Quote:
Originally Posted by Bleed S & G
Can't wait.. i've said it before and i'll say it again, this will be the best buckeye d i've seen in my lifetime...
|
I'm usually the voice of optimism, so excuse me for stepping to the other side of the table for a moment...
The expectations here are encouraging in a way.
OSU fans have apparently done a very good job of putting the most recent game out of their minds. But it happened, there's no getting around it. Call it an aberration if you will; but the average yards per play for Florida in that game was less than a tenth of a yard more than our defense's season average.
You remember '02 and '05, and I know you don't believe that the '06 defense was better than those two squads. Clearly, you and others are basing your expectations for this year's Defense on anticipated improvement.
On what basis are we expecting improvement? Practice reports (one whole week's worth)? summer conditioning reports? what?
This year we will have two new defensive tackles. You know what usually happens when you replace both defensive tackles as well as I do. I'm sure you remember the disaster that was '04 as well as I do; and that was the only other year in the Tressel Era in which we started 2 brand-new defensive tackles.
It's not that I expect the Buckeyes to lose 4 games this year. I don't. And I do concede the possibility that the Buckeye D will be special this year. But don't you think it's possible that losing an All-American Defensive Tackle and a 2-year starter beside him might just have an effect on the defense?
I appreciate that this is a different situation than '04 in many ways. To illustrate, I'll list just a few of the differences between this year and that disaster of 3 seasons ago:
- In addition to the tackles, in 04 we lost Will Smith. The DE we lost this year was Jay Richardson. Advantage 07 (04 lost a better player)
- In addition to the tackles, in 04 we lost the SLB and the MLB. This year we just lost the WLB. Advantage 07.
- This year the WLB will be manned by Larry Grant and Curtis Terry (EDIT:
man, I hope he's OK). The LBs lost in 04 were replaced by Schlegel and Carpenter. So I guess having 2 guys with some experience to cover 1 position beats 2 guys covering 2 positions. In addition, there is more depth at every LB position this year than there was in 04. Advantage 07.
- Here's the big one; when Pitcock and Green took over the DT positions in '04, neither had significant experience. Green had been around awhile, but had not played all that much. (Anderson and Scott didn't leave the field as much as Pitcock and Patterson did last year). This year's tackles have considerably more experience than the '04 tackes had. Advantage 07.
- In '04 we did not have anyone that had a reasonable expectation of being a lock-down corner. IF Malcolm Jenkins lives up to the potential he flashed last year, he could be an eraser this year.
- No one is going to try to convince you that this year's defense won't get a boat-load more support from the offense than the 04 defense got.
- Boeckman is not Troy Smith of '06, but a 23-year-old junior is likely to be better than Zwick/Smith of '04.
- The OL of 07, even if it doesn't gel like we hope, will be better than '04. If it does gel, it could be the best OL of the Tressel era.
- One word: Beanie
- Back to the summer conditioning reports and early practice reports: I concede that in '05 the players were said to have returned in much, much better shape than they had the previous year. The obvious implication was that the team overall reported a little out of shape in 04. Obviously the reports from this year (and the photos thanks to Jwins) tell a very different story. Big advantage 07.
- Reporting back in the shape they're in gives us an indication that this team is taking the Debacle in the Desert exactly the way we would want them to: personally. They genuinely do seem to be on a mission. Let's hope that appearances aren't deceiving.
Now, before you accuse me of having completely refuted my own argument, let me remind you: I said I was stepping to the other side of the table "for
a moment". Well, it was only for a moment, and somewhere between there and here I stepped back.
This was just an underhanded way of making the case that this year might be special indeed; and maybe, just maybe, the experts all have this one dead wrong.
Go Bucks!
08-13-2007, 03:06 PM
LinkBacks (?)
Linear Mode
