COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥 In Missouri鈥檚 weekend victory over Buffalo, defensive ends Johnny Walker Jr. and Joe Moore III played the role of the villain.
To the Tigers鈥 home crowd, of course, they were protagonists. But ask anyone in the Bulls backfield and you鈥檙e unlikely to hear the word 鈥渉ero鈥 in reference to either.
With four quarterback hurries, two tackles for a loss and one sack between them, Walker and Moore caused plenty of chaos.
They鈥檙e the jokers, after all, that鈥檚 a position befitting a villain.
鈥淛oker鈥 is a new name for Mizzou鈥檚 boundary defensive end position, a moniker that arrived over the offseason with new defensive coordinator Corey Batoon. Walker is the starter in that role, with Moore as the primary rotational piece.
Saturday鈥檚 shutout of Buffalo was an interesting examination of what that position requires and how other teams could attack it.
Within MU鈥檚 system, naming conventions for defensive positions vary from those of their offensive counterparts. Offensive lines are structured to have right and left counterparts, like tackles and guards, for example. But the Tigers defense doesn鈥檛 do that 鈥 there isn鈥檛 a right or left defensive end, nor a strong- or weak-side end.
Instead, Missouri uses boundary and field designations, most prominently with edge rushers and safeties. The boundary side is the side closest to a sideline 鈥 the shorter side of the formation, horizontally speaking 鈥 while the field side has more space. At Mizzou, the joker lines up closer to the sideline.
鈥淎s far as in the boundary position, those guys have athleticism, flexibility,鈥 coach Eli Drinkwitz explained. 鈥淭ypically your field end鈥檚 going to be a little bit bigger, a little bit more stout, so that鈥檚 why Zion (Young) and Eddie (Kelly Jr.) and Jahkai (Lang) play to that area.鈥
Walker and Moore, who fit more of the lean, quick edge rusher mold as the joker, also have occasional pass coverage responsibilities, which can look strange because of its rarity.
Against Buffalo, 29 of Walker鈥檚 30 snaps sent him after the quarterback. The one that didn鈥檛 was interesting.
It came on a second-and-10 play early in the first quarter. Missouri鈥檚 defensive personnel was its usual 4-2-5, with its hybrid safety tucked next to the linebackers. Then Buffalo changed its formation before the snap.
A running back and tight end motioned toward the boundary side, settling into a trips formation. Three MU defenders shifted accordingly.
Cornerback Dreyden Norwood moved outside, aligned with the Bulls鈥 widest receiver. Outside linebacker Triston Newson moved that way, too, but not as far 鈥 his mark was the slot wideout.
And joining them on the perimeter was Walker, squared up in a coverage stance against a Buffalo tight end. It was no panic adjustment but rather the planned tweak for that kind of pre-snap motion.
Walker was in coverage on pass plays 36 times last season, according to Pro Football Focus, or roughly 10% of his pass snaps. He has yet to be in coverage on a pass play this season, according to PFF鈥檚 tracking, in part because of how the Bulls handled this particular play.
The call looked to be a run-pass option for Buffalo quarterback CJ Ogbonna. After the snap, the trio of receivers on the boundary side set up a screen, though no throw came. Instead, Ogbonna handed off the ball.
It looked to be a wise counter. With Walker split out in coverage, the Tigers had only three down linemen. Daylan Carnell, the 鈥淪TAR鈥 hybrid safety in a linebacker-adjacent role on the opposite, field side, was dually responsible for setting the edge with Young, the field end.
Accordingly, Carnell crashed toward the line of scrimmage after the snap and shed his block 鈥 but got beaten to the outside for a first down.
The play was simultaneously savvy from the visitors and intriguing for Missouri. The joker is a fascinating part of the Tigers defense to watch, especially with how pass rush, edge containment and pass coverage responsibilities fluctuate 鈥 and the position鈥檚 dynamics with second-level linebackers.
鈥淲e play off each other,鈥 Newson, the outside linebacker, said. 鈥(Walker) takes a gap, I take a gap. It鈥檚 really important. All the free time we get, we try to talk and make sure we鈥檙e dialed in and on top of things.鈥
Asked by the Post-Dispatch about the joker role during his Tuesday news conference, Drinkwitz pointed out a wrinkle with the position that ties to last week鈥檚 defensive trend of note: the 3-1-7 formation, or 鈥減rowler package,鈥 that the Tigers are once again deploying on third downs.
鈥淚n fact, on our third-down prowler package, we actually put Joe (Moore III) and Johnny (Walker Jr.) in there at the same time,鈥 Drinkwitz said.
That system prioritizes athleticism and versatility by adding an influx of defensive backs to the equation, so stacking the defensive line deck with two jokers can generate a bit of folie a deux.
That double-joker usage was a discovery by Batoon and new edge rushers coach Brian Early.
鈥淐oach Early and Coach Batoon figured out real quickly that, hey, these two guys have really good pass rush moves and really do a good job containing the quarterback in their pass rush,鈥 Drinkwitz said. 鈥淭hat allows us to do a lot of different things within the prowler package.鈥