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1st Quarter Defensive Evals


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We're a quarter of the way though the season...so how's the defense doing?

 

Coordinator: Teryl Austin

I think he's been the biggest disappointment.  We're playing a ton of off coverage when we've seen press coverage (especially for WJIII) has been effective in the past.  I'm sure there are reasons (young safeties), but we're taking away the strengths of our top 3 CB.  WJIII has elite skills and can mirror most receivers, Dre has size and long arms and Dennard is physical off of the line.  You can't play press all of the time, but we should be in it a lot more in my opinion, especially on 3rd and medium to short.  It doesn't seem like we're playing much zone, which I'm ok with, but it should be mixed in a little more.  I think we need to do a better job of disguising coverages to create interceptions.  

 

Other than that I think he's struggling to get the best out of a below average linebacking corps.  Hopefully Tez can help out there, but we can't cover anything underneath and they're missing a ton of tackle in the running game.  LB needs to be a high priority in FA or the draft.

 

D-Line:

Geno and Carlos have played well and worth every penny of their contracts right now.  It sounds like Glas was playing well before his injury, but I honestly didn't pay too much attention there so I can't comment.  Lawson has been a bit disappointing, but Willis and Hubbard have flashed.  This is still the strength of our D, but opposing QBs are getting it out quickly (another reason to play more press coverage).   

 

LBs:

Terrible. Vigil has made a few plays, but other than that have the LBs done anything this year?  Nickerson plays hard, Preston Brown had a pick vs. Indy, been out for two games and disappeared vs. ATL.  With ATL running 3+ WRs a lot of the time it makes sense why he didn't make a ton of plays as he was either on the sideline or there was a mismatch on the field...not the best match up fof him.    

 

CBs:

WJIII has taken a step back from last year.  He's given up a ton of yards and some TDs.  I think we can put him in position to make more plays, but as it stands right now, he needs to do better than he's done. Kirk has been up and down and dropped a few picks.  He's not playing up to his contract IMO.  Dennard has been solid, but not great.

 

Safties:

Bates has done well for a rookie.  He's got a pick and he's making tackles once the RB comes through the linebackers.  Shawn Williams has made some plays as well, but struggles in coverage.  Fej has been solid and may be our best safety at the moment.  He seems to be in the right place and does his job well.  

 

Overall the defense has been a major disappointment.  They didn't play well in three of the four games, but we're 3-1.  If they can become an average defense this team should have some postseason success.  

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I'll give Austin the benefit of the doubt, because if you look around the league. No one can play defense, without a flag being throw every two or three seconds into the game. Mike zimmer and paul guenther are having the same problem, defensive coach's are not only concern about the new rules,but some them are watering down thier scheme.

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1 hour ago, bigboi said:

I'll give Austin the benefit of the doubt, because if you look around the league. No one can play defense, without a flag being throw every two or three seconds into the game. Mike zimmer and paul guenther are having the same problem, defensive coach's are not only concern about the new rules,but some them are watering down thier scheme.

This is how I’m taking it. 

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10 hours ago, High School Harry said:

Wow!  The season is a quarter over already?

Hard to believe right? Not that it means anything, but might be interesting to look back on this. Many division leaders are surprising, at least to me, at the 1/4th point in the season.

 

 

Screenshot_20181003-083939_Facebook1-1.jpg

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4 minutes ago, Griever said:

Hard to believe right? Not that it means anything, but might be interesting to look back on this. Many division leaders are surprising, at least to me, at the 1/4th point in the season.

 

 

Screenshot_20181003-083939_Facebook1-1.jpg

There is an article on nfl.com examining this . The phins and us of course are considered "shaky" .

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28 minutes ago, schotzee said:

There is an article on nfl.com examining this . The phins and us of course are considered "shaky" .

Thanks for the heads up, just read it.

 

Apparently the author is a "NFL Network Analytics Expert"...so guess we should just pack it in for the season since the Ravens are gonna win the division...

 

:ninja:

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13 hours ago, bigboi said:

I'll give Austin the benefit of the doubt, because if you look around the league. No one can play defense, without a flag being throw every two or three seconds into the game. Mike zimmer and paul guenther are having the same problem, defensive coach's are not only concern about the new rules,but some them are watering down thier scheme.

For damn sure. Zimmer's defense has given up 29, 27, and 38 in their last three games, and one of those was to the Bills. Success on defense this year is gonna look a whole lot different than people are used to, under these rules. 

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14 hours ago, bigboi said:

I'll give Austin the benefit of the doubt, because if you look around the league. No one can play defense, without a flag being throw every two or three seconds into the game. Mike zimmer and paul guenther are having the same problem, defensive coach's are not only concern about the new rules,but some them are watering down thier scheme.

I agree of giving Austin the benefit of the doubt only because it's a "new system". My hope is that we start to come out of the learning curve and improve.

I see your point (and can't argue with the numbers) but I don't believe they've squashed defensive capabilities (yet) and don't see that as our issue. If you look at our run defense (or lack thereof) and some of our coverages, it's not a rules issue - it's just poor defense. I think we have enough talent to say that it's not a talent issue either.

I agree that the roughing the QB issue is changing the dynamics and visibly so but not the rest of it.

I'm a glass is half full guy so I'm hoping that the return of Burfict and more time in Austin's system will boost us to at least a middle of the road defense. If our D can do that......this team will be a handful.

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15 hours ago, bigboi said:

I'll give Austin the benefit of the doubt, because if you look around the league. No one can play defense, without a flag being throw every two or three seconds into the game. Mike zimmer and paul guenther are having the same problem, defensive coach's are not only concern about the new rules,but some them are watering down thier scheme.

I would, too, but the tackling hasn't improved under him one little bit.That has nothing to do with the system. That's a basic skill. Some might argue that the rule change may affect that, but the tackling was horrendous before the rule change and before Teryl Austin got here. 

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