"Our defense led the league in takeaways and defense against the run," second-year defensive coordinator Dom Capers said in a phone interview. "Normally, when you lead the league in takeaways and run defense, you should have a shot. So probably our biggest challenge is to figure out how to improve our pass defense, especially how to get more pressure on a consistent basis."
"zombieslayer" wrote:
I think this is the key here. Generate more pass pressure and we have an elite D. You may even see more shots at INTs than even last year.
And I like that. It's just that the method isn't the one I'd like to take.
We had no real pass rusher on the D-line besides Cullen Jenkins. Johnny Jolly is good, but he didn't get to the QB a whole lot. Pickett is a monster in the middle, but he's the kind of guy who holds up his men, doesn't let anyone get passed him, rather than collapsing the pocket.
So I understand that we want to go with Raji in the middle and drafted someone who can get to the QB in Mike Neal.
Thing is, it won't solve our OLB problems. You can get by pretty well with guys like Jolly and Pickett when you have someone who can take advantage of getting 1-on-1 match-ups against TE, RBs and maybe even RTs.
Problem is, Jones and Matthews both lose that battle too often. Once they're engaged, they're out of the play. It seems like we're trying to compensate, rather than fix the issue.