THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 The Boston Globe Sports C3
BC looking to fill defensive gapsByJulianBenbow
GLOBESTAFF
OnceBoston College’s de-
fenselooked in the mirror,
they had to look at the game
film.
Last Friday night’s 48-24
loss to Kansas at Alumni Sta-
diumexposeda fear the Ea-
gles hoped they could over-
come this season: an inexperi-
enceddefensethat was
susceptible to giving up yards
by the chunks on the ground.
Watchingthat problemplay
out in real-timeas the Jay-
hawks racked up 567 yards of
totaloffense(including a sea-
son-high 329 rushing) left a
bitter taste in the mouthsof
every player on a unit that has
been the backbone of whatev-
er measure of success the Ea-
gles have had over the years.
“I think after the loss, it’s a
time where you have a chance
to be [ticked] off and it’s all
right to be [ticked] off,” said
linebacker Max Richardson.
“But a loss you always want to
learnsomethingfromthat
and that definitely takes a lit-
tle time to look inside yourself
and reallythinkaboutthe
game and everything.”
The disappointment per-
meated fromthe face of cap-
tain and defensivelineman
TannerKarafa immediately
after the loss. He made it clear
that he would hit the film
room the morning after to
mine for mistakes.
“Any time you don’t get the
result you want, you need to
do something different,” Kara-
fa said.“You needto kindof
ratchet up. I said we wouldbe
in here and we were— early —
watchingthe film,tryingto
get corrections and we’ve
been trying to ratchet it up.”
Not surprisingly, the Ea-
gles dialed up their practice
intensity in response to last
week’s letdown, from the tan-
gibles such as tackling, which
doomed BC’s defensetime
and again, to the tactical, such
as missedassignments, a no-
no the Eaglescan’t afford in
any situation,let alone
against a quality offense.
They paid a steep price for
every mental mistake against
Kansas,getting gashedfor 16
chunkplays (nine rushing,
seven passing). Even in BC’s
two winsto start the season,
the signs of weakness were
noticeable.VirginiaTech put
together six passing plays of
20-plus yards. Richmondhad
nine rushing plays go for 10 or
more yards.
The breakdowns started
with the Eagles defensive
front, where gap coverage was
constantly compromised.
“Gapcontrol on defense is
every gap’s got to have some-
one responsible for it,” said
coach Steve Addazio. “What
happensis, is a guy’s sup-
posedto have the ‘B’ gap and
he doesn’t take care of the ‘B’
gap [because]he’s in the ‘C’
gap, that means the ‘B’ gap’s
open and two guysare in the
‘C’ gap. It’s just keepingyour
gap integrity.
“In the heat of the battle, if
you’ve got a certain gap, you
can’t go sticking your nosein
another trying to make a play.You’ve got to take care of your
gap... If you’re not where
you’re supposedto be, if you’re
out of yourgap and there’s an
opengap, then that’s a gap the
running back can get through.”
In the simplest terms, it
comes down to taking care of
individual responsibilities.
“Everyone has a job to do on
the defense and basically we
just needto execute our jobs
and focus on our jobs instead of
tryingto do two gapsor two
jobs,” Karafa said.“Just do your
job. Everyonehas a job, it’s all
mapped out. The coaches do a
good job of game-planning for
us and we just have to execute
the game plan.”
The Eagleshad concerns
about theirdefense’s ability to
stop the run after losing eightstarters froma year ago. Giving
up an average of 214 yardsover
theirfirst threegamesheight-
ened those concerns.
BC has the second-worst run
defense in the AtlanticCoast
Conference. Addaziodescribed
the defense as a work in prog-
ress. The question is how long
of a process will progressre-
quire.
“If you have experience, you
knowhowimportant it is to
just do your job,” Karafa said. “I
think our guys know the impor-
tance of that. We just didn’t exe-
cute at a high enough level and
we’re working to improveon
that and fix it. I think they’re
comingalong. I thinkwe’ll get
it.”
Lookingahead to theirfirst
road game of the season on Sat-urday against Rutgers, the Ea-
gles expect their run defense to
be tested again.
“They have a high-powered
offense,” Richardson said.
“They’ve got two really good
backs[juniorRaheemBlacks-
hearandsophomore Isaih
Pacheco]and what they’re go-
ing to do against us is they’re
going to try and run the ball.
We didn’t stop the run against
Kansas. Why would they not
comein withtheirbig-time
backs and try and run the ball
right up the gut?
“So we’ve beenpreparing re-
ally hardfor the speedand the
physicality of it. We’re pushing.
We’re trucking right along.”JulianBenbowcan be reached
at [email protected].Brady (calf ) listed
on injury report
ByJim McBride
GLOBESTAFF
FOXBOROUGH—To m
Bradypopped out of the train-
ing room Wednesday and saw
a large media
contingent
setting up
shop near
Josh Gordon’slocker, which is
adjacent to Brady’s.
“Full house,’’ the quarter-
back commented as he seam-
lessly negotiated his way
around the crowd without the
slightest hitch in his step.
So, it was a bit of a surprise
when news filtered out mo-
ments after Brady’s brief lock-
er room appearance that he’d
been limited at practice be-
cause of a calf problem.
According to an ESPN re-
port, Brady is expected to be a
full-go for Thursday’s practice.
Any concerns when your
quarterback is listed as limited
on the practice/participation
report?
“Not whenyour quarter-
back is Tom Brady,’’Matthew
Slatersaid matter-of-factly.
“No,’’ said a smilingPhillip
Dorsettwhenasked if he was
concerned at all about Brady’s
availability.
Brady’s durability is legend-
ary in NFL circles. He’s missed
games because of injury only
in 2008 when he tore his ACL
and MCLin the seasonopener.
This is the first time this
season Brady has appeared on
the report.Minustwo
FullbackJames Develin
(neck) and outside linebacker
ShiliqueCalhoun(not football-
related) werethe only players
missing frompractice. Develin
was nicked in the Dolphins
game and spent a brief time in
the medical tent before return-
ing. In addition to Brady, of-
fensive linemenMarcusCan-
non(shoulder) andCaleb
Benenoch(calf), and tight end
Matt LaCosse(ankle) also
were limited. Running back
BrandonBolden(hamstring)
was a full participant...
CoachAdamGasesaid it’s
been great working with re-
ceiverBraxtonBerrios, who
signed with the Jets after be-
ing released by the Patriots on
cutdown day. Gase said he saw
a lot of Berrios when the re-
ceiver/returner was at the Uni-
versity of Miami and Gasewas
running the Dolphins, and
that the organization had its
eyeonhim.“Iknowwhenhe
went to New England we were
all sitting there and we were
like, ‘Great, they got the next
one ready to go,’ ’’ Gase said.PATRIOTS
NOTEBOOK
Celtics’ Ojeleye hashis
eyes ona bigger role
ByGary Washburn
GLOBESTAFF
WhileBrad Stevensreiter-
ated throughout the season
Semi Ojeleye was one of the
Celtics’morevaluablere-
serves, his playing timede-
creased considerably in his
second season.
It seems Ojeleye became
moreof a specialist, making
appearancesagainst someof
the game’s top offensive play-
ers or Stevensopting for his
strongman to play against big-
ger players in the post.
Withthe departuresof Al
Horford, Marcus Morris, and
AronBaynes,the opportunity
is therefor Ojeleye to seize
more playing time and a big-
ger role. One thing that can be
countedon, the imposing
workout maven will be pre-
pared for the challenge.
“Obviouslyin the back of
my mind I know those guys
are gone now,” Ojeleye said.
“That opportunity is there but
I don’t think my approach has
changed that much. In the
summertime,it’s really about
being mobile. It’s not getting
too strong. Not focusingon
getting moreexplosiveor try-
ing to pushmoreweightbut
reallystaying mobileand get-
ting my cardio up.’’
The Celtics’ goal for Ojeleye
is to becomea 3-and-Dguy, a
player who can defend differ-
ent positions and also stretch
the floor offensively with3-
point shooting. Ojeleye has
shot just 31.8 percent from
the 3-point line duringhis
first two years,belowthe 35.5
league average.
Ojeleye knowsimproving
his long-range shooting will
help gainmoreof Stevens’s
trust and therefore increase
his playing time. The Celtics
are lacking provenbig men,
withnewcomerEnes Kanter
being the most experienced
alongwithtwo-yearreserve
Daniel Theis.
Vincent Poirier and Robert
Williamsroundout the front-
court, but the clubhas little
idea what to expect fromei-
ther.
“I understandit’s a process
and you have to wait your turn
and hopefully the time is now,”
Ojeleye said. “We have a lot of
similar-type guys.I thinkwe
have a lot of guys that can
switchmultiplepositionsand
that can help us be versatile.”
Ojeleye acknowledged that
last seasonwas difficult to
gainteamchemistry, one of
the reasonsthe Celticswere
thumpedin the second round
of the playoffs by the Milwau-
kee Bucks.
“I think everybody knows
that this year is going to be a
fresh start for us, a chancefor
us to really play good basket-
ball all year and be a teamall
year,” he said.“Having all the
youngguysthere [working
out]with someof the older
guys builds culture.”
The Celtics lacked the forti-
tude last seasonof Stevens’s
past teams. The players would
point fingers duringlosing
streaksand suffer meltdowns
and collapses in the middleof
games. Ojeleye said this year’s
teamcan perhapslearn from
the failuresof the previous
season.
“There’s going to be ups
and downs,” he said.“There’s
going to be losingstreaks, a
gameor two or three.Not
pointing fingers, not hitting
the panic button but realizing
we’re comingthroughthis to-
gether and basically we’re go-
ing to turn the corner.”
When asked whether the
atmosphere was really that
“toxic” — as teammate Jaylen
Browncalled it — last season,
Ojeleye said perhapsoutside
forces led to the environment.
“On the inside I was like,
‘We’re all right,’ but you start
hearingthe whispersand you
hearthis in the mediaand
that in the mediaand you
think, ‘Is it really that bad?’ ”
he said. “That’s the nature of
sports.”Gary Washburn canbe
reached at
[email protected].
Followhimon Twitter
@GwashburnGlobe.MATTHEWJ. LEE/GLOBE STAFF
BCfootballcoachSteve Addaziosaidhisdefense’s shortcomingsagainst Kansasstemmedfroma lackof gapintegrity.JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFFTom Bradychats withcoachBillBelichickduringa
practicein whichtheQBhadlimitedparticipation.
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