diehardfan
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Our defense lacks basic principles (long)
Our defense lacks other things as well, but one thing that is a chronic issue is our failure to set the edge on plays. I've noticed it countless times this year.
This is Defense 101 and we're terrible at it. Why? It was obvious that KC was attacking us on the edges early and we were getting beat.
The mis-directions and the waggle plays we're running us side to side and beating us down after down.
It has been a consistent issue throughout the entire year. We have a hard enough time setting the edge on a straight-forward play, but you throw in some misdirection and waggles and we're lost.
What concerns me is the consistency of the problem throughout the year. I understand we have been decimated by injuries, but it is also a small symptom of a much larger problem: bad defense.
When you watch good defenses play, you can tell they adhere to basic defensive principles. There aren't enormous gaps of space caused by misdirection and overpursuit of the football. The 3rd down defense makes sense: cover at and behind the 1st down, make them check it down, go and make the tackle. Boom, 4th down.
Our defense isn't like that. RBs run free out of the backfield. We overpursue just about every play. Waggles, misdirections, reverses, end-arounds...all of those plays eat us alive.
The Giants game is the only game where we seemed to play logical defense. We gave up a lot of yards but only 16 points.
The Breaux injury hurt us worse than anything else, without a doubt.
But here's my point: our defenses seem to lack basic concepts (or maybe they are more complicated than I can understand). I think a solid defensive coordinator could install a defense that plays better, consistently.
When was our defense good in the Payton era? When we hired a good defensive guy and let him coach. Yes, we had better players (who were healthy) but we at least had an aggressive defense that seemed like it was based on principles, knowledge and experience.
Our defense looks like a mess. We aren't aggressive; we play on our heels. We don't look like a unit.
Here's the bottom line IMO: yes, we have had more injuries than we should be dealing with, but there seems to be a deeper issue. It's not just a talent issue. We're setup to fail. We take a player like Byrd and ask him to do something different than has made him successful in the past. We're making personnel decisions that don't seem to be in tune with our defensive plan. That plan or philosophy also seems to be questionable.
I'm no coach but I know you have to hold your gaps and set the edge on defense. Why can't we do that?
TL;DR In a nutshell: our defense doesn't make sense and we don't manage personnel well.
Our defense lacks other things as well, but one thing that is a chronic issue is our failure to set the edge on plays. I've noticed it countless times this year.
This is Defense 101 and we're terrible at it. Why? It was obvious that KC was attacking us on the edges early and we were getting beat.
The mis-directions and the waggle plays we're running us side to side and beating us down after down.
It has been a consistent issue throughout the entire year. We have a hard enough time setting the edge on a straight-forward play, but you throw in some misdirection and waggles and we're lost.
What concerns me is the consistency of the problem throughout the year. I understand we have been decimated by injuries, but it is also a small symptom of a much larger problem: bad defense.
When you watch good defenses play, you can tell they adhere to basic defensive principles. There aren't enormous gaps of space caused by misdirection and overpursuit of the football. The 3rd down defense makes sense: cover at and behind the 1st down, make them check it down, go and make the tackle. Boom, 4th down.
Our defense isn't like that. RBs run free out of the backfield. We overpursue just about every play. Waggles, misdirections, reverses, end-arounds...all of those plays eat us alive.
The Giants game is the only game where we seemed to play logical defense. We gave up a lot of yards but only 16 points.
The Breaux injury hurt us worse than anything else, without a doubt.
But here's my point: our defenses seem to lack basic concepts (or maybe they are more complicated than I can understand). I think a solid defensive coordinator could install a defense that plays better, consistently.
When was our defense good in the Payton era? When we hired a good defensive guy and let him coach. Yes, we had better players (who were healthy) but we at least had an aggressive defense that seemed like it was based on principles, knowledge and experience.
Our defense looks like a mess. We aren't aggressive; we play on our heels. We don't look like a unit.
Here's the bottom line IMO: yes, we have had more injuries than we should be dealing with, but there seems to be a deeper issue. It's not just a talent issue. We're setup to fail. We take a player like Byrd and ask him to do something different than has made him successful in the past. We're making personnel decisions that don't seem to be in tune with our defensive plan. That plan or philosophy also seems to be questionable.
I'm no coach but I know you have to hold your gaps and set the edge on defense. Why can't we do that?
TL;DR In a nutshell: our defense doesn't make sense and we don't manage personnel well.
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