Defensive Coaching (1 Viewer)

FWtex

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Its a given the safetiess are killing the saints but I wonder if Gibbs is failing at predicting the offensive playcalls and communicating that to the players.

Case in point. Cin is a passing team so there has to be some statistics telling the defense when to expect them to throw. I don't think I was the only one sitting on the couch knowing the first TD pass was coming. Nor do I think I was on the cin possession following Johnsons second td and NOLA went 3 and out. Cin had momentum and you just knew they were going for the juggular.

The players and coaches should be able to predict what the offense is going to do.
 
Gibbs defense has been respectable. Given out current talent he has done a good job. He calls the Blitz at the right time. We lack personel.

Everyone on this board knew before season that we are still 2 off seasons from a championship caliber D.

I think that if we stop the turnover's and maybe I dunno create some. That our D will play well enough to let us win one.

I liked Gibbs at LSU
I love Gibbs at the Saints

1/2 of Gibbs brain=2 times the brain of Haslett
 
I don't think the defense was the problem in yesterdays game. The turnovers were. As many weapons as the Bengals have our defense held them to only 10 points until about halfway through the fourth quarter. Joe Horn alluded to that in a press conference after the game, the defense gave the offense enough to win that game, the offense needs to score. If Brees doesn't throw 2 INTs in the endzone the Saints might be winning that game 24-10 in the 4th quarter and we wouldn't even be discussing the defense right now.
 
Given our personnel, it's hard to imagine us playing much better defensively this year.

Certainly, there was a bad game (Steelers), but there have been some tremendous stretches (first half of the Eagles game; tremendous early work against the Packers that kept us in the game; first three quarters yesterday; all but 4 minutes of the second Bucs game; first three quarters of the Panthers game) where they've done a very good job of getting off the field and getting us the ball back in good field position.

We simply do not have the athletes to create a lot of turnovers or take a lot of chances. If we blitz too, too much, we are going to get killed out there. We probably could be better coached, but I'm not sure by how much, and I was one of the guys out there really scratching his head about the choice of DC last spring. It's always easy to say stuff like "the safeties aren't getting over" and "we should blitz more", but teams now have to work to run the ball on us and to attack our weak spots, as opposed to just coming out and running their offense like it's a skeleton drill. Overall, I'm pleased.
 
I agree, but the defense has to play 4 quarters, not 3. It's unacceptable to not have S help in the secondary on long pass plays. It was dumb not to have double coverage on Chad, especially since Freddie is still nicked up.
 
I give credit for Gibbs blitzing and at least trying to win the battle against the Bengals' offense, rather than just sitting back and reacting. I think we're just another season away from having enough impact players on D for the unit to be truly good.
 
Given our personnel, it's hard to imagine us playing much better defensively this year.

Certainly, there was a bad game (Steelers), but there have been some tremendous stretches (first half of the Eagles game; tremendous early work against the Packers that kept us in the game; first three quarters yesterday; all but 4 minutes of the second Bucs game; first three quarters of the Panthers game) where they've done a very good job of getting off the field and getting us the ball back in good field position.

We simply do not have the athletes to create a lot of turnovers or take a lot of chances. If we blitz too, too much, we are going to get killed out there. We probably could be better coached, but I'm not sure by how much, and I was one of the guys out there really scratching his head about the choice of DC last spring. It's always easy to say stuff like "the safeties aren't getting over" and "we should blitz more", but teams now have to work to run the ball on us and to attack our weak spots, as opposed to just coming out and running their offense like it's a skeleton drill. Overall, I'm pleased.

I agree with this. This defense is certainly not similiar to a Venturi led squad. Problem is, we don't have the talent (excluding an injured Harper) beyond the front four to dominate or even consistently control offenses. I don't think that it is a coaching problem at all, and if anything, our D is playing a bit better than I expected considering the talent.

Just some additional thoughts:

Safetys: Stoudmire is playing as expected, aggressive coming up against the run, but is not fleet of foot and does not excel in coverage. His aggressiveness against the run hurts him at time as he is not a perfect form tackler. Often comes in blind without wrapping up. I have been dissappointed with Bullocks as I have seen him miss several tackles in traffic near the LOS. In addition, he does not appear decisive in taking angles and anticipating routes and passes.

Corner play: Without question, I feel that Gibbs and Payton know that Freddy T is limited and would like to upgrade. Problem is, there is no one to immediately upgrade the position.

Linebackers: Aside from Fajita, this corp is limited. Although the backers are generally in the position to make plays, they just don't make enough of them (hard to blame coaching for this). I highly doubt that Simineau is part of Gibbs future plans as starting MIKE. However, he is the best that we have at the moment.

Schemes/Blitzing: As you indicated, considering our lack of cover skills, we could get burned badly if we blitz too much or at the wrong times.

Although some of my comments may fall into the "obvious" category, just emphazing that coaching ability/performance is the least of my worries. We will vastly improve as our talent level improves in the future.
 
Maybe we need a new QB/Offensive Coordinator. We had the ball 3 times in Cincy territory in the 2nd quarter we turned the ball over 3 times including 2 Brees INT's inside the 20.

The game was 10-7 going into the fourth quarter so the defense held thier own til that point. When we finally had a chance to get within 7 Bree's threw an INT for a TD in the 4th quarter.

Enough whining about the defense. Our offense has to play better.
 
Gibbs defense has been respectable. Given out current talent he has done a good job. He calls the Blitz at the right time. We lack personel.

Everyone on this board knew before season that we are still 2 off seasons from a championship caliber D.

I think that if we stop the turnover's and maybe I dunno create some. That our D will play well enough to let us win one.

I liked Gibbs at LSU
I love Gibbs at the Saints

1/2 of Gibbs brain=12 times the brain of Venturi

Fixed your post.
 

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