***Blame defense thread***

[Diogenes]

Ware has seven of those in the past five seasons -- more than Robert Mathis (6), Jared Allen (4), Dwight Freeney (4), Lamar Woodley (4), Tamba Hali (4), Cameron Wake (4), Clay Matthews (3), Julius Peppers (2), James Harrison (1), Trent Cole (1) and probably anyone else in the NFL.

Even if Ware does get a sack under that scenario, I don't trust the defense as a whole to not give that yardage back and get a stop with the game on the line. Terrell Suggs is the only other possibility I can think of, but you've pretty much proved the point.

 

[AdamJT13]

Terrell Suggs is the only other possibility I can think of, but you've pretty much proved the point.

Suggs has none.

 

[coogrfan]

Sturm shut up. You sound like a clown.

There's not one word of Sturm's rant that isn't 100% on point. Saying that our D played well last night is utterly ludicrous.

 

[WV Cowboy]

I think this was the 2nd week in a row that our defense held the opponents offense to one TD.

And that was the defending SB Champs and the only undefeated team left.

We had 6 points halfway through the 4th quarter. SIX!

You can't continue to put that much pressure on a defense and expect them to shut down good NFL offenses over and over.

They get tired, and they get frustrated I'm sure when the offense does nothing posession after posession.

The offense needs to give them something to play for at some point.

Complaining about the defense is pretty weak in my opinion.

 

[AdamJT13]

Complaining about the defense is pretty weak in my opinion.

Everyone agrees that the offense stunk last night, but people who think that the defense played well are fooling themselves. That was easily the defense's worst performance of the season.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Everyone agrees that the offense stunk last night, but people who think that the defense played well are fooling themselves. That was easily the defense's worst performance of the season.

If my defense holds that offense to one TD, .. I'm looking at my offense as to why we lost.

They have two great WR's, great TE, a good RB and a pretty good QB.

Had the offense showed up and contributed throughout the game, we may have been able to win.

 

[Tabascocat]

Everyone agrees that the offense stunk last night, but people who think that the defense played well are fooling themselves. That was easily the defense's worst performance of the season.

Wait, what? Easily the worst performance?? Week 2,4 and 6 says otherwise. I will take a defense that holds an explosive team like the Falcons on the road to 19 any week.

Is it the defenses fault their offense scored two lousy FG's up to the last minutes of the game? Our defense can't be expected to continually hold opponents down for 60 minutes without some friggin help.

Ryan is working with lots of injuries and is still managing to compete in most games. I will admit the defense chokes late in the games but if we actually had a decent lead to work with, it might be less often.

Too blame the defense last night is wrong, they played well overall. Blame Scandrick, sure but not the entire defense.

 

[Nation]

If my defense holds that offense to one TD, .. I'm looking at my offense as to why we lost.

They have two great WR's, great TE, a good RB and a pretty good QB.

Had the offense showed up and contributed throughout the game, we may have been able to win.

The offense consistently had horrible field position (outside of the first drive) due to the defense allowing 10 yards per attempt to Ryan. They might not be the reason we lost, but we certainly didn't lose in spite of them either.

 

[AdamJT13]

If my defense holds that offense to one TD

If that offense gets the ball four times in an entire game, starts each possession inside its own 20 and scores one TD, kicks a field goal, misses a short field goal and punts once from midfield, is that good or bad defense?

 

[Chuck 54]

Our average starting field position as a result of the defense getting torched through the air was our own 25 yard line, and that's including a big punt return by Harris. They did not lose the game, but they certainly didn't help us win the game either.

What did the offense do after the defensive stop and the great punt return? Did they score? Did they do anything?

 

[Nation]

The cold, hard facts:

The defense that played so great allowed over 10 yards per attempt to the starting QB. Teams are 3-19 when doing that this year.

The defense that played so great allowed a 100+ passer rating to the starting QB. Teams are 17-68 when doing that this year.

The defense that played so great allowed a 70% completion percentage to the starting QB. Teams are 14-51 when doing that this year.

Last week the defense played well enough for us to win. This week they did not.

 

[Tabascocat]

The cold, hard facts:

The defense that played so great allowed over 10 yards per attempt to the starting QB. Teams are 3-19 when doing that this year.

The defense that played so great allowed a 100+ passer rating to the starting QB. Teams are 17-68 when doing that this year.

The defense that played so great allowed a 70% completion percentage to the starting QB. Teams are 14-51 when doing that this year.

Last week the defense played well enough for us to win. This week they did not.

Who cares? They gave up one touchdown! I repeat, one touchdown to an explosive offense. They did their job overall.

When our offense normally moves the ball and gains lots of stats between the 20's and only get FG's out of it, don't we usually congratulate other teams defenses for doing their job? Afterall, they held us to one touchdown and everyone of those other teams are expected to win because their defenses bended but didn't break.

But if our defense does that, they are the goats, nevermind our offense can't score to make their job easier.

 

[Nation]

And since 1962 teams are 2-97-1 when allowing the opposing QB to go for over 275 yards on over 10 yards per attempt without forcing an interception.

 

[AdamJT13]

Wait, what? Easily the worst performance?? Week 2,4 and 6 says otherwise. I will take a defense that holds an explosive team like the Falcons on the road to 19 any week.

Again, you can't just look at the 19 points and say the defense did its job. The Falcons had only nine possessions, and eight of them started deep in their own territory. They drove into scoring position on all but one of their possessions -- including one that started at their own 12 with just 1:03 on the clock before halftime. They also missed two relatively short field-goal attempts -- more than all of our opponents in the past 47 games combined.

In Week 2, the defense allowed 20 points -- and three of those came after the Seahawks took over at our 29. They also started another possession in our territory and had to punt. The defense forced three three-and-outs and one four-and-out.

In Week 4, the defense allowed 20 points, forced a pair of three-and-outs and got a turnover to give our offense the ball inside Chicago's 30.

In Week 6, the defense allowed 24 points but also forced three three-and-outs, including one that gave us the ball inside the Ravens' 40 and another that gave us the ball near midfield.

Our defense allowed the most total yards, the most yards per play, the most passing yards, the most yards per pass, the second-most rushing yards and the second-most yards per rush of any game this season, and it failed to generate a single turnover.

Unless you can guarantee that the opponent will miss two field goals every game, I'd take any of the other defensive performances over the one we had yesterday.

 

[coogrfan]

I think this was the 2nd week in a row that our defense held the opponents offense to one TD.

And that was the defending SB Champs and the only undefeated team left.

We had 6 points halfway through the 4th quarter. SIX!

You can't continue to put that much pressure on a defense and expect them to shut down good NFL offenses over and over.

They get tired, and they get frustrated I'm sure when the offense does nothing posession after posession.

The offense needs to give them something to play for at some point.

Complaining about the defense is pretty weak in my opinion.

Here's an idea - if the D is frustrated because the O isn't scoring, then they should make a freaking play once in a while.

Take the ball away from the other team, force a punt deep in opposing territory so the O doesn't have to travel 75 yards to score, don't let the other team go on a 12 play drive that eats up all but the final 17 seconds of the game - anything.

 

[Tabascocat]

Again, you can't just look at the 19 points and say the defense did its job. The Falcons had only nine possessions, and eight of them started deep in their own territory. They drove into scoring position on all but one of their possessions -- including one that started at their own 12 with just 1:03 on the clock before halftime. They also missed two relatively short field-goal attempts -- more than all of our opponents in the past 47 games combined.

In Week 2, the defense allowed 20 points -- and three of those came after the Seahawks took over at our 29. They also started another possession in our territory and had to punt. The defense forced three three-and-outs and one four-and-out.

In Week 4, the defense allowed 20 points, forced a pair of three-and-outs and got a turnover to give our offense the ball inside Chicago's 30.

In Week 6, the defense allowed 24 points but also forced three three-and-outs, including one that gave us the ball inside the Ravens' 40 and another that gave us the ball near midfield.

Our defense allowed the most total yards, the most yards per play, the most passing yards, the most yards per pass, the second-most rushing yards and the second-most yards per rush of any game this season, and it failed to generate a single turnover.

Unless you can guarantee that the opponent will miss two field goals every game, I'd take any of the other defensive performances over the one we had yesterday.

You make good points but I can't fault the defense yesterday. What if our offense controlled the ball more taking away one or two of Atlanta's possessions? What if we scored TD's instead of FG's, it is a lot of what ifs there.

It all boils down to one common theme, our offense sucks. It is asking too much of our defense to hold teams below 10 points a game, especially with the amount of injuries they had/have to deal with.

Other teams offensive game-plans change if we score early and often and that can impact our defense in positive ways too.

IMO, the defense played well-enough to win yesterday but the offense did not, again. They were not perfect, but it was not bad either.

 

[AdamJT13]

Who cares? They gave up one touchdown! I repeat, one touchdown to an explosive offense. They did their job overall.

When our offense normally moves the ball and gains lots of stats between the 20's and only get FG's out of it, don't we usually congratulate other teams defenses for doing their job? Afterall, they held us to one touchdown and everyone of those other teams are expected to win because their defenses bended but didn't break.

That doesn't work when it happens on almost EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION despite the opponent usually starting deep in its own territory.

 

[AdamJT13]

You make good points but I can't fault the defense yesterday. What if our offense controlled the ball more taking away one or two of Atlanta's possessions?

Atlanta had only nine possessions! That's already two below their average. And controlling the ball wasn't the offense's problem -- we held it for an average of 3:23 per possession, which is far more than the NFL average of about 2:40. The problem was not scoring more points after moving the ball.

What if we scored TD's instead of FG's, it is a lot of what ifs there.

Like I said, our offense stunk yesterday, but our defense stunk, too.

IMO, the defense played well-enough to win yesterday but the offense did not, again. They were not perfect, but it was not bad either.

The defense allowed 2.11 points per possession despite the opponent having terrible field position and missing two field goals that are almost always made. Under average field-position circumstances, allowing 2.11 PPP would rank 24th in the NFL this season. That's not acceptable, and asking your offense to average more than 2.11 points per possession in order to win the game is not playing well enough to win.

 

[Tabascocat]

That doesn't work when it happens on almost EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION despite the opponent usually starting deep in its own territory.

If other teams goals is to hold us to one TD, they consider it a good day. We do it and it is all the defenses fault for not pitching a shut-out. I never discounted the fact we gave up long drives but to limit them to just one TD is good considering ATL can score fast and often.

We have two future HOF safeties(sarcastically) that haven't played yet, missing a stud LB, Spencer and Rat take turns playing, rarely they play together, can't get turnovers due to lack of push, the list goes on and on. Yet, Ryan has this defense playing with heart and guts.

What is the offenses excuse? Or is there not one and all of our losses fall on the defense week in and week out.

 

[AdamJT13]

If other teams goals is to hold us to one TD, they consider it a good day.

Not if we get the ball only nine times, start almost every possession inside our 20 and still manage to score a TD and kick six field goals (and pass up yet another FG opportunity to punt and pin the opponent at its 3-yard line).

What is the offenses excuse? Or is there not one and all of our losses fall on the defense week in and week out.

I keep saying that the offense stunk, but you seem to ignore that.