If the defense gave up an average of 19 points per game they would be a top 5 defense in the league.
Originally Posted by: azrunning
But they did not "just" give up 19 points; the yards they gave up and the fact that the Chiefs - if they had an offense worth a damn - should have easily come up with three TDs, instead of settling for 3 FGs. That's a further 12 points put on the board.
This defense, outside of Charlie Peprah, is not getting beat because of inadequate physical talent. It's mental lapses. It's OLBs not maintaining the edge to provide containment. It's CB's biting really badly on play-action, leaving receivers open to run deep (or, in the Chiefs case, a slow TE like Pope to run deep). And, based on others performance evaluations from the Chiefs game, it's Morgan Burnett playing Safety like you would expect ex-Packers FB Quinn Johnson to play Safety (horribly, and that's probably putting it nicely).
Making splash plays 2-3 times a game is not going to keep overcoming the fact that besides those big plays, your D is playing like a bunch of rookies who've
never been coached on proper fundamentals before.
A defense giving up an average of 19 points would indeed not be that bad. The problem is, the way our D is playing, it's got the potential to give up 35+ points any given week. Hell, it's giving up yards left / right / center.
And the final 2 minutes of the game? Are you f'n kidding me? You know they are going to run it. And they still get 2 first downs on the ground.
This was as pathetic a game from our D as there has been during the McCarthy era. Problem is, the mistakes are recurring at an alarming level; they are mostly all mental lapses that should easily be corrected. 13 weeks in, they haven't been. NSD mentioned something about not wanting to face the Saints because our D won't be able to stop their offense even once. The way the D is playing, that possibility is not an exaggeration.
The NFL: Where Greg Jennings Happens.