Who will stand out in Great Falls?

[[cat_bracket]]

I think we'll hear posters and media talking about Grant Collins, Mac Bignell, LaSane, Dodd and Sandland after the scrimmage. Fans and media are going to be surprised just how good those guys are. Always fun to hear the reactions after this event.

[LTown Cat]

I think we'll hear posters and media talking about Grant Collins, Mac Bignell, LaSane, Dodd and Sandland after the scrimmage. Fans and media are going to be surprised just how good those guys are. Always fun to hear the reactions after this event.

LaSane, Dodd and Sandland.

I think you hit it with these 3.

[luckyirishguy25]

I see our secondary was a little beat up yesterday, anyone know who in the secondary will be participating tomorrow?

[Colter_Nuanez]

I see our secondary was a little beat up yesterday, anyone know who in the secondary will be participating tomorrow?

Senior cornerback Bryson Keeton will not go because of a hamstring injury. Senior cornerback Trace Timmer will play as will sophomores Bryce Alley and Jaylen Price.

At safety, Des Carter, DeMonte King, Bryson McCabe and West Wilson will all go.

[HelenaCat95]

Maybe we could suit up Kane and Mike Rider to give us a little depth in the secondary.

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[wbtfg]

Urlacher

[Darth Yoda]

Ioane

[PapaG]

I think Brekke is poised for big things as the home run threat out of the backfield the next two years.

[VimSince03]

Not to address the elephant in the room but I'm just praying for no injuries! I know the talent on the team. Lets just put it this way, if we don't find anymore corner depth in the off-season, Sidney Holmes and Trevon Strong better be ready to strap on the pads next year! But I guess if I was rooting for a unit it would be the linebackers and defensive line. They need to show something like they have in practice. So Grant Collins, Mac Bignell, Blake Braun, and everyone on the d-line.

[PapaG]

Not to address the elephant in the room but I'm just praying for no injuries! I know the talent on the team. Lets just put it this way, if we don't find anymore corner depth in the off-season, Sidney Holmes and Trevon Strong better be ready to strap on the pads next year! But I guess if I was rooting for a unit it would be the linebackers and defensive line. They need to show something like they have in practice. So Grant Collins, Mac Bignell, Blake Braun, and everyone on the d-line.

I'd be surprised if a JC corner isn't being strongly considered at this point, although the real key to a great pass defense is the pass rush, which I'm far more concerned about. Last year the Bobcats just couldn't get consistent pressure on the QB, and even NFL CBs struggle when the QB gets to his 3rd or 4th progression on the play.

[allcat]

Not to address the elephant in the room but I'm just praying for no injuries! I know the talent on the team. Lets just put it this way, if we don't find anymore corner depth in the off-season, Sidney Holmes and Trevon Strong better be ready to strap on the pads next year! But I guess if I was rooting for a unit it would be the linebackers and defensive line. They need to show something like they have in practice. So Grant Collins, Mac Bignell, Blake Braun, and everyone on the d-line.

I'd be surprised if a JC corner isn't being strongly considered at this point, although the real key to a great pass defense is the pass rush, which I'm far more concerned about. Last year the Bobcats just couldn't get consistent pressure on the QB, and even NFL CBs struggle when the QB gets to his 3rd or 4th progression on the play.

I just don't see the rush as it used to be. More of a pressure to play the 3 step and contain.

[PapaG]

I just don't see the rush as it used to be. More of a pressure to play the 3 step and contain.

In your opinion, is that because of the talent a rushing DE, or is it because of a change in philosophy with Ioane basically taking over as DC? I guess I don't see an Ioane being anything but coaching aggressive defense. His dad did it at Skyview for basketball, and Kane was a hard hitter at MSU who no opposing RB wanted to see in the hole.

[codecat]

Not to address the elephant in the room but I'm just praying for no injuries! I know the talent on the team. Lets just put it this way, if we don't find anymore corner depth in the off-season, Sidney Holmes and Trevon Strong better be ready to strap on the pads next year! But I guess if I was rooting for a unit it would be the linebackers and defensive line. They need to show something like they have in practice. So Grant Collins, Mac Bignell, Blake Braun, and everyone on the d-line.

I'd be surprised if a JC corner isn't being strongly considered at this point, although the real key to a great pass defense is the pass rush, which I'm far more concerned about. Last year the Bobcats just couldn't get consistent pressure on the QB, and even NFL CBs struggle when the QB gets to his 3rd or 4th progression on the play.

I just don't see the rush as it used to be. More of a pressure to play the 3 step and contain.

Its hard to tell what that is going to look like but it seems that is what coach Beck was saying about changing the defensive line play so the DE's could play in space a little more like covering bubble screens, than the "old days" of pressuring the QB's.

As far as corners go, it does seem like a concern, but on a positive note, we have had a couple recruits that started pretty early in their true freshman years...Darius Jones in 2009 (I believe), and Deionte Flowers in 2011, so maybe one of these freshman recruits will step up. It does sound like the coaches will be trying to find an experienced corner that can step in a play, or privide good depth this year though.

[TomCat88]

Beck didn't go into a lot of detail in his interview with Colter, but this, IMO, is basically what he was saying:

You have to be able to cover* receivers, tight ends and running backs when playing the hurry-up teams that are so prevalent in this day and age. Sacks will come with coverage, which isn't saying you can just line up any four guys and get sacks. They absolutely need to be able to get pressure if the coverage is there.

*Covering receivers means being in position to discourage the QB from throwing the ball and going to his second and third and fourth receivers, being in position to break up passes that are thrown, and, perhaps most importantly, being in position to tackle as soon as the ball is caught. The latter is important because a lot of completions come near the line of scrimmage due to these offenses stressing that you get the pass off quickly, so if you're covering your man you can make an instantaneous tackle and have a similar effect to stuffing a running play and getting teams into 3rd and long.

There aren't very many teams out there that a defense is going to be able to mess up their offense with a pass rush that's setting up broken up passes, throw aways and INTs. Most teams are taking the pass rush out of the equation with quick drops and getting passes off quickly.

Good luck designing a defense that relies on a pass rush to set up its LBs and DBs to stop the pass game. A lot of teams are hoping defenses will try to do just that, because it plays right into their hands as overplaying the rush opens up the underneath routes that they're practicing all week.

[allcat]

Beck didn't go into a lot of detail in his interview with Colter, but this, IMO, is basically what he was saying:

You have to be able to cover* receivers, tight ends and running backs when playing the hurry-up teams that are so prevalent in this day and age. Sacks will come with coverage, which isn't saying you can just line up any four guys and get sacks. They absolutely need to be able to get pressure if the coverage is there.

*Covering receivers means being in position to discourage the QB from throwing the ball and going to his second and third and fourth receivers, being in position to break up passes that are thrown, and, perhaps most importantly, being in position to tackle as soon as the ball is caught. The latter is important because a lot of completions come near the line of scrimmage due to these offenses stressing that you get the pass off quickly, so if you're covering your man you can make an instantaneous tackle and have a similar effect to stuffing a running play and getting teams into 3rd and long.

There aren't very many teams out there that a defense is going to be able to mess up their offense with a pass rush that's setting up broken up passes, throw aways and INTs. Most teams are taking the pass rush out of the equation with quick drops and getting passes off quickly.

Good luck designing a defense that relies on a pass rush to set up its LBs and DBs to stop the pass game. A lot of teams are hoping defenses will try to do just that, because it plays right into their hands as overplaying the rush opens up the underneath routes that they're practicing all week.

That's why you made a living as a writer. You explained that much better than I could have.

[77matcat]

[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

Assume there will be occasional pressure but it will be situational.


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[91catAlum]

Good luck designing a defense that relies on a pass rush to set up its LBs and DBs to stop the pass game. A lot of teams are hoping defenses will try to do just that, because it plays right into their hands as overplaying the rush opens up the underneath routes that they're practicing all week.

But Isn't that exactly what we did in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and we had a top 3 defense in the league? It's like he was trying to tell us that everything suddenly changed overnight in 2014. I'm not sure that's the case.

[allcat]

Good luck designing a defense that relies on a pass rush to set up its LBs and DBs to stop the pass game. A lot of teams are hoping defenses will try to do just that, because it plays right into their hands as overplaying the rush opens up the underneath routes that they're practicing all week.

But Isn't that exactly what we did in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and we had a top 3 defense in the league? It's like he was trying to tell us that everything suddenly changed overnight in 2014. I'm not sure that's the case.

I know I saw an awful lot of quick release last year, but with the safeties and corners playing soft, it let them complete those passes.

[SACCAT]

Good luck designing a defense that relies on a pass rush to set up its LBs and DBs to stop the pass game. A lot of teams are hoping defenses will try to do just that, because it plays right into their hands as overplaying the rush opens up the underneath routes that they're practicing all week.

But Isn't that exactly what we did in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and we had a top 3 defense in the league? It's like he was trying to tell us that everything suddenly changed overnight in 2014. I'm not sure that's the case.

I know I saw an awful lot of quick release last year, but with the safeties and corners playing soft, it let them complete those passes.

THIS!! Teams would "Set us up" with the short pass while our guys were 5-10 years deep at the line, then run the deep routs and play RB draw up the middle. Because our LB's were trying to cover receivers, the middle was wide open. the problem wasn't with the defense as a whole, but with the lack of any real adjustments to what the other team was doing.

PS. you should NEVER give up 20-30 yard passes on 3rd or 4th and 20-30.

[BLACKnBLUEnGOLD]

Good luck designing a defense that relies on a pass rush to set up its LBs and DBs to stop the pass game. A lot of teams are hoping defenses will try to do just that, because it plays right into their hands as overplaying the rush opens up the underneath routes that they're practicing all week.

But Isn't that exactly what we did in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and we had a top 3 defense in the league? It's like he was trying to tell us that everything suddenly changed overnight in 2014. I'm not sure that's the case.

I know I saw an awful lot of quick release last year, but with the safeties and corners playing soft, it let them complete those passes.

THIS!! Teams would "Set us up" with the short pass while our guys were 5-10 years deep at the line, then run the deep routs and play RB draw up the middle. Because our LB's were trying to cover receivers, the middle was wide open. the problem wasn't with the defense as a whole, but with the lack of any real adjustments to what the other team was doing.

PS. you should NEVER give up 20-30 yard passes on 3rd or 4th and 20-30.

Playing 5- and 7-yard routes from ten yards deep is a lot harder than playing them when you start off in the receiver's face. You start off in a backpedal and then change directions. If you don't react to the route before the ball comes out, you're essentially conceding a free first down.

Counterintuitively, that can make it a lot harder to play deep routes, because seeing a lot of those short routes leads you not to backpedal as aggressively unless you have some idea before the play that they're going deep this time. Basically, it makes the cornerback position less physical and more mental. This can make it harder to improve the position because there's more learning involved. In more aggressive schemes, it simplifies things for freshman or transfers to come in and make an impact because if his responsibility on a play boils down to "guard this guy right next to you," he's been doing that since the third grade. It's not as easy as it was back then, but it's more intuitive or familiar. With all the new guys at safety and the young guys at corner, I think Kane has the right idea.

With 20+ yards to go, it's okay to call soft coverage, but still not too soft. The DBs don't need to be as aggressive coming up to stop short routes because they have more room to work with. There's no need to guess and get beat deep in that situation. Guard the marker and let the defensive line get after the QB.