They became more effective not when he started to gradually rotate more guys, but guys started playing assignment football under a completely different scheme than what CTG had run for the last couple years.
In order to understand what Bennett’s playing now, you have to understand what CTG was playing before.
Defensively under CTG, the primary goal was to get hits on the QB within 1.5 seconds. That time frame was necessary because in the back end CTG would be man-up all over the field. CTG had no concern about his pass rushers staying in their lanes, keeping contain, because it largely didn’t matter. With how much field he was asking his defenders to cover in the back, after 1.5 to 2 seconds someone was always going to break free of coverage. On just about every play if the opposing QB made a good read, and then a good throw, they could have scored vs the CTG scheme. Making it worse, when defenders up front aren’t trying to keep contain, they would end up offering lanes to run in, which made everyone in the back end have to scramble, making pass coverage even more impossible. That’s why all the big plays happened in the last couple of years. The plus to using CTG’s scheme is that it is almost the only way to defeat a QB who can see the field and who will go thru progressions. Hitting a QB early tends to discourage everyone, and almost always makes them less accurate for at least a couple plays.
With Bennett, its assignment football. Keeping contain is everything. If you can’t get past your man and stay in your lane, you keep contain, and get pressure by driving your defender back into the pocket, which takes away the QBs ability to step up. Wren was effective at both the last 2 games. He beat his man constantly vs Washington, but he was also effective in both Washington and Utah pushing his opponent back into the pocket so neither Browning or Huntley couldn’t step up into the pocket. Bennett scheme plays 7-8 guys in the same area that CTG was using 3-4 to defend. Now instead of playing man-up, all over the field, each defender is playing angles and positions relative to the ball, what part of the field they’re on, etc. The key to those 7-8 guys being able to play those positions well, is completely based upon the guys up front keeping contain.
CTG was total freelance and Bennett is about assignment football. Those are pretty much polar opposites. In the first game Bennett used both schemes, but soon after they lost Koron Crump, CTG’s scheme was abandoned. I think just because of personnel, they were going to have to abandon that scheme within the first couple of games, because they didn’t have enough guys who could get home within that 1.5-2 second interval. As Bennett explained when asked after the 2nd game when crazy and completely un-knowledgeable people asked him to explain why he played so few people, he did so quiet succinctly, but what he said was too complicated for most to comprehend. Instead, in typical journalist fashion, some then decided to make something up so they could "sound knowledgable" when they were anything but. I thought Bennett was extremely kind not to laugh at them or make fun of them for asking such foolish, uninformed questions, but he’s been around long enough to understand that is who the press is for the most part.
CTG’s scheme is pretty instinctual. Assignment football is pretty cerebral, sometimes complex, with the idea that with repetition, players can learn to play more instinctual, but it takes time. In the Utah game I think the defense was starting to play more instinctually, as they’ve learned and understand their assignments more. When you’re making a 180° change like Bennett was implementing, he has to limit who he plays to be only those guys who will follow their assignments. Collectively, because of how complex, how cerebral it is, I think its safe to assume no one on the team had much experience with Bennett’s scheme or assignment football until this season. Man-to-Man is such a much simpler concept to teach. Assignment football is very interdependent. Not only do you have to know your assignment, you have to know what the guys all over the defense are also doing that you might interact with. Much easier to substitute with man-to-man based defenses. Easier transition. In assignment football, if one guy messes up, the whole scheme won’t work, and you can have big gaps when lack of communication results in blown coverages. The other thing that happened when they went away from CTG’s scheme, is that they eventually morphed to playing bigger people up front because pushing the pocket was more important that getting hits. They did that in the Washington game, which was a key to their success, because it also made them better at stopping the run.
I can because I have watched enough, that it is impossible to learn assignment football except when you actually get to live games, because its so impossible to mimic the speed of the game. When I read what Bennett said in his presser, I understood exactly what he meant and was excited about it, and all for the change, because I thought it fit his personnel best. I tried to explain numerous times at HOS, but very few except for people like SonNamedTillman understood or were listening.
Defensively they only gave up 17 points vs SDSU. Almost every big play they gave up was because either someone didn’t protect their gap in the running game, or because the defensive front lost contain in the passing game, both of which I think are typical learning mistakes. That passing play to their big back Perry, occurred because the SDSU QB was allowed to scramble when the line lost contain. They were still fighting old habits that told them the most important thing was to hit the QB, when contain was what should have been paramount. The 2nd half of the Oregon game was when they started to figure things out, but in Herbert, they were also playing someone who could see the field and would go thru progressions, so he was still hurting them. Go back and watch them vs Utah, and you’ll see how by then ASU has a much more controlled pass rush, and how they’re concentrating on keep contain. It had nothing to do with rotating in more people. Bennett still isn’t rotating that many people, but should be able to more vs Colorado and Oregon State. Versus Utah late in the 2nd half it was more wholesale subs, because he knew they were far enough ahead.
You beat assignment schemes, by having a QB who can see the field and will go thru his progressions. USC & UCLA are going to offer the 2 best QBs in the conference who can see the field and will go thru progressions. They will be the biggest challenge that defense will face all year.
Posted by
D - SportsFan on
Oct 22, 2017 | 10:11 PM
