Danno

Lkelley67, I agree with you\'re analysis 1000%. In fact I have written the same thing over and over again. Smith will help. He\'ll get a few more turnovers for us that T-buck did, and he\'ll command more respect. But it won\'t help our run defense.

Here\'s what I noticed as the year went on.
Early in the year we were susceptible to the cut-back run. Charles Grant rarely held contain, just bursted upfield trying to get to the QB. But as the year went on he started to get it. He was holding contain and the cut-backs stopped working. I re-watched the Dallas game and saw him do it several times. Julius Jones\'s bread and butter is a sweet cut-back. Grant made huge strides defending this as the year went on. I credit Pease with this as I\'m sure Charles didn\'t figure this out on his own.

Same with James Allen. While I still think he\'d start on only about 3 teams in this league he did start playing smarter. I still don\'t trust him but he was also one of the cut-back culprits of 2004.

As the year went on you could slowly start to see that rotation-thing Pease implemented starting to work. The last 5 or 6 games our D-line still looked fresh in the 4th quarter.

I think as is, our run defense will be better in 2005. But still not good. I just don\'t understand why they don\'t go after a LB (or two) and a true 2-gap DT. It would make it so much easier.

GumboBC

I agree with LKelley67. Our run defense was terrible over the first 12 games. Forget everything else, factor nothing else in, they were terrible and it was all on the defense.

And I agree that I don\'t trust our young LB and I think another DT is probably needed.

But, I\'ll say this again. The last 4 games were no fluke. The improvement was for real. I don\'t think it means we\'re gonna have a dominating defense, but I can\'t write those games off either. Hopefully, it will carry over into \'05.

In conclusion, we still need a player or 2 before I think we can be a dominating defense. A good LB and DT looks like all that is needed to make this defense a force. Without that help, I still think we\'re nowhere close to the worst defense. Probably about average.

LKelley67

i will be thrilled if the d could move up 10 spots. there is enough offensive firepower (and with a better approach) to contend with that. it will be interesting to see how the schedule is doled out. the first coupla games could be even more season defining than in past years. in fact, that\'s kinda an interesting fantasy question...

what 4 games would you choose to open and close this season with. opener and closer cannot both be at home and no more than 4 of the 8 be at home.

how bout...
first 4-
1. @Tampa Bay see how much they have improved, smith shows his stuff
2. Miami @home saban returns to louisiana
3. Detroit@home shooting for a good start
4. @Green Bay do that one early please
----
13. @Atlanta not NE in dec. this rivalry 2 of last 4
14. @Minnesota playoff preview hopefully
15. Carolina@home homefield stretch run
16. Atlanta @home all the marbles maybe

Euphoria

let me give some input... I think at some point I would realize this team isn\'t going to win big, I would hope to realize this early enouth like at the end of this past season. I would get back Randy, and start trading off every body. Keeping some of the younger talent with potenial... Brooks, Deuce, Horn, Howard, Jones... everyone is expendable. Get as many draft picks as you could higher the better and start over. Venturi demoted.

LKelley67

agreed euph, should coulda but didnt. so we hope on that in the parity driven nfl there might be a taste of just one playoff win for the second time in 38 years. i\'d rather a 4-12 and housecleaning rather than another 8-8.

baronm

I think most of us would lkelley