

We have a safety in Marcus Trice who hasn't played in two years. We have a starting cornerback who was a running back until the fall in Zac Whitfield. We have a transfer from a JOCO and other freshmen and sophomores sprinkled in the secondary that have no playing experience. I think our defense is playing far better than anyone expected in the beginning of the season.

meangreendork · September 23, 2012

Considering that the defense was on the field for about 3/4 of the game, I think they did well. Sure, they could've done better and forced more turnovers or maybe grabbed a pick 6, but the truth of the matter is that a football team should never expect a defense to produce points to win a game. The real fault lies in offensive play and planning - that left 28 points on the field, and special teams that left another 9 on the field. Had those field goals landed, we would have 14-16, or if the offensive TD opportunities been taken, it would've been 14-35.

The D did their job. Troy has a dangerous offense and our D did a great job of holding them at bay even without Troy's previous habits of bad turnovers and huge penalties to help out.

UNT 90 Grad · September 23, 2012

Considering that the defense was on the field for about 3/4 of the game, I think they did well.

Huh???

Time of possession:

Troy = 26:23

UNT = 33:37

The Fake Lonnie Finch · September 23, 2012

Look...Troy is not a good football team. They are on a two game losing streak and coming to our house on the road. We, supposedly, had some momentum from a win and a strong showing at Kansas State.

I predicted a 5-7 record for this team. Then, got a little excited and thought 6-6 could be reached. But, the reality of this defense is that 5-7 would be a good season with 4-8 most likely...especially if the two "experienced" parts of the squad, offense and special teams, are going to implode from game to game.

I'll be really pleased with 5-7, fine with 4-8...very, very surprised with 6-6.

Edited September 23, 2012 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

BillySee58 · September 24, 2012

Let's not forget how young this defense is. We will only lose 3 contributors from this years defense in Defensive Tackle Tevin Cantly, Defensive end KC Obi, and Linebacker Jeremy Phillips. Phillips should be replaced easy with Stock back to go along with Orr and company, and the other two are decent players but far from irreplaceable.

Green Otaku · September 24, 2012

Considering that the defense was on the field for about 3/4 of the game, I think they did well. Sure, they could've done better and forced more turnovers or maybe grabbed a pick 6, but the truth of the matter is that a football team should never expect a defense to produce points to win a game. The real fault lies in offensive play and planning - that left 28 points on the field, and special teams that left another 9 on the field. Had those field goals landed, we would have 14-16, or if the offensive TD opportunities been taken, it would've been 14-35.

The D did their job. Troy has a dangerous offense and our D did a great job of holding them at bay even without Troy's previous habits of bad turnovers and huge penalties to help out.

Not true on the bolded. There are too many variables to be accurate. Us scoring those field goals could have forced Troy to make points off of offense, which could have been some big plays, or it couldn't have. We don't know, only thing that is certain is what actually happened. Talking hypotheticals is useless.

I agree that the defense blew a few things here and there, there is always room for improvement unless we attain perfection and stop them on every down and don't allow points. The defense did enough to keep us in the game, to me they held up their end, by giving good field position, 3 and outs, etc. The offense had the chances to pull us ahead and didn't. I can only really crucify the defense for the 2nd touchdown that was a pass to a wide open receiver.