the far side. He was completely unblocked, but just casually jogged towards the play like he was on a sunday stroll, and on one of the most important plays of the game - just showing no motor at all. Perhaps he was gassed, but if I suddenly find I'm unblocked on that play, I don't just jog towards the mass of bodies going to the right. While other guys are eating up blockers, I slip in / burst behind the LOS to perhaps catch the play from the back side if the RB gets slowed up enough, and I make the tackle. Or, I make the open field play if it gets turned back to the left, where no one else is there to make the tackle but me. That's what great players like KVN used to do all the time - if you can't get yourself to the point of attack, then go a different route and catch the play from the back side. In fact, a lot of TO's are generated that way. Also, if the QB had faked the h/o, and kept the ball, #49 would have had a clear lane to the QB. There is no way that a LB lined up on that side is expected to make the play on the other side. His job is to keep containment on that side, and if it is clearly contained, then try to get involved from the back side, not jog along the north side of the LOS towards the point of attack - cause you're never gonna get there that way, and this basically decreases the D from 11 down to 10 players on the field.

Not impressed with either the effort or the coaching (or both) on that play. Great defenses like the old TCU "D''s and the Utah "D" and even the old UMN Rocky Long "D's" are great because they get maximum effort from every player on every play to fill gaps / lanes, and then someone's always in position to make a play that others cannot. When it's mano a mano, it is very common on any given play to have all but one or two guys either tied up or out of position, so that only 1 or 2 of the 11 are even capable of making the play. Thus, if the only guy that could feasibly make the play is jogging around casually like a spectator, then it may explain why our defense often can't get off the field on 3rd down. It doesn't take many key plays for the tide to turn in a game. If 4 or 5 guys take 4-5 plays off per game, especially at times when they may be the only one who is free and in position to possibly make the play, then that's 20+ plays, key plays that would easily turn the tide in any game. Not sure if this is happening, but if it is, then it explains a lot.