Making changes

Good piece from Dayne Young about making adjustments to the defensive game plan here.  He’s got three main suggestions:

• Play dime personnel (six defensive backs) on 1st & 2nd down

• Pressure Bryce Young

• Think players as much as plays/scheme

With regard to the first, if you do that, you’d better hope your front six can control Alabama’s running game, especially now that Robinson is healthy.

As far as the second point goes the issue isn’t so much pressure as it is how to bring it.  And where:

Focus almost entirely on the right side of Alabama’s offensive line. The Tide’s left tackle Evan Neal, while not unbeatable, is one of the best players in the game and only allowed one quarterback hit on 50 pass-block snaps in the SECCG. The right side of Alabama’s line is in doubt due to injury, but whoever plays is a significant drop-off compared to Neal. Also, if you come heavy from the Tide’s right side and force Young to roll or scramble to his left, his play suffers to the tune of a 46.6 passing grade and less than 50 percent completion.

The third point is especially interesting.

Looking back at the SEC Championship, Julian Rochester, Warren Brinson, Tramel Walthour, Chaz Chambliss and Zion Logue played a combined 40 snaps. While that group provides valuable depth, their impact in bigger games has been minimal. In the SECCG, they combined for one quarterback pressure and one tackle in those 40 snaps.

Given that ‘Bama spent a good amount of time running tempo to keep Georgia from substituting, I’m surprised that bunch got as many snaps as they did.  Either Lanning needs to scheme more production from them, or they need to see the field less.

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