https://fortheblogy.com/ftb-film-study-manny-diaz-the-art-of-the-turnover/
Video illustrates the big philosophical difference between Pry and Diaz...Pry's defenses were designed to increase the chances that the offense would screw up by taking away big plays and making drives last 10, 12, 15 plays.
Diaz's defenses are more proactive...designed to CAUSE the offense to screw up. The down side is that aggressiveness leaves Diaz's defenses vulnerable to giving up big plays. So it's definitely a give and take.
Big picture Brent Prys defense looked good but In nitty gritty time when the game was on the line the defense couldn’t get the stops to end the game and the 7 or 8 games we lost late was a killer. Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State are just a few that’s easy to remember. Hopefully Diaz can get the stops bc he’ll have the talent.
I hate the passiveness of hoping they don't beat you. The old Oakland A's coach had a quote about playing small ball vs waiting for the home run. He said something about small ball keeping everyone engaged. Football and football players are just not designed to play passive.
Now I also get the statistics and as long as you can keep the average play under 4 yards the offense will stall so there is a ballance.
The other result of passive defense is more time on the field and being tired in the 4th quarter. Add to that an offense that can't run and you have last year. A worn out defense.
Just my uneducated opinion.
@southern-psu-fan I agree. Couldn’t hold the lead in the Rose Bowl. Couldn’t hold the lead against Ohio St in ‘17 and ‘18. Now, part of those losses also, in my opinion, was the inability of the OL to run the ball and run out the clock when they needed to.
@underlion Agree 1000x. While the bend don’t break defense looks good on the stat sheet, everything you and Southern mentioned is the consequence of the style. Illinois and Sparty ran it down PSU’s throat last year when everyone watching knew exactly what they were going to do, and Pry never adjusted to it. The defense had nothing left. They were spent. That can’t happen. Tom Bradley used a similar approach to Pry and it was overall very successful, but when they really needed a stop or a turnover, it was much harder to get one.
I agree with all above and I think Bradley was more consistent in getting the 3rd and 4 or longer stops. But I have to say that damn soft zone defense always gave me the willies when the opposing team had a good QB and receivers.
Honestly I think it's more of not being able to run the ball (or run the clock at the end of games) than our "bend don't break" philosophy. Paterno's teams were able to hold the ball at the end of games and run down the clock, and the opposing offense had few chances to get back in the game or win it. Lately I've seen out defense stop teams for a while, but towards the end our offense seem to just keep giving the ball back and not running down the clock at all. Eventually if you give another team enough chances they are going to cash in.
You're absolutely right on with this, Roam. It's amazing all the different areas Oline problems disrupt!
The O'line problems and subsequent teams problems are not rocket science. Bottom line is without a solid foundation whether it be a physical structure or an organization, it just isn't going to hold up under (constant) pressure and will fall or be defeated. IMO the O and D' lines are the primary recruiting and development focus unless you have a QB, RBs and Wrs who can flat out out run everybody on the D'side of the ball where as the play develops and is executed in about 2-3 seconds and you can average 5 yards a play first through third down. No scientific methodology or stats to authenticate my opinion but I'm sure something is out there.
Last year playing Michigan we scored on offense and the defense let Michigan move the ball right down our throats and we lost late in the game. We put up 49 and couldn’t stop USC in the Rose bowl and 2017 and 2018 we couldn’t hold a lead on Ohio St and if I remember right the games we lost against Michigan St we had the lead late and the defense couldn’t get the stop in crunch time. We scored plenty of points to win we just couldn’t get the stops when the games were on the line. Y’all might be right for some of the games the last 2 years but big picture the last 6 years it’s been a problem gettin the stops in crunch time under Brent Pry. These games I’m talking about were devastating losses that kill your season. No excuse for losing that Iowa or Illinois game last year.
Last year playing Michigan we scored on offense and the defense let Michigan move the ball right down our throats and we lost late in the game. We put up 49 and couldn’t stop USC in the Rose bowl and 2017 and 2018 we couldn’t hold a lead on Ohio St and if I remember right the games we lost against Michigan St we had the lead late and the defense couldn’t get the stop in crunch time. We scored plenty of points to win we just couldn’t get the stops when the games were on the line. Y’all might be right for some of the games the last 2 years but big picture the last 6 years it’s been a problem gettin the stops in crunch time under Brent Pry. These games I’m talking about were devastating losses that kill your season. No excuse for losing that Iowa or Illinois game last year.
Congrats, other than Michigan last year you named a bunch of games where late in the game we stopped being effective on offense and kept giving the ball back to the other team. Which means you basically proved my point.
USC 2016: Up 49 - 35... USC scores, we go 3 and out, then practically the same thing again, then we throw INT and USC kicks FG
OSU 2017: We were up and 3 plays punt, 4 plays punt, 1 FG, 3 plays punt, ended the game on downs.
MSU 2017: Offense throws INT, then Def gets INT... We give it up on downs and MSU scores
OSU 2018: Up 12 and they scored, 4 plays TO on downs, scored again, 4 plays TO on downs
MSU 2018: 3 plays punt, 3 plays punt, 2 plays end of game
Practically none of what you said is right, multiple times our defense has stopped other teams only to have 3 and out after 3 and out by the offense to keep giving the other team chances.
@roaminglion the other teams defense got the stops and ours didn’t. The games come down to who’s defense got the stops to win the games. Water under the bridge it’s Diaz time now and I believe we’ll get them stops going forward.
And BTW against USC and Michigan State our defense dropped the ball for an INT that ends the game with a win.
@roaminglion the other teams defense got the stops and ours didn’t. The games come down to who’s defense got the stops to win the games. Water under the bridge it’s Diaz time now and I believe we’ll get them stops going forward.
It's not black and white like you always say. They got stops and we didn't! Well, when you keep giving the ball back to the other team on 3 and outs when you are winning and trying to burn clock, they offense SHOULD get some heat.
I swear if we were up 21 points and threw 4 interceptions in a row you'd still blame the defense for not getting stops.
@roaminglion we were up 21 points on Ohio St one game and up by 2 scores on another one. The OL has been a big problem the last 2 years but the problem with Pry giving up the leads late in the games goes back 6 years. We’ve had way to many guys on defense to go on to the NFL to lose games like we’ve been losing late in the game. Michigan game last year which you agreed with that was a killer loss that destroyed our season. 2 games against Ohio St were devastated losses because we had big enough leads to win the games. USC we flat out drop the ball on an INT that ends the game with a win. One game against Michigan State we drop another INT that ends the games with a win at home and we lost another game because of a stupid penalty on defense that set up Michigan St to kick a FG and beat us. It was a pattern to find ways to lose big games under Brent Prys defenses and then the Illinois and Iowa games last year were absolutely unacceptable. I know you want Penn St back in the top 5 competing for NC’s and this crap needs to get cleaned up if we’re going to get there. Penn St sets it’s pride on defense and we need them to pick their game up in crunch time. You’re right in most games the last 2 years with the OL but we know the OL has been a problem the last 2 years so that means the defense knows it better bring it’s A game and get the stops when it’s crunch time late in the game especially when we have the lead but it was the same old pattern under Brent Pry.
Great article! Looks like James Franklin wants to stay committed to the run even if it ain’t working early it says. Hopefully they’ve found something to get this OL going in the right direction. Just call plays that work and the OL will get some confidence and start playing better. The players are stud players according to 247 sports recruiting rankings they just need to be coached.
Guys, I’m not saying Brent Pry was a bad DC, what I’m saying is we would’ve struggled to win big games with him at DC. I forgot about the Indiana game 2 years ago. I believe we needed a change at DC y’all watched what I watched.
We struggled to win big games with EVERYONE. Why you insist on pinning it on one coach I have no idea.
Offense fades away and keeps giving the ball back late in games? Nah... all the defenses fault!
in regards to the sticking with the run and O'line development; one doesn't work without the other. And to be hard headed and force the issue in games when the run game is not even effective in practice goes along with; you don't show up at the course to practice shots during the match; you play with what you know.
Anyways, as expected it will be an interesting season. IMO, the team does well if JF gets out of the way of his assistants or gets rid of assistants that demonstrate the need to be gone. Same goes for players. Hell same goes for JF!
I will say something that sounds stupid. We could not run when we said we were commited to the run but the opposition knew we were not because we could not.
I'm saying our runing game was so bad they stopped it by accident while trying to stop our passing game.
Or were they so afraid of our running game they put 8 men in the box and we just couldn't make big plays????? I don't think so. But a tall rebound receiver would have helped at times.
@underlion Tall receiver or one of our talented tight ends that seem to have been forgotten.
