GNFP Missouri Defense

• James says this game is like a barbell, not a lot in the middle. Some really good plays, some really bad plays. Some of the best and worst D of the year in this game.
• 13 TFL starting with Princely out of the gate.
• No knee brace for Hill. Said after last week's felt like he "needed" to play without it.
• Cox and Dean make a good early edge hold. And of course a celebration. But this time it was appropriate.
• Looks like some cover 6 this week. As noted last week, we have played cover 3 way too soft all year. Marshall appears to not dig on zone. He's basically lock-down in man, plays extremely soft in zone. Same giant weak spots in these zones this week.
• Princely and Burney execute scrape exchange perfectly on their side like Cox and Dean earlier. They appear to be learning this concept.
• Perkins turns play inside on early 3rd and long, stop.
• Cox still putting monster plays on film.
• Miller perfectly executes route disruption, Hill doesn't bail on the cover 3, breaks before ball is even thrown, Cox is all over QB, pick 6.
• Shemar fills a gap early, DT holds gaps. More evidence of growth.
• Dexter double-teamed and washed out, Trevez late getting over, big run saved from catastrophe when Helm turns it back inside.
• 3rd and 3 played 6-8 yards deep from the 10, as if it was 3rd and goal. Easy 1st down.
• Jalen Lee blows up inside zone that MO scores on when RB makes a nice bounce outside.
• Cox blows up pass play in red zone, Dexter blatantly held, then a safety (ahem) lets QB get the edge and escapes for first down.
• Dexter does NOT lose the middle when MO vacates the middle coverage and QB looks to escape up field, gets a TFL. Progress.
• GT counter (LSU nightmare) is sniffed out and guys all over it, except Miller and Shemar go to the same gap, Princely coming in too hot, it works.
• MO tries SAME PLAY that was the pick 6!! And Hill jumps it again! But QB sees it this time, barely stops the release, checks down, Trevez sticks it.
• Jalen Lee in the gap again, Miller cleans up after shedding a block.
• Cover 6 again, a safety (ahem) does that thing he often does where he effectively prevents wide open grass from scoring. Marshall also crazy deep again. Hill does not play the same cushion in similar situations on his side. It's a good play for the coverage, even better when a receiver is in the middle of a triangle with not one of the defenders within 7 yards.
• Aggressive cover 1 on 3rd and 5, everyone except Trevez is tight. Easy first down. He does stay outside leverage however, which is better.
• DL loses gaps AGAIN while receivers vacate the middle. QB escapes for easy 10 yards.
• JH does not bail, runs the route, QB appears to be absolutely certain DB's will be bailing, throws it right to JH. Pick #2.
• DL just dominates on play, Miller cleans up QB scramble.
• Right after, whole D goes MIA. A safety (ahem) again is lost in space.
• Dez all over the place in 4th. Whole DL gets home mid-4th. MIller blows up RB just for show.
• D is hot, getting ready to put this away. Theeeeennn, all these 3rd downs.
• 3rd and 22. Perkins has WR outside leverage, then takes mystery step inside. Trevez jogging over, then doesn't even touch WR. Torrance lights up a blocker for no actual reason, WR also runs by him. It is difficult to execute all that stuff if you were trying.
• Kimber juuust late on a good cover 2 beater. But AGAIN we have two guys covering one short. But the play was just a good call against that D.
• MO runs basically a FLA play with misdirection zone run, good blocking, Shemar overruns gap, TD.
• Cox and Princely all over QB first two plays.
• 3rd and 18. A safety (ahem) covering nothing again. Marshall took the post (correct), needed help on the corner route, which the safety was available for.
• Burney stop on QB on 3rd and 6 with 1:28 was critical. QB humped up but might've gotten the first without this play.
• 4th and 2. Play was "for" Trevez. QB never looks away, running a rub route on soft cushion. But Trevez comes hard early, all over the slant and is there to make the play.

James mentions that lots of things look "different." As in, better. Some things are lingering, like the cover 3 softness. But that also produced JH's picks, plays weren't automatically wide open outside, gaps are better, and more. Some of the horrible mistakes were still there, but most weeks that's most of the film. This one has some of the best D of the year mixed in also.

 

The Marshall Cushion is mysterious. in cover 3/6 when Hill is in basically the same spot, Marshall plays like twice the cushion. At the same time Marshall is basically like a compression shirt in M2M.

James mentioned that perhaps he is being coached to do that for whatever reason, but that seems unlikely. More likely he just isn't comfortable in zone.

The cover 3 softness has been a year-long problem, but we saw signs of change last week and tangible progress this week. I would guess that is indeed at least a little holdover mentality from G dawg, with the mad blitzes to nowhere and deep bailing behind it in all the predictable spots while he was here.