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Yeah, Burke was just limited in what he could do. He was never a legit NFL prospect. Moving forward it will be all of Tim Walton's recruits, so it'll mirror the WR room in 5* after 5*

The Big 10 is much more like the NFL in the offenses they see

He might be a better eraser, but Sark and your DC would pick Downs over him to play the same position.

Have never been high on Burke. I Like Matthews and would really like to see what Scott can do. Anyway I am ok with a 5 Star backing up a 5 star, it does give me confidence in our corners.

Welcome to Big 10 where 4 wides is not a thing.

The strip sack was just Sawyer absolutely obliterating your RT. The Henderson screen was horrible defensive play call by whoever is calling your plays.

I'm telling you if that's what you expect from a safety Taafe does more with less. He covers everything in our scheme from backs, TEs, slots, blitzing, and covers the run. Taafe plays both high and low and does it as well as any safety in the nation. I'm not saying Taafe is a better football player by any stretch, but I am saying he's a better eraser.

Agreed on the first sentence. But dominating is another level of discussion. It looks like you broke off some long runs in those but otherwise pedestrian. The question would arise as to whether a broken tackle happened to create those. Pff is looking at every player on every play. Who won, who lost individual battles. In theory your Oline can do poorly yet you score. But congrats on your Oline for that Sawyer strip sack. I guess they did ok on that Henderson screen.

1. Knowles liked us playing press man and Downs roamed high at FS and helped on ball.. 2. The score was 34-8 at half did not need to put a safety over Stewart. or anyone.

Downs is a safety, so I would never expect him to do anything other than helping over the top, or covering RB's and TE's. Denzel Burke was burned by Steward, but luckily Burke has graduated and Jermaine Matthews Jr & Davison Igbinosun are the top two cornerbacks.

I'm not saying that they're wrong, and nobody is talking about Taafe because of his lack of athleticism. Downs is good at playing free and around the ball, but Taafe is an eraser. I don't know how many times a reciever beat a corner and the only person back there to erase that mistake was Taafe. If Downs was that kind of eraser, why didn't they put Downs over Evan Stewart in the first game against Oregon is all I'm saying. It was obvious Ohio State couldn't cover him.

Going with a fellow East Texas on this one. Nathan Vasher.

Yeah, those are excuses too. Michigan has won four years in a row because they were tougher and more physical than Ohio State. Just because it's coming from Ohio State fans doesn't make it any less than a BS excuse.

Somehow, a guy that spends hours trolling opposing fanbases doesn’t seem like the type to avoid excuses. this is coming from a fanbase that wants to excuse away 4 years of being dominated by your rival due to the Connor Stallions saga

Simmons was a non-factor. That doesn't mean he will be on 8/30, and that's what really matters. The Cotton Bowl was in the past.

Running backs without a good OL are nothing. Everything starts up front. Like I said, Will Howard had plenty of time in the pocket, and the backs had clear gaps to run through. Those were the entire games against Indiana, Tennessee, Oregon, and Notre Dame. Will Howard had plenty of time to throw against Texas as well.

Says the main troll saying Simmons was a non-factor. He’s an extra non-factor when the refs are missing egregious holds on 3rd and long, short bus.

This is a vision zone coverage concept. It was Cover 6 (Saban's weak rotated cover 3), with Gbenda being a curl-flat player. In particular, this is what is known in the Saban system as flood. They have Sorrell playing the flat, Gbenda in the curl, Ant Hill in the strong hook, and Makuba playing the weak hook and being a 3 up is 3 player. This is not triple coverage. Maalik Muhammad has a "MOD" call on Jeremiah Smith. As you can see above, MM is playing man coverage on Smith, but everyone else is playing with vision on the QB.

Caleb Downs is the same way. High IQ, a coach in the field, but he's also athletic enough to be a top 10 NFL draft pick. Taafe is good, but 99.9% of non Texas CFB fans are taking Caleb Downs for a reason. 100% of NFL GM's are taking Caleb Downs for a reason.

If you’re like most fans, you don’t focus on the Oline but merely choose to do so on select plays. Domination likely occurs when you’re not looking. Your Tackle was your best guy then the other Tackle was generally more consistent than some of the others. You do realize it is rare to have such highly drafted RBs in the same backfield, right? Maybe helps the Oline. Notre Dame was down maybe their two best DTs. The others weren’t overly talented. Indiana? Come on. There’s a reason Texas was a more difficult game. And again Goosby sat in there with 100,000 Aggies on a line with multiple high draft picks and a former Big 10 badass pass rusher and did fine. But you won’t count that.

We doubted Taafe and have been trying to replace him his whole career, but if you throw at him it's a mistake. When you talk about IQ and always in position to make a play Taafe is one of the best safeties in the game.

Taafe in the last two years have 5 picks and 11 passes defended. That's during the same time frame. Like I said as a high safety give me Taafe as a chess peice or box safety I'll take Downs. That's not disrespecting Downs, check the coverage grade and I bet Taafe grades higher.

Yes, his athleticism is a huge difference between him and Taafe.

Nice to hear from you Nostradamus! Stick around, it's a good group 👍

More than anything, Downs' strength is his football IQ and how quickly he reacts. He is also one of the surest tacklers I have every seen come through Columbus. He just doesn't miss tackles.