Week 9 Metrics Okay, not the greatest week for the secondary, but you can blame all of that on the lack of pass rush and possibly the most miscommunications in our secondary since Dom's 1st year (maybe even pre-Dom). One of those is easy to clean up, the other not so much. The only hope this defense has of getting back to where it was last year is if Mike Neal comes in and not only plays well, but inspires the rest of the front 7 to do so.
What looked like a horrendous game for Tramon Williams wasn't really that bad. He was involved in some terrible miscommunications with both Peprah and Burnett, but it's not as if he was getting routinely beat. Remember, Vincent Jackson is also the type of receiver I would expect him to struggle with.
Peprah played much worse than the numbers indicate. One interception bounced right to him and the game sealing one wasn't all that great either. He allowed several big plays and made some bad reads. For a player that wasn't supposed to be caught out of position very much, he certainly was in this game--and it wasn't pretty. Really think he's playing much worse this year than he did last and it's one of the reasons for our regression.
Woodson was unfortunate to get some of those called on him. For a superstar, he sure gets no favors from the refs.
Shields was burnt to a crisp too. Didn't seem that bad when I was watching live, but he let up the most yards. He seems to be a very streaky player.
Our pass rush sure did SUCK up until those final 3 drives. 3 hurries, 6 hits, and the 1 Grounding penalty came in the last 3 drives. Our guys up front are just not getting the job done...plain and simple. Raji is consistently walking his guy back, but slowly. Matthews is resorting to his bull rush on an unnecessary proportion of his plays. I can't remember the last time he just flat out blew by the tackle (okay, maybe an exaggeration or a flat out lie as it may have even happened once against SD).
Want to see this defense get better. I think it can. We get more pressure, Dom will feel more comfortable playing man coverage. Our secondary will look stronger.
Run Defense (NEW FEATURE!):Against 3-4 Front: 12 rushes, 53 yards, 4.42 YPC
Against 2-4 Front: 7 rush, 24 yards, 3.43 YPC
(1 for 9 on the Woodson strip of Rivers then lateral to Tolbert)
1st Half of 2011 Metrics