The answer is Yes, the defense can be blamed. For several years now, they have ranged between mediocre and bad. We have won so many games basically by outscoring other teams even though our D has given up so much.
The better question would be, is the defense in that subpar range because of the Capers schemes or because Ted Thompson has failed to add enough quality personnel? That's a tough call, but I'm going with the latter. Certainly Capers schemes have left openings for other teams - as gimmick defenses are prone to do, but I would suggest that those schemes are necessary. I would argue that without trickery, we just don't have the quality personnel to have any credible pass rush or to shut down a team's running game without doing something unusual, thereby becoming vulnerable elsewhere. We are going with a couple of plow horses at ILB; As much as I was hoping Perry would be a bookend for Matthews at OLB, he seems pretty ordinary. The D Line is only even borderline because of Jolly coming back, Maybe Datone Jones will help, but it hasn't happened yet. Corner has been a bright spot, but without better front seven play, the corners can't be expected to shut down everything all the time. And I grudgingly have to go along with those saying we should have gotten more quality help at Safety. Getting Hayward and Burnett back will help a lot, but I still say the front seven other than Matthews is saturated with mediocrity.
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