D Coordinator poll – Why I answered no

[pedro]

First off, replacing Scalley would be a very shortsighted solution.  When you look at last year’s numbers, he did well.  Not great, but well.  We are spoiled in that regard and we are used to great.  

This year, whether you want to or not, you have to look at injuries and the youth we have on the defensive side of the ball.  Losing Fitz and Anae at a key time was the worst possible scenario.  IMHO, niether has come back at the level they were before the got hurt.  Both are over playing the ball and not playing disciplined.  I suspect that has to do with missing those games and wanting to help their team.  Coaching should fix that and if it doesn’t over the next few weeks, than this discussion will be open for debate.

Having said all that, I really, really wish Scalley would stop doing the 5 man front.  IMHO it is killing us on run defense.  It puts all the pressure on the lineman to make a play, if he doesn’t, all hell can and often does break loose.  There are advantages to it, but IMHO they are not worth the risk you are taking.  Having a four man with 3 LB’s gives you so many more options and ability to confuse the qb.  This is also why you are not seeing as many sacks.  

Just my two cents.  

[Utah]

A five man front is just a 3-4 defense with a DT playing MLB. As mentioned before, we are too thin at LB. Luafatasaga should be our DE/OLB but we don’t have enough LB’ers.

We are just young.

[UtMtBiker]

We can’t afford to put anymore LB’s on the field. They have been our weakness for 2 years now and this year is just horrid. Barton is not a P5 caliber player. I’ve never seen a player get benched and make it back on the field so many times in a career. That leave’s us with 2 borderline pac12 LB’s and a SS that’s forced to play in the box to compensate.

If you play a five man front you are leaving your LB’s unblocked in most formations and sacrificing a cover man. Our DB’s are good enough to play this but our LB’s don’t make tackles even unblocked.