YoHoChecko wrote: ↑06 Jun 2021 21:03
lupedafiasco wrote: ↑06 Jun 2021 21:00
Defense still wins championships and this hasnt been a championship defense.
Will Stokes be the difference? Time will tell. I still dont think they are good enough at DT or LB. Clark can be way more disruptive with a running mate. Maybe Slaton will be a rookie sensation but the odds are against him.
I honestly think the difference in the run defense will be formational.
We ran dime an absurd amount. We ALWAYS had one more DB that the offensive personnel required us to have. Part of that was because a 3rd safety was often better than a 2nd ILB on our roster, which may or may not remain true this year. But a lot of that is 2-man DLs, as well. That's why the coordinator got fired. If you're struggling to stop the run and lead the league in dime usage, you change the play calls and/or the scheme.
who was our last 3 dn lber that was pretty good both in coverage and stopping the run? I'am thinking Barnett, and that is a travesty, I agree formational change would help, but if your going use a 50 front, you need more then one player that can drop and cover, or the defense will know whats coming, ya can't rush 5 guys to much this is still a pass first league.
hardly any teams now use a lot of in line TE, and lbers that can cover big fast TE's are few, same against RB's, everyone since that Barnett era are mismatched against them and lack agility and speed.
imho we lack the players to man up for either the run or the pass unless we platoon, and that makes it easier for offense to lock us into one set of players with no huddle and attack our poorly matched up players against what we have not been able to switch out to gain better match ups, and this imo has been a ongoing issue for a decade.
almost every year we use high draft capitol on CB, edge rushers, and finally a safety, and re rinse ILB with mid or undrafted FA, players that rarely have any instinctual ability to play the position at this level, first thing I'd do is send every scout we have to some sort of lber school so they know what to look for ina ILB, I know that sounds stupid, but so is all of the misses since Barnetts time.