COLUMBIA, Mo. — In Missouri’s weekend victory over Buffalo, defensive ends Johnny Walker Jr. and Joe Moore III played the role of the villain.
To the Tigers’ home crowd, of course, they were protagonists. But ask anyone in the Bulls backfield and you’re unlikely to hear the word “hero” 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’re the jokers, after all, that’s a position befitting a villain.
“Joker” is a new name for Mizzou’s 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’s shutout of Buffalo was an interesting examination of what that position requires and how other teams could attack it.
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Within MU’s 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’t do that — there isn’t 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 — the shorter side of the formation, horizontally speaking — while the field side has more space. At Mizzou, the joker lines up closer to the sideline.
“As far as in the boundary position, those guys have athleticism, flexibility,” coach Eli Drinkwitz explained. “Typically your field end’s going to be a little bit bigger, a little bit more stout, so that’s why Zion (Young) and Eddie (Kelly Jr.) and Jahkai (Lang) play to that area.”
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’s 30 snaps sent him after the quarterback. The one that didn’t was interesting.
It came on a second-and-10 play early in the first quarter. Missouri’s 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’ widest receiver. Outside linebacker Triston Newson moved that way, too, but not as far — 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’s 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 “STAR” 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 — 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 — and the position’s dynamics with second-level linebackers.
“We play off each other,” Newson, the outside linebacker, said. “(Walker) takes a gap, I take a gap. It’s really important. All the free time we get, we try to talk and make sure we’re dialed in and on top of things.”
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’s defensive trend of note: the 3-1-7 formation, or “prowler package,” that the Tigers are once again deploying on third downs.
“In fact, on our third-down prowler package, we actually put Joe (Moore III) and Johnny (Walker Jr.) in there at the same time,” 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.
“Coach 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,” Drinkwitz said. “That allows us to do a lot of different things within the prowler package.”