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During my lunchbreak, I went back and re-watched the entire game (Defense Only) and keyed specifically on the secondary. Here's my take-away's:
1. Carolina went at Ceedy Deuce (CGJ) alot. ALOT. Reason being, he was asked to play man coverage on the slot receiver the entire game. I thought that's what we brought P. Rob in to do? And isn't that PJ William's specialty? I get wanting to have your best players on the field, but it doesn't do any good if you are playing them out of position or putting them in a position to fail. He's not a man corner, he's a SS. That's on the coaches. Good coaches put their players in a position to succeed by playing to their strengths.
2. Marcus Williams still can't tackle. Shocker, I know. And he can still be counted on for at least one massively blown coverage assignment per game. Overall though, his play was ok.
3. Why is Alex Anzalone starting? He is a liability out there. When he's not getting washed out by any offensive player in his field of view, he's missing tackles or getting burned in the pass game. Seriously, he's nothing but a player on the field right now who contributes nothing that is visible.
4. Malcolm Jenkins looks lost. There were multiple plays where the defense made checks and he had no idea what he was supposed to do. He seemed to be out of position often, scrambling just before the snap to recover, only to get in another defender's way. And he was very rarely in position to make plays on the ball or a tackle. (The last statement can also be used for Marcus Williams)
5. Our D-Line is a problem.... for the opponents. Seriously, I'm not sure what all the complaining is about? These guys were constantly putting pressure on Teddy B, but he had a lot of easy completions to whomever CGJ was covering when the pressure got there, or he scrambled, and well I might add. The run game is non-existent against these guys. They constantly penetrate and get into the backfield to disrupt the plays. They make our linebackers look really good. (Except for Anzalone, of course). If they stay healthy, I think over the next couple of games of gelling with a healthy Davenport, the sacks will start coming in bunches. Which should also lead to more turnovers.
6. Marshon Lattimore is still our best defensive player. Yes, he gave up a couple of completions, but he has quietly become the best tackler on the team. The dude is playing angry and it is evident in his tackling.
7. Jackrabbit is still a really good corner. He gave up one completion that I saw, and I'm not sure if his receiver was targeted for the rest of the game.
8. I'm really starting to wish we had paid Teddy to be the heir apparent. He looked really good out there. He was calm, made very few mistakes, and operated very efficiently. Not sure what front office was thinking in letting him go knowing Drew had maybe one more year??? Especially after he showed what he could do in the 5 game stint last year.
In a nutshell, the defense didn't play all that bad. Carolina spotted a weakness early (CGJ playing man against the slot receiver) and exploited it the entire game. That's on the coaches to identify this also and put someone else out there or change up the coverage/assignments. If I could spot it watching the game from my desk eating lunch, surely they could too???
1. Carolina went at Ceedy Deuce (CGJ) alot. ALOT. Reason being, he was asked to play man coverage on the slot receiver the entire game. I thought that's what we brought P. Rob in to do? And isn't that PJ William's specialty? I get wanting to have your best players on the field, but it doesn't do any good if you are playing them out of position or putting them in a position to fail. He's not a man corner, he's a SS. That's on the coaches. Good coaches put their players in a position to succeed by playing to their strengths.
2. Marcus Williams still can't tackle. Shocker, I know. And he can still be counted on for at least one massively blown coverage assignment per game. Overall though, his play was ok.
3. Why is Alex Anzalone starting? He is a liability out there. When he's not getting washed out by any offensive player in his field of view, he's missing tackles or getting burned in the pass game. Seriously, he's nothing but a player on the field right now who contributes nothing that is visible.
4. Malcolm Jenkins looks lost. There were multiple plays where the defense made checks and he had no idea what he was supposed to do. He seemed to be out of position often, scrambling just before the snap to recover, only to get in another defender's way. And he was very rarely in position to make plays on the ball or a tackle. (The last statement can also be used for Marcus Williams)
5. Our D-Line is a problem.... for the opponents. Seriously, I'm not sure what all the complaining is about? These guys were constantly putting pressure on Teddy B, but he had a lot of easy completions to whomever CGJ was covering when the pressure got there, or he scrambled, and well I might add. The run game is non-existent against these guys. They constantly penetrate and get into the backfield to disrupt the plays. They make our linebackers look really good. (Except for Anzalone, of course). If they stay healthy, I think over the next couple of games of gelling with a healthy Davenport, the sacks will start coming in bunches. Which should also lead to more turnovers.
6. Marshon Lattimore is still our best defensive player. Yes, he gave up a couple of completions, but he has quietly become the best tackler on the team. The dude is playing angry and it is evident in his tackling.
7. Jackrabbit is still a really good corner. He gave up one completion that I saw, and I'm not sure if his receiver was targeted for the rest of the game.
8. I'm really starting to wish we had paid Teddy to be the heir apparent. He looked really good out there. He was calm, made very few mistakes, and operated very efficiently. Not sure what front office was thinking in letting him go knowing Drew had maybe one more year??? Especially after he showed what he could do in the 5 game stint last year.
In a nutshell, the defense didn't play all that bad. Carolina spotted a weakness early (CGJ playing man against the slot receiver) and exploited it the entire game. That's on the coaches to identify this also and put someone else out there or change up the coverage/assignments. If I could spot it watching the game from my desk eating lunch, surely they could too???
