Demetric Evans, Killings; defensive breakdowns

[skinsfan1982]

I have been really impressed with the pressure Demetric Evans and Cedric Killings have been getting in the short amount of playing time they have received. Demetric Evans had a sack, and a few pressures, and Killings also collapsed the line a few times and kept Cornelius fresh. Afer Wynn went out, I didn't see too much out of Nic Clemons, but our defensive line still played well and created good pressure. Although Wynn was an emotional leader, I don't think we lose too much with Evans in the game.

I am so glad Gregg Williams will continue to be our defensive coordinator, and the players will continue to learn from the same scheme. Although most of the players have now played for him for two years, there are still some minor breakdowns. When Omar Stoutmire sacked Simms with the delayed blitz, he had signaled to Walt Harris to drop back in the middle to cover the area, but Harris did not. We were fortunate Stoutmire got there, and there wasn't an intermediate route in the middle. With that said, as the players continue to learn from Gregg, those breakdowns will eventually cease, and we'll do even better. I think we used to have about 5 defensive breakdown's a quarter under Spurrier, but now we have 1-2 a game. You can see with Tampa and Monte Kiffin, who has been there for almost 10 years, that their defense does not suffer from miscommunication or other breakdowns. With the amount of turnovers we have been creating in the last few weeks, and the difference in our defense's performance between the first tampa game and this playoff game, its evident that we are getting closer and closer to eliminating miscommunicaton between the players and other mental breakdowns.