I'm not sure why we decided to barely blitz in the first half. Usually the gameplan against Mallett is to blitz early, and blitz often. Usually he is so rattled by halftime, he's just not going to recover. It has worked like a champ the past two times. As soon as we went to a pressure defense in the second half and started blitzing up the middle every other down? Like clockwork, Mallett folded. The good thing about him (from an opponent standpoint) is he won't hang in there and take that hit just to wait another half second and complete the throw.
If AU can get some good pressure on him, you guys should be OK. I'm thinking you will be OK since your front 4 seems to be getting good push this year, Fairley in particular. If Mallett is able to stand in the pocket and has time to throw, he will fuck you up. And AU has a less than mediocre pass defense this season.
It's like Brother Oliver says...you want to blitz when YOU want to, not because they are making you. Better defenses shouldn't have to rely on the blitz as their base plan. I suspect that Saban and Smart thought they could dictate to Ark., and get pressure without blitzing. Had Darius been healthy, it might have been a different story.
Auburn's only hope it getting pressure without having to sell out blitz. Hopefully with our front 4, or maybe brining a LB or S in well timed situations. If we're blitzing every play, it's because they're burning us over and over. Mallet will get his yards vs us...it's a matter of how much we can limit them running the ball and hopefully operating in 2nd/3rd and long.
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