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How Much Did Injuries On Defense Hurt CU ?

InTheBuff

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Hate excuses but I think injuries on the defense cost CU yesterday's game (along with Sefo's INT)
How many times were safeties out of position or were there blown coverages ?
Once Gilliam went out Utah's ability to run for 1st downs went way up.
 
a lot. a couple games went south after Tedric got hurt. That's not even counting Bell. Terror was taken advantage of all day long by Utah. Moeller was a nice surprise though.
 
Do you think we have the right players for next year? We get a number of players back from injury.

I'd like to see a new defensive coordinator. Maybe I'm just wishing we had a different set of players. Lindgren did something with our offense. We need a coach to coach up our D.

You're right, safeties and mlbs, our lack thereof, killed us. Not just yesterday, either.
 
a lot. a couple games went south after Tedric got hurt. That's not even counting Bell. Terror was taken advantage of all day long by Utah. Moeller was a nice surprise though.
Some of that was scheme. We were originally covering the outside, not the middle, and they burned us for at least 3 passes right down the middle where the corner had no help. We then switched to more coverage in the middle and played a high/low zone on the outside and kept getting roasted on the outside doing that without ever making an adjustment. Was very painful to watch.

On the plus side, I agree, Moeller looked decent.
 
The injuries hurt, no doubt it. But our DEs and LBs are brutal to watch. Losing Gillam should not completely throw the entire front seven into disarray.
 
The injuries hurt, no doubt it. But our DEs and LBs are brutal to watch. Losing Gillam should not completely throw the entire front seven into disarray.

Totally agree. I thought the worst part about yesterday was the pass rush. No push and when they got chances they missed tackles.
 
It hurt a lot, not much to doubt there. Last time I checked though, every team has injuries too especially this time of year. We need more talent and depth, injuries are gonna happen.
 
With our depth, a lot. Hoping some kids benefited from their RS, and our class has a couple of immediate impact players.

I suppose our depth on D next year could still be problematic.
 
Some of that was scheme. We were originally covering the outside, not the middle, and they burned us for at least 3 passes right down the middle where the corner had no help. We then switched to more coverage in the middle and played a high/low zone on the outside and kept getting roasted on the outside doing that without ever making an adjustment. Was very painful to watch.

On the plus side, I agree, Moeller looked decent.
Disagree on the "scheme" part. On at least one, Terror had the inside responsibility and got sucked in by playaction. On another, it was an all out blitz that got nowhere near the QB and Crawley got burned bad. It was execution, not scheme.
 
Absolutely hurt us. Remember when Utah joined the P12 and there was a lot of talk along the lines of "well, their starters might be P12 level, but they don't have the depth to really compete week in and week out"? I'm pretty sure that's what happened to us this year, there just wasn't enough quality depth at a lot of positions. If we didn't have those injuries would we have won any more games? Not sure.
 
Bell. Henington. Gillam. Thompson. Awuzie. That's nearly half of our defensive starters. A good program has players who can quickly fill in and salvage that loss. With us, all we can do is send in the next guy up and add to our list of excuses why it just didn't happen this year.
 
Disagree on the "scheme" part. On at least one, Terror had the inside responsibility and got sucked in by playaction. On another, it was an all out blitz that got nowhere near the QB and Crawley got burned bad. It was execution, not scheme.
I need to watch the replay (if I can stomach it). That was based on real time thoughts at the game.

Even if what you say was true, in the second half we covered the middle of the field - and left the sidelines wide open.
 
I know every team has injury issues but the injuries for cu at the safety position were just bad luck. Big playmakers for us too in Thompson and awuzie.
 
No doubt they hurt. Addison was playing his best game of the season IMO before having to leave. Hope he is back full strength next year.
 
No doubt they hurt. Addison was playing his best game of the season IMO before having to leave. Hope he is back full strength next year.

Dude didn't have a good season following his Frosh AA honors. Being sick and losing weight is a recipe for concussions. He was also a step behind it seemed, but I'm not sure how much of that is due to him trying to make a play behind the DL.

I wish he could have redshirted after losing weight. I'm a bit worried he may be done (same with Pow).

We missed our starting safeties. It's possible we could have won yesterday, but Utah may have had injuries that could have opened things up for them as well. I wonder how many legitimate starting Pac12 guys we have on our front 7. They are small and undersized, but Wilson outran them at times when the pocket was broken. And the dude is as slow as Peyton.
 
Is it a better defensive performance in 2014 if...

Henington is starting at LDE...

Bell is starting at S (with Chido playing Nickel)...

Gillam is playing every game at 100%... and,

Tedric is starting every game at the other safety?

You bet your ass it is.

But it still shouldn't have been as bad as it was.
 
Dude didn't have a good season following his Frosh AA honors. Being sick and losing weight is a recipe for concussions. He was also a step behind it seemed, but I'm not sure how much of that is due to him trying to make a play behind the DL.

I wish he could have redshirted after losing weight. I'm a bit worried he may be done (same with Pow).

We missed our starting safeties. It's possible we could have won yesterday, but Utah may have had injuries that could have opened things up for them as well. I wonder how many legitimate starting Pac12 guys we have on our front 7. They are small and undersized, but Wilson outran them at times when the pocket was broken. And the dude is as slow as Peyton.
Why would Gillam be done?
 
Why would Gillam be done?

As I get older and start hearing from accounts of former players that have serious health and mental issues it makes me wonder if it's worth it when you've battled multiple concussions so close to one another.

I hope he comes back, but I wouldn't blame him or Pow (maybe even Tedric) if they didn't want to get another. I've had a concussion, but luckily avoided one that had severe complications.

These guys' health is more important than playing another down, imo. Doesn't mean they have to stop, but they need to weigh that.
 
He was playing on bad knees and against offenses that were the opposite of what he was recruited to play against but we would have been absolute toast if not for Brady Daigh stepping up. Huge, and I mean huge props to a guy who stuck through all the bad times and did everything we could ever ask of him considering his skill set.

He will be missed next year.

My big hope is that Watanabe can come in next season and play some time in the middle letting Gillam play some on the outside. This would take Gillam out of the constant pounding from lead guards that he faces play inside and let him move more in space. Watanabe as a much heavier and stronger guy is better equipped to do that.
 
Is it a better defensive performance in 2014 if...

Henington is starting at LDE...

Bell is starting at S (with Chido playing Nickel)...

Gillam is playing every game at 100%... and,

Tedric is starting every game at the other safety?

You bet your ass it is.

But it still shouldn't have been as bad as it was.
I think losing Henington was a major blow to the D, for none other than they needed a bigger DE to hold the edge at the beginning of the year. That was such a huge hole this year. Losing Bell hurt but we had some talent back there.
 
I think losing Henington was a major blow to the D, for none other than they needed a bigger DE to hold the edge at the beginning of the year. That was such a huge hole this year. Losing Bell hurt but we had some talent back there.
Agreed, though I do think having Awuzie instead of Walker in the nickle would have been great for the defense.
 
Buffs don't have adequate depth yet. Safety was actually a position where I thought we were ok to start the season with Bell and Thompson.

We lost Bell, Thompson, Mosley, Awuzie (after being moved to safety) and White. That's not something you can expect many teams to overcome, and especially CU where we know we are not big on depth at a lot of positions yet.

Seems kind of misinformed to say "all teams have to deal with injuries". When they all happen at one position, that's a bit exceptional.

Still - I think we return more capable DBs than I've ever seen at CU in at least 12 years. We need more corners as I'm not sure who will be behind our starters. No wonder we are telling recruits they can see PT in year 1....
 
I think losing Henington was a major blow to the D, for none other than they needed a bigger DE to hold the edge at the beginning of the year. That was such a huge hole this year. Losing Bell hurt but we had some talent back there.

Henington isn't that big anymore. As skinny as one of our more experienced DE's is, he also couldn't contain the edge when he was unblocked. I think athleticism and being assignment-correct EVERY play, is the biggest thing.
 
I think the bigger issue is LB seems to be a mess, in part because we got a bunch of hybrid players who don't really fit at DE or OLB.
 
Henington isn't that big anymore. As skinny as one of our more experienced DE's is, he also couldn't contain the edge when he was unblocked. I think athleticism and being assignment-correct EVERY play, is the biggest thing.
Interesting. I thought he was around 250 when he got hurt. That's 20 or so pounds bigger than anyone else. I only saw one preseason scrimmage, so didn't see him at all.
 
I think the bigger issue is LB seems to be a mess, in part because we got a bunch of hybrid players who don't really fit at DE or OLB.
I attribute our safeties being hurt in due part because they had to play as linebackers in 2014 on every play
 
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