Tampa 2 potential

[Galian Beast]

You really have to focus on the success of Seattle and Chicago last year if you need to help yourself get excited about the potential of our defense this year.

The Seahawk were 1st in the league in points allowed.
The Bears were 3rd in the league in points allowed.

Seattle was 5th in the league in turnovers.
Chicago was 1st in the league in turnovers.

Combine this with the reality that our defense is already becoming more stingy in the giving up touchdowns. I don't believe we've allowed a single first team touchdown in the 2 games so far, small sample size as it may be. We've also been able to create a lot more turnovers.

I'm excited to see what this defense can do against the Giants in week 1 if Ratliff, Spencer, and Claiborne are all a go.

Note that we played both the Seahawks and the Bears last year.

The Seahawks beat RG3 and the Commanders (albeit he was injured) and only gave up 14 points to that offense.

What gives me more hope is that Seattle beat New England and kept them to 23 points. They kept Green Bay to 12 points.

Chicago kept Green Bay to 23 and 21 points in two losses.


I think our offense is much better than Chicago's, and our passing game is much better than Seattles, though we clearly don't have their running game.

I think our defense has the potential to be every bit as good as those two.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Personnel dictate those stats as much as scheme.

Let's play a quarter of the schedule first before anointing these guys who have yet to show consistent pressure on the opposing quarterback and stopping the run.

Games where the starters play less than a quarter, and where teams do not game plan isn't enough to suggest these guys have become a top defense, as yet.

 

[Idgit]

I'll agree with TwoDeep here that the preseason success of the defense here means almost nothing. I do like that we're modeling what we're doing off of SEA and CHI's units, and I do think we have the personnel to be effective with it. I also think that our defense last season was much, much more effective with our primary starters all playing than it ended up being by the last 6 games or so of the season. The defense was the only thing keeping us in games early when our OL was in shambles and the passing game was coughing up turnovers like they were souvenirs.

 

[cannonball44]

Im more excited about the defense than the offense.

 

[DCBoysfan]

I'm calling it the Texas 2.