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Message: [QUOTE="cuse309, post: 2405952, member: 5119"] Really not into blaming/canning the Tampa 2 for a few reasons. 1- We don't play Tampa 2 exclusively. That's our base. A lot of people just read about blaming the T2 on boards like these, and parrot what they believe the narrative is. They cling to their hopes that, just switching to a new defense, or getting a new coordinator will solve the problem. This hope is likely due to the impatience of the fan. It's easier to admit to yourself that there is a quick fix, like switching a defense to one that "works", or getting a new coordinator. I think in reality, there is no quick fix, because just like installing a new offense with players not recruited for that scheme, it takes time and 2-3 recruiting classes to get the athletes Babers and Ward want, and get them playing in games. 2- Say whatever you want about our defense the last handful of games, but when relatively healthy, this defense took major strides from last year. Last year there was no pressure on QB's at all. This year, we got into the backfield a lot. This team is improving on defense. Why people only want to focus on the last 3 games confuses me. Look at the season as a whole. In a year, when all we should have been seeking is improvement that you can point to, I find it odd, that people are going out of their way to point out what was an improvement over 12 games, and only focus on the 3 games as proof that there was no improvement. 3- We're just starting to bring in athletes that Babers and Ward want for their defense. 99% haven't seen the field yet, and the ones that have, are so young, that it's unrealistic to expect them to know defense this soon. So scrap this defense which these kids have been learning for 2 years now, and specifically recruited for, and install a new defense that they need to all learn from scratch again, and then we'll be having the same conversation 1 year from now about how our defense sucks. Just spinning the wheels. 4- I firmly believe that the defensive regression of the last 3 games was due to mental errors, as opposed to not running a proper scheme. I always look at how close defenders are to receivers when they catch the ball. Last 3 games, there were receivers running wide open and free of a db by 10-20 yards. That's a sure fire sign of a blown assignment, or mental error. Games 1-9 that happened occasionally, but for the most part, when receivers were successful, it was because they made a play, and beat the db. 5- Last year we gave up 38.8 points per game. This year we gave up 32.2 points per game. That's a 6.5 ppg improvement. If we can improve another 6 ppg and give up an avg 0f 26 ppg, that would rank us between 55 and 65 in ppg on defense. When Babers offense works the way it's supposed to, and if/when it does start scoring 35-40+ ppg, having a defense that ranks in the top 60 is defense that will be doing enough to win games. I don't think it's unrealistic, given some time, that this defense can avg. 26 ppg, or even less. [/QUOTE]

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