3rd down - who scares you more Heath at S or Taco at RE

[KingintheNorth]

To much at stake with passing attacks.

Heath is by far the biggest issue on defense.

Not to let Taco off the hook at all, he needs to improve. Heath is a problem and this FO keeps trying to prop him up as something more than he is.

 

[cern]

heath. taco has a higher ceiling. it just hasn't been reached yet. hopefully Kris Richard can help. but we really need to get rid of Marinelli. his work with the d-line has been average at best. as for heath, we know who he is. that's not going to change.

 

[GenoT]

As the Rams playoff loss so brutally underlined, we have issues with the interior of our D-line — not to mention a sudden lack of edge-rusher depth.

Strengthen the D-line and watch our incumbent Safeties improve.

 

[armadillooutlaw]

Heath is the bigger liability. Mistakes from your safeties in pass defense will lose games.
Taco is mediocre but not going to singlehandedly lose a game.

 

[Jake]

DLaw was a bust for 3 seasons before breaking out in year four. I'm not predicting Taco will do the same, but it's too soon to close the book on him.

Heath, on the other hand, has had 6 years. He is what he's going to be at this point.

 

[buybuydandavis]

As it stands today without Gregory, Taco is probably the RE on 3rd down. Unless there’s a unicorn in the 2nd that can contribute as a rookie.

And Heath whose as bad as RW31 in pass coverage is there.

So if you can only address 1 which would it be

I'd would have rather had Heath at single high FS last year, but since they play him at SS, he's a liability. Probably a bigger one that Taco at RDE.

Taco needed some development anyway. It's his third year. Let's see what he's got.

I don't know that Taco is that bad. As he himself pointed out, his sack numbers are limited because they took him out in nickel last year, preferring Gregory and Lawrence. Which was the right call.

 

[DallasDW00ds0n]

Taco. Cant stop the run and has no rush

 

[Section446]

Taco doesn't exist anymore.

 

[KingintheNorth]

Heath picked off Rodgers in the playoffs on 3rd down

we still lost that playoff game.

caused Derek Carr's fumble

He dove in Carr's direction and Carr dove stretching the ball. "Caused" ? He was there. These two plays are nowhere near enough to override the missed tackles, horrible angles, and awful instincts when the ball is in the air.

 

[Whirlwin]

As it stands today without Gregory, Taco is probably the RE on 3rd down. Unless there’s a unicorn in the 2nd that can contribute as a rookie.

And Heath whose as bad as RW31 in pass coverage is there.

So if you can only address 1 which would it be

You have to address the safety position. Without a great nose tackle I don't care who you have at the ends they just not going to get there. nose tackle can't push the center back into the quarterback's face all the quarterback has to do is Step Up.

 

[Kolemmitt]

Heath.

If Taco doesnt take a couple steps forward he will be watching Crawford and Armstrong getting the RDE snaps. Also Taco is year 3 still has room to improve.

As of now, we dont have that luxury at safety, no solid vet or surprising young guy to take his place, and Heath isnt getting better.

On the other hand, Taco is the biggest bust we have drafted in the last five years. Heath was an UDFA, just being a good special teamer is good for Heath. On the other hand, if Taco was just solid, it would be HUGE for this defense.

 

[ConceptCoop]

Today Taco scares me more. If you told me one of the two will take major strides and will be a quality starter next year, I’d put my money in Taco, however.

 

[Kolemmitt]

DLaw was a bust for 3 seasons before breaking out in year four. I'm not predicting Taco will do the same, but it's too soon to close the book on him.

Heath, on the other hand, has had 6 years. He is what he's going to be at this point.

Dlaw had 8 sacks in his 2nd year and then played badly hurt year 3. I dont see that at all from Taco. Compare his second year to DLaw's.

 

[gimmesix]

Don’t you ever disprespect Roy Williams like that again. They’ve both played six seasons for Dallas.

Jeff heath will never sniff a pro bowl let alone five or a first team all pro.


And Roy had 19 interceptions for us. In a league that passed less than now. Heaths 8 don’t compare. Or the fact Roy doubled the amount of forced fumbles and actually sacked the QB 7.5 times compared to none.
Then the fact that he more than doubled the tackles too.


Blasphemer!

The league neutered Roy Williams. He was at the height of his game when they started the movement toward two-hand touch.

He had deficiencies in coverage, but his game wasn't built around his coverage ability. It was built around his ability to intimidate receivers as a heat-seeking missile and to jerk players to the ground with one hand. The horse-collar and rules to protect receivers made him a shell of the player he had been and forced him to rely more on his coverage skills, which made him a below-average safety.

 

[glimmerman]

As the Rams playoff loss so brutally underlined, we have issues with the interior of our D-line — not to mention a sudden lack of edge-rusher depth.

Strengthen the D-line and watch our incumbent Safeties improve.

Would make the whole secondary look good...

 

[gimmesix]

As it stands today without Gregory, Taco is probably the RE on 3rd down. Unless there’s a unicorn in the 2nd that can contribute as a rookie.

And Heath whose as bad as RW31 in pass coverage is there.

So if you can only address 1 which would it be

I'm not really concerned about Heath on passing downs. It's running downs where he struggles, which is why we need someone who can play strong safety. Woods is the free safety and seemed to do all right in that role. Heath also is better in coverage than he gets credit for.

However, no one is going to be good enough in coverage if we don't get pressure on the quarterback, so someone has to step up in that role or teams are just going to continue game-planning Lawrence out of the picture as much as possible to force someone else to do it. If Taco can't, it's going to be a long season unless Dorance Armstrong really progresses or we bring in someone who can consistently harass the QB. We don't really have the kind of 3-techs we need to do it (we've got good ones when we need a great one), so too much could be placed on Lawrence's shoulders again.

Let me add that I do want to improve the safety position, but my priority would be improving the pass rush.

 

[Gremell12]

If we get a better pass rush, we are a superbowl team.

 

[InTheZone]

DL, so to answer DE Taco

 

[Rockport]

As it stands today without Gregory, Taco is probably the RE on 3rd down. Unless there’s a unicorn in the 2nd that can contribute as a rookie.

And Heath whose as bad as RW31 in pass coverage is there.

So if you can only address 1 which would it be

Taco by a mile. The secondary has proved that it can hold up. We lost in the postseason because we couldn’t stop the damn run.

 

[jaybird]

Heath.

Heath is Ok-barely
Taco -who knows
Taco worries me more
, big has a higher ceiling