I am sick and tired of the excuses and failures on defense. We are not getting it done.
It is like watching a horror movie. There is a pleasant start, but somewhere into the plot you know that the characters are going to get slashed to pieces.
Three major problems
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We lack physicality and measured aggressionOur schemes are typically too passive We make do not develop players [/list]Among other things, these shortcomings manifest themselves as follows:The front sevenIt doesn’t matter if you have a 4-3, 3-4 or anything else. There is edge responsibility and inside of that, gap responsibility. (Almost no defensive scheme today play a 2 gap system…regrettably) When individuals get pushed out of their gaps the defense gets gashed by the run.
Too often, our guys get annihilated, destroyed, and blown so far out their gaps that there are giant holes in the defense that the poor guy next to the guy getting destroyed has an enormous chasm to try and fill. And when they are merely decimated (v destroyed) and pushed 3 yard off the line, our ILBs cannot get to their gaps.
WE NEED TO TEACH THESE GUYS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH THE PHYSICAL TALENT LIKE ADAMS AND KEKE TO CONTROL THE DOUBLE TEAMS. I just don’t know that Lowry and Lancaster have the physical ability to do it. They were destroyed last year in both SF games. And by the way, in the second half Clark took his share of ass-whipping.
Regrettably, against physically strong OLines, we get destroyed, i.e. SF, SD, etc., we have gotten get manhandled. Unless they are really banged up, we will likely get manhandled again Thursday
The Smiths, especially P Smith to a very good job setting the edge. It is what is happen between them that sucks. I actually feel sorry for them.
Clearly we have some talent shortcomings at ILB
Watching the Bears and Saints right now and both defensive lines do not get destroyed by double teams. They generally hold their ground and keep gap control. I am jealous.
IMO, we have enough talent to get it done…but we are not. Regardless, if we can’t match up then the staff need to put in stunts and slants and change it up.
The SecondaryWe have an expensive free agent, 3 first round draft choices starting today, and we did not cover any better than the Vikings with a terribly banged up secondary. IT IS NOT THE TALENT. We consistently play 7-10 yards off the ball, even on 3rd and short yardage. To wit, on the nice tackle by Amos, towards the end of the game, Jackson was 12 yards off the line in a must stop situation. Had the QB kept the ball and flipped it to Theilen, he would have be 20 yards away. Today, in a windy stadium we did not press and force over the top throws. By the way when you press, your corners can help more quickly in the run game.
Too often our coverage schemes are soft and passive. Don’t tell me we can’t play man with safety over, that's non-sense. We can occasionally go man or man-over and blitz. The net is that we have emasculated our DB's with our passive game planning and scheming.
There are fewer blown coverages than the Capers era, but the overall product is still woefully inadequate.
The Vikings were down to their 6-7 DBs and they had at least as good coverage as we did.
SummaryMoreover, we need a new approach. THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY IS DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND EXPECT TO GET A DIFFERENT RESULT. I was big Pettine fan, but ever since he moved to the sideline the defense has gotten worse. IMO he can’t see real-time what the hell is going on out there. He needs to mix it up more....or we need to make a change.
In Luce tua Videmus Lucem KRK