| 30 September 2011
What a job To
dd Grantham is doing this season with this defense. This is making me think that Mark Richt made a great hire, and in year two of Todd Grantham's 34 defensive scheme, we are seeing more of what was promised with tough defense and aggressive play. Each week we are seeing our defense improve and there is no reason to think we will not continue to improve.
Well there is a subtle surprise with Grantham’s defense, they are also playing smart. In this business they say film doesn’t lie, and the film of the Mississippi game brought a huge smile to many Bulldog fans, including mine, as this defense is quickly improving. Watch out Florida this defense will be at you in full force by the time Jacksonville rolls around.
One of the most obvious improvements this season has been the scheming of the defense. Against Mississippi the rotation of the outside linebackers and movement of the inside linebackers seem to completely fool the Rebels. Grantham flip-flopped Washington and Jones, and we brought in Garrison Smith and Amarlo Herrara with a package that allowed the rotating of Gilliard from Mike to Mo. When he did this shift, Gilliard shot the gap with precision for the running plays which Ole Miss had no answer for.
In other words, Grantham did his film study and knew the tendencies of the Rebels, and put his best middle linebacker in a position to make plays. This was the game changer move for the defense and as you know the Rebels only gained 1.3 yards per carry for a total of 34 yards (26 attempts). This is an amazing statistic against any team in the SEC, and coming into the game Ole Miss had a good running game. Herrara, Washington and Smith all enjoyed their best games, and one must wonder how good this defense can be once Christian and Tree return healthy?
In the secondary, Sanders Commings started at Cornerback and was lights out. His five solo tackles and one spectacular pass breakup led me to believe this was a move by Grantham based upon the Mississippi’s personnel. The film showed me our defense played no 5 man defensive back packages, which may indicate the confidence in Williams, Rambo, Boykin and Commings to get the job done is now a reality. This only helps the Bulldogs play bigger against the run if we can continue with our four defense back packages. Rambo ended up with 4 solos and 2 interceptions, and Williams played tough again, while Boykin was hardly tested. If this trend toward better secondary play continues we are going to become the premier defense in the SEC. Yes we will be as good as LSU or Alabama at the rate we are improving.
I sense from many of you that you were also happy with the improved play from the defensive line. Tyson had by far his finest game to date, Jones and especially Smith shut down the strongside. Then we added Washington with his hand in the dirt, and we were able to get pressure on the quarterback, by playing simple 43 defense.
As mentioned all season Kwame Geathers continues his outstanding play and is improving. Watching the film, Kwame occupied two and three Rebel lineman on every play allowing our linebackers to make plays. Jenkins spelled him and the drop of was negligible as Jenkins continues to improve. If I had to pick the unsung hero of this defense so far this season, my vote would be for Kwame.
To summarize what you saw was Georgia playing a basic defense. We schemed with our personnel, but we did so without changing the way Grantham wants us to play. Nothing fancy, but very solid and consistent. Down after down, Mississippi was stopped, and suddenly Georgia has become the 2nd place team in the SEC getting off the field on 3rd down. This is one of those very important statistics, which we failed miserably at last season.
We are not playing an intimidating defensive style, but we are playing very consistently smart defense. To me that is the difference from last season to this season is this smart consistency, and is much better than the undisciplined Martinez era. Players are understanding their roles and with Grantham calling the adjustments, this defense is becoming stout. If Grantham schemes and makes coaching adjustments like he did against Ole Miss, there is no team that will score many points on Georgia. This high level of play has not been seen since the Brian Van Gorder days.
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