Knowles rarely puts 3 LB on the field even against personnel groupings that are obviously meant for running the ball. Drove me nuts to see NW running 2 and 3 TE sets running the wildcat and us still having 2 LB and 3 S on the field. Occasionally we put 3LB out there but not enough. Hoping this gets fixed because a 205 lb safety is going to have a really hard time defeating blocks from a 250+ lb TE. 
 

I understand we brought in 3 lb at times but didnt really start seeing it til halfway through 3rd Q. The one play that really got me was they had 6 OL and 2 TE, in wildcat, and we still were in 4-2-5. Wasn’t surprised when NW picked up 8 or 9 yds on the ground that play. 3.5 yds per carry against your defense is usually solid. NW only averages 3.1 ypc this season. We let them run for more ypc than they normally do in a game where we knew they were going to run it.

I’m getting a lot of flack here for this critique. I have absolutely no problem with Knowles being our DC; in fact I love it and think its pretty much the best hire we could’ve made. The defense’s overall turn around from ‘21 to ‘22 is astounding. I’m sure both Day and Knowles will be ready schematically for The Game 11/26.