Younger's defense

[Pete]

I definitely don't like the idea of choosing our second best SAM just because they're Canadian.

The issue isn't that we need to move Kramdi back to SAM if he's lost the job. The issue is improving our safety play and if Kramdi isn't a fit there either then you cut or PR him or move him to specials.

Having said that, I'm not convinced the safety play is really that bad. I think it's an incredibly hard position in Younger's defense and no one has really had any success there really. Allen maybe flashed most but even his success was modest. Parker and Kramdi look the same. Alexander under Hall was the last good one we've had.

yeah the problem is that Youngers defense relies on hoping the other team makes a mistake rather than creating them. An aggressive safety would help though

[Sir Blue and Gold]

yeah the problem is that Youngers defense relies on hoping the other team makes a mistake rather than creating them. An aggressive safety would help though

Is it possible for the safety to play aggressively based on what Younger wants him to do? Because it seems like it's not on most plays. I think we'd be surprised how much better our defense would look with an approach that was more aggressive overall. From the defensive line to the linebackers and secondary all. That's not on the players though.

[Tecno]

Is it possible for the safety to play aggressively based on what Younger wants him to do?

No, probably not.  Because our cover 1 and cover 2 mixed zone or match require the FS('s) to be in a certain position.

It's so rare we let our FS be free, like Dequoy often was, and Katsatonis is.

I'm not sure we'll ever have a FS we just tell "we trust you, just go to where the you think the ball is going on passing downs", and one who has track-star level speed.

[Tecno]

You still have to play your best Canadians where they play best. If that's not safety, then it's irrelevant that Griffin is better. That's the nature of the ratio.

I'm being swayed by the Kramdi-at-FS-isn't-working-out crowd.  I gave him more rope.  But he's produced nothing in 3 games.  I can't name more than 1 thing a game he's done.

Griffin is doing better at SAM than Kramdi used to.  Not stupendously better.  But "better enough".  So I don't see how you sit him or change him back to a DI.

So, assuming we can withstand the loss of Kramdi's on-field direction, shift him to PR or LB backup (STer role) as soon as Allen is back, or (preferably!) we have someone else even better.  With 8 starting NATs, we can do this.

The QB of the D will then be Kyrie, who will have to direct everything from MLB.  That means we can't easily sit Kyrie, moving forward.

It's not that Kramdi is bad at SAM, or horrific at FS, it's that he's just not as good as the other options, and we have the ratio room.  And Griffin is already here.  And if we don't demote him, it'll be proof his "QB of the D" role is considered indispensable.

Here's an idea.  Move Kramdi to Kelly's spot.  PR Kelly.  And put a real FS at FS -- when we have one that is.

[Tecno]

2/3 games this year we've needed our defense to get a stop to put us in a very good position to win. Both times they got walked down the field. Sorry, no excuses

Except in nearly every single game with this situation FOR YEARS, the O has had 1 or more series before the opponent drives the field, where we could tack on more points so our D doesn't have to make the stop to win.  The O goes 2 & out (or similar) and just hands the ball back.

It cuts both ways.  If we know our D can't stop most drives, especially in 3 down territory, then we should use a strategy that doesn't require them to.  We should pioneer a 3-down game we can use in this situation when there's 4-5 mins on the clock.  Ignore the 2-downs-to-get-9 strategy (avg 4.5 a snap), and switch to 3-downs-to-get-10 (avg 3.3 a snap).  EDM can do it.  SSK can do it.  Let's do it too.  Certainly we can find a way to get Brady 3.3 on most runs, and perfect some form of SSK's short game, but make it even shorter to get 3.3.  And the beauty is, with lots of time on the clock the D won't just play prevent taking all the deep shots away -- meaning Zach can take one if the opportunity arises.

Yes, it's crazy, but so is the O going 2&out and expecting this D to not allow the opponent to march the field and kill the clock.  BE BOLD.

[Tecno]

Except we threw a bomb instead of grinding it out.

The point is that we've often had leads and the ball with little time left and still lost. It's a combination of often too conservative offence and being forced to punt.

Contradiction.  You can't complain about both.  The bomb in question was on the 2nd last drive -- not the last one.  The last one was uber-conservative (too much so), partly dictated by the prevent D -- but we've seen top teams/QB like Alexander complete mid passes against prevent; why can't we?

And again, do you really think a short curl to Cobb would have helped at all?  Do you really think that crazy EDM pressure wasn't going to get another sack against the porous OL?  Do you really think the OL & Brady could succeed on a delayed RB draw?  Pffft.

The deep 50/50 shot had as much chance to succeed as anything else we do.  Nay, I posit better!  Until we get some "sure thing" short plays like all the good teams have, might as well have your iffy shot net you 25, not 3.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

To answer part of your question one of the ways you break down deep zones is by buying time at the quarterback position. Alexander does it by being a superior athlete for the time being. Collaros used to do it too.

It's really hard to make on-time plays into the teeth of a defense like that when there's almost no time on the clock.

I know O'Shea wouldn't (there's very real player management he needs to navigate there), but with little time on the clock and needing a full TD Elgersma probably gives you better odds in that scenario. Both from an arm strength position and with his feet to extend and break down the defense.

[Blue In BC]

I definitely don't like the idea of choosing our second best SAM just because they're Canadian.

The issue isn't that we need to move Kramdi back to SAM if he's lost the job. The issue is improving our safety play and if Kramdi isn't a fit there either then you cut or PR him or move him to specials.

Having said that, I'm not convinced the safety play is really that bad. I think it's an incredibly hard position in Younger's defense and no one has really had any success there really. Allen maybe flashed most but even his success was modest. Parker and Kramdi look the same. Alexander under Hall was the last good one we've had.

Big salary and big signing bonus IIRC. He won't be released or put on PR. It's still the nature of the ratio whether we like it or not. You think we couldn't replace Cobb or Corcoran with an import if it wasn't for the ratio.

Some would argue Vanterpool is better than Wallace. Eli is not an allstar.

So where does that leave us?

[Tecno]

How about the 25 snap cheat code? Ceresna clearly isn't capable of playing 25 anyhow, so make him the dna.

That plus the fact we are 8 right now means we can start singer and an import fs!

[Blue In BC]

How about the 25 snap cheat code? Ceresna clearly isn't capable of playing 25 anyhow, so make him the dna.

That plus the fact we are 8 right now means we can start singer and an import fs!

You make it sound so simple. To some degree it is. We could easily start Singer this week. He's been here all of TC and shown some talent. OTOH, he might still be the # 4 or # 5 receiver and not see the ball that often.

The FS is a different issue. We have some recent additions and Texada. I'm not sure any of them are a fit at safety. Id choose Texada just on the basis of being here through TC and having good speed.

It's also an either or question or of adding a receiver or another DB. It can't be both.

If we have a FS, then does Kramdi move back to SAM and what happens with Griffin? The argument is that he's the better SAM ( I'm not disagreeing ) but then he becomes a rotational player.

Benching Kramdi with a salary of $180K is not probable.

[dd]

Kramdi at $180k is grotequely overpaid. At that money, you have to be an impact player, which clearly he is not.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I'm being swayed by the Kramdi-at-FS-isn't-working-out crowd.  I gave him more rope.  But he's produced nothing in 3 games.  I can't name more than 1 thing a game he's done.

Griffin is doing better at SAM than Kramdi used to.  Not stupendously better.  But "better enough".  So I don't see how you sit him or change him back to a DI.

So, assuming we can withstand the loss of Kramdi's on-field direction, shift him to PR or LB backup (STer role) as soon as Allen is back, or (preferably!) we have someone else even better.  With 8 starting NATs, we can do this.

The QB of the D will then be Kyrie, who will have to direct everything from MLB.  That means we can't easily sit Kyrie, moving forward.

It's not that Kramdi is bad at SAM, or horrific at FS, it's that he's just not as good as the other options, and we have the ratio room.  And Griffin is already here.  And if we don't demote him, it'll be proof his "QB of the D" role is considered indispensable.

Here's an idea.  Move Kramdi to Kelly's spot.  PR Kelly.  And put a real FS at FS -- when we have one that is.

I don't think Kyrie would work as the QB of the defence, mainly because he gets subbed out almost every series so he's often not even on the field plus he's not a great communicator.  Solutions could be to force Tony Jones into that role over time, train Conner Shay, or find a MLB that already comes with the ability to communicate well.  Maybe Younger saw this issue coming and brought in JSK to help out?

As for Kramdi, make him focus on the Safety role and stop using him to blitz QB's or bring down running backs, Griffin, Ayers, Smith and Woodbey are all faster and physically better suited for that task. If he can't make a positive impact at the Safety spot like Parker couldn't, they might have to look at trading him, potentially for a highly intelligent MLB like Adam Konar who is currently waiting behind Sankey in BC.

[Blue In BC]

Contradiction.  You can't complain about both.  The bomb in question was on the 2nd last drive -- not the last one.  The last one was uber-conservative (too much so), partly dictated by the prevent D -- but we've seen top teams/QB like Alexander complete mid passes against prevent; why can't we?

And again, do you really think a short curl to Cobb would have helped at all?  Do you really think that crazy EDM pressure wasn't going to get another sack against the porous OL?  Do you really think the OL & Brady could succeed on a delayed RB draw?  Pffft.

The deep 50/50 shot had as much chance to succeed as anything else we do.  Nay, I posit better!  Until we get some "sure thing" short plays like all the good teams have, might as well have your iffy shot net you 25, not 3.

Yes you can complain about both. Just because the offence stutters doesn't mean the defence should allow an opponent to march down field.

Yes 2nd last drive but yes the need was to maintain ball control and eat up the clock. We punt and the Elks march downfield and score which is the complaint.

The odds of completing a short pass almost always has a better statistical chance of success. It's what the Elks did to us the entire game. The Elks getting a sack or pressure increases by the time taken to develop a longer pass.

[Blue In BC]

I don't think Kyrie would work as the QB of the defence, mainly because he gets subbed out almost every series so he's often not even on the field plus he's not a great communicator.  Solutions could be to force Tony Jones into that role over time, train Conner Shay, or find a MLB that already comes with the ability to communicate well.  Maybe Younger saw this issue coming and brought in JSK to help out?

As for Kramdi, make him focus on the Safety role and stop using him to blitz QB's or bring down running backs, Griffin, Ayers, Smith and Woodbey are all faster and physically better suited for that task. If he can't make a positive impact at the Safety spot like Parker couldn't, they might have to look at trading him, potentially for a highly intelligent MLB like Adam Konar who is currently waiting behind Sankey in BC.

Woodbey is injured, Ayers has not proven effective on defence. Smith has just started to get reps.

Interesting thought about trading Kramdi. Is he a better SAM than any other team has at the moment? I'm not sure that is true but it's a decent argument/question.

It takes a need from another team that has an asset we want in trade. It also has to take into account the SMS hit.

The only that might be obvious is if we get smoked on defence this week, then something has to change. I'm not opposed to making a trade but that's a tough thing to accomplish finding the right combination of gain versus trade.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Woodbey is injured, Ayers has not proven effective on defence. Smith has just started to get reps.

Longer term none of these excuses matter, all 4 are extremely good athletes that they need to hang onto and develop further.  You have to watch for Ayers as he doesn't play that much behind Griffin but last game he made at least 2 outstanding plays on defence.