Blitz

[Anegada1]

Once again I was disappointed to see little in the way of a pass rush. Yes, I understand that blitzing opens up risk in other areas. That said, when the quarterback gets to set comfortably in the pocket your pass defenders have little chance. It seemed like time and again we get shredded in those underneath routes. At some point don't you have to dial up pressure by sending more bodies ?

 

[leodisflowers]

Once again I was disappointed to see little in the way of a pass rush. Yes, I understand that blitzing opens up risk in other areas. That said, when the quarterback gets to set comfortably in the pocket your pass defenders have little chance. It seemed like time and again we get shredded in those underneath routes. At some point don't you have to dial up pressure by sending more bodies ?

The defense did not lose us the game.

 

[TheBeav815]

It's not even that we don't blitz, it's that we somehow have like a 5 year streak of being the SLOWEST blitzers in football.

We'll send a guy from 4 yards off the ball and then he'll come loping toward the pocket and run straight into a blocker and just kinda stay there. We treat every QB like he's Mike Vick, it defies explanation. We just mush rush most of the time.

 

[Anegada1]

The defense did not lose us the game.

I agree, but that in no way alters the fact that we get zero QB pressure

 

[leodisflowers]

I agree, but that in no way alters the fact that we get zero QB pressure

I don't disagree that we don't need to work on our pressure packages, but honestly we haven't needed it and have got some without blitzing. Outside of OSU & Illinois, our D has done more than enough to win games, we just suck so much worse on O.

 

[chicolby]

Problem is that when Nebraska blitzes, it's about a one in five chance of actually getting to the QB, so you have an 80% likelihood of wide receivers wide open. I am not sophisticated enough to know if that's a bad blitz scheme or the guys without enough speed, but Nebraska's blitzes hardly pay off. Hell, I think sometimes we do "blitz" and fans don't even know it because we still don't even threaten the QB.

 

[oldjar07]

It's not even that we don't blitz, it's that we somehow have like a 5 year streak of being the SLOWEST blitzers in football.

We'll send a guy from 4 yards off the ball and then he'll come loping toward the pocket and run straight into a blocker and just kinda stay there. We treat every QB like he's Mike Vick, it defies explanation. We just mush rush most of the time.

Yep, no penetration or even attempting to knock the OL off balance. We usually just run straight into the OL and play pattycake with them. Stille is about the only guy using leverage and hands properly to knock the OL off balance. Once you do that, you've got a direct line to the qb. You do that enough it not only helps you individually, but it puts pressure on the entire O-line when you can get penetration from the interior.

 

[Anegada1]

Problem is that when Nebraska blitzes, it's about a one in five chance of actually getting to the QB, so you have an 80% likelihood of wide receivers wide open. I am not sophisticated enough to know if that's a bad blitz scheme or the guys without enough speed, but Nebraska's blitzes hardly pay off. Hell, I think sometimes we do "blitz" and fans don't even know it because we still don't even threaten the QB.

I agree with much of what you say here, but it's not just about getting to the quarterback ( Obviously the best case ). It's also about making the quarterback throw sooner than he wants to, which makes coverage easier and increases the chances of an errant pass.

 

[Trojanhorse13]

Coverage also helps you get sacks and pressure on the QB. Make the QB hold the ball a little longer than they want. Blitzing is fine, but it's easy to get burned for some huge plays if the offense catches you in that blitz with a good play call.

 

[Anegada1]

Coverage also helps you get sacks and pressure on the QB. Make the QB hold the ball a little longer than they want. Blitzing is fine, but it's easy to get burned for some huge plays if the offense catches you in that blitz with a good play call.

That's fair

 

[TruHusker]

Early in the year we were blitzing quite a bit. We were bringing a lot of guys off the edge and they provided back side pursuit. Watch JoJo on several plays where it is stretched out away from the blitz but he flatens out and comes down the line and makes the play. We were also bringing Payne a lot at first and apparently gave up on that as we don't seem as much. Now we pretty much use Nelson on the right said one on one with a tackle. We also bring our safeties up and use them as well at times.

We do have an issue with our blitzers getting caught up in traffic. We don't seem to create blitzing lanes well or disguise what is coming. Appears that teams pick up our front three or four and leave guys available for the blitzer. Also, we keep our front 3/4 in their lanes which is good but it also does not create a lane for the blitzer.

We have questions that I am sure Chins has answers for. In obvious pass situations, why are we constantly in bad matchups with a WR on our LB's? Perhaps go to more of a 4-2-5 and get more speed on the field. As in the old 4-3 the tackles were big and to the push and the DE's could either rush or were quick enough to cover RB's coming out.