LaVar

[MTK]

I agree Holdman blew his assignment, but Taylor isn't helping things by taking horrible angles and by doing that he is basically blowing his assignment as well. It's like a domino effect right now with our run defense.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I agree Holdman blew his assignment, but Taylor isn't helping things by taking horrible angles and by doing that he is basically blowing his assignment as well. It's like a domino effect right now with our run defense.

You're right. Not that it's any excuse, but I don't think Taylor had to be that guy to make the TD saving tackle in his rookie year. Last year, the linebackers and front 4 all did a tremendous job of getting the RB to run paralell to the line of scrimmage, so when Taylor did come up in run support he had it pretty easy because the RB didn't have many choices of where to go. This year, Taylor is experiencing for the first time what it's like to have weakness in front of him, the front 4 is banged up and Holdman just can't hold his gaps. Now when Taylor is coming up in run defense he's facing a RB who has made it into the secondary, and there's more open field in front of him. For the first time, Taylor is now having to learn how to take the conservative route to the ballcarrier to make sure he gets him on the ground. I think that part of Taylor's game is still at rookie levels, he has very little experience with being the last line of defense because last year the first line of defense always did their job.

It's no excuse though. He needs to learn that phase of the game quickly or else we're in trouble.