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DEL.ICIO.USDefense counted on to carry Dogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Athens — Willie Martinez had, in the main, a nice first season as Georgia’s defensive coordinator. Thing is, we on the outside tend not to remember the main. We tend to recall the blots on an otherwise sunny campaign, which is why the first topics broached by a visitor to Martinez’s office don’t involve all the stops his men made but the two games in which such stops weren’t forthcoming.
Auburn’s last gasp.
West Virginia’s first quarter.
The first eight games Georgia lost under Mark Richt hewed to a theme: The Bulldogs didn’t score more than 17 points in any of them, meaning that the offense sagged while the defense generally held up its end. The last two losses of last season broke the pattern. Georgia scored 30 points against Auburn and 35 against West Virginia and lost both times, the opponents mustering an aggregate 1,008 yards.
Obvious question when something works for so long and then stops working: What went wrong? To his credit, Martinez looks his interrogator in the eye and gives a clinical appraisal.
On the Auburn fourth-and-10 that became the careening Devin Aromashodu catch-and-run-and-fumble: “We blew a coverage. It was one of our safeties — I don’t like to say who. We just flinched. But [cornerback] Paul Oliver made a heck of a play, punching the ball out. [Courtney Taylor recovered in the end zone, enabling the Tigers to kick the winning field goal.] But that was the tempo of the whole game — we couldn’t shut them down.”
On West Virginia’s first quarter (plus the first 50 seconds of the second), a dizzying span that saw the Mountaineers steal a 28-0 lead in the Sugar Bowl: “They didn’t do anything differently than they’d done all year. We gave them respect. We knew they had a three-headed horse [quarterback, tailback and fullback]. … But we weren’t ready. … We couldn’t get them focused. We missed a tackle on their first touchdown.”
And now a word in defense of the defensive coordinator: The Auburn game boiled down to one unbelievably weird play, which can happen, and the Sugar Bowl was a difficult sell to a team that had already won an improbable SEC title and found itself matched against the least-known team to grace any BCS game. Besides, the overachieving Bulldogs were due a bad night.
Bottom line: Those folks who fretted over the departure of gruff coordinator Brian VanGorder should, in the main, be pleased with the basso-voiced Martinez. He took a unit that was missing three stalwarts and marshaled it into the top 10 nationally in scoring defense and the top 20 in total defense. “We’re all competitors,” Martinez says. “We all wanted to do well. We knew we didn’t have [David] Pollack and Thomas [Davis] and Odell [Thurman], and we had a chip on our shoulder.”
It didn’t hurt that Georgia returned enough gifted players in 2005 to back its attitude with muscle and speed. Nor was it a minus that Martinez had coached alongside VanGorder both at Central Florida and here. The new man wasn’t really a new man, and he wasn’t so much concerned with drawing new schemes as with ensuring the old ones kept working. Continuity can be powerful thing.
With another season almost at hand, Martinez sees the need to better the last one. “We’ve got to improve the run defense,” he says. (Auburn rushed for 227 yards, West Virginia for 382.) “We gave up too many big plays in the running game.”
That shouldn’t happen again. Georgia has superb linebackers and two outstanding linemen in Quentin Moses and Ray Gant. The area of greatest concern is the secondary, where three longtime starters were lost but where Tra Battle and the aforementioned Oliver should serve as dual anchors. Says Martinez: “There’s concern about how we’re going to mesh, but if we have no injuries it’ll be fun to watch.”
For all the fuss made over the offense and its quadripartite quarterback competition, defense has been the rock on which Richt has built his program. VanGorder got it started, and Martinez carries on. The 2005 Bulldogs flinched twice at the end of an otherwise unyielding season, but those were the exceptions. Look for Georgia’s D to be exceptional again.
Permalink | Comments (39) | Post your comment | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
Comments
By happy gator
August 25, 2006 03:31 PM | Link to this
With all the Stafford for Heis…..gone down the drain, UGA will need something. Looking forward to Jax!
By Chris
August 25, 2006 03:47 PM | Link to this
The defense better be good this year, or Joe T. and the rest of Bulldog Nation will be in for a long long season.
By reality check
August 25, 2006 04:06 PM | Link to this
Year in and year out great defense wins championships.
Richt has admitted Georgia has as good a chance to do well as any team he has had here.
Expect good things from Georgia this year.
By honest_abe
August 25, 2006 04:12 PM | Link to this
“free willie style”
i think he plays it a little too conservative at times, always dropping people back into coverage, too many zones. etc. but i still think he did a heckuva job in his first year as defensive coordinator. our front 7 should be scary.. and although moses is getting all the pub. charles johnson is the person everyone needs to keep their eyes on…he’s a beast. secondary might be inexperienced but it’s the most talented group out of the whole d….
a great d and an efficient o should give the dawgs a legitimate shot at winning the SEC east.
By Bradley G
August 25, 2006 04:17 PM | Link to this
52nd in the nation last year against the run does not show only two late-year exceptions. With space-eaters gone on the D-line, Martinez needs to show that he can find ways to stop the run this year. If not, it doesn’t matter how green the secondary is against the pass.
By rgb
August 25, 2006 04:20 PM | Link to this
When we win the toss, we need to take the ball. The heck with defering to the scond half. I’ve seen the Dawgs to many times give up a quick score and then punt and give it back to them at mid field, and we’re down 10-0 or 14-0 right off the bat ! Take the BALL!
By Jay W
August 25, 2006 04:48 PM | Link to this
First of all: Happy Gator, feel free to write back once UF has won an SEC championship in this century. Second: I would giving up more than 600 rushing yards in two games would tend to skew your rushing defense ranking. Nobody saw West Virginia coming, and the Auburn game was a typical UGA-AU game, crazy to the end. We’ll get ‘em back on the plains this year.
By honest_abe
August 25, 2006 04:52 PM | Link to this
jay w….your leaving out the arkansas game when macfadden and jones ran wild on our d all afternoon. our d had trouble stopping the run period.
By honest_abe
August 25, 2006 04:54 PM | Link to this
you’re**
By Jay W
August 25, 2006 05:01 PM | Link to this
First of all: Happy Gator, feel free to write back once UF has won an SEC championship in this century. Second: I would giving up more than 600 rushing yards in two games would tend to skew your rushing defense ranking. Nobody saw West Virginia coming, and the Auburn game was a typical UGA-AU game, crazy to the end. We’ll get ‘em back on the plains this year.
By uga97
August 25, 2006 05:02 PM | Link to this
Yeah Happy Gator, we spot you in Jax every year and you still can’t win the East.
By happy gator
August 25, 2006 05:04 PM | Link to this
JW, you are correct about WV. Georgia did not wake up until WV let up!
Same thing in Jax last year. The heat had the dogs asleep! Or was it your coach?
By uga97
August 25, 2006 05:21 PM | Link to this
Gators lost to South Carolina. With the East on the line. No title for you.
By RxDawg
August 25, 2006 05:48 PM | Link to this
Wow, Mr. Bradley. That was a well written article. I have to admit, I was also a sceptic of Coach WM. However, after reading your article I can take a step back and look at the whole picture. I’m still not completely sold on him, but I feel much better. Lets see how this season goes. I am expecting good things (as usuall) from our D this year. Go Dawgs!
By BirdDawg
August 25, 2006 06:22 PM | Link to this
Weird…
This from the same idiot who thinks a Chan Gailey / Reggie Ball led team can actually beat the Dawgs… in Athens.
Cause that’s gonna happen.
By Doc
August 25, 2006 06:56 PM | Link to this
Martinez does not do his homework. Example, Bama blitzed Chis Leak 19 times and won,, LSU blitzed Leak 21 times and won, he could not complete passes. Several weeks Later, UGA blitzed Leak 2 times, and lost. Jay Cutler passed 184yds against us in the 1st quarter, but only 134 yds in the entire LSU game. Because LSU went after the QB, we did not. Martinez did not learn a thing from those games. Did he not watch the films before UGA played Florida & Vandy? Did you guys forget about those Red hogs and Mcfadden last year(8yds/carry). Vangorter NEVER EVER allowed a running attack like those of last year. It will be just as bad this year, unless he changes his approach.
By Buck Cochran in the NW
August 25, 2006 08:12 PM | Link to this
Bend but don’t break! for decades that was considered the way to go. Today, it doesn’t work. The “O” and the players are so different and so much better that it’s unbelieveable. DC have to do things a bit differently. Think back, what was the 1st game that DG had his rythem(sp) really broken up and we lost? LSU/SABAN! the tiger started jumping up & down, batting balls down and broke DG concentration. We still almost won but the jumping around “D” was just enough. I’ll just watch how Martinez does with his “D” in ‘06. My jury is still out on his coaching prowess. Time will tell. Bradley forgot to mention the 1st half of the “Party” when we gave up 2 TDs before an adjustment was made. Show us WM, we’re watching.
By jaybird
August 25, 2006 10:58 PM | Link to this
When the game is on the line like it was on the 4th and 10 against Auburn, the decision to play it safe and not blitz always seems to come back to haunt you. Georgia rushed only four men, which gave Cox all the time in the world to make an easy throw in the middle of a soft zone coverage.
Doc is right about Alabama blitzing Leak with great success. Bama did the same thing against LeMarcus Russell in the first half of the LSU game and was in total control.
However, in the second half Bama totally stopped blitzing and LSU took control of the game. On LSU’s winning TD pass to Bowe in overtime, Bama again didn’t blitz and Russell had at least six seconds to scramble and finally throw the winning pass.
The point is that an aggressive blitz by the defense on a critical play will almost always force the quarterback to throw the ball much earlier than he would like, which is much better than the alternative.
This is especially true when the home crowd is going crazy and making it hard for the offense to hear snap counts, line up in the correct formation, and then focus on executing the play.
As for the Sugar Bowl, Georgia was still celebrating the SEC championship and obviously did not take West Virgina seriously.
To be truthful, pitiful performances by the Big East champion in their previous two BCS appearances since the departure of Miami and Virginia Tech gave the Dawgs (except for the coaching staff) no reason to think they would have any problems.
However, you have to give West Virginia credit for getting the job in a hostile environment. Georgia waited about 10 minutes too long to start playing. The same thing happened to Auburn against Wisconsin.
In this day and age, anybody can beat anybody else in a bowl game if the heavily favored team is not ready to play.
By AltamahaDawg
August 25, 2006 11:15 PM | Link to this
rgb, how many times have you seen that?
By AltamahaDawg
August 26, 2006 12:08 AM | Link to this
How you guys blame WM for the Fl lose is beyond me. Tell ya what, give me 3.5 shutout quarters hold them to 100 yrs passing every year. If BVG had done that we would have won 4 in a row.
By sj
August 26, 2006 04:07 AM | Link to this
Martinez’ job security comes from his long time relationship with MR. He may be well prepared but he is predictable, conservative and uncreative. Slow to adjust and appears overwhelmed when trying to implement a ‘plan b’ adjustment.
By Buck Cochran in the NW
August 26, 2006 07:04 AM | Link to this
sj, you just done what my ex-wife said COULDN’T be done: SHUT ME UP! for a concise descrition of WM and why my jury is still out, I could post to next yr. and couldn’t say it better…..some people ALWAYS will defend the coaching staff no matter what,…………later.
By jerry
August 26, 2006 07:14 AM | Link to this
I was not one of those who fretted over VanGorder leaving. I was fed up with him after that Tennessee game in Athens in which 18 year old freshman Eric Ainge(starting his first ever SEC road game) was allowed to sit back in the pocket and pick a team apart that had Pollack, Thurmon, and Davis on the defense. He was sacked one time(2 td’s) while David Greene was sacked five times. In damn excusable and good riddance although Martinez appears to be a VanGorder clone.
By sj
August 26, 2006 09:01 AM | Link to this
In my humble opinion, the D under WM’s direction rarely has a rhythm. His philosophy appears to be simply ‘prepare for failure’ rather than a MR approach of an aggressive strategy. Maybe that is the way to do it, but I honestly believe he is sacrificing wonderful raw talent by insisting his team play non-instinct D. Then again, what the he** do I know, right? I’m just a fan, not a coach.
By AltamahaDawg
August 26, 2006 10:27 AM | Link to this
Buck only when the factual numbers and reality dictates do coaches get defended. The biggest defense of any coach at this level over the vaque and cliche’ critisisms of folks who really have no idea what the job entails is obvious. Every defense in the legues is somewhat predictable, its the SEC. WM played almost exactly the same style as BVG, only with not as good of players and was equaly successful. Jerry is right, BVG had some horrible games too. BVG got completely hammered in several games and never adjusted, which WM never has done. The man was single digits from being undefeated last year with what I think was the weakest UGA team in several years. sj, if you think WM lacked adjustment ability, where in the world were you last year?
By RednBlack
August 26, 2006 10:31 AM | Link to this
I watched a replay the other night of the Dawgs vs Kentucky with Couch at QB. It reminded me of how glad I am that Kines no longer coaches in Athens. What an example of “Bend but don’t break” he set, although many times it seemed like it was just “Bend”.
I’ll take Martinez any day over Kines, and Van Gorder over Martinez. If Martinez was as good as Van Gorder, he would soon be scooped up for a head coach position as well.
It would be great to see more blitzing this year to keep offenses guessing. Sure, you open up possibilities for big plays, but it can break up an offense’s rythm and keep QBs from getting “settled in”. What will open up opportunities for blitzing is for one of our D linemen to step it up and have to be consistantly double teamed.
Oh yeah, we could use a Gerald Anderson clone in the middle to help plug some holes. He seemed to take up six feet of the line just by sitting still.
By AltamahaDawg
August 26, 2006 10:31 AM | Link to this
what exactly is non instinct defence, specifically.
prepare for failure? what set would that be?
examples, and what you would have done specifically instead?
By sj
August 26, 2006 12:23 PM | Link to this
‘non instinct defense’..as in excessive central control (sort of like democrats and entitlements)…’prepare for failure’.. assume lowest state of achievement or success (sort of like the typical public school in that the class only progresses at the speed of the slowest student… Examples - playing LBs 8 yds back and hopeing the O makes a mistake instead of forcing the O to adjuist to diff looks and options. WM is a ‘catcher’..MR is a ‘pitcher’…again, maybe this is the way it’s supposed to be but I honestly think it reflects his conservative personality rather than a creative game strategy. Again, what the heII do I know, just a fan.
By Buck Cochran in the NW
August 26, 2006 12:25 PM | Link to this
Altamaha, No one has ever read a post where I said I was sorry when BVG left. Not sure, was it ‘03? At the “Party”, my “Reptile” relative talked on Sunday and the one thing we agreed on was how they kept running that flat pass time after time and picking up chuncks of real estate and we never stopped it. VG said later, we had the play set to stop it but the plays were never made! In the ‘o5 Reptile game, he made a great adjustment, AFTER THEY SCORED TWICE! We were set up to stop the spread option and they didn’t run it. So yea, a great adjustment, to late. I said that my jury IS ATILL OUT! That means I’m just watching how we do this seaon on “D”. LBs are great but we don’t have much inside help(read DT) to keep people off the LBs so that’s going to be a tougher situation to coach. Lets see. I’m sure you weren’t talking about me when you said “criticisions of folks who really have no idea what the job entails”, I know you would have said so and I appreciate that. A question I wish Bradley had asked was “did Tra Battle really have a concussion in the 2nd half of the AU game?
By Buck Cochran in the NW
August 26, 2006 12:28 PM | Link to this
Altamaha, No one has ever read a post where I said I was sorry when BVG left. Not sure, was it ‘03? At the “Party”, my “Reptile” relative talked on Sunday and the one thing we agreed on was how they kept running that flat pass time after time and picking up chuncks of real estate and we never stopped it. VG said later, we had the play set to stop it but the plays were never made! In the ‘o5 Reptile game, he made a great adjustment, AFTER THEY SCORED TWICE! We were set up to stop the spread option and they didn’t run it. So yea, a great adjustment, to late. I said that my jury IS ATILL OUT! That means I’m just watching how we do this seaon on “D”. LBs are great but we don’t have much inside help(read DT) to keep people off the LBs so that’s going to be a tougher situation to coach. Lets see. I’m sure you weren’t talking about me when you said “criticisions of folks who really have no idea what the job entails”, I know you would have said so and I appreciate that. A question I wish Bradley had asked was “did Tra Battle really have a concussion in the 2nd half of the AU game?
By Winston
August 26, 2006 01:29 PM | Link to this
Where is everyone coming up with this “Georgia has great linebackers” talk??? I’ll give you that are linebackers are seasoned and experienced veterans, but they are also slow and can’t tackle. I think they were, and will continue to be the achilles heel of our defense until the speed(Dewberry, Hebron, Ellerbe)is ready to play.
By Winston
August 26, 2006 01:30 PM | Link to this
Where is everyone coming up with this “Georgia has great linebackers” talk??? I’ll give you that are linebackers are seasoned and experienced veterans, but they are also slow and can’t tackle. I think they were, and will continue to be the achilles heel of our defense until the speed(Dewberry, Hebron, Ellerbe)is ready to play.
By AltamahaDawg
August 26, 2006 01:51 PM | Link to this
sj , I meant what, and when, and with who. I guess I am just a numbers and measurable results kind of fellow, a by product of my job I suppose. I Just cannot relate to broad, generic, hypothetical and oversimplified categorizations. But thats just me, Doesnt mean you are wrong. I like you, am just an onlooker. You may be spot on. I suspect you will see diffent looks from year to year depending on personel and team stregnth. Again we need to at least see 2 years before we categorize. You might the first person in here to ever use CMR as the example of how not to be conservative though.
Buck come on, get over that . Fl had one good drive to start the game and our punt team spotted them another score. Too late on the adjustments? Seriously? wow! Minutes into the 1st quarter and stuffed them the rest of the way out is too late? I guess if anyone in the universe had thought, you have to hold Florida to double digit passing yards and not allow them but one score the entire game, then yes, at that point, it was way too late. 2 more fg on our part and miraculously that exact same game would have been a highlight of our defense last year. We better pray we hold Leak to 100 and 14 this year.
By Stephen
August 26, 2006 04:28 PM | Link to this
I know this isnt on topic..but I love hearing the Gaytors talking smack…OK!! here goes….LISTEN UP REPTILES!!
BEFORE CMR came to athens, The dawgs hadnt been to the SEC Game..SINCE he came..THE GAYTORS havent been…..HAAHAHAAA!!!!!
By Buck Cochran in the NW
August 26, 2006 06:02 PM | Link to this
Congratulations Columbus! UNITED STATES CHAMPIONS IN THE LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES!!!!!! GOOD LUCK IN THE WORLD TITLE GAME TOMORROW!!!!
By Buck Cochran in the NW
August 26, 2006 06:18 PM | Link to this
Altamaha, I am over it! The subject was defense. I didn’t bring the topic up, I just gave my opinion. Bradley mentioned two games and I added a 3rd. My opinion is based on a lot more than one thing. I’ve simply said that MY jury is still out on WM. I also pointed out a problem he has this season(interior linemen) and not placed any blame on him. I don’t know if he’s ever been in the school of thought that the spread option won’t work in the SEC. Don’t think he has and that’s a plus. Is it unfair to ask or wonder if ANY coach can coach’um up for games? FB is more than a stat game and all things being =, coaches that can spur their teams on to being greater that the sum of the parts are the ones who can rise aboue the crowd. The Dawgs? Erk Russell was a coach who would have some of the slowest, smallest “D”s in the SEC but could they play ball. I hope that WM and his “D” really come through and are the head of the class in the SEC in ‘06.
By FLa
August 26, 2006 07:08 PM | Link to this
When have you Georgians learn that even the Bulldogs falls into the same catergory as your other sports teams? THEY SUCK!!!!!!Preditions, GA Bulldogs 0 and who cares!!!Go GATORS!!!
By FLa
August 26, 2006 07:09 PM | Link to this
When have you Georgians learn that even the Bulldogs falls into the same catergory as your other sports teams? THEY SUCK!!!!!!Preditions, GA Bulldogs 0 and who cares!!!Go GATORS!!!
By Skydawg
August 26, 2006 07:38 PM | Link to this
I said it here first! Actually I’ve already said it a couple of times on AJC blogs. This has the potential to be the best defense in the Mark Richt era. All the talk of the questions in the secondary, well forget about it. Oliver is absolutely a shutdown corner. We have nands downs some of the best athletes we’ver ever had in the secondary right now. The front 7 will be an absolute terror. And with Kade Weston and Jeff Owens in the middle, the running game mistakes will disappear. Jeff Owens almost broke a UGA record as a freshman in the bench press at over 550 lbs. Thats just sick. Bottom line, this defense is LOADED and has goes atleast 2 deep at every position. You know you’re defense is nasty when Richt had to keep your 2 defensive ends out of scrimages due to them causing so much havoc.