Report: Grossman Starting on Sunday

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

#1: Do you really think going back to a 4-3 with the same players would make that much of a difference? Just line up Carter, AH, Golston, Orakpo along the front four; with Alexander, Fletch, and McIntosh back at LB and we'd be back in the top 10 defensively? I don't. Something happened with this group of players -- and we know that because they still play in 4-3 alignments. It didn't matter what the scheme was.

Agreed, an above average 4-3 defense requires, necessarily, a career-type year from AH. That's a HUGE assumption given where he is now that all we needed to do was stay in the 4-3 on RUNNING downs, and Albert would have terrorized quarterbacks while keeping blockers off of Fletcher better than Ma'ake and Golston (who would have been the DTs) have.

The defense failed because we weren't able to adequately replace Haynesworth's 2009 contributions. Assuming that a 40 front would have made the entire problem with AH disappear is to misunderstand both the Shanahan-Haynesworth dynamic and the natural aging of defensive players.