Why are we having a problem getting a pass rush????

[around4ever 4,139]

Well according to Coach Ellis, as he does his best Strother Martin (Warden in Cool Hand Luke) impression "What we have here is a failure to communicate".

So we were all wrong.

[gman87 398]

Like several mentioned, we lost our 2 best speed ends from last year, Ford and Lawson, both NFL caliber guys. We have no speed off the edge so rely on LB blitzes for pressure. The other factor is the DL is instructed to contain the QB to restrict long scrambles, Thompson is a decently mobile QB. So while we don't get much pressure, we are keeping the QB bottled up and I expect more of the same against Wallace and OM. The few plays Adams did get pressure and didn't get held, their QB sailed the ball or got hit.

The biggest weakness I've noticed is when a RB or TE drifts into the flat on what appears to be a downfield pass. I expect OM to try this to Walton several times next week.

[ALTiger 16]

Why not let the 2 freshmen Kennion (sp?) and Thorton get some reps? Are they hurt?

[BornAU76 398]

Monty could get free if they didn't hold him on every stinkin' play.

[alexava 6,973]

Dee played four or five years.

How many years was a significant contributor?

2. My point was he didn't leave early.

[savorytiger 182]

I'm not sure if this was mentioned earlier here, but how is our (quality) depth on the line? I didn't really pay attention until the final series where we really didn't pull the guys out, but are we able to sub as well as we have in the past?

[alexava 6,973]

At tackle the quality of depth is superb. At end it is not. Even the starters don't get pressure. In years past we always seemed to have the opposite situation, always at least one dominant rush end.

[AUtiger98 24]

Losing Ford and Lawson as rush ends is the problem. Period. If we had a rush end like Lawson you would see a lot more production from the DTs on passing downs. Blitz packages would be more effective too.

I like our DTs as a group. I don't expect the pass rush to come from the DTs. Having a DT who rushes the passer is the exception not the rule.

[juscAUse 1]

Monty could get free if they didn't hold him on every stinkin' play.

AMEN !!!!

[rbrigby 0]

Why not let the 2 freshmen Kennion (sp?) and Thorton get some reps? Are they hurt?

I am assuming neither is physically ready to play SEC football and need a year with Coach Russell. Both are really tall and thin, need to bulk up some or OTs will push them around. We just had lots of good DEs over the past few season (Dee and Corey come to mind) and had the ability to bring pressure from both end spots which helped the DTs push the pocket from inside and keep the RBs in pass protection to double the DEs or at least chip which helped out the secondary and interior lineman because they saw far fewer doubles inside. Without a good edge rusher (we are trying a converted "larger" safety/smaller LB at DE to bring speed) OCs can double Monty and Wright/Blackson and single our DEs and they don't have to keep RBs in to chip or block which leave Frost/Cass/Garrett in coverage in the flats with a lot of distance to makeup. Therezie has been singled with slot WRs most of the year and USC ran a lot of rub routes to impede coverage to the flats by the LBs with the slot WR (good play calls against man coverage). Somebody mentioned not pressing too hard to prevent mobile QBs from running. This may be the plan, has anyone paid attention to KState's QB and seen the rushing numbers he has put up on everyone but us. I KNOW we have good coaches, proven winners, I trust we will improve. Just my opinion.

[Piketiger1990 173]

I understand CEJ trying to mix something up having King as a pass rusher, but he is way undersized at 212. If we have a stand up rusher who jumps around on the line of scrimmage I would rather see Cass. Or maybe we can take the approach Oregon does sometimes and have all of their linemen moving around the line of scrimmage? Seem to help them having undersized linemen.

[icanthearyou 4,462]

I understand CEJ trying to mix something up having King as a pass rusher, but he is way undersized at 212. If we have a stand up rusher who jumps around on the line of scrimmage I would rather see Cass. Or maybe we can take the approach Oregon does sometimes and have all of their linemen moving around the line of scrimmage? Seem to help them having undersized linemen.

I like the King experiment. I would like to see him line up a little more outside of the OT though. Remember last year's Sugar Bowl? CK couldn't block a small, fast DE because he could never get in front of him.

[AUFan21 58]

Monty could get free if they didn't hold him on every stinkin' play.

This right here is the main problem. We are getting mugged on the line and its not being called. I agree we don't have what we are use to as far a pass rushers go, but it doesn't help that this is the worst officiating I have seen in all my years.

[Tiger 8,826]

It SUCKS that we have to use a safety at DE. It just speaks to how bad the pass rush really is. It sounded bad in the summer when Gabe Wright was considered our best DE by CEJ.

[AUcivE09 582]

Get ready for another 42-35 game with TexAM if we dont get a pass rush going! We are on the verge of having a great D, but gotta make the QB feel some heat for it to really come together. Secondary and LB's are playing the best I have seen in years.

[Tiger 8,826]

Get ready for another 42-35 game with TexAM if we dont get a pass rush going! We are on the verge of having a great D, but gotta make the QB feel some heat for it to really come together. Secondary and LB's are playing the best I have seen in years.

Yup, Sumlin is probably salivating at the opportunity Kenny Hill will be getting against AU. Although A&M loves the quick passing game which negates a pass rush anyway.

[AuburnNTexas 7,148]

Guys during the game the announcers mentioned that SC has 3 O-Linemen that will play at the next level that has something to do with the weak pass rush. I agree we don't have an outstanding DE at this time and it is hurting us. One key thing is other teams that can't get a pass rush from D-Line are more creative. CB rushing one time, safety another and it is usually hidden and not shown in advance. My biggest issue with our attempt to get a rush is how we seem to show the blitz in advance it makes blocking scheme a lot easier.

[AU80cruiser 1,102]

Guys during the game the announcers mentioned that SC has 3 O-Linemen that will play at the next level that has something to do with the weak pass rush. I agree we don't have an outstanding DE at this time and it is hurting us. One key thing is other teams that can't get a pass rush from D-Line are more creative. CB rushing one time, safety another and it is usually hidden and not shown in advance. My biggest issue with our attempt to get a rush is how we seem to show the blitz in advance it makes blocking scheme a lot easier.

I read through most of this thread and finally I saw someone comment on USCe offensive line. They were ranked number 1 in the SEC and they play like it. We do have some issues but I don't think we have looked as bad at getting a pass rush all season as we did saurday. We typically blitz someone but that wasnt working either....Credit to USCe's O-line.

[mustache eagle 2,405]

Gonna repeat AnT ...

We may have some DL issues, but the SoCar OL is very solid and possibly their best position group.

[NoALtiger 3,862]

Someone said we only have 6 sacks this year. Now I don't know if that's correct or not, but if so, it means more than South Carolina had a good O-line. What about the other games we've played? We seem to have no pass rush period- doesn't matter who the opponent is.

[AU80cruiser 1,102]

Someone said we only have 6 sacks this year. Now I don't know if that's correct or not, but if so, it means more than South Carolina had a good O-line. What about the other games we've played? We seem to have no pass rush period- doesn't matter who the opponent is.

According to ESPN we have 12 and Ole Miss with their best overall defense in the SEC has 18.

[metafour 4,969]

According to ESPN we have 12 and Ole Miss with their best overall defense in the SEC has 18.

We have 12, but of those 12 only 6.5 are credited to defensive linemen. Frost has 2, Mincy has 1.5, McKinzy has 1, and Therezie and Ford both have 0.5.

6.5 DL sacks in 7 games is poor, especially when you consider that all of the cup-cake games on our schedule save for Samford have already been played.

[AU80cruiser 1,102]

According to ESPN we have 12 and Ole Miss with their best overall defense in the SEC has 18.

We have 12, but of those 12 only 6.5 are credited to defensive linemen. Frost has 2, Mincy has 1.5, McKinzy has 1, and Therezie and Ford both have 0.5.

6.5 DL sacks in 7 games is poor, especially when you consider that all of the cup-cake games on our schedule save for Samford have already been played.

We have also had both weeks off allowing for less games as well compared to some teams. Look, I'm not saying we are a sack machine but the focus this last week off was to try and get a pass rush. It's just unfortunate the attempt for better play was against a talented USCe o-line.

[McLoofus 35,182]

We all agree that the pass rush is not good enough. Our defensive coordinator even said- in a very candid, non-coach speak way- that our pass rush is not good enough.

I think the dividing line is between those who 1) are merely pointing out that our existing talent deficiency looked worse than usual because the opponent was high on skill, experience and coaching and 2) HEY I'M CANUCK OL' ELLIS IS A BIG DUMMY HE'S THE WORST DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR IN FOOTBALL AUBURN SUX LET'S ALL GO JUMP OFF A CLIFF TOGETHER WHEEEEEEEEEE.

The pass rush sucks and it's going to suck until Lawson comes back. The #4 team in the country, whose only loss came to the #1 team in the country in a perfect storm of misfortune, has a weakness. Bummer.

[AuburnNTexas 7,148]

According to ESPN we have 12 and Ole Miss with their best overall defense in the SEC has 18.

We have 12, but of those 12 only 6.5 are credited to defensive linemen. Frost has 2, Mincy has 1.5, McKinzy has 1, and Therezie and Ford both have 0.5.

6.5 DL sacks in 7 games is poor, especially when you consider that all of the cup-cake games on our schedule save for Samford have already been played.

A sack is a sack whether by D-line or somebody else. Ole-Miss has 18 and some of those are by linebackers also. Would I love to have a dominant End that they had to double team of course but coaches have to use what they have. Give SC some credit. Last year in FSU game they got more pressure on NM with CB and safety blitz's because most of the time their dominant FSU D-Line couldn't beat our O-Line.