Perspective on where our defense stands

I saw Spags completely screwed the system during the first six games, leaving Big Sed in the whole game for instance. When Vitt returned he dressed down Spags and started putting younger players to spell the older guys, Hawthorne got healthy and replaced Shanle and Vilma returned, but by then we were well on our way to history.

We improved towards the end of the season, but it was obvious to Payton that Spags was the biggest problem with his stubbornness on personnel, and his demand that the defense not audible out of the called play. Offensive geniuses like Blaine Gabbert and Matt Cassell had career days against our defense.

Big Sed, Shanle, Herring and Johnny Patrick will probably not be here next year. These guys were weak links for sure but their inadequacy made others around them look bad too.