The Georgia Tech Ballhawks

by BirdGT on Nov 4, 2011 7:00 AM EDT in Georgia Tech Football

How opposing passers have done against Tech's secondary from 2002-2011...

Tech has picked off 11 passes already in 2011. We only picked off 8 all of last year. For comparison's sake, we picked off a pass every 46 times the ball was let loose in 2010. In 2011 on the other hand, we've picked a pass every 24 attempts. That's a pretty damn good drop for our defense especially considering teams are throwing around 30 times per game against Tech. We're averaging better than a pick per game in 2011. The last times our secondary picked a pass every 24 attempts in the last 10 years were 2006 and 2008 when we had ridiculous defensive lines and ballhawks in the secondary.

Concerning yardage, opponents are averaging 5.42 yards per pass play against Tech in 2011. This is a whole yard less than 2010. It's not quite the Jon Tenuta standard of 5.08 yards per pass play but we're also nowhere near the sack generating team of the Gay-nuta defense yet.

Where do you think this massive improvement in secondary production has come from? Personnel experience in the Groh-fense? Better coaching all around? Luck?

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The quality of athletes in the secondary

and the fact that the defense as a whole is starting to catch on to the Groh philosophy.

by Atlanta's original team on Nov 4, 2011 8:08 AM EDT reply actions

For the first time in many years it does not scare the bee-jeezus out of me when these guys go man to man coverage. That allows the defense to do a lot of special things. I feel really good about the direction the defense is going.

by Atlanta's original team on Nov 4, 2011 8:10 AM EDT up reply actions

You had it right

the first time. It’s the personnel. The secondary is far better than previous years’ and the pass rush is more effective (thanks primarily to Attaochu). Man-to-man isn’t a scheme thing, it’s about human confrontation and the better man wins.

by acedarney on Nov 4, 2011 10:56 AM EDT up reply actions

I am not disagreeing

I am just saying that when the personnel is good enough to allow you to go man to man coverage it allows the rest of your defense to scheme in different ways. For instance, if it is third and short or fourth and short, not having to play zone or double cover a receiver allows your defense to crowd more people near the line. You don’t have to worry about pass routes that take a long time to develop because you figure up to seven guys will be crashing the line and the quarterback will not have enough time to let a deep route develop. Likewise, your good man to man coverage guys can afford to play with their backs to the line of scrimmage, if need be, because they can count on all the extra guys near the line to stop the running play.

Maybe I am not making sense but if you are having to cover up weaknesses in the secondary it limits what the rest of the defense can afford to do and it creates more holes for the short passing game and other short yardage plays.

by Atlanta's original team on Nov 4, 2011 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

You're right

Good players allow the coordinators to do sexy stuff with their schemes.

by acedarney on Nov 4, 2011 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions

I love

what Groh is doing with the defense. I think the 3-4 can be difficult to prepare for and unless they’re an absolute stud at QB, we should continue this trend. We finally seem to be putting pressure on the qb. How many sacks do we have this year? Even if we’re not sacking him, we’re definitely hurrying them, which leads to more mistakes. I really like our chances against VT because I think their redshirt soph. isn’t as good as Tahj Boyd, so we should be able to force him to make errors. I do worry slightly about their running back because he is pretty good at what he does.

by 071u on Nov 4, 2011 9:14 AM EDT reply actions

And if our defense is developing as we think and hope it is . . .

we should be able to slightly over play the run and not worry about getting burned time and again by the pass.

by Atlanta's original team on Nov 4, 2011 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions

I do worry slightly when we settling into stopping the run

(what we seemed to do against Miami)…and we gave up a lot of underneath throws / crossing routes just behind the line backers. Of course…our offense wasn’t clicking in either loss. I always love our chances of winning when we score over 30 points.

by 071u on Nov 4, 2011 11:32 AM EDT up reply actions

english fail...you know what i meant

by 071u on Nov 4, 2011 11:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes, if was the failure of the offense that mainly doomed us against Miami

If we can get a lead on VT, or keep it close long enough for our offense to get going, I don’t think we will have to worry about the defense giving up the game. Controlling how many possessions the other teams gets has been the winning formula since CPJ came to Tech.

by Atlanta's original team on Nov 4, 2011 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions

The defense is always getting burned

on those underneath crossing patterns, in the middle of the mikes. Any idea why that is? I know nothing about defensive scheming

Paul Johnson: not giving a crap about what you have to say since 1987.

by GTNate on Nov 6, 2011 5:52 PM EST reply actions

Easy.

Tech has a hard time covering underneath crossing patterns. Duh.

/MMQB’d

by first and thom on Nov 7, 2011 3:13 PM EST up reply actions

My take on this is that it usually has to do with where the "eyes" are

For instance, Tech’s offense counts on split-second timing. You try to get the eyes of the linebacker looking the wrong way for just a second and then all that is required is an “influence block” because he is already a step late getting to the play.

I think Tech’s defense is so focused on reading other things on a play that they are a step late on seeing the crossing pattern develop. I don’t know for sure (I make stuff up when I am not sure) but I think as the defense develops in the future the linebackers will not be as concerned about run support because the defensive line will be better. That should allow them on pass plays to not worry as much about keeping the quarterback contained or worrying about who is coming out of the backfield. Anyway, I think their “eyes” are currently more focused on the line of scrimmage than they are on the receivers because they are still worried about containment.

That’s just my opinion.

by Atlanta's original team on Nov 7, 2011 10:23 PM EST up reply actions