Breaking down "the details" of the UCLA defense

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Like everyone else I was surprised by this quote by Coach Rick Neuheisel.

"I understand their dissatisfaction, especially given the 3-0 start and that things were turning [around], and so on and so forth," Neuheisel said. "All I can tell them is that we're going to keep working at it. "It's too long and too hard a story to give all the details, and frankly I don't think they'd understand all the details. We have to keep working at it, no excuses."

I am kind of curious as to what he means by "understanding all the details" so I took a look at the tape from last Saturday's game against Cal. Keep in mind that I'm not an expert and that I do not know what's really going on in the meetings, pressbox, or the sideline - just taking a look and speculating on what's going on based on what I see from our defense.

Basics

Defense is more than just running to the ball, you need to have structure. Lou Tepper wrote the bible on linebacking awhile back that had a nice metaphor of a defense "closing the door".

Here is a diagram of how it looks - you have an outside door post (labeled "Force"), an inside door post (labeled "Spill"), and a "Fill" player that closes the swinging door. Anything up the middle gets tackled or "spilled" laterally, anything outside gets "forced" back inside. On the backside you have "Contain" guys responsible for cutbacks and reverses. Some coaches use different terms but this is how I learned it. UCLA's defense has often lined up like this, usually with Akeem Ayers as the 5th man on the line, Reggie Carter as the "M", and Kyle Bosworth as the "W". Notice that with "W" flowing over top of the center it opens up a bubble on the backside - the safety usually drops down on run away from his side to contain in an under front.

Being Aggressive

The way I learned defense, linebackers need to figure out which way the run is going, and aggressively "press" the line and fill a gap in order to make the tackle or "spill" the run laterally towards the force player, who will force him to cut back or dance, giving the fill player time to clean up. If the run goes right it should look like above, if it goes left, maybe the defensive end becomes force, the safety becomes fill, and the two LBs press gaps to the other side. Here are some clips of solid reads by the linebackers (in my opinion), with that backside safety dropping down as the 8th man in the box.

The first two are from a great defensive afternoon during which we won 13-9. On the first play, the two LBs (freshman Reggie Carter and Christian Taylor) press and Dennis Keyes drops down to play the backside, on the second one it is Horton. I'd like to point out Carter in the last two, as he is aggressive and presses the hole.

By comparison here is a reel of plays were our linebackers are not nearly as aggressive. The first one is from the 2005 Cal game (you will need to rewind a few times to catch this, but watch #41 and #9). Havner #41 and London #9 are the LBs. I think that LBs should shuffle in tandem, to maintain original spacing - you see 9 and 41 shuffle to their left, but then 41 stops, chops his feet, appears to be waiting. I think that if he had continued left he would have made the tackle, but instead he is blocked - one Cal lineman blocks two of our guys - and the result is a big hole and a big run. I am not a fan of defenders being hesitant and waiting to "catch" ballcarriers, I think that there should be fast flow to their responsibility, fill the gap and trust in the other 10 guys to do their job as well.

In the 2nd clip you see 51 chopping his feet as well, waiting for Verheen to break through the line - he makes the tackle but it is about 4 yards downfield. He had help to his right, so I am not sure why he hesitated. Again, I don't know the scheme, but my guess is that it has something to do with that. there was a blitz on and maybe he was responsible for two gaps. In the 2nd and 3rd clip, you see the same thing, a lot of lateral movement by the LB but nothing upfield. In the last, he kind of shuffles around a little like he is just trying to mirror the back rather than attacking any specific gap.

I am not sure why this is going on. One possibility is that players are simply just trying to do too much. You can't tell a player he has to be aggressive but also hold down backside contain. Maybe the scheme is too complicated...I'm a believer in simplicity, being able to rep a handful of plays or defenses and being able to execute them. Players need to be confident in order to be aggressive, they need to be sure of where they need to step and how to react against different looks. A great defense is one where you see all defenders react in unison because they were all keying the same thing, took the same steps, and did what they were supposed to do. In the second video it seems like our backers are just taking short, choppy steps but not really gaining any ground in any direction - they are not really moving at all, just bouncing around until they get blocked - I don't think that this is something that is supposed to be happening.

Staying at Home

This has been documented already by the 93-yarder by Jahvid Best, so I'll just roll the tape.

In the first clip, I see the DE and the LB take the same angle inside, and both aren't able to react in time when the pitch goes outside. Not sure who has contain, but neither of them get there, and the corner is unable to get off his block. I'm thinking that the LB should have been on top of that but it is hard to say. On the 2nd clip it is just a handoff on a zone read look, and the DE looks to play it well - can't ask him to defend the QB and the RB, and he takes the QB, respecting that threat. The LB, however, looks like he was caught inside as well and tries to spin out of it and doesn't make the play. I don't think that he had to slide inside like that, as if the back had chosen to cut inside there would have been another LB there to make the tackle. 

Coverage

I was mainly looking at the run defense but this play caught my eye - its the long TD pass to Jahvid Best. I just remembered looking at the photo of Best running down the sideline with only Bosworth chasing him and was wondering how and why a player wearing #54 ended up trying to cover Best down the sideline.

Here is the play in question. Cal lines with 2 backs, 1 TE, 2 WRs, and runs playaction to the FB with Best sneaking down the sideline. On this play we do have both LBs press aggressively, although the line shows pass and the guard pulls to the right. The safety also reads run and flies down. From what I could tell, it looked like quarters coverage, which is a hybrid coverage - man with some zone principles.

Quarters is strong against the run as the safeties are looking to fly up in run support. The corners are locked up on #1, the outermost WR to each side. The safeties are reading #2 - in this case, the TE to the right and the first back out of the backfield to the left. If #2 goes vertical then the safeties have them man up, otherwise they are looking to double cover #1. If #2 gives them a run read (ie, TE blocking, back playaction) then the safeties will fly up. The OLBs are looking to carry #2 or #3 into the flat.

Back to the play, you see #54 play the run, back off, turn around, and chase Best down the sideline. I'm not so sure that our coaches would ask Bosworth to carry #2, Best, through the flat and vertically downfield - it's a lot to ask. The safety to that side never seems to even look at #2, he just turns around to chase #1 once he realizes that it is a PA pass. Seems to me that Best should have been his man, but again, I don't even know for a fact that it was quarters coverage and what the individual responsibilities were.

Final Thoughts

• Tackling, playing smart and disciplined football, avoiding penalties, and staying at home are the obvious problems that need fixing, you don't need to break anything down to see what.
• I noticed the lack of aggression by the LBs, the tendency to shuffle around and "catch" ballcarriers, which reminded me of our 2005 defense and really confused me.
• You need to know your assignments to be confident and you need to be confident in order to be aggressive.
• I think that Reggie Carter seems to have been absent from our defense the past few games, as he does not seem to be in on many tackles anymore.
• I think that he is being asked to read something, or play more patiently for some reason.
• I didn't mention Sheldon Price but when it looks like he is asked to be that "outer door post" in run support he seems to have trouble maintaining the "doorway".
• Brian Price is a beast, there was one play in there where he basically had 3 guys trying to block him and still managed to influence the play.
• Playing an offense that lines up spread out like Arizona might actually help us. Maybe if there isn't as much traffic in the box our guys will be able to make the correct reads and react accordingly.
• I don't think stopping the run is as simple as "playing 8-man fronts" and "loading the box" - that's basically what we are already doing with our front, and you saw what happened when we were in quarters, a virtual 9-man front.