Only rushing four killed us on Saturday

[TitanTiger 20,708]

I went back and charted UGA's pass plays.  Now, caveat - the stats say Beck threw 33 times and I only have 32 here.  Not sure which one I missed.  I suspect something it being called a pass attempt that I wrote as a run or something.  Regardless, not going back through them.  It ended up being 6 yards whatever it was.  But this should give you an idea of how different we fared on passing downs when we rushed 5 or more vs rushing 4.

Beck's Passing Stats

When Auburn rushed 5 or more: 
7 for 12, 64 yds, 2 hits on QB, 1 tipped pass, 1 INT.  (Almost half that came on a quick hitter on 2nd and 1 to Bowers off play action for 29 yards, and it was the only pass longer than 14 yards)
1 QB run/scramble for minus 1 yard.

When Auburn rushed 4:
15 for 19, 248 yds, zero hits on QB, 2 tips, TD.  Almost half (7) of those went for 17 yards or more.
2 QB run/scrambles for 6 yards

Auburn rushed three and dropped eight once.  The pass was incomplete.

It was especially egregious on the final drive for Georgia.  We only rushed 5 on the first play of the drive - we hit Beck as he threw it quickly and the play gained 3 yards. 

The rest of the way, we rushed four.  Beck was 4 of 5 for 76 yards and a TD.  The only incompletion was batted down at the LOS by Marcus Harris.

 

I know I'm just a schmoe at home watching on his couch and no one has ever paid me to coach football.  But it seems to me like someone on the defensive staff ought to be tracking those numbers and know that the four man rush was crap all day for us.

[Auburn93 637]

17 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

I went back and charted UGA's pass plays.  Now, caveat - the stats say Beck threw 33 times and I only have 32 here.  Not sure which one I missed.  I suspect something it being called a pass attempt that I wrote as a run or something.  Regardless, not going back through them.  It ended up being 6 yards whatever it was.  But this should give you an idea of how different we fared on passing downs when we rushed 5 or more vs rushing 4.

Beck's Passing Stats

When Auburn rushed 5 or more: 
7 for 12, 64 yds, 2 hits on QB, 1 tipped pass, 1 INT.  (Almost half that came on a quick hitter on 2nd and 1 to Bowers off play action for 29 yards, and it was the only pass longer than 14 yards)
1 QB run/scramble for minus 1 yard.

When Auburn rushed 4:
15 for 19, 248 yds, zero hits on QB, 2 tips, TD.  Almost half (7) of those went for 17 yards or more.
2 QB run/scrambles for 6 yards

Auburn rushed three and dropped eight once.  The pass was incomplete.

It was especially egregious on the final drive for Georgia.  We only rushed 5 on the first play of the drive - we hit Beck as he threw it quickly and the play gained 3 yards. 

The rest of the way, we rushed four.  Beck was 4 of 5 for 76 yards and a TD.  The only incompletion was batted down at the LOS by Marcus Harris.

 

I know I'm just a schmoe at home watching on his couch and no one has ever paid me to coach football.  But it seems to me like someone on the defensive staff ought to be tracking those numbers and know that the four man rush was crap all day for us.

And if we rushed more how would it be different? You are just taking guesses that it would be better. 

[AUpreacherman22 3,910]

Especially on 3rd and long!!!!

One of the most aggressive DCs in the business repeatedly rushed 4 with the game on the line.  AND chose a soft zone coverage that allowed Bowers to get wide open over and over again!    
Not sure what he was thinking there.  🤷‍♂️

But the majority of the game the defense was called very well!   And the execution of the plan was very good!   It’s coming together.   Good times will be here soon!

[e808 3,028]

At first I was thinking why not blitz but after taking into account depth and injury's probably wouldn’t have been as effective. I don’t think Auburn has the depth to do that at a high clip. Probably have to do it in increments. Hopefully soon to get dudes up from where u can get to the qb without having to blitz as much. Guys were dropping like flies on the defensive side. Especially in the second half 

Edited October 2, 2023 by e808

[Eagle-1 3,821]

6 minutes ago, AUpreacherman22 said:

Especially on 3rd and long!!!!

One of the most aggressive DCs in the business repeatedly rushed 4 with the game on the line.  AND chose a soft zone coverage that allowed Bowers to get wide open over and over again!    
Not sure what he was thinking there.  🤷‍♂️

But the majority of the game the defense was called very well!   And the execution of the plan was very good!   It’s coming together.   Good times will be here soon!

Exactly, we only rushed four multiple times on third, and long, and it cost us nearly every time. 

We should have chipped Bowers in every third down play as well. 

 

[Carnell 592]

38 minutes ago, Auburn93 said:

And if we rushed more how would it be different? You are just taking guesses that it would be better. 

No one knows for certain if blitzing or any other changes would have saved that game but they were converting 3 an 10s 3rd and 11 and 12 plays.  There needed to be some changes to the scheme.  I can understand if he was hesitant to blitz but at least show some blitzes to the guy then we could have backed out but this was this QBs 5th start there is no excuse for not making this guy have to at least read defenses and coverages.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

46 minutes ago, Auburn93 said:

And if we rushed more how would it be different? You are just taking guesses that it would be better. 

I literally showed by the stats that we did better rushing more. Couldn’t be more stark. 

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Another stat from these numbers: when we rushed five or more, his yards per passing attempt was 5.3 ypa. 

When we only rushed four, his yards per passing attempt jumped to 13 ypa. That is just a massive difference.

[Aucater 152]

1 hour ago, Auburn93 said:

And if we rushed more how would it be different? You are just taking guesses that it would be better. 

too late now but the stats tell a different story, that guy is worth a spy period

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,852]

I simply don’t think Roberts trusted the others to sub in and continue that gameplan in. It’d be interesting to see Powell Gordon (is he on the roster yet?) come in and try to spy Bowers haha.

I saw Lee was in at least one play in the 4th quarter, so I guess they had to give at least some of the new guys some burn. It’d be nice to lose doing what statistically worked for 3 quarters and knowing for a fact that we didn’t have the depth to keep doing it, but what are you gonna do? At least we know Roberts can scheme for a half pretty well! 

[Tigger1985 822]

Same problem with Texas A&M. Set back and let them pick us apart. Roberts said on X that Bowers was bracketed second half. If so he sure was wide open. Not sold on Roberts game plan. It may have had something to do with Simpson’s injury. But anyone should have the ability to blitz if they have been on any defense ever.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,852]

They eviscerated Zion Puckett on Twitter the day of the game. I’m man enough to admit I don’t know ish about secondary technique, but it felt like we ran a lot of zone where someone would bump Brock at the line and his routes just consistently ran through Puckett’s zones. Am I correct in that interpretation and what does that say about Zion?

[e808 3,028]

All I gotta say is when a qb and receiver are in sync there isn’t much u can do. U see it all the time in the pros. We blitzed a few time a Beck still found guys . Maybe Keonte Scott would have made a difference. For exam Kelce for the Chiefs . U know u need to stop him but he still manages to get open. I just keep in mind the receivers know the routes and the secondary guys are trying to react

[Hank2020 3,237]

2 hours ago, e808 said:

All I gotta say is when a qb and receiver are in sync there isn’t much u can do. U see it all the time in the pros. We blitzed a few time a Beck still found guys . Maybe Keonte Scott would have made a difference. For exam Kelce for the Chiefs . U know u need to stop him but he still manages to get open. I just keep in mind the receivers know the routes and the secondary guys are trying to react

It looks so easy on the tv. Makes all of us HOF coaches. Lol

[TitanTiger 20,708]

3 hours ago, e808 said:

All I gotta say is when a qb and receiver are in sync there isn’t much u can do. U see it all the time in the pros. We blitzed a few time a Beck still found guys . Maybe Keonte Scott would have made a difference. For exam Kelce for the Chiefs . U know u need to stop him but he still manages to get open. I just keep in mind the receivers know the routes and the secondary guys are trying to react

I think that’s why you have to disrupt their timing. Don’t give longer routes time to develop and speed up Beck’s decisions. The percentages don’t lie - his success rate hitting big plays vs 5 and 6 man pressure was much, much lower. 

If you’re gonna lose, lose taking your best shot, not sitting back letting it happen. 

[The Freak 2,530]

Beats rushing 3.

[Didba 5,324]

16 hours ago, e808 said:

At first I was thinking why not blitz but after taking into account depth and injury's probably wouldn’t have been as effective. I don’t think Auburn has the depth to do that at a high clip. Probably have to do it in increments. Hopefully soon to get dudes up from where u can get to the qb without having to blitz as much. Guys were dropping like flies on the defensive side. Especially in the second half 

We blitzed a good amount in the first half and parts of the third. At some point in the game we sent a Corner blitz and Beck knew it was coming and threw right where the blitzer vacated for an easy completion and first down. 

Once that happened I’m sure the coaches were wary to blitz. 

[Didba 5,324]

I mean guys, we are playing with a maligned secondary. We have no way of knowing how much that affected the coach’s decisions. IMO, the defense played great with a good game-plan until the fourth quarter. 

not sure when UGA started motioning Bowers for key matchups but that had an impact as well. 

[jj3jordan 2,125]

Rushing 5 with a soft zone is useless. Any good qb (except any of our qbs since Nick Marshall) can find a receiver to dump it off. You have to play tight and be in the receivers jock strap from 1-2 seconds after the snap. You can’t play five yards off like our guys. It needs to be a coordinated effort and it does not seem to be. Also prep is important. We should be ready for Bowers and his routes. I don’t recall seeing him getting chucked or chipped at the line. Free release all day. Our guys had to fight to get off the line. You can’t cover bowers by chasing him from 3 yards away beside him. He can break away any time. You need a second guy to be ready for his cut. In our case he could have cut either way and been uncovered. Most of the time he caught passes I barely saw our guy on my screen. He was that open. It is a tough problem to solve but lack of coordination and playing soft are two critical errors that we keep committing game after game. 

[SaltyTiger 8,240]

16 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

Another stat from these numbers: when we rushed five or more, his yards per passing attempt was 5.3 ypa. 

When we only rushed four, his yards per passing attempt jumped to 13 ypa. That is just a massive difference.

And I thought their big plays were bad luck from me not being in the correct chair, not having my hat on, or holding my beer with the wrong hand.

Good observation and interesting stuff. Always a proponent of putting as much pressure on the QB as you can get by with. 

 

[icanthearyou 4,468]

And,,, those blitzes need to be disguised.  If the corner gives away the corner blitz before the play starts,,, it's pretty easy for the QB to go to the space he vacates.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

2 hours ago, The Freak said:

Beats rushing 3.

Actually, I'm not sure that's true either.  If you aren't going to get any pressure either way, it would better to have an extra person in coverage tightening throwing windows than to devote an extra ineffective pass rusher.

[AUpreacherman22 3,910]

18 hours ago, Eagle-1 said:

We should have chipped Bowers in every third down play as well. 

Yep.  A combination of pressing him, chipping him, or spying him.  Anything other than letting him run free and giving the QB all day to find him would’ve been better.   

[Viper 3,197]

20 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

someone on the defensive staff ought to be tracking those numbers and know that the four man rush was crap all day for us.

It’s been crap all season. I said a couple of weeks ago we must send 5 on all obvious passing downs. Doesn’t matter where from…just send em. 

Prevent = prevent you from winning

[Didba 5,324]

1 hour ago, TitanTiger said:

Actually, I'm not sure that's true either.  If you aren't going to get any pressure either way, it would better to have an extra person in coverage tightening throwing windows than to devote an extra ineffective pass rusher.

100%, if dropping 8 and rushing three wasn’t a valid strategy we wouldn’t see NFL teams doing it every Sunday