7-1

[Lillyliverd]

Now the Defense has been so so by the numbers. Im one that said I want VG out. Overall they don't give up many yards but they give up too many points and let up too many Red zone TD's. Also our pass rush isn't great. We should have more sacks.

The defense is substandard in sacks, interceptions, and fumble recoveries. I would like to see them be more disruptive in the backfield and creating more turnovers. The defensive stats would be much better if ND was just average at creating turnovers and getting sacks.

 

[purguy12]

The defense is substandard in sacks, interceptions, and fumble recoveries. I would like to see them be more disruptive in the backfield and creating more turnovers. The defensive stats would be much better if ND was just average at creating turnovers and getting sacks.

This team is missing that 1 big time pass rusher. Pressure on the QB would create turnovers.

 

[idseer]

Interesting stats


People want to complain about Kelly but overall the Offense is doing their job. 1 area improvement that needs to be made is redzone TD's. Overall Im happy with the offense.

i think we complain about kelly because he can't get nearly the most out of some talented players. the offense produces some decent numbers as you say, but they could be much better. he makes some horrific head-scratching calls on the field and always has. that barely over half success scoring td's in the red zone is very telling.

 

[poewelch84]

Interesting stats

Team stats:
Offense avg 494 yards and 34 pts per game: Fair to say Offense is doing well
Defense Avg 360 yards and 22 points. They don't give up a lot but they let up too many points
Offense redzone scores 79%- Overall not a bad number. I would like to be in the 80%
Offense red zone TD's 56%- This is too low. With this offense we should be at 70-75%.
Defense Redzone 76%- I would like for this to be 70%.
Defense Red zone TD's 67%. not bad but again 55-60% would be great.


Player stats:
CJ- 947 yards and 11 TD's. This is awesome. Only problem has slowed down a little.
Kizer- 65% pct, 1669 yards and 11 TD's. overall not bad from a rookie.
Fuller- 37 catches 748 yards 9 TD's. Almost half of Kizer's yards. Crazy good.
J. Smith- 66 tackles, 1 Sack 2 fumble recoveries. Stats don't show how good he is.
Okwara-4 sacks leads the team. This is our weakness this year as a team.
Day- 10 of his 31 tackles are for a loss.

People want to complain about Kelly but overall the Offense is doing their job. 1 area improvement that needs to be made is redzone TD's. Overall Im happy with the offense.

Now the Defense has been so so by the numbers. Im one that said I want VG out. Overall they don't give up many yards but they give up too many points and let up too many Red zone TD's. Also our pass rush isn't great. We should have more sacks.

They should have more sacks but getting pressure on the QB is almost as good as a sack.

 

[KnuteRoc]

They should have more sacks but getting pressure on the QB is almost as good as a sack.

Well that can be debatable. Does the pressure lead to a broken play with a minimal gain or one that moves the chains? I think by and large we've done ok on keeping QBs from using their legs to beat us consistently.

We hardly have any sacks and when we bring LBs we hardly ever get home. Our best success seems to come from having a CB or Safety getting home.

It's tough because I am certainly not one to advocate letting a QB sit in the pocket and rip you to shreds eventually. But by the same token, you can use Zone coverages to force the QB into the high % dump for small gains and allow your personnel to hopefully stop them short. Day disrupts so much on the interior I am really at a loss for why we have so few sacks. Yes yes, true pass rushers. That's not the only way to get pressure though but it does mean that if you don't get home with anything more than four rushers, you're putting your secondary in a bad spot. On that aspect, I think we've managed to do well, I give the players a decent amount of credit there, but we can also point to some big plays given up too.

I'm still not sure if BVG is 'that bad' or if our talent just isn't suited for the tasks he wants them to fulfill. I think Stanford is our next best test in that area, Hogan and McCaffrey will certainly test us.

 

[Irish7478]

This team is missing that 1 big time pass rusher. Pressure on the QB would create turnovers.

This is where I think Ishaq Williams would have been a huge addition to this team.

 

[poewelch84]

Well that can be debatable. Does the pressure lead to a broken play with a minimal gain or one that moves the chains? I think by and large we've done ok on keeping QBs from using their legs to beat us consistently.

We hardly have any sacks and when we bring LBs we hardly ever get home. Our best success seems to come from having a CB or Safety getting home.

It's tough because I am certainly not one to advocate letting a QB sit in the pocket and rip you to shreds eventually. But by the same token, you can use Zone coverages to force the QB into the high % dump for small gains and allow your personnel to hopefully stop them short. Day disrupts so much on the interior I am really at a loss for why we have so few sacks. Yes yes, true pass rushers. That's not the only way to get pressure though but it does mean that if you don't get home with anything more than four rushers, you're putting your secondary in a bad spot. On that aspect, I think we've managed to do well, I give the players a decent amount of credit there, but we can also point to some big plays given up too.

I'm still not sure if BVG is 'that bad' or if our talent just isn't suited for the tasks he wants them to fulfill. I think Stanford is our next best test in that area, Hogan and McCaffrey will certainly test us.

I don't disagree I think they need to do a better job of getting the more natural pass rushers on the field but I'm not sure they have many. At least they picked up a kid and Kahlid Kareem that looks like he'll be the type of pass rusher they've been looking for.

 

[KnuteRoc]

Oh no doubt, this year is a wash for that. That's kind of my point, we're blitzing to get a rush, no real pass rushers to speak of. Day gets in the backfield but not necessarily on pure passing downs/situations.

 

[purguy12]

They should have more sacks but getting pressure on the QB is almost as good as a sack.

I think they have the pass rushers to get the sacks. I would like to see J. Smith attack the QB more but he is so important in the open field. Okawara is the only one with pass rushing skilles. Dline we only have Day. Tillery isn't that pass rusher yet.

 

[purguy12]

This is where I think Ishaq Williams would have been a huge addition to this team.

U might be right. I was hoping one of these Freshmen would help but that hasn't happen. Also we need to remind ourself we are playing with a disadvantage with Joe Schmidt. He doesn't add much to this team besides Leadership/coach on field.

Also J. Smith is having one hell of a year but stats don't show it. We know as ND fans how important he has been to this D. The guy has been all over the field.

 

[KnuteRoc]

It does hurt having Schmidt get lost in the sauce on most plays. This week we're facing Boyd as the primary offensive threat. I'd like to see Smith on him like a blanket. We'll face a similar player in McCaffrey w/Stanford in a month. Pitt seems like a very similar team to Temple. Fairly stout D with a middling offense. I'm curious to see our adjustments. I'd like to see this game be less close than Temple, though the last few meetings say otherwise.

 

[Irish7478]

It does hurt having Schmidt get lost in the sauce on most plays. This week we're facing Boyd as the primary offensive threat. I'd like to see Smith on him like a blanket. We'll face a similar player in McCaffrey w/Stanford in a month. Pitt seems like a very similar team to Temple. Fairly stout D with a middling offense. I'm curious to see our adjustments. I'd like to see this game be less close than Temple, though the last few meetings say otherwise.

What is the deal with Nyles Morgan. I expected him to be a factor this year. So far it hasnt happened.

 

[Irish7478]

I think they have the pass rushers to get the sacks. I would like to see J. Smith attack the QB more but he is so important in the open field. Okawara is the only one with pass rushing skilles. Dline we only have Day. Tillery isn't that pass rusher yet.

I will always regret the fact that we didn't redshirt Okwara his freshman year. He was only 17 as a freshman. I would love to see how good he could be next year, playing against guys his age.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

I think one of the difficulties in the redzone is, we don't have that big receiver who can go up and get a ball. Think Samardzija, Floyd, Stovall. All big receivers who could go up and get one.

Fuller is a good receiver, don't get me wrong, but once we get inside the 20, his biggest asset (speed) is no longer usable.

Samardzija 6'6, Stovall 6'5, Floyd 6'4. Fuller is only 6' and just doesn't have a strong build, like those other guys did.

 

[purguy12]

I think one of the difficulties in the redzone is, we don't have that big receiver who can go up and get a ball. Think Samardzija, Floyd, Stovall. All big receivers who could go up and get one.

Fuller is a good receiver, don't get me wrong, but once we get inside the 20, his biggest asset (speed) is no longer usable.

Samardzija 6'6, Stovall 6'5, Floyd 6'4. Fuller is only 6' and just doesn't have a strong build, like those other guys did.

Robinson was suppose to be that guy but his hands aren't great.

 

[KnuteRoc]

Agree Irish, I have no idea why we've seen zero of Nyles Morgan this year. Obviously we can point to Schmidt being the QB of the Defense but what about UMass or even Texas? I wish I had a better view than the TV gives us for each play so I could see the total defensive alignment and movement after the snap, it'd give me a much better sense of what BVG is doing on the whole.

Chicago, we do have that guy in a sense, his name is Corey Robinson but his nickname is buttahfingahs. I guess Brown didn't like that nickname and gave it up like a hot potato. Jones should also be a factor here. Brady makes Gronk look like gold. Kelly should be setting Kizer up to make Jones look like it too, I mean he's much more appropriately dressed for it.

 

[Irish7478]

I think one of the difficulties in the redzone is, we don't have that big receiver who can go up and get a ball. Think Samardzija, Floyd, Stovall. All big receivers who could go up and get one.

Fuller is a good receiver, don't get me wrong, but once we get inside the 20, his biggest asset (speed) is no longer usable.

Samardzija 6'6, Stovall 6'5, Floyd 6'4. Fuller is only 6' and just doesn't have a strong build, like those other guys did.

Corey Robinson is 6'4" and it seems like we aren't using him this year as much as we did last year.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Corey Robinson is 6'4" and it seems like we aren't using him this year as much as we did last year.

He's just not very good. He's got good size, but he's so damn slow. And I'm not sure if his hands are bad, or he's just not a confident player right now.

 

[KnuteRoc]

Stovall is one my all time favorite ND receivers. Derrick Mayes is another. They caught everything, you never had the feeling when the ball was in the air that they didn't have a shot to come down with it.

Of course Floyd is in that mix too, but he's a total gem. I'm thinking more in terms of great college receivers who didn't necessarily translate to the NFL.

 

[Irish7478]

He's just not very good. He's got good size, but he's so damn slow. And I'm not sure if his hands are bad, or he's just not a confident player right now.

We've always got Equimineous St. Brown. He's also 6'4" and his name alone must mean he can catch.