Holy golden nut sack is that a loaded question or what... I could write a thesis on my thoughts of our first year of the 3-4.
But for time and your all sake.. I will highlight some of the majors.
-Impressed with the defensive lines adjustment to the 3-4... mostly in the running game and chewing up blocks and taking on double teams.
- Linebackers.. pretty much what I thought.. if Hawk and Barnett stayed clean they did pretty good.. in traffic or taking on block.. same ol' same ol'. Chillar kind of disappeared except for a couple games.. CMIII was exceptional.. not just in the pass rush.. his ability to hold the edge on the defense to me was the most impressive. Kampman should have been utilized on the line or traded at the deadline (yes beat that horse again) and I thought Brad Jones held up pretty well.. needs to work on strength, fighting though the crack down blocks and develop a better sense of the pass rush and blitzing...
- Corners.. I thought the top three Woodson, Harris, and Williams did a fine job adjusting to playing some zone.. but hats off to Dom and staff for adjusting the defense to fit our strengths.. I especially liked the ability to roll Williams and Harris out wide and let Woodson play inside.. stroke of brilliance there.. while Woodson is a little better outside than Williams at this point.. the staff maxed the potential of the defense with the confidence in Williams.
- Safeties... Collins is what he is... a very instinctive player that has the physical abilities to erase his and most of the mistakes in the secondary in his side.. Bigby was disappointing more so in his health and inability to stay on the field than anything.. Collins gets nicked up a lot but is able to play through most of the time.. Bigby is the opposite and it hurts his comfort level in the defense.. makes a fair share of mistakes in angles and field awareness. Rouse was disappointing.. never adjusted to the speed of the pro game.. Bush improved in my opinion.. but it is clear to me that he is will never be a front line player on defense. Martin.. book is still open.. IMO, didn't get enough chances to give a fair evaluation..
Overall.. solid B to the overall group.. I think the coaching staff did a fantastic job in making the adjustment from start to finish.. it has a couple more teams swinging to the 3-4 with the hope of the same first year results.. I personally don't think they will approach the same results.. that speaks volumes of the job I think this group did.
I fully expect Perry to have a year two impact on the safety group..
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"