- Oct 8, 2017
- 2,170
- 5,604
So, we all saw, and many have commented that with the weeks off and Campbell back, we went larger up front, with Carter at DE and Slaton/Campbell at the DT's. The question for me was how much of that was personnel matching and Grantham finally facing a team running 12 personnel a lot (For reading the below charting, in the personnel numbering, the first number is the RB count and the second are the TE's).
Unfortunately, I don't think the game was as telling as we'd hoped. Maybe we stay with the same scheme against the dwags because they play a more power game as well, but I don't know if it means Grantham actually changed anything. The other item that jumped out is Carter almost never left the field in the first half. He was crucial to everything we did, even passing downs when we went smaller. His loss in the first half could really be felt. But, his addition in the second half could be a strong impact if the game is tight.
Here are the drive charts with the down, offense's personnel package, and our Defense. I'd be curious of this boards assessment, even though this is a deep dive. Side note: Goldkamp was discussing how well Stewart played the Star this game. In what I watched, I never saw him there (based on how we previously aligned the Star in the first 3 games and last year).
1st Drive. 10 or 11, with 4 wide lineup, but maybe a TE split wide, we were in a true 3/4 with Campbell, Slaton and Carter (CSC) across the line. This is one of the better hopes for real change, since we started in this and they had 4 wide. 2 down, 11, same 3-4. Shows on the play, as Lb is free to make a play. 3rd and long - went nickel and small w Dunlap for Campbell. Moon lined up as a lb, not rush end.
2nd drive. 11 personnel (2 TE). CSC. True 3-4. QB sealing the edge against Cox on reverse was pretty funny. Diabate at MLB. Switched to 11 but we stayed big in true 3-4 in 2/5 and 3/1. Dexter Dunlap and Lang sub as drive extends with only 12 and 11 personnel, staying in 3-4. Lang is very slow out of stance. Almost funny in freeze frame. Dex doubled. Lang unblocked but can't tackle. 2/5, back to 11 and we are still a real 3-4. This group run on easier by far than CSC. Torrence looks pretty good. 2/7, 11, and we are still in 3/4 at our own 16 (this one was also promising, as it could have been seen as a pass down and Grantham often would go small here in prior games IIRC). Dunlap takes on no blockers on most plays. Just goes around a lot. Dex takes on 2 and holds ground most plays. 3/5, 10 (or wide split te), we went nickel with Dean the extra dB.
3rd drive. 12, 3-4 CCS. TV coverage offered no chance to see if we were waiting to match Personnel or just running our 3-4 personnel out. As the game progressed though, you see Missery runs 12 or 11 on first down almost all game pre-blowout level. 2/9, 11 and we STAYED in 3-4 w CCS. Again, could have gone to more exotic herre and didn't. 3/9, 10, then to nickel. All smaller rushers. Cox, Carter Dunlap, and Bogle across. Burney appears to be coming in only more on passing downs now than every down in favor of a combo of Houston/Diabate over Burney in early downs. Burney and a Db make up the Nickel. Miller doesn't really leave the field much early.
Offense Side note on the pick six- Wright and Reese both pick up the same DL missing the blitzing lb until too late and Trask's arm is hit on the INT. Braun saw his first minutes of the season on the next play subbing for Reese. Reese returned the next series and remainder of the half.
4th drive, 12, 3-4. CCS. 2/10, 11, still in 3/4. Moorer already in the game at "outside" cb (shoutout to Zach and Donk) w Gators trailing 7-6. 1/10, 12 and 3-4. 2/10, 11, 3/4. Torrence manning from safety W/ Stewart single high a decent amount on these long 2d downs. 3/8, 10, nickel. Closest to Star seems to be Tre’vez Johnson at nickel. Burney in again at LB. This is such an obvious passing down though, calling this a Star so far in this game is more of a misnomer than it usually is in this defense.
5th drive. 12, 3-4, CCDexter. 2/8, same personnel for both teams. 3/3, 00 (5 wide, though 1 might have been a RB), nickel and small line package. 1/10, 11, 3-4, CCS. 2/25, 11, nickel/star w Johnson. Smaller package DL but at least Carter at DT and Chatfield at DE. 3/28, 10, same. Burney at LB again only when we went to Nickel. First down was Houston.
6th drive and gets interesting. They Come out in 10 personnel and we play a legit 4-3, with no discernable "Star". Arguably Moon is the Star but Houston not Burney is at MLB w Miller. The oddity is there’s only 1:41 left in the half. So playing more db’s and a nickel/true star on first would make more sense than earlier into the half. Plus, the 4 DL across were CCS and Cox with Campbell as the DE. 2/1, 10, but w the Rb split to WR so lined up 00, we stayed with the same personnel but they went no huddle so we had to. They went hurry up on the next play too, but we swapped personnel and went with a true nickel (Johnson) and Carter as our big DL at DT. They fumbled the mesh point as Carter blew up the play.
7th drive. 10 with 1:08 in the half. Nickel w Burney at MLB and Dunlap and Carter at DT. 2/10, Carter off for Bogle. 3/10. Same except Princely shows up on the field for Cox. Carter back in for Bogle.
SECOND HALF - Carter unavailable
We score. Game now 27-6 and no Carter. Hard to tell how much this will impact next week. From here. Only bothered a few more possessions.
1st drive - for one of the first times, you can see from the video our sideline is set up to watch and match their personnel before taking the field, but the game is also starting to get our of hand for Missouri, so we could also be adjusting. The open 11, we are in 4-3 w Moon as OLB or star again. Campbell is DE (again on Moons side like the one other time we had this group). DTs are Slaton and Dex. Houston. Not Burney. 2/3, same for both teams. 3/1, same for both teams. Huge play by Campbell who shot the inside gap with Diabate outside him this time. Lots of faith in Diabate to hold the edge to have Campbell dive inside like far. That group looked pretty good together. Notably no Cox.
2nd drive, 12, back to a 3-4 with the 3 down linemen being Campbell, Slaton and Lang. Houston, not Burney. 2/18, they go to 10, we scramble to swap personnel and have about 20 on the field until refs stop the game to permit us to match their subs. Burney back in. Only 1 lineman with a hand on the ground (Dunlap). 3 rush guys. Nickel w Johnson. Swing to RB to Burney’s side. He is super slow to see it and move, yet with the line up there is no one else he can be playing unless he is spying the QB who didn't run all game. 3/10, 10, same defense. Chatfield has been lined up where the other DT would be but standing.
3rd drive. Now 34-7 score and 3rd quarter is basically over. They are in 11, and we go back to our more usual (until this game at least) star type package with two rush ends and Slaton and Dunlap w Burney at MLB and Johnson at Star. 2nd down, 12 and we got back to 3-4 w CSDex as DL. Hopper and Houston at MLB. Moorer back in. Same groups on 1st. We start subbing more from here.
Next 1/10, 11, and we see the old nickel/star with Slaton, Dunlap and two smaller rush ends w Burney on the field. Few comments: Campbell left the field due to a hurt finger, Carter is put, and they have to start passing. Don’t think we get more insight into coaching ideas from here on.
OVERALL - It seems maybe we did actually adjust based on playing a true, bigger sized 3-4 against 11 personnel on first half 2nd and long situations against 11 personnel, but they were so predictable 12 on first, 11 on second, 11 or 10 on third, that it is hard to know for sure if it was a one game blip. While the second half showed more obvious personnel matching and not a schematic shift, that has to be weighed against the score.
Regardless, it was better and good to see the improvement overall as a result of the simpler schemes. We zoned or play man-1 predominantly out of the 3-4 and the true 4-3 (non-nickel/star). Your thoughts?
Unfortunately, I don't think the game was as telling as we'd hoped. Maybe we stay with the same scheme against the dwags because they play a more power game as well, but I don't know if it means Grantham actually changed anything. The other item that jumped out is Carter almost never left the field in the first half. He was crucial to everything we did, even passing downs when we went smaller. His loss in the first half could really be felt. But, his addition in the second half could be a strong impact if the game is tight.
Here are the drive charts with the down, offense's personnel package, and our Defense. I'd be curious of this boards assessment, even though this is a deep dive. Side note: Goldkamp was discussing how well Stewart played the Star this game. In what I watched, I never saw him there (based on how we previously aligned the Star in the first 3 games and last year).
1st Drive. 10 or 11, with 4 wide lineup, but maybe a TE split wide, we were in a true 3/4 with Campbell, Slaton and Carter (CSC) across the line. This is one of the better hopes for real change, since we started in this and they had 4 wide. 2 down, 11, same 3-4. Shows on the play, as Lb is free to make a play. 3rd and long - went nickel and small w Dunlap for Campbell. Moon lined up as a lb, not rush end.
2nd drive. 11 personnel (2 TE). CSC. True 3-4. QB sealing the edge against Cox on reverse was pretty funny. Diabate at MLB. Switched to 11 but we stayed big in true 3-4 in 2/5 and 3/1. Dexter Dunlap and Lang sub as drive extends with only 12 and 11 personnel, staying in 3-4. Lang is very slow out of stance. Almost funny in freeze frame. Dex doubled. Lang unblocked but can't tackle. 2/5, back to 11 and we are still a real 3-4. This group run on easier by far than CSC. Torrence looks pretty good. 2/7, 11, and we are still in 3/4 at our own 16 (this one was also promising, as it could have been seen as a pass down and Grantham often would go small here in prior games IIRC). Dunlap takes on no blockers on most plays. Just goes around a lot. Dex takes on 2 and holds ground most plays. 3/5, 10 (or wide split te), we went nickel with Dean the extra dB.
3rd drive. 12, 3-4 CCS. TV coverage offered no chance to see if we were waiting to match Personnel or just running our 3-4 personnel out. As the game progressed though, you see Missery runs 12 or 11 on first down almost all game pre-blowout level. 2/9, 11 and we STAYED in 3-4 w CCS. Again, could have gone to more exotic herre and didn't. 3/9, 10, then to nickel. All smaller rushers. Cox, Carter Dunlap, and Bogle across. Burney appears to be coming in only more on passing downs now than every down in favor of a combo of Houston/Diabate over Burney in early downs. Burney and a Db make up the Nickel. Miller doesn't really leave the field much early.
Offense Side note on the pick six- Wright and Reese both pick up the same DL missing the blitzing lb until too late and Trask's arm is hit on the INT. Braun saw his first minutes of the season on the next play subbing for Reese. Reese returned the next series and remainder of the half.
4th drive, 12, 3-4. CCS. 2/10, 11, still in 3/4. Moorer already in the game at "outside" cb (shoutout to Zach and Donk) w Gators trailing 7-6. 1/10, 12 and 3-4. 2/10, 11, 3/4. Torrence manning from safety W/ Stewart single high a decent amount on these long 2d downs. 3/8, 10, nickel. Closest to Star seems to be Tre’vez Johnson at nickel. Burney in again at LB. This is such an obvious passing down though, calling this a Star so far in this game is more of a misnomer than it usually is in this defense.
5th drive. 12, 3-4, CCDexter. 2/8, same personnel for both teams. 3/3, 00 (5 wide, though 1 might have been a RB), nickel and small line package. 1/10, 11, 3-4, CCS. 2/25, 11, nickel/star w Johnson. Smaller package DL but at least Carter at DT and Chatfield at DE. 3/28, 10, same. Burney at LB again only when we went to Nickel. First down was Houston.
6th drive and gets interesting. They Come out in 10 personnel and we play a legit 4-3, with no discernable "Star". Arguably Moon is the Star but Houston not Burney is at MLB w Miller. The oddity is there’s only 1:41 left in the half. So playing more db’s and a nickel/true star on first would make more sense than earlier into the half. Plus, the 4 DL across were CCS and Cox with Campbell as the DE. 2/1, 10, but w the Rb split to WR so lined up 00, we stayed with the same personnel but they went no huddle so we had to. They went hurry up on the next play too, but we swapped personnel and went with a true nickel (Johnson) and Carter as our big DL at DT. They fumbled the mesh point as Carter blew up the play.
7th drive. 10 with 1:08 in the half. Nickel w Burney at MLB and Dunlap and Carter at DT. 2/10, Carter off for Bogle. 3/10. Same except Princely shows up on the field for Cox. Carter back in for Bogle.
SECOND HALF - Carter unavailable
We score. Game now 27-6 and no Carter. Hard to tell how much this will impact next week. From here. Only bothered a few more possessions.
1st drive - for one of the first times, you can see from the video our sideline is set up to watch and match their personnel before taking the field, but the game is also starting to get our of hand for Missouri, so we could also be adjusting. The open 11, we are in 4-3 w Moon as OLB or star again. Campbell is DE (again on Moons side like the one other time we had this group). DTs are Slaton and Dex. Houston. Not Burney. 2/3, same for both teams. 3/1, same for both teams. Huge play by Campbell who shot the inside gap with Diabate outside him this time. Lots of faith in Diabate to hold the edge to have Campbell dive inside like far. That group looked pretty good together. Notably no Cox.
2nd drive, 12, back to a 3-4 with the 3 down linemen being Campbell, Slaton and Lang. Houston, not Burney. 2/18, they go to 10, we scramble to swap personnel and have about 20 on the field until refs stop the game to permit us to match their subs. Burney back in. Only 1 lineman with a hand on the ground (Dunlap). 3 rush guys. Nickel w Johnson. Swing to RB to Burney’s side. He is super slow to see it and move, yet with the line up there is no one else he can be playing unless he is spying the QB who didn't run all game. 3/10, 10, same defense. Chatfield has been lined up where the other DT would be but standing.
3rd drive. Now 34-7 score and 3rd quarter is basically over. They are in 11, and we go back to our more usual (until this game at least) star type package with two rush ends and Slaton and Dunlap w Burney at MLB and Johnson at Star. 2nd down, 12 and we got back to 3-4 w CSDex as DL. Hopper and Houston at MLB. Moorer back in. Same groups on 1st. We start subbing more from here.
Next 1/10, 11, and we see the old nickel/star with Slaton, Dunlap and two smaller rush ends w Burney on the field. Few comments: Campbell left the field due to a hurt finger, Carter is put, and they have to start passing. Don’t think we get more insight into coaching ideas from here on.
OVERALL - It seems maybe we did actually adjust based on playing a true, bigger sized 3-4 against 11 personnel on first half 2nd and long situations against 11 personnel, but they were so predictable 12 on first, 11 on second, 11 or 10 on third, that it is hard to know for sure if it was a one game blip. While the second half showed more obvious personnel matching and not a schematic shift, that has to be weighed against the score.
Regardless, it was better and good to see the improvement overall as a result of the simpler schemes. We zoned or play man-1 predominantly out of the 3-4 and the true 4-3 (non-nickel/star). Your thoughts?