Or, were they coached not to? We don’t know. I’ve suggested several times that they practice against our pass routes. Who else runs routes like Napier’s? After how many practices and games with staff screaming “makes the plays on the ball”, are they still unable to play football? Corey Raymond? Bust.
Your thoughts are not wrong, but this is 4th and 17 for the game. It is not about routes, it is about situation. As @soflagator said you could blitz, force a quicker throw and try to make a tackle. But lets play it the way we played it. The routes are irrelevant. All that is relevant is the line to gain. Remember the max # of players eligible to receive a pass is 5. and the QB can run so that is 6 that can make the first down.. So lets jokingly play a LB 12 or so yards from the LOS to "spy" the QB. Not necessary but whatever. You rush 3. You have 4/5 guys planted at the sticks to cover that 50+ yard width. Rule #1 as soon as guy gets within breathing distance of you it becomes man to man. Simple. And you have 2/3 guys behind the line to gain to DOUBLE anyone who ventures as a receiver beyond the line to gain. Defending anything short of the line to gain was irrelevant and defending specific routes was not relevant. you are defending the sticks. We were in soft zone with zero urgency to break on the ball. Simple concept simple instructions. When guy gets within breathing distance you cover like white on rice.
Okay, did any defender do that? Did they all fail or only the DB where passes were caught? If all DBs failed to defend, why? I’m at a loss to understand how the unit failed if they were taught, trained, clear, expected.
On the 4th and 17, coaching or not, do instincts not take over? Did BN coach Mertz to take off on third and long and break his body to convert ? Was Jackson coached two make miraculous catches two(last week was a catch) weeks in a row? Of course not….dudes make plays, regardless of schemes or coaching.
From the replay we had 4 DBs at the sticks, 2 on each side of 2 Mizz receivers, all of them standing in a line facing the QB so all 6 were looking at the throw, which covered at least 25 yards thru the air. If ANY Gator defenders broke on the ball, and they had plenty of time to run that ball down, it should have been a pass breakup and we win the game right there.
I do not have an answer. They do it in practice but not games? Corey Raymond coaches them? Makes zero sense. Inexplicable.
The DB's failed to get close to the receiver when they reached an area or break on the ball. but not their fault. The fault lies within the coaching staff not being in a Sticks D and not teaching how it works. We were in soft zone. Sticks to me in this particular situation is a zone type defense defending the line to gain but becomes man to man when a guy gets within sniffing distance.
Go back and read this board's threads about the UGA, Arkansas and LSU games. Much the same as the Mizzou game.
