New Look Defense

[30gut]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

...For Barry it's going to come down to can he get the defense to be middle of the pack? Can he get this defense to stop blowing a basic coverage? Can he get someone to cover a TE?

Improving on the backend is gonna be a major factor in the quality of defense. I am not sure how much of a role coaching played in some of the breakdowns in coverage last year. They blew some basic coverages that highschool defenses call. So I think upgrading the personnel goes a long, long way to fixing the blown coverages from last year. Having enough depth that Amerson knows that he can't miss a meeting, blow a coverage and start/play the next week. Heck, Amerson is gonna have to compete for his job. Perry Fewel has a some talent to work with, I'm gonna watch how he handles and brings along Amerson and the rest of the secondary.

In regards to guarding TEs that's gonna fall alot on scheme imo. Many modern TEs are mismatches against LBs. One aspect of both Fewell and the Chargers (from an article I read that I didn't save) but it said that they like to use a lot of subpackage personnel and we know Fewel does from watching the Giants play 'big nickel' and sub out a LB to get another S on the field. In know passing down I think putting a S on a TE is a good move, and maybe based on the coaching staff's background we'll see it more then we under Haslett who stayed in base personnel vs 3 wides often which created some glaring mismatches WRs/TEs vs LBs.

When I first posted this breakdown it was in another forum and its interesting to see how much better it seems know then when I first posted based on the personnel additions Scott has made.

Imo the DL has been greatly upgraded with Knighton and Paea joining Jason Hatcher. Knighton is a force in the middle that still provides some inside pressure and Paea finally adds another pass rushing DL to finally create a pair of DL that can penetrate. We only saw that a few times in the past regime (and only once last year when Hatcher and Cofield were both healthy vs the Jags).

But you are right I think this defense has enough talent to move out of the cellar.

There are many metrics I look when it comes to defense (and I'll post them later) but 2 quick ones that imo give a good look into the quality of defense being played are DVOA (Football Outsiders) and QB rating against.

The defense was dead dog last in QB rating against at 108.3DVOA on defense was 30th