sk0aL
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This is my opinion about our defense. It's a bit long winded so bear with me as I tend to digest everything that happens on Sunday for a while and consider all the angles before I make comments.
It's very easy to criticize the play of our defensive backs, specifically Roy Williams, but people have to realize that a good pass defense starts at the line of scrimmage. If you cannot put consistent pressure on the opposing QB, you are going to get picked apart all day long. I don't care if Curly from The Three Stooges is taking the snaps. You simply cannot give an NFL QB 4-5 seconds to sit in the pocket and scan the field and allow his receivers to get separation because you will get torched every time. Bill Parcells was saying this on ESPN today - it doesn't matter if you have an All-Pro defensive secondary, if you cannot generate pressure you are going to get beat like a drum all day long.
With that being said, the pass coverage of our LBs is just as atrocious and it boggles my mind how they have escaped blame. Ayodele, James, and Burnett simply look lost out there. They look like high school players in their first varsity game. How long are we going to get torched in the red zone on obvious passing downs? Do these guys not understand the concept of a zone defense? They have no clue how to key off the QB. The Giants could have killed us over the middle all night long like we did to them with Witten and with screen/flare routes and I'm amazed they didn't take advantage. Look at the Saints game from last year for further proof. Sean Payton knew what our biggest weakness was and downright embarrassed us.
With all that being said, the 3-4 system relies heavily on the players and primarily on the ability to get after the QB. We cannot generate any pressure whatsoever because for some reason we haven't devised any creative blitz packages and we sell the blitz EVERY SINGLE TIME. Bringing Ware or Spencer around on the end is simply not creative because every opposing offense gameplans for Ware.
As a result of our lack of pressure and the ineptitude of our LBs in pass coverage, we leave our DBs on an island EVERY SINGLE TIME. It would be one thing if we had Champ Bailey, Ed Reed, or Troy Polamalu back there, but we don't and it's a glaring weakness. I'm not defending Roy's play as of late in any way, but to simply lay all of the blame on his shoulders for our poor defensive play is short-sighted at best. Roy is at his best near the line of scrimmage, not in pass coverage. We knew this about him coming out of college.
Look at his career stats: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/5894/career
Every year except for his third season and last year(the year we went to the 3-4 defense full-time), he has had a least 2 sacks and has had at least 1 forced fumble in every year except last year(which is, again, the year we went to the 3-4). Ironically, when we asked him to become more of a pass defender last year he had the most passes defended of his entire career, despite how we all called him poor in pass coverage. Roy Williams hasn't gotten worse, we just aren't maximizing his strengths. Yes, he makes bad reads on the ball and is constantly out of position, but you can't expect a guy who was practically a linebacker playing safety his entire career all the way back through college to become a top-flight pass defender overnight. He is not nor never has been Darren Woodson, and he never will be.
Quite frankly, I believe this team simply isn't built for the 3-4. Roy's success came early in his career in the 4-3, because it left more room for error and was easier to hide weaknesses. On the upside, we have a great defensive coach in Wade Phillips and you couldn't hope to have a more capable coach to correct our defensive shortcomings.
*deep breath*
/rant off
It's very easy to criticize the play of our defensive backs, specifically Roy Williams, but people have to realize that a good pass defense starts at the line of scrimmage. If you cannot put consistent pressure on the opposing QB, you are going to get picked apart all day long. I don't care if Curly from The Three Stooges is taking the snaps. You simply cannot give an NFL QB 4-5 seconds to sit in the pocket and scan the field and allow his receivers to get separation because you will get torched every time. Bill Parcells was saying this on ESPN today - it doesn't matter if you have an All-Pro defensive secondary, if you cannot generate pressure you are going to get beat like a drum all day long.
With that being said, the pass coverage of our LBs is just as atrocious and it boggles my mind how they have escaped blame. Ayodele, James, and Burnett simply look lost out there. They look like high school players in their first varsity game. How long are we going to get torched in the red zone on obvious passing downs? Do these guys not understand the concept of a zone defense? They have no clue how to key off the QB. The Giants could have killed us over the middle all night long like we did to them with Witten and with screen/flare routes and I'm amazed they didn't take advantage. Look at the Saints game from last year for further proof. Sean Payton knew what our biggest weakness was and downright embarrassed us.
With all that being said, the 3-4 system relies heavily on the players and primarily on the ability to get after the QB. We cannot generate any pressure whatsoever because for some reason we haven't devised any creative blitz packages and we sell the blitz EVERY SINGLE TIME. Bringing Ware or Spencer around on the end is simply not creative because every opposing offense gameplans for Ware.
As a result of our lack of pressure and the ineptitude of our LBs in pass coverage, we leave our DBs on an island EVERY SINGLE TIME. It would be one thing if we had Champ Bailey, Ed Reed, or Troy Polamalu back there, but we don't and it's a glaring weakness. I'm not defending Roy's play as of late in any way, but to simply lay all of the blame on his shoulders for our poor defensive play is short-sighted at best. Roy is at his best near the line of scrimmage, not in pass coverage. We knew this about him coming out of college.
Look at his career stats: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/5894/career
Every year except for his third season and last year(the year we went to the 3-4 defense full-time), he has had a least 2 sacks and has had at least 1 forced fumble in every year except last year(which is, again, the year we went to the 3-4). Ironically, when we asked him to become more of a pass defender last year he had the most passes defended of his entire career, despite how we all called him poor in pass coverage. Roy Williams hasn't gotten worse, we just aren't maximizing his strengths. Yes, he makes bad reads on the ball and is constantly out of position, but you can't expect a guy who was practically a linebacker playing safety his entire career all the way back through college to become a top-flight pass defender overnight. He is not nor never has been Darren Woodson, and he never will be.
Quite frankly, I believe this team simply isn't built for the 3-4. Roy's success came early in his career in the 4-3, because it left more room for error and was easier to hide weaknesses. On the upside, we have a great defensive coach in Wade Phillips and you couldn't hope to have a more capable coach to correct our defensive shortcomings.
*deep breath*
/rant off
