Hawkeye19
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I have watched the D these last 3 weeks, and I have been frustrated by a lack of splash negative plays. At the same time, it has been maddening to watch how the short passing game, particularly to the RBs always seems to be open.
Then it hit me. And it's obvious. This is what the D is trying to do. Avoid the big play. Keep everything in front of you. Run and tackle.
They don't care about yards-- they care about points. And so this defense may not be the sexy, play making unit we want-- BUT, they are achieving their goal of limiting points. They have given up too many chunk plays and a couple of garbage scores-- but IMO-- the dominant philosophy in play comes back to gap discipline, stop the run, bend but don't break, and tackle well.
For all the preaching they do on the importance of turnovers-- this team seems allergic to them. Been that way for years. However-- this formula is not "broken" and this D does not "suck". They seem content to get nickeled and dimed down the field-- but in the end-- if they lead the league in scoring defense-- is that not the most important goal?
Don't get me wrong-- I want more splash plays-- but maybe those short passes are open because they are taking away everything else and hoping that most QBs will get impatient and make a mistake or that they will be able to force a mistake over a long drive vs giving up quick scores.
Then it hit me. And it's obvious. This is what the D is trying to do. Avoid the big play. Keep everything in front of you. Run and tackle.
They don't care about yards-- they care about points. And so this defense may not be the sexy, play making unit we want-- BUT, they are achieving their goal of limiting points. They have given up too many chunk plays and a couple of garbage scores-- but IMO-- the dominant philosophy in play comes back to gap discipline, stop the run, bend but don't break, and tackle well.
For all the preaching they do on the importance of turnovers-- this team seems allergic to them. Been that way for years. However-- this formula is not "broken" and this D does not "suck". They seem content to get nickeled and dimed down the field-- but in the end-- if they lead the league in scoring defense-- is that not the most important goal?
Don't get me wrong-- I want more splash plays-- but maybe those short passes are open because they are taking away everything else and hoping that most QBs will get impatient and make a mistake or that they will be able to force a mistake over a long drive vs giving up quick scores.