Defense question
 

Last season we were legit, and this season we're having problems in the secondary though we have pretty much the same personnel. What I have noticed is that our CB's are lining up 7-10 yards away from the receivers, which is reminding me of the old "bend but don't break" defense we used to have before Greg Williams that didn't work either. SO, what I want to know, if anyone remembers, how were our CBs playing receivers last year? Were they lining up as they are now or is this something new this season?

Re: Defense question
 

2013
out of the gate 5-0
rest of the way 7-6 (includes playoffs)

2014
out of the gate 1-3

blame road wows or what ever. there is a reason and that IMO is the fact offensive coordinators had time to watch film on the twist we made to the defense with 3 safety formations and such. they game planned it and beat it. on the road one thing has always been true over the years. defense wins road games. home field advantage we have and so does every team in the NFL. Our is better than most.

Blame?

same old game plan with no adjustments.

Drafting and free agency signings did nothing to change the facts of why we were running this defense. injuries.

Do not buy into the excuse that it is too complicated. maybe it has been beat by the offensive coordinators around the NFL.

it is a little late in the game with this system. 7-6 in the last 13 games of 2013 you would think it would have turned on a light bubble the system is beatable. nope we now sit at 1-3 in 2014 and just now starting to wake up?

Rob tied his hand in the 2013 off season. we do not have the players or the talent depth wise to do much about this scheme wise. he do have a boat load of safeties though.

So gut check time and self pride is all we can really do.

4-3 any one?

Re: Defense question
 

Its pretty simple. Last year we had a pass rush, this year we do not.
Without a solid front 7, any secondary will get toasted, and this is proven over and over again and again.

I don't remember playing our CB's so far off last year. This is McGriffs second season so maybe its got his fingerprints all over it.

I see something that reminds me so much of 2012 I wanna throw up. After getting toasted on a long gainer our CB's look confused. They're palms are up wondering who was supposed to cover who. That didn't hapen a whole lot last year.

Another thing that reminds me of 2012 is so many missed tackles and gaping holes to run through.

I think the talent is there to be much better than what we see now, even with our sub-par LB's. They just aren't all on the same page it appears.

Re: Defense question
 

We can get a decent push when we blitz. I didn't watch the whole Dallas game for obvious reasons but when we blitzed it worked. We may get burned from time to time but we are getting burned all the time so might as will start sending folks. I fully hope to start seeing this development otherwise it will more of the same.

Re: Defense question
 

Exactly, and that is end of story!

Re: Defense question
 

Yeah, when you're this bad, change things. Blitz to put as much pressure on as you can and bump the receivers hard at the line to throw off timing routes.

Re: Defense question
 

That's the same thing Williams did and I didn't see it having too much success, who knows if it would be any better than what we have now...

Re: Defense question
 

That's just it. We don't know if it will work or not.

We do know what we're doing now isn't working.

If you can't get a pass rush from your D line and your DBacks can't cover, you're not left with many options.

Re: Defense question
 

No one can cover as long as we are giving the opposing QBs, the pass rush should be the #1 priority on the fix-it list

Re: Defense question
 

Our defensive woes can't be as simple to fix because they would have done it by now.

Re: Defense question
 

I agree.

Re: Defense question
 

3 names stick out the most with me-Johnson, Vitt, McGriff, when Ryan was hired he couldn't bring in his own D staff and was stuck with these 3, they may be (well respected) in the league but come on Ryan is a 3-4 guy that took on a 4-3 team, our lb.'s have been fair at the best and our D-line have been o.k. at times but never been consistantly good( a patch job at the best) with back-up players filling key roles, Byrd is the real thing in the backfield, Lewis to, White at the #3 is fine, really we have a talented backfield. This scheme we're playing is killing us point blank and that goes on the coaches. Ryan is known for his lb.'s , where are they? We do not have the players for a Ryan 3-4 which is exactly what we need. We need to get rid of Johnson, Vitt, and McGriff. Fresh blood is needed in the D coaching staff.

Re: Defense question
 

x1000! :bng:

Re: Defense question
 

Agree and one more thing is the emphasis placed on turnovers where every D player is now trying to strip the ball instead of just tackling. Wrap up the guy first then someone else comes in for the strip. There is only 1 Peanut Tillman and he is probably retired soon with that injury!

Re: Defense question
 

Lack of pass rush will do that to any team.

And Robby is cray cray.

Re: Defense question
 

What is this pass rush you all keep talking about from 2013? I don't remember any of it save against the clowns and the tampons, who were about as dysfunctional as they could come.

Re: Defense question
 

Can't agree more here, the trying to punch the ball loose has only allowed the run to continue that much further. Make the tackle and limit the damage as much as possible.

Re: Defense question
 

Saints had one of the better pass rushes in the league last year. PFF tallied the second most pressures from a 3-4 Dline and the 5th most pressures from the LB. The Saints were also the only team in the league with two players with at least a dozen sacks.