Just One Tweak: Episode II
Happy thoughtsWe have a spirited and growing community of readers that do a great job of adding to the running conversation. To recognize a few of these, we have asked them each to write a guest post about what they’d tweak to ensure the Buckeyes got (yet another) shot at redemption in ‘08. Joe Fox got things rolling last week and the Jack Park of 11W, GoBucks89, weighs in today.
On January 30, 1994, the Dallas Cowboys trailed the Buffalo Bills at halftime of Super Bowl XXVIII 13-6. As the teams came back on the field for the second half, the sideline reporter relayed to the announcers in the booth what Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson had told his players at halftime. He told them to go after the football and create some turnovers. As the Bills were moving the ball on their first possession of the 2nd half, the Cowboys forced a fumble and ran it back 46 yards for a touchdown. The rest is history.
What does this have to do with OSU football you ask? Well, I think it’s the key to our success in finally breaking through to a BCS championship next season. I was asked to provide one thing that I would tweak, and so my answer is: tenacity and ball skills. I know what you’re saying: “Hey you idiot, that’s two things.” Well, let me explain how they go together. One problem I saw in the game against LSU, and it has been there for at least three years, is that we don’t force a lot of turnovers on defense. Another thing that was obvious in the LSU game is that our receivers didn’t go aggressively after the ball when defenders were close by. We can get away with that against inferior competition, but against the top teams, we need to win every battle for the football. Remember “Holy Buckeye”? That was Michael Jenkins one-on-one against a defender and he was determined to get that football. Remember Jenkins again converting 4th-and-14 in the championship game? Same story. Look at the replay and you’ll see Jenkins both times aggressively creating separation (some would say pushing off) so that he would get the ball and not the defender. That is what we needed, and didn’t get, against LSU. Think about Robiskie dropping that TD pass, leading to a blocked FG attempt. I’m telling you, Jenkins would have had that one. Think about Ray Small losing the one-on-one battle on LSU’s key INT in the 2nd half. I know the ball was underthrown, but he needs to go after that football aggressively and at least keep it from being intercepted.
The same is true on defense. It seems for the past 3 years or so our DB’s have had stone hands. We got an INT against LSU, but even that one was almost a drop. And it is absolutely inexcusable that Austin Spitler missed blocking that punt when he was in perfect position to get it. Go after the football! Why does James Laurinaitis have more INT’s over the past two years than any of our DB’s? He’s tenacious. He goes for the ball. Think about the key play against Texas in 2006: JL knocked the ball loose at the 2 yard line and we took it 50 yards the other way. Go after the football! Who wins the battle for the football? The one who is more aggressively trying to get it. Tenacity will pay big dividends for our players on both sides of the ball. If our DB’s get more aggressive, then suddenly we will be praising them for their “ball skills”. The one leads to the other, so they are really two sides of the same coin. Win all of the battles for the football and you probably win the game. Remember MoC against Miami stealing the ball away from Sean Taylor? That should be our model for all of the next season. Be aggressive. Be tenacious. Get the ball, and get the win. This is one thing that Coach Tressel could learn from Jimmy Johnson.
good points. we have NOT been aggressive enough on D. I completely agree that our recievers this year had a tendency to back away from contested balls instead of fighting for them. hopefully this new crop will push for time & force these guys to become more aggressive.
I agree about our receivers……however, I completely disagree about our defense not being aggressive enough in going for the ball. There were actually SEVERAL plays where our defense was trying to strip the ball instead of tackle and all it did was result in missed tackles and big gains for LSU. Teams that rely on turnovers rather than a stout defense eventually lose. That being said our DB’s have had stone hands as of late….maybe we need to do more tip drills or something.
Wil, you are correct. No one should be trying to strip as a substitute for a solid tackle. However, when there are one-on-one battles between a DB and a WR, our guy should be fighting for the ball tooth and nail. And if an opportunity comes up like the case of MoC stripping the ball from Sean Taylor (i.e. the ball-carrier does not see the tackler as he is coming from behind and you can strip while simultaneously shoving him out of bounds), our guy should take advantage of the opportunity by going for the strip. Another example would be a blind-side hit on the QB (Darrien Scott stripping John Navarre in 2002 comes to mind).
I agree, especially about our receivers not being aggressive enough.
As to trying to strip the ball when coming from behind……well according to the refs in the Illinois game, that wouldn’t be a fumble anyways. j/k
Good stuff. Jimmy Johnson, for my money, is the best coach in football history. Dude won everywhere he went and held his players accountable to a pretty high standard.
And also, this.
You guys aren’t quitting too are you? Ha.
I watched the 02 National Championship before this year’s game and made the comment,
“Ya know, both these teams are way better than the teams we’re going to watch tonight”.
I don’t think it was a matter of who was better, it was a matter of who played harder and made plays when they needed them. Honestly, I hope this year’s team is down in every game, and pulls it out and wins. I think the offense is 10x better than 02, but the defense still confuses me. Guess we’ll find out in SoCal.
You’re absolutely right. As Chris Spielman always says, “See ball, get ball.”
i agree with you on all of that. i still think part of our big problem is still in game adjustments. example: the bunch reciver formation lsu ran and threw the pass to the tight end for the touch down. you me and even helen keller saw that coming. yea it was a quick snap but christ. and in the illinois game they did just like florida run the ball right up the middle almost everytime adjust to that and quit with the damn zone defense if it doesn’t work try something else.