IMO the coaches should be rsponsible for getting players in the right place.
The players should be responsible for making plays.
Certainly both have happened, but I have never seen such weakness at LB. Also I am starting to fall off the RDS bus.
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Both are to blame we have no depth. We we playing Boren and Noah Spence at LB. Grant must seriously have fallen off the earth because idk if he even got out there on D.
I have a couple of qustions/opinions on this.
- I have never liked having 2 bosses and that is what you have with Co-DC's. Pick one and let him run the defence.
- Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Vrabel play LB in the NFL? Wouldn't he be better suited to coach a position he last played and excelled at?
- Can we bring Heacock back as a consultant?
I think it might be a little bit of both. They seemed to have changed the mindset to a more aggressive big play type of defense that wants to force turnovers. That's what Meyer said he wanted when he came in. In the past we were more of a keep everything in front of us bend but don't break type of defense. I think that leads to some of the breakdowns in coverages and what not. As far as not being able to tackle and taking poor angles to the ball or not having any play recognition or just flat out not being able to beat the man across from you, that's on the players. Our linebackers are not good this year. Even with a healthy Sabino they're not very good. Shazier records a lot of tackles but doesn't play with any real control and we occasionally get burned because of it but he's far and away our best linebacker. The fact that our starting fullback had to be switched to linebacker should tell you just how poorly the linebackers are playing this year.
Why not give Marcus, Perkins or Williams a crack at playing. They can't possibly play any worse
A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men
Apparently the coaching staff thinks so if they can't sniff the field. Urban mentioned that they weren't performing well in practice this week.
Count me as one who would rather see the freshmen get some experience in preparation for next season rather than the stop gap (sorry) measure of putting in a senior FB to play the position.
@oyster
Vrabel played like a hybrid OLB/rush end in the NFL in the 3-4 "Belichick system"...which is also why he went to KC after New England to play in that same system/position with Crennel. At Ohio State Vrabel played defensive line. Fickell is already the linebackers coach and has been coaching the linebackers for years. He's worked with several 3 star LB recruits that turned out to be all-americans and NFL players over the last 10 years or whatever. Fickell knows what he's doing with that position.
It's both. It always has been both. It starts with the players not executing, and then it falls into the hands of the coaches to teach them what to do differently. Some depth would be nice. I was wondering where in the hell Curtis Grant was last night. I know he hasn't performed very well in games, but with the injury bug biting this LB corps, certainly you have to play him, don't you? I didn't see a whole lot of Josh Perry, either. The other thing that bugs me is that we were in nickel most of the night due to what Indiana was running on offense anyway, so you'd only have 2 LBs out there, making lack of depth less damaging.
Class of 2010.
@Bolt
I know about Vrabel and his playing days at OSU, my comment was more as a follow on to my first statement on Co-DC's. Maybe Fickell needs to just focus on one aspect. Make him the DC or just the LB coach.
Perhaps. Who knows. I just honestly don't think we have the personnel at LB this year.
That is a fact and the injuries are not helping. As for putting Boren back there, I'm good with it if they need capable players to fill the holes. The goal is to win, how you get there doesn't matter come Sunday morning.
Fickell has been co-defensive coordinator and LBs coach and the past and it has worked out just fine.
I would like to see Marcus get a shot. He's done well on ST, from what I've seen. And didn't Perry do a decent job against Nebraska? Or am I mistaken? Why no shot against IU then? Makes no sense. With Urban saying he's going to spend more time with D at practice I wouldn't be surprised to see new guys get a shot, like when he promoted O. Johnson.
Bolt, this is the first time Fickell has called the shots on D. That's a huge difference.
I voted players. Last night they were too lackadaisical and packed it in before the game was over. Plus missing a guy like Sabino.
True, but it was with Heacock and you know that Coach Tressel had his hands in every aspect of the game. Heacock and Fickell had worked together for a long time and I am sure had a knack to know each other like an old married couple. Fickell and Withers are still feeling each other out.
I'm also not so sure that Coach Meyer may have been 'encouraged' to retain Fickell by the AD, considering that he was the supposed Heir to Tressel. That's just a personal conspiracy theory though, not based on fact or anything credible.
@Penult
I think Urban mentioned in his postgame comments that the reason they switched Boren to LB on Tuesday was in part because Perry was hurt and couldn't play. I don't know if that was still the case for the game, don't remember seeing him on the field on D or special teams? I feel if he was healthy, he would've been on the field. And I'm with you, you don't get to coach at this level without knowing what you're doing, players play. Though, Urban did say in one of his coaching clinics that you never say 'that damn kid can't play', you always say 'that damn coach', and it's his opinion that means that most.
4-6 seconds of relentless effort
It's the players, they gave up late because they thought they had the game won.
I blame the players or lack there of. Injuries have hurt us and so has a lack of talent
I'd say Mike Mitchell just became much more of a priority.
Why , if depth is such an issue, are guys like Perry and Murray being injured in practice. Why not modify contact in practice especially where we are thin? Fickell obviously cannot "coach up" players properly if Boren can come in with 96 hrs of learning the D and beat out players Fickell has had, in some cases, 2 years with the "benefit" of his teaching/coaching.
BuckeyeWags: to play devil's advocate, maybe the fact that Boren showed some competence after a week says more about guys like Grant than it does about Fick (not that I'm a huge supporter of Fick right now).
Not surprised by this kind of showing after the emotional highs of the past couple weeks. Young guys have to step up now.
Coaching... People act like our defense hasnt been terrible all year before the injuries. You cant tell me the players on our defense are really just that bad. Now im not saying alot of the blame isnt on the players for not tackling and putting forth the effort, but constantly having them out of position in a swiss cheese zone defense is just crazy!!