Quote:
Originally Posted by RunKC
I like a lot of the talent we have.
KPL is a quality LB who is a perfect replacement for DJ. He's a quality tackler with the same athleticism DJ had 5 yeas ago. Ragland has really started to come on now that he has had time to figure out the defense and his role.
Aside from coaching, the 2014 draft flaming out is why this defense is so bad. If we get a new DC, OLB opposite Houston and an even a barrage CB, we can be good.
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Here's the upside... that was our best run D of the year by a mile. We actually did a really good job against Elliott. Zeke has been an absolute terror the past month and we kept him under 100 and under 4 YPC. Our D was a much better formula for stopping Pittsburgh than anything we've tried in the past.
The problem is we built this defense to beat New England. We didn't build this defense to beat Pittsburgh or Dallas. First, it was stupid to even try the NE counter against Pittsburgh. Second, the biggest reason for our Dime defense failures has been the long ball - part of that is because of this ridiculous disregard for OPI this season, the second is that our DBs have been comically terrible at guarding the jump ball.
So maybe there is something to work off of. We can run Dime against certain teams, but we have to either limit the jump ball or get significantly better at guarding it. Against power teams, we have to figure something out but at least yesterday we showed ability to flex our personnel.
Unfortunately, our talent is not well built to stop both the run & pass. We probably have to sell out. Our best hope is that our playoff road doesn't include a power team like Pitt and Dallas. Trying to be optimistic here.