The bigger story is our defense

[Diehardblues]

While we're all excited with our 2 Rookies on offense we did expect our offense to carry this team.

But this defense... Wow

4 sacks yesterday collapsing the pocket and causing havoc. Is that what D Law brings? The secondary providing coverage looking like it truly is our strength on defense. Mo trying to overcome the Bust label. OMG. He keeps this up he's going to get a big contract.

Marinelli really deserves much credit. I'm very impressed . Our biggest test coming up.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

While we're all excited with our 2 Rookies on offense we did expect our offense to carry this team.

But this defense... Wow

4 sacks yesterday collapsing the pocket and causing havoc. Is that what D Law brings? The secondary providing coverage looking like it truly is our strength on defense. Mo trying to overcome the Bust label. OMG. He keeps this up he's going to get a big contract.

Marinelli really deserves much credit. I'm very impressed . Our biggest test coming up.

Some have said this defense was going to be better than '14 and so far it has.

The secondary is playing the best it has in several seasons.

 

[robbieruff]

While we're all excited with our 2 Rookies on offense we did expect our offense to carry this team.

But this defense... Wow

4 sacks yesterday collapsing the pocket and causing havoc. Is that what D Law brings? The secondary providing coverage looking like it truly is our strength on defense. Mo trying to overcome the Bust label. OMG. He keeps this up he's going to get a big contract.

Marinelli really deserves much credit. I'm very impressed . Our biggest test coming up.

Agreed. Frankly they weren't as horrible overall last year either. Particularly in points allowed. And their improvements in secondary are telling the story.

 

[bayeslife]

As long as we retain everyone we are a Jaylon Smith and an elite pass rusher away from being contenders

 

[waving monkey]

While we're all excited with our 2 Rookies on offense we did expect our offense to carry this team.

But this defense... Wow

4 sacks yesterday collapsing the pocket and causing havoc. Is that what D Law brings? The secondary providing coverage looking like it truly is our strength on defense. Mo trying to overcome the Bust label. OMG. He keeps this up he's going to get a big contract.

Marinelli really deserves much credit. I'm very impressed . Our biggest test coming up.

Marinelli really deserves much credit. I'm very impressed . Our biggest test coming up.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Mo doing well and the rookie Brown is doing well while in for Oscan.

 

[Diehardblues]

Some have said this defense was going to be better than '14 and so far it has.

The secondary is playing the best it has in several seasons.

Yes, and I doubted it especially with the suspensions . It might be the difference in our success thus far.

 

[Denim Chicken]

Phil Simms perfectly described our defensive strategy early in the game. I wish I had a transcript.

We know our offence can score so we allow the long meandering drives with a bunch of the underneath passes being completed. We look for an opportunity to take the ball away, force a third down, don't play too aggressive.

 

[ksadler1]

Don't forget we also had 1 or 2 sacks taken away due to defensive penalties, one of which was total BS.....

 

[CATCH17]

I'm not going to get too excited about it.

We had that game last year against the Eagles where we looked unbelievable and then went right back to being what we were.

If we go to Green Bay and do something similar to yesterday then we can start believing that maybe this defense could end up being pretty good.

I'm not buying it right now though.

 

[theebs]

I can't believe how good they are playing. I can not remember the last time our corners were in position and turning their head and contesting balls. It was shocking yesterday. Jones and mo broke those balls up yesterday on my end of the field, I couldn't believe it. They were textbook plays.ye

Collins and mcclain have been excellent inside and that has been the big change that has made the defense a little better. the defense was on the field a lot yesterday and they didn't get bullied in the running game which i was very surprised about. I thought cincy would run over and over and then hit us with deep balls or get gio matched up on church and make plays down the field.

I hope it holds up. If they stop the run like this we are going to be in every game.

 

[Diehardblues]

Mo doing well and the rookie Brown is doing well while in for Oscan.

Yes , Brown is looking like a steal in the draft and Byron coming on too.

I can't get over the pressure we had from DL which supports the secondary as many of us have been arguing and we weren't gashed up the middle in running game either. Collins is looking like a keeper too.

2016 draft is looking like the best draft in Garrett era.

 

[Denim Chicken]

Byron Jones has quietly upgraded this secondary with his safety play.

 

[CATCH17]

Phil Simms perfectly described our defensive strategy early in the game. I wish I had a transcript.

We know our offence can score so we allow the long meandering drives with a bunch of the underneath passes being completed. We look for an opportunity to take the ball away, force a third down, don't play too aggressive.

Yesterday was a perfect storm of what can go wrong when you face a team like us who can just punish you on the ground.


Get the ball 1st.. Score a Touchdown..

Get off the field on our 1st defensive drive.

Get the ball again and score another TD on 2 LOOOOONG drives.

You're then down 14-0 and you start pressing because you know if you give the ball back to Dallas you're not going to see the ball again for awhile.

Meanwhile Dallas defense knows you're throwing and they have got their ears pinned back.

 

[khiladi]

When you got to play catch-up to the offense than the other team will naturally press. The same thing happened in 2014..

All those years Garrett to take eyes off of his OC skills blamed the defense for lack of pressure and TOs, well here is your answer..

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I said it this offseason when people talked about us giving up 30 points a game.........when has Maranelli done that? When has a Maranelli led defense given up that much?

They were great yesterday. That was their best performance to date. It makes you wonder if the Ryan Davis acquisition and Lawrence coming back had something to do with that.

The secondary was always the strength of this defense especially putting Byron at safety but there's something different here. The corners are playing different. It has to be the new secondary coach.

Maranell's unit is once again overachieving.....or maybe its not. Maybe this is who they are.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I'm not going to get too excited about it.

We had that game last year against the Eagles where we looked unbelievable and then went right back to being what we were.

If we go to Green Bay and do something similar to yesterday then we can start believing that maybe this defense could end up being pretty good.

I'm not buying it right now though.

The defense wasn't bad last year. They kept giving up TD's in that 4th quarter but they weren't terrible last year. They overachieved from how I remember. The offense is what killed us.

 

[gimmesix]

While we're all excited with our 2 Rookies on offense we did expect our offense to carry this team.

But this defense... Wow

4 sacks yesterday collapsing the pocket and causing havoc. Is that what D Law brings? The secondary providing coverage looking like it truly is our strength on defense. Mo trying to overcome the Bust label. OMG. He keeps this up he's going to get a big contract.

Marinelli really deserves much credit. I'm very impressed . Our biggest test coming up.

I think the defensive tackles Thornton and McClain really were strong in this game. It helped us push the pocket and set up quite a few stunts. We got some pressure from the outside as well but that interior push kind of set the tone. Marinelli seemed to have a real good game plan for how to attack the Bengals, even the switch to a lot of zone coverage proved to be a good move.

 

[Diehardblues]

Agreed. Frankly they weren't as horrible overall last year either. Particularly in points allowed. And their improvements in secondary are telling the story.

They couldn't close games out last year . Stats can often be misleading or not tell the whole story . We had some leads in 4th qtr last year.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I was very pleased with how well the defense played yesterday. Yesterday was probably one of the more surprising performances, overall, as a defense that I've seen in a while. Just simply based off the fact that the Bengals can have a pretty good offense.

The defense has been solid this year thus far. We can only hope that continues.