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Hortons defense was better than this...

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  • @tour2ma said:

    No... Your own words say it. You wanted to discuss how many reasons why your conclusion was right. As best I can tell that conclusion was DQ's departure accounted for it a decline, or all except some small slice of Khalil Mack is better than Kirksey.

    It never occurred to you someone might disagree with your conclusion let alone your premise... despite the above, awesome display of football prowess.

    I saw only one dumbass here...

    woefully wrong. I gave my opinion about why "I" think the run defense sucked this year, and gave some empirical evidence to back it up. Yet I still acknowledged that I may be wrong and wanted to hear from people who actually knew how the game of football was played. Those of you, including yourself, who say it's the d line stupid.....clearly show you don't know how the game is played. That's not me saying "I'm completely right and you're all completely wrong"...but there's certain facts to football you can't get around. One of those being that if you're getting gouged on run defense up the middle you have to look at what your LB'ers are doing wrong. If you dont' understand that you really don't know the game of football. Now exactly why those LB'ers weren't doing their job...is what I was trying to get at in this discussion. How much of it was scheme and how much of it was on them. Said plenty of times I'd like to hear what Oneil was doing with our LB'ers that was so different than Horton was.

    Woefully inept analysis of someone's else's writing. Really. You can agree or disagree with someone but at least grasp the basics.

    @clevfan4life said:

    Those of you, including yourself, who say it's the d line stupid.....clearly show you don't know how the game is played. That's not me saying "I'm completely right and you're all completely wrong"...

    Riiight. Makes total sense now..

  • @tour2ma said:

    No... Your own words say it. You wanted to discuss how many reasons why your conclusion was right. As best I can tell that conclusion was DQ's departure accounted for it a decline, or all except some small slice of Khalil Mack is better than Kirksey.

    It never occurred to you someone might disagree with your conclusion let alone your premise... despite the above, awesome display of football prowess.

    I saw only one dumbass here...

    woefully wrong. I gave my opinion about why "I" think the run defense sucked this year, and gave some empirical evidence to back it up. Yet I still acknowledged that I may be wrong and wanted to hear from people who actually knew how the game of football was played. Those of you, including yourself, who say it's the d line stupid.....clearly show you don't know how the game is played. That's not me saying "I'm completely right and you're all completely wrong"...but there's certain facts to football you can't get around. One of those being that if you're getting gouged on run defense up the middle you have to look at what your LB'ers are doing wrong. If you dont' understand that you really don't know the game of football. Now exactly why those LB'ers weren't doing their job...is what I was trying to get at in this discussion. How much of it was scheme and how much of it was on them. Said plenty of times I'd like to hear what Oneil was doing with our LB'ers that was so different than Horton was.

    Woefully inept analysis of someone's else's writing. Really. You can agree or disagree with someone but at least grasp the basics.

    @clevfan4life said:

    woefully wrong. I gave my opinion about why "I" think the run defense sucked this year, and gave some empirical evidence to back it up. Yet I still acknowledged that I may be wrong and wanted to hear from people who actually knew how the game of football was played. Those of you, including yourself, who say it's the d line stupid.....clearly show you don't know how the game is played. That's not me saying "I'm completely right and you're all completely wrong"...but there's certain facts to football you can't get around. One of those being that if you're getting gouged on run defense up the middle you have to look at what your LB'ers are doing wrong. If you dont' understand that you really don't know the game of football. Now exactly why those LB'ers weren't doing their job...is what I was trying to get at in this discussion. How much of it was scheme and how much of it was on them. Said plenty of times I'd like to hear what Oneil was doing with our LB'ers that was so different than Horton was.

    Woefully inept analysis of someone's else's writing. Really. You can agree or disagree with someone but at least grasp the basics.

    you got everyone else's opinions and they all disagreed with you. if you can't grasp that the dline injuries hurt us then you can't grasp the basics.

  • I know scheme was mentioned. It seemed there was a big time emphasis on building this defense to stop the pass.

    Some idicators: drafting 2 cbs, Kirksey was supposed to be a better coverage LB than run stopper, and l remember the reports in camp about how they were trying Mingo in coverage. He was drafted l thought because he was a savvy pass rusher.

    I don't claim to be a football guru but it seemed evident to me the defensive emphasis was on stopping the pass.

  • @clevfan4life said:

    woefully wrong. I gave my opinion about why "I" think the run defense sucked this year, and gave some empirical evidence to back it up. Yet I still acknowledged that I may be wrong and wanted to hear from people who actually knew how the game of football was played. Those of you, including yourself, who say it's the d line stupid.....clearly show you don't know how the game is played. That's not me saying "I'm completely right and you're all completely wrong"...but there's certain facts to football you can't get around. One of those being that if you're getting gouged on run defense up the middle you have to look at what your LB'ers are doing wrong. If you dont' understand that you really don't know the game of football. Now exactly why those LB'ers weren't doing their job...is what I was trying to get at in this discussion. How much of it was scheme and how much of it was on them. Said plenty of times I'd like to hear what Oneil was doing with our LB'ers that was so different than Horton was.

    Woefully inept analysis of someone's else's writing. Really. You can agree or disagree with someone but at least grasp the basics.

    you got everyone else's opinions and they all disagreed with you. if you can't grasp that the dline injuries hurt us then you can't grasp the basics.

    @miktoxic said:

    you got everyone else's opinions and they all disagreed with you. if you can't grasp that the dline injuries hurt us then you can't grasp the basics.

    Of course the d line injuries hurt us, but as I've provided we were equally as bad against the run healthy as unhealthy this year. And last year was this d line not "EXACTLY" the same? So SOMETHING changed and it isn't just due to injuries. If you can't grasp that than the basics of football escape you. For the umpteenth time I'm open as to what was done differently this year. What I'm not open to is that it's ALL on the D line as it isn't ALL on the LB'ers. But what I've said from the beginning of the season and what anybody who's played organized football on the defensive side of the ball knows, final accountability for run defense falls on the LB'ers. Last year we were better against the run with the exact same D line but different linebackers. WHY? What, if anything, did we do drastically different with the d line and/or lb'ers. That's the discussion I wanted to have.

  • cuz we switched to 3-4 from 4-3?

    i don't like the fact that we switched total schemes. i think we (i mean the browns of course) have positives in both schemes. we gave up the run yards but held the opponents to less points. sheard didn't produce as mcuh because he was delegated to playing olb and put into a coverage scheme as well as mingo and krueger. i think those 3 guys would gel as hands in the dirt DEs. but i'm not the HC or DC.

    maybe someday someone will figure out how to run a hybrid scheme that utilizes each player to their utmost ability. i'm tired of new coaches coming in and deciding players that could be on a pro-bowl path don't fit into their scheme and either cutting them or trading them to draft a player they think will do what they want.

  • cuz we switched to 3-4 from 4-3?

    i don't like the fact that we switched total schemes. i think we (i mean the browns of course) have positives in both schemes. we gave up the run yards but held the opponents to less points. sheard didn't produce as mcuh because he was delegated to playing olb and put into a coverage scheme as well as mingo and krueger. i think those 3 guys would gel as hands in the dirt DEs. but i'm not the HC or DC.

    maybe someday someone will figure out how to run a hybrid scheme that utilizes each player to their utmost ability. i'm tired of new coaches coming in and deciding players that could be on a pro-bowl path don't fit into their scheme and either cutting them or trading them to draft a player they think will do what they want.

    @miktoxic said:

    cuz we switched to 3-4 from 4-3?

    i don't like the fact that we switched total schemes. i think we (i mean the browns of course) have positives in both schemes. we gave up the run yards but held the opponents to less points. sheard didn't produce as mcuh because he was delegated to playing olb and put into a coverage scheme as well as mingo and krueger. i think those 3 guys would gel as hands in the dirt DEs. but i'm not the HC or DC.

    maybe someday someone will figure out how to run a hybrid scheme that utilizes each player to their utmost ability. i'm tired of new coaches coming in and deciding players that could be on a pro-bowl path don't fit into their scheme and either cutting them or trading them to draft a player they think will do what they want.

    well "technically" the 3-4 is supposed to stop the run better cause the edges are OLB types that when standing can anticipate the blocking schemes for that play better thus being able to position themselves better to make a play on the ball. Which anymore I think is rubbish but I don't work in the NFL. I agree with everything you said in the above post except for that Kruger and Sheard did any coverage work. Those guys hardly ever dropped into coverage, it was spot duty at best. Which is why I cannot understand not putting their hand in the dirt. If all you're basically asking of them is to rush the passer and set the edge, both guys do both of those jobs better with their hands down. If the defense knows the guy is coming, why bother standing him if you're hardly ever going to drop him. A guy like Clay Matthews is a legit threat to drop back and be "very" competent at pass coverage. But Sheard and Kruger? C'mon.

    I too would love to switch to a 4-3 but I'm not sure we have the LB'ers to do it. A 4-3 mike has to be one tough physical son of a bitch....is that guy on our team right now? A 4-3 mike is often required to blow up the lead block so that the OLB'ers can flow unimpeded to the ball. Actually, even in a 3-4 at least one of the ILB'ers is a guy that's more built to blow up the lead blocks so the other guy can make the play....that also hardly ever happened this year. Both of our guys would kind of try to "feel" their way to the ball carrier. The only guy that started to play like a true ILB'er was Robertson. He was the one that started to blow up some plays on his own towards the end of the season.

    But it's not gonna happen they're not moving away from the 3-4. So the same scheme is going to prevail next year and I would still like to know what exactly, if anything, Pettine's scheme does with the ILB'ers and the DL that made them shit the bed against the run this year. Why is it other teams get all kinds of injuries and still remain comepetent? How is that SF loses both of their all pro LB'ers and a rookie can step up and man up to Marshawn Lynch? They also had injuries on their d line, plus didn't some guy slap his woman around again and get a timeout or something?

  • @miktoxic said:

    cuz we switched to 3-4 from 4-3?

    i don't like the fact that we switched total schemes. i think we (i mean the browns of course) have positives in both schemes. we gave up the run yards but held the opponents to less points. sheard didn't produce as mcuh because he was delegated to playing olb and put into a coverage scheme as well as mingo and krueger. i think those 3 guys would gel as hands in the dirt DEs. but i'm not the HC or DC.

    maybe someday someone will figure out how to run a hybrid scheme that utilizes each player to their utmost ability. i'm tired of new coaches coming in and deciding players that could be on a pro-bowl path don't fit into their scheme and either cutting them or trading them to draft a player they think will do what they want.

    well "technically" the 3-4 is supposed to stop the run better cause the edges are OLB types that when standing can anticipate the blocking schemes for that play better thus being able to position themselves better to make a play on the ball. Which anymore I think is rubbish but I don't work in the NFL. I agree with everything you said in the above post except for that Kruger and Sheard did any coverage work. Those guys hardly ever dropped into coverage, it was spot duty at best. Which is why I cannot understand not putting their hand in the dirt. If all you're basically asking of them is to rush the passer and set the edge, both guys do both of those jobs better with their hands down. If the defense knows the guy is coming, why bother standing him if you're hardly ever going to drop him. A guy like Clay Matthews is a legit threat to drop back and be "very" competent at pass coverage. But Sheard and Kruger? C'mon.

    I too would love to switch to a 4-3 but I'm not sure we have the LB'ers to do it. A 4-3 mike has to be one tough physical son of a bitch....is that guy on our team right now? A 4-3 mike is often required to blow up the lead block so that the OLB'ers can flow unimpeded to the ball. Actually, even in a 3-4 at least one of the ILB'ers is a guy that's more built to blow up the lead blocks so the other guy can make the play....that also hardly ever happened this year. Both of our guys would kind of try to "feel" their way to the ball carrier. The only guy that started to play like a true ILB'er was Robertson. He was the one that started to blow up some plays on his own towards the end of the season.

    But it's not gonna happen they're not moving away from the 3-4. So the same scheme is going to prevail next year and I would still like to know what exactly, if anything, Pettine's scheme does with the ILB'ers and the DL that made them shit the bed against the run this year. Why is it other teams get all kinds of injuries and still remain comepetent? How is that SF loses both of their all pro LB'ers and a rookie can step up and man up to Marshawn Lynch? They also had injuries on their d line, plus didn't some guy slap his woman around again and get a timeout or something?

    @clevfan4life said:

    well "technically" the 3-4 is supposed to stop the run better cause the edges are OLB types that when standing can anticipate the blocking schemes for that play better thus being able to position themselves better to make a play on the ball. Which anymore I think is rubbish but I don't work in the NFL. I agree with everything you said in the above post except for that Kruger and Sheard did any coverage work. Those guys hardly ever dropped into coverage, it was spot duty at best. Which is why I cannot understand not putting their hand in the dirt. If all you're basically asking of them is to rush the passer and set the edge, both guys do both of those jobs better with their hands down. If the defense knows the guy is coming, why bother standing him if you're hardly ever going to drop him. A guy like Clay Matthews is a legit threat to drop back and be "very" competent at pass coverage. But Sheard and Kruger? C'mon.

    I too would love to switch to a 4-3 but I'm not sure we have the LB'ers to do it. A 4-3 mike has to be one tough physical son of a bitch....is that guy on our team right now? A 4-3 mike is often required to blow up the lead block so that the OLB'ers can flow unimpeded to the ball. Actually, even in a 3-4 at least one of the ILB'ers is a guy that's more built to blow up the lead blocks so the other guy can make the play....that also hardly ever happened this year. Both of our guys would kind of try to "feel" their way to the ball carrier. The only guy that started to play like a true ILB'er was Robertson. He was the one that started to blow up some plays on his own towards the end of the season.

    But it's not gonna happen they're not moving away from the 3-4. So the same scheme is going to prevail next year and I would still like to know what exactly, if anything, Pettine's scheme does with the ILB'ers and the DL that made them shit the bed against the run this year. Why is it other teams get all kinds of injuries and still remain comepetent? How is that SF loses both of their all pro LB'ers and a rookie can step up and man up to Marshawn Lynch? They also had injuries on their d line, plus didn't some guy slap his woman around again and get a timeout or something?

    obviously it's going to be up to the coaching staff and farmer to decide what's best moving forward. it's just a shame when i thought i've seen potential in certain players but they don't fit into a certain scheme, will be cut and go on to do great things with other teams.

    just the way the ball bounces.

  • If ray Hortons defense were as good as the defense we've had this season Brandon Weeden would still be the quarterback. Think about that. If we held the lead in the games that we blew we'd have been in the playoffs.

    And if we then upgraded the run game and offensive line as we did this year we be in the Super Bowl.heh well maybe ...

    (probably I guess you can go to your computers and parse that)

    WSS

  • If ray Hortons defense were as good as the defense we've had this season Brandon Weeden would still be the quarterback. Think about that. If we held the lead in the games that we blew we'd have been in the playoffs.

    And if we then upgraded the run game and offensive line as we did this year we be in the Super Bowl.heh well maybe ...

    (probably I guess you can go to your computers and parse that)

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    If ray Hortons defense were as good as the defense we've had this season Brandon Weeden would still be the quarterback. Think about that. If we held the lead in the games that we blew we'd have been in the playoffs.

    har dee har har har.

    you should throw down the pick and just write comedy from here on out.

  • I think we've established the number of games in which we blew the lead. We were 4 and 12. If there were only 5 of those games we have been 9 & 7.

    You do the math and explain to me why that wouldn't have been acceptable.

    WSS

  • I think we've established the number of games in which we blew the lead. We were 4 and 12. If there were only 5 of those games we have been 9 & 7.

    You do the math and explain to me why that wouldn't have been acceptable.

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    I think we've established the number of games in which we blew the lead. We were 4 and 12. If there were only 5 of those games we have been 9 & 7.

    You do the math and explain to me why that wouldn't have been acceptable.

    WSS

    Then add the Bitonio West and the crow to that lineup...

  • If ray Hortons defense were as good as the defense we've had this season Brandon Weeden would still be the quarterback. Think about that. If we held the lead in the games that we blew we'd have been in the playoffs.

    And if we then upgraded the run game and offensive line as we did this year we be in the Super Bowl.heh well maybe ...

    (probably I guess you can go to your computers and parse that)

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    If ray Hortons defense were as good as the defense we've had this season Brandon Weeden would still be the quarterback. Think about that. If we held the lead in the games that we blew we'd have been in the playoffs.

    And if we then upgraded the run game and offensive line as we did this year we be in the Super Bowl.heh well maybe ...

    (probably I guess you can go to your computers and parse that)

    WSS

    I'm of the opinion that if it wasn't for the secondary this year, the numbers...scoring and otherwise...would have been much worse this year. Our front 7 was better last year, I think that's pretty much unquestionable at this point no? They were better against the run and had more sacks last year. Plus the defense was likely on the field a whole lot more last year as well, another contributing factor.

  • @westside-steve said:

    If ray Hortons defense were as good as the defense we've had this season Brandon Weeden would still be the quarterback. Think about that. If we held the lead in the games that we blew we'd have been in the playoffs.

    And if we then upgraded the run game and offensive line as we did this year we be in the Super Bowl.heh well maybe ...

    (probably I guess you can go to your computers and parse that)

    WSS

    I'm of the opinion that if it wasn't for the secondary this year, the numbers...scoring and otherwise...would have been much worse this year. Our front 7 was better last year, I think that's pretty much unquestionable at this point no? They were better against the run and had more sacks last year. Plus the defense was likely on the field a whole lot more last year as well, another contributing factor.

    @clevfan4life said:

    I'm of the opinion that if it wasn't for the secondary this year, the numbers...scoring and otherwise...would have been much worse this year. Our front 7 was better last year, I think that's pretty much unquestionable at this point no? They were better against the run and had more sacks last year. Plus the defense was likely on the field a whole lot more last year as well, another contributing factor.

    It seems that way to me too. And the longer the other team can bang away at your line running the ball the softer your defense will get. By the last quarter they were winded and as porous a sieve.

    This you're the run defense sucked so they didn't really have to throw on us.

    WSS

  • @westside-steve said:

    If ray Hortons defense were as good as the defense we've had this season Brandon Weeden would still be the quarterback. Think about that. If we held the lead in the games that we blew we'd have been in the playoffs.

    And if we then upgraded the run game and offensive line as we did this year we be in the Super Bowl.heh well maybe ...

    (probably I guess you can go to your computers and parse that)

    WSS

    I'm of the opinion that if it wasn't for the secondary this year, the numbers...scoring and otherwise...would have been much worse this year. Our front 7 was better last year, I think that's pretty much unquestionable at this point no? They were better against the run and had more sacks last year. Plus the defense was likely on the field a whole lot more last year as well, another contributing factor.

    @clevfan4life said:

    the defense was likely on the field a whole lot more last year as well, another contributing factor.

    Nope...

    2013 top = 28:41 game

    2014 top = 28:13 game

    In this scheme, run situations had the outside backers as down linemen. Meaning we had a 5 man D line, with 2 LB's playing back.....one of the LB's back had to cover TE/RB for the pap/screen, leaving ONE LB to cover run gaps(which should have been closed by the 5 man line, btw).....so, 1 LB can't do it all, if the D line is only expect to hold the O line(as you have stated).....

    So, the scheme leaves only one backer to cover 4 gaps....and...

    D line(which had 9 different line ups in 16 games) played poorly and let RB's reach the second level untouched....

    Finally, our pass defense was great, prompting other teams to attack our weakness with a rushing attack....we had the lowest QBR against us, the highest # of interceptions, the lowest # of 20+ pass plays, etc.....

    I think after we get healthy, add some depth to the D line and with another year in the system, that we will see improvement.

    But, in the end, it's a passing league and we are set up to defend that first.

  • So why did we still get gouged when our LB'ers were pressing? I can fully understand if our LB'ers were playing well off the line, but even up they were still constantly in the wrong gaps....both of them. And neither of them were anywhere to be found all season on the drawn out sweeps. Only Robertson started to flash through at the end. Did we do something different with him? When I played in a 4-3 as a DE or DT, we always were taught to extend down the line and not let the OL off of us...to only make a play on the ballcarrier if he comes to either side of us. Trying to shed the OL and get upfield immediately created a cutback lane the RB could read. It was the LB'ers job to weave through us and make the play. Hard to imagine much being different in the line play even in a 3-4 as the OLB'ers have to do the same job in that instance as DE's in a 4-3.

    As for our scheme, the one I saw almost the whole season is two DL with Kruger and Sheard standing...every now and then Kruger would put his hand down basically becoming the 3rd down lineman. I see your point if we're running 3 DL and still having both Kruger and Sheard out there....that's basically putting two hybrids out there who aren't gonna be that great at coverage so that pulls one of the ILB'ers away. Seems like a terrible scheme then with what we have.

  • So why did we still get gouged when our LB'ers were pressing? I can fully understand if our LB'ers were playing well off the line, but even up they were still constantly in the wrong gaps....both of them. And neither of them were anywhere to be found all season on the drawn out sweeps. Only Robertson started to flash through at the end. Did we do something different with him? When I played in a 4-3 as a DE or DT, we always were taught to extend down the line and not let the OL off of us...to only make a play on the ballcarrier if he comes to either side of us. Trying to shed the OL and get upfield immediately created a cutback lane the RB could read. It was the LB'ers job to weave through us and make the play. Hard to imagine much being different in the line play even in a 3-4 as the OLB'ers have to do the same job in that instance as DE's in a 4-3.

    As for our scheme, the one I saw almost the whole season is two DL with Kruger and Sheard standing...every now and then Kruger would put his hand down basically becoming the 3rd down lineman. I see your point if we're running 3 DL and still having both Kruger and Sheard out there....that's basically putting two hybrids out there who aren't gonna be that great at coverage so that pulls one of the ILB'ers away. Seems like a terrible scheme then with what we have.

    @clevfan4life said:

    So why did we still get gouged when our LB'ers were pressing? I can fully understand if our LB'ers were playing well off the line, but even up they were still constantly in the wrong gaps....both of them. And neither of them were anywhere to be found all season on the drawn out sweeps. Only Robertson started to flash through at the end. Did we do something different with him? When I played in a 4-3 as a DE or DT, we always were taught to extend down the line and not let the OL off of us...to only make a play on the ballcarrier if he comes to either side of us. Trying to shed the OL and get upfield immediately created a cutback lane the RB could read. It was the LB'ers job to weave through us and make the play. Hard to imagine much being different in the line play even in a 3-4 as the OLB'ers have to do the same job in that instance as DE's in a 4-3.

    As for our scheme, the one I saw almost the whole season is two DL with Kruger and Sheard standing...every now and then Kruger would put his hand down basically becoming the 3rd down lineman. I see your point if we're running 3 DL and still having both Kruger and Sheard out there....that's basically putting two hybrids out there who aren't gonna be that great at coverage so that pulls one of the ILB'ers away. Seems like a terrible scheme then with what we have.

    Yeah...I do think, when the line actually worked and the run got turned outside, Kruger and Sheard got burned more often than not. They both are pass rushers before run stoppers....

    And I would say the Robertson is average at best. Yeah, he got better through the season, but to my eye, his best is still average.

    And Kirksey looks like he'll be better, but he is still a converted(hybrid) outside backer playing in the middle. Not a thick run stopper, but more of a tweener who can cover too(which is what Pettine keeps saying he likes)....

    So, in terms of stopping the run......I dont see a prototype backer on this team who will do that.....and I dont see a system that looks for that.

    Ultimately....I think the team is committed to this system, so we shouldn't expect changes there. Hopefully, we will get additional line and LB talent to upgrade though.....

  • @miktoxic said:

    you got everyone else's opinions and they all disagreed with you. if you can't grasp that the dline injuries hurt us then you can't grasp the basics.

    Of course the d line injuries hurt us, but as I've provided we were equally as bad against the run healthy as unhealthy this year. And last year was this d line not "EXACTLY" the same? So SOMETHING changed and it isn't just due to injuries. If you can't grasp that than the basics of football escape you. For the umpteenth time I'm open as to what was done differently this year. What I'm not open to is that it's ALL on the D line as it isn't ALL on the LB'ers. But what I've said from the beginning of the season and what anybody who's played organized football on the defensive side of the ball knows, final accountability for run defense falls on the LB'ers. Last year we were better against the run with the exact same D line but different linebackers. WHY? What, if anything, did we do drastically different with the d line and/or lb'ers. That's the discussion I wanted to have.

    @clevfan4life said:

    Of course the d line injuries hurt us, but as I've provided we were equally as bad against the run healthy as unhealthy this year. And last year was this d line not "EXACTLY" the same? So SOMETHING changed ...

    Not "exactly" the same line. It seems small, but it was huge when Pettine switched Taylor and Rubin. Rubin was put at NT, and had a terrible season. Taylor is a perfect fit at 2-gap DE, so the move was justified, but Rubin did not play at the level we needed. I saw 2 major issues on run 😧

    First problem was that almost every play Rubin (or anybody else playing NT) was pushed 2-4 yards back and the Gs and C of the opposing team were blocking our linebackers. The reason everybody is putting the lack of run D on the line is because run stuffing STARTS on the line. The NT needs to clog the inside lanes, which Rubin/Kitchen were unable to do. In Pettine's system, the NT is the #1 most important position for run-stopping, and ours were terrible this year.

    Second, the "Sam LB" position was a train wreck. Mingo was hurt, and was not making tackles. Not only that, but he was learning his 2nd new position in as many years so he was out of place at times. He did not play aggressive and never seemed to shoot gaps to make plays. It didn't get much better when Sheard was in. He is too bulky and slow to play this spot so many times Kruger would play the "Sam" while Sheard was the "Jack" which was stupid because Sheard has never been great against the run or setting the edge. He has gotten beat to the outside his whole career.

    I think our ILBs played well, and Kruger did well, on most occasions. I think we are building a good D, but right now on the roster I think these are the only "good fits" on this front 7 that match the scheme:

    Taylor and Hughes as 2-gap DEs

    D.Bryant and Winn as 1-gap DTs (And A.Bryant in passing situations)

    Dansby as the "Will LB"

    Robertson and Kirksey as the "Mike LB"

    Kruger as the "Jack LB"

    Mingo as the "Sam LB"

    That does not give us much depth, and it does not help that we have no NT...

  • Dude the last 26 thru 28 seconds is what kills you...

    🙂

    WSS

    PS was there a noticeable difference in the games we lost in the 4th quarter?

  • Dude the last 26 thru 28 seconds is what kills you...

    🙂

    WSS

    PS was there a noticeable difference in the games we lost in the 4th quarter?

    @westside-steve said:

    Dude the last 26 thru 28 seconds is what kills you...

    PS was there a noticeable difference in the games we lost in the 4th quarter?

    Well....those last seconds weren't so good against the Colts, Ravens and Steelers.....all games we lost with less than 10 seconds left

    And our TOP against the Bengals and Panthers was 21 minutes because the O went 3 and out over and over again.......with 40 minutes on the field, the D didn't stand a chance in either of these games......

  • @westside-steve said:

    Dude the last 26 thru 28 seconds is what kills you...

    PS was there a noticeable difference in the games we lost in the 4th quarter?

    Well....those last seconds weren't so good against the Colts, Ravens and Steelers.....all games we lost with less than 10 seconds left

    And our TOP against the Bengals and Panthers was 21 minutes because the O went 3 and out over and over again.......with 40 minutes on the field, the D didn't stand a chance in either of these games......

    @mudfly said:

    Well....those last seconds weren't so good against the Colts, Ravens and Steelers.....all games we lost with less than 10 seconds left

    And our TOP against the Bengals and Panthers was 21 minutes because the O went 3 and out over and over again.......with 40 minutes on the field, the D didn't stand a chance in either of these games......

    I agree. That's why you have to run the ball.

    WSS