Winchester
we returned everyone and added tons of touted recruits in the secondary and we got worse. and i think Winchester plays a big role in that
i noticed this in the rice game but i thought to point it out now…
Winchester was slow and occasionally got beat for big plays, but he had elite ball skills, if the ball was within arms length of him it wasnt getting caught. he had a few game winning PBUs to his name.
you dont realize what you have until its gone, im willing to let go an occasional big play for semi-regular 3rd down stops
Turnovers
and we need to re-emphasize turnovers BAD!!! there is no emphasizes on it in this defense. i dont think ive seen anyone try to undercut a route, our 2 picks for the season we lucky bounces…no one was yanking for a fumble in the last few plays, simply just trying to tackle them…
and whats strange is that our dbs regularly knew where the ball was going…the announcers themselves noted that our dbs knew where the ball was going and that there qb telegraphed his passes
but instead of undercutting they went in for big tackles…everyone one of the “jackboyz” wouldnt have gone for the tackle…all would have been looking for a pick
there isnt an emphasize anymore for turnovers… it’s evident by our staff, everyone under gibbs non stop talked about it… our new ones never do…and our main db coach isnt known for getting turnovers, but limiting yards on his best years…
I’m not sure Winchester helps us today. He had his moments, but he got beat quite a bit as well. He also would make some dumb decisions that would kill the team at times.
I agree with you on the 2nd point. Other than our new safeties coach, no one else seems to put an emphasis on turnovers. That goes back to the Bend dont break style that Herman brought in and that we haven’t really had since Gibbs. We were lucky to have all the talent we had in 2015, but turnovers dropped off quite a bit in 2016 after all of them left.
i can put together a highlight reel of winchester that could have made him look like a first rounder…
winchester wasnt trash, he was slow…he couldnt keep up with wr with top end speed, but atleast he wasnt giving up non stop catch to players within arms reach
he is the only CB that wasnt on the team last year, that isnt on the team thins year…we are worse this year than lst year
our cb unit is EXACTLY the same as last year to this year (except him)…EXACTLY THE SAME…we are drastically worse …
again im not saying winchester was elite, but he was cb1 last year and we didnt look as bad at any point last season to the rice and tech game…(note we shut down Memphis the 1st half, even though the second half was bad)
people hated on Winchester, because he’d give up a 60yd play once a game…the point of this thread is that no one noticed the 6 or 7 great plays he’d make thrughout the game…
id take 27 point and Winchester getting beat once, instead of 63
similar to davis, theyd point out a tackle he missed, not point to the good thing he’d do
im saying 100% Winchester makes a difference…again i have all the game film of the last 2 years, i cant think of time a pass was completed when he was in arms length of the ball, not one!!!
i can make a 3 hour special on just the first 3 games alone of catches that could have been deflected but caught
I agree 100% we missed Winchester out there. He was an experienced tackler and a smart CB. Yes got beat once in a while but he knew how to play that position.
to be fair to duarte, 28 of the points vs smu were defensive or special teams touchdowns, they only scored 44 by smu’s offense
all 63 this game were tech offensive tds