Criticism of Secondary Makes No Sense

[TwentyOne]

Yes but he should but have been the back up
In the NFL you are 1 play away from starting
It is called poor planning

We carried 8 LBs at the start of the season:

LB Sean Lee
LB Anthony Hitchens
LB Damien Wilson

LB Justin Durant
LB Jaylon Smith
LB Kyle Wilber
LB Mark Nzeocha

Top 3 were the starters.
JS was penciled in as a backup.

What do you want ? Carry 9 LBs or sign 2 MLBs with starting potential ? whos gonna pay their contracts ? And which other position you will get thin on ?

Please get into details of your planning.

 

[CCBoy]

They need to send him after the QB. Coaching staff putting him in bad position. They should be able to see he is struggling in coverage.

Two down linebacker?

 

[KingintheNorth]

You fumbled on your way to the clever zone.

OK...that's being generous...you muffed the handoff.

No, he nailed it.

Your post was selective.

The secondary is an issue. Youth and inexperience is not some get out of jail free card. Injuries are a part of football. The secondary has to be significantly better if this team is going to compete for a championship.

 

[CowboyRoy]

No, he nailed it.

Your post was selective.

The secondary is an issue. Youth and inexperience is not some get out of jail free card. Injuries are a part of football. The secondary has to be significantly better if this team is going to compete for a championship.

When half of your starters are scrubs and they are either hurt or they stink, and the backups are raw rookies? Yah that spells disaster. And its unfolding as was predicted.

 

[visionary]

We carried 8 LBs at the start of the season:

LB Sean Lee
LB Anthony Hitchens
LB Damien Wilson

LB Justin Durant
LB Jaylon Smith
LB Kyle Wilber
LB Mark Nzeocha

Top 3 were the starters.
JS was penciled in as a backup.

What do you want ? Carry 9 LBs or sign 2 MLBs with starting potential ? whos gonna pay their contracts ? And which other position you will get thin on ?

Please get into details of your planning.

Lee is injured almost every year
Hitchens is a borderline starter
Smith is not fit to be a backup
That is a bad bad LB group

 

[CowboyGil]

Yes but he should but have been the back up
In the NFL you are 1 play away from starting
It is called poor planning

no hope of him getting better if he doesn't get snaps.

 

[bsbellomy]

This week I've seen stinging criticism of Heath and Jones. Earlier in the season I've seen posters belittle Scandrick and Brown.

One guy dedicates a post to convey we need another round of secondary upgrades.

It's a mountain of ignorance because our secondary has played pretty well despite youth, inexperience and widespread injury.

Some folks around here flat can't analyze football. Case in point? What would you think of a secondary that permitted 14/26 for 161 yards. Not bad eh? Especially if we are talking about a young, injury depleted secondary behind a d-line that wasn't getting to the quarterback.

If you subtract what Gurley was able to do as a receiver when attacking Jaylon Smith and look at what the Rams did against the secondary? 14/26 for 161 yards.

That's good stuff, folks. With the additions of Woods, Awuzie and Lewis--especially as they heal up and get some experience--to Scandrick, Jones and Brown...this can be a Super Bowl caliber secondary.

We have problems on this team: linebacker, outside receiver, tight end, left guard, right tackle...but our secondary is going to be sexy this year...and for years to come.

Super Bowl caliber? Some people maybe taking it too far with the negative but you are going overboard based on what we've seen.

 

[bsbellomy]

I loved watching Darren play!

Part of it is having realistic expectations. Even good secondaries in this league can give up 300 yard passing days. The odds are stacked in favor of the QB and receivers.

Since when is yardage the only stat that matters? What happened to measures like points against, opp 3rd down %, and turnovers forced?

 

[CowboyGil]

What's wrong with these rookies? Don't they know what fan base they play for? They are supposed to come in and mature and contribute instantly!!

 

[visionary]

no hope of him getting better if he doesn't get snaps.

This has nothing to do with "getting snaps"
He has to get healthy first
If a LB can't take on blockers and shed and plant and cut then he is not healthy enough to be on the field


The bottom line is that our FO spent a premium pick on a player who would not get on the field for 2 years (yes 2 years) and then compounded the stupidity by putting him on the field (even though he wasn't healthy) to justify that stupidity

This is an open and shut case of FO incompetence

 

[LocimusPrime]

I'm no expert on this, nor will I act like I am.

However, I think most of the stats aren't eye popping, because of our bend don't break defense.

What people get angry about, and what I do as well, is the stoppin on big 3rd downs and the receivers running wide open.

We are 25th in the league at stoping 3rd and 10 or longer. Sux

 

[T-RO]

I agree with most of what you said here, but Heath is woefully inept in coverage...

I haven't been singing his praise. Heath is a JAG as a safety...but that's OK for a backup, which is what he'll be. I suspect it was always the plan to ease Woods into a starting role as the season moved along.

Jones, Scandrick, Lewis, Woods, Brown are good. Carroll was signed as an insurance policy. Nolan too will just be a backup.

I haven't watched enough on Frazier to comment.

 

[T-RO]

Super Bowl caliber? Some people maybe taking it too far with the negative but you are going overboard based on what we've seen.

Tonight or tomorrow I'll put together a series of GIFs on Ram game secondary play. Doubters will see...they played quite well...both in the passing game and as tacklers.

 

[dfense]

I find it very difficult to defend Jeff Heath. He's literally invisible out there. Unless he's falling down.

 

[T-RO]

Lee is injured almost every year
Hitchens is a borderline starter
Smith is not fit to be a backup
That is a bad bad LB group

In recent seasons Lee has missed fewer games than most LBs miss. But he's the only good linebacker we have and he's 31. We need several upgrades to that core.

Hitchens might be OK but as you allude...he's not a special talent. I'd love to see us get a physical talent like McClain w/out all the head-case and legal issues.

I do expect Hitchens--once he gets back in the groove--will help us a lot.

 

[Seven]

To amplify:
Gurley was targeted 8 times...7 catches 94 yards. Most all of that was when L.A. got Gurley matched up with Jaylon.

The one time Dallas had Woods cover Gurley...the play only gained two or three yards.

Jaylon needs another year...good thing Hitchens is coming back. The biggest improvements we can get in pass protection is to add Irving to the pressure and to get Jaylon off the field. DBs are fine.

I don't think there's a LBer in the league that can keep up with Gurley.

Should've adjusted and had Scandy or Woods on him.......we should have spied him with a safety in the second half.

Dallas did not respond.

 

[T-RO]

I don't think there's a LBer in the league that can keep up with Gurley.

Should've adjusted and had Scandy or Woods on him.......we should have spied him with a safety in the second half.

Dallas did not respond.

Maybe so, but consider that Gurley had been averaging about 45 yards receiving a game. He doubled that on us. As Bob Sturm pointed out....it was obvious the Rams were trying to get Gurley into Jaylon's space.

When a defense is in zone they generally can't dictate who covers who. Zone=cover by spatial area.

 

[bsbellomy]

Tonight or tomorrow I'll put together a series of GIFs on Ram game secondary play. Doubters will see...they played quite well...both in the passing game and as tacklers.

Make sure you post one of captain fail trying to tackle Gurley on a 70 yard TD.

 

[T-RO]

Since when is yardage the only stat that matters? What happened to measures like points against, opp 3rd down %, and turnovers forced?

Of course those stats are very meaningful but those metrics are measurements of an entire defense. This thread is an attempt to determine what offenses are doing against our secondary.

To achieve this we look at passes targeted against cornerbacks and safeties...then evaluate those plays by completion percentage and passes per yards.

It's amazing that a couple of posters earlier in the thread couldn't track such a straight-forward notion: when quarterbacks aren't dumping the ball down in short passes to backs and tight ends--who are defended by linebackers--how are their passes fairing?

 

[T-RO]

Some fans sit with a six-pack in their belly and see completions on our defense...and react in lazy twitch fashion: "Our secondary sucks."

A more thoughtful fan looks at who the passes are targeting...is it our corners? linebackers? safeties?

Many fans also have broken notions of a criteria for a successful secondary. No secondary is going to shut down their opponent. What you hope for is something close to or below a 50%* completion rate on those medium/longer passes with minimal yards per attempt. Stopping touchdown throws is of course good...as are turnovers.