The “Silver Bullets” is a term coined from Buckeye defenses of the past who were notoriously aggressive and flew around the field creating havoc.
Aside from a few lean years, the defense has been true to form. But with defensive coordinator Greg Schiano in charge, the defense appears to be playing faster and more aggressive than ever before.
One of the known commodities entering the season was the depth and overall talent of the defensive front. Couple that with fast and athletic linebackers and the Buckeyes have the components of an elite defense.
The question mark entering 2017, however, was the play of the secondary. If the secondary was a weak point, the linebackers would not be able to blitz as frequent in order to mask a weakness or aid in coverage.
Currently, the Buckeye defense ranks 16th in total defense and 12th in yards per play, but fell to 63rd nationally in passing yards allowed. A number of factors could contribute to the stat. A career game for now-benched Indiana quarterback Richard Lagow to start the season, or the number of players rotating in for game reps with a commanding lead are some factors that could pose an argument either direction for this secondary.
The defensive scheme of Greg Schiano requires a large amount of trust in his secondary, relying on man coverage principles. This allows for flexibility around the line of scrimmage but also leaves the cornerbacks on an island and susceptible targets and penalties.
It is because of this trust in an otherwise unproven secondary that Schiano has been aggressive in terms of the blitz. The Buckeyes have sacked opposing quarterbacks 18 times thus far, good for 21st nationally. For comparison, the Buckeyes had only 28 sacks in all of 2016 (54th nationally) and 38 sacks in 2015 (9th nationally).
While an increase in blitz frequency has failed to net an equal amount of sacks per se, the pressure has affected the outcome of numerous possessions for opposing teams and the secondary has held firm, for the most part, with the increased demand.
In this week’s Buckeye Breakdown, we dissect the anatomy of a “Mike Twist” blitz and how the linebackers worked together to get a free hit on Huskers quarterback Tanner Lee, all the while trusting a secondary comprising of two first-year starters at cornerback and three safeties, covering for the “suspended” Damon Arnette.
I like Tuf Borland in the middle, and Browning is going to be a good one, but the linebacker play with Worley at middle, Baker , and smh Booker or Harrison at outside is terrible. Losing McMillan our 3 year starter and leader was huge. IMO the linebacker group is our worse collection in years. Not a huge Fickell fan, but he was a decent LB coach. Meyer’s best man is not clearly. Our LB group is the weakness of the team, along with Meyer’s failure to move 4 th year player and true center, Brady Taylor, into the starting spot and moving Price to right guard. NO DEEP THREAT ON OFFENSE AGAIN IS A HUGE PROBLEM. Still have not come close to finding one since the great Devin Smith graduated. Had he not played with Braxton Miller at QB for 3 years, he would have broke every receiving record in OSU history. A home run hitter and TD machine that had no peers getting sasfeties out of the box. Not even my favorite Ted Ginn could match him except in speed of course.
Zero sacks for the game. I’m so very tired of excuses. “We have maybe the most talented defensive line in the nation.” How many years have we heard that now? Yet it’s always the same – against any GOOD team and many of the mediocre-at-BEST teams zero sacks and widely varied numbers from very good to zero again in INTs.
If Nick Bosa ends the PSU game by pushing an OL into Trace McSorley on 4th down (though HOPEFULLY not with a chance to tie or win it), I’ll relent. Until then, this defense in general and the DL in particular are all talk and no action.