The Official Defense Has Major Issues/Fire Jim Haslett Thread

[SirClintonPortis]

Hall may be "fast" enough but his attitude is that of a zone corner.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by SirClintonPortis

Too bad Haslett's more Lebeau/Fairbanks-Bullough inspired than Bum Phillips-inspired.

Thanks and agree. Was doing a little browsing around and found this. This should probably wind up in Haslett's inbox. More insight into why we're having the problems we are on D.

Guide to N.F.L. Defenses, Part 4: The 3-4 Front - NYTimes.com

P.S. Great sig, Phillips has been a good DC he'd be welcome in my book.

[Ruhskins]

I'm willing to be patient on the growing pains of a new defense (although nothing has convinced me yet as to why we needed to make a change, but I digress), however is hard to swallow this loss to the Rams. It's hard to feel confident about your team's ability to overcome growing pains when we lose to an inferior team (because with our luck, the Rams will probably go back to stinking up the joint next week).

[jsarno]

the clock may change, but this place remains the same.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by skinsnut

Don't get too upset. Gtripp likes to sometimes play counterpoint to generate a rise out of people to stir the pot a bit

I do greatly enjoy pot-stirring, but that's not what I'm intending here.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33

Lots of 2-4-5 and 1-5-5, with Base 3-4.

We all know right now we're better suited for a base 4-3. But let's make the assumption that the coaching staff is building long term and committed to a 3-4 base. I don't think there will be any pressure from ownership to change the coaching staff until the end of the 2011 season if our performance hasn't improved. That being said, if our D shows no improvement by the end of this year MS may can Haslett, doubtful, but possible.

Anywho IMO, here's where our defensive problems currently are:

1) Our NT situation is a disaster. Kemo is getting pushed around every play and has little lateral mobility. AH doesn't want to play there, so won't give any effort in the Base 3-4 at NT. Bryant may get better but he's a young player and nothing special.

2) Carriker is showing some improvement game to game, but isn't going to light the world on fire and the best we can hope is he turns out to be an average 3-4 LDE. Golston's getting shoved around, he's in over his head. Daniels has great effort and intelligence, but he lacks mobility, the explosiveness is not there, and he's not getting off blocks. Holliday same.

3) Our entire front three is being blocked 1-1 on most plays allowing the opposing OL to get second level on our ILBs. No way Fletch or Rocky are going to win a battle with a 300lb + OL.

4) On most running plays the LoS is being reestablished at least 1 yd downfield, many times more.

5) Orakpo is still making mistakes in the run game but appears to be improving. In passing situations we're often in the 2-4-5 or 1-5-5 and Rak is getting after the QB anyway. In 3-4 base we play a lot of zone so he's rarely matched up 1-1 in coverage or Haslett is sending 4 and Rak's the fourth rusher.

6) Carter needs to be benched for Alexander. Carter is making mistakes in space, still getting sucked inside, not getting off blocks and generally is a liability. I'm not saying Alexander is doing great, but he has the potential for improvement. AC doesn't. The PA TD the Rams got was a lot on AC because off the PA he was frozen and allowed Bradford to get the angle to the End Zone where Hall was forced into a no-win decision (which Hall made too early). As I review the game I am constantly seeing AC making mistakes.

7) Our CBs need to play much more press coverage when we blitz. If we're constantly letting the WRs off the line untouched the QB/WR timing stays intact and makes for easier completions. If we're going to blitz, we should be pressing more often, not always, switch it up, but much more often.

8) Our blitzes aren't getting to the QB near enough because we don't have personnel winning 1-1 matchups. We don't have any DL or LB who has any size/speed combination other than Rak. AH is only playing in the 2-4-5 package so far. The OL is providing simple gap protection and not worrying about who's bouncing around pre-snap. The OL knows they don't have to worry about any type of power or bull rush. When the OL can dial into a finesse game, pass-pro is easier than having to worry about guys who can finesse and power rush.

9) Because of our liabilities up front, we're being forced to bring 8 into the box and allowing the smokes/slants to the WRs to be more effective and our pass coverage in general is suffering. This is another argument for not giving up 4+ Yds per Carry. I know we didn't this game, but the final results were much worse than against the Texans.

10) I hate to pile on the guy and know I'm late here, but D. Hall.....STFU and play, you aren't a superstar and you give up a bunch of plays (Smoke that saw you sitting on your @ss, among others). You call out Doughty for getting Mossed by A. Johnson, but earlier in the same half he Mossed you too, it just got called back because of a penalty. People that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Our scheme hasn't been great, but it hasn't been terrible either. I think Haslett is trying to mix things up a little, but due to our liabilities up front, he can only do so much. So what can we do; right now not much, unless we go back to a 4-3, and I'll bet a dollar to a dime that ain't happening.

1) Go with youth. Get Barnes, Bryant, Alexander, Riley into the rotation much more. Alexander should start.

2) Play AH in the 2-4-5 and 1-5-5, we paid him a butt-load of money, at least try to get something out of him in the 3-4, maybe in short yardage situations.

3) Go with more of an "attack a gap" instead of a "read-react" front 3. I know this isn't ideal and will become a guessing game, but it will allow our front 3 to play more downhill and should help keep the LoS from being pushed back down our throats every play.

4) Keep the QB guesing, Haslett's working with serious personnel limitations and he's going to need to be very creative with coverages and blitz schemes. I don't know if this is a strength of his. We'll find out over the next 3 weeks or so.

One thing that isn't D related that really concerns me; McNabb hasn't been resigned, and probably won't be until the off-season. If we keep struggling and he decides to sign elsewhere (Vikings), we have another major hole to fill.

I largely agree with everything Slingin Sammy has written here.

The one thing I'll say about Carter is that we shouldn't ignore the good plays he's making in the pass rush and at the line of scrimmage simply because he makes a lot of read-related mistakes regarding cutback/reverse and because he sucks in space. Carter pretty much had the same weaknesses last year when he had 11 sacks and a career year, and teams (Eagles, specifically) schemed against those weaknesses then. He's still a valuable part of our pressure schemes this year.

Coverage isn't so much Carter's issue as much as when you really stretch the offensive edge to his side (via stretch run or bootleg) and he gets strung out to the sideline, he's really, really a useless player in space. On the contrary, you put Lorenzo Alexander in space and he lights people up.

I think Carter of the weakness of the linebacking corps, if only because McIntosh has really taken to the system. But I don't think Carter is an overall liability, I think he's just an easy target for offenses to scheme against if we play passive read-and-react style. When we go on the attack, he's an asset.

[GTripp0012]

I also didn't really like our coverage schemes in this game, as they were just a little bland for my liking. With Moore back in there, I hope we would disguise more stuff to confuse Bradford, but we played a lot of cover three and defined reads for him. Not a cardinal sin, but certainly a missed opportunity.

Still way too many "hole in zone" throws against Hall/Moore/Landry.

[mooby]

I guess we'll find out in the next 1-3 weeks we can get better at executing in the 3-4. I don't think the season is over but it will be if all these good teams we are about to play light us up on defense. We're heading into the hardest part of our schedule and how we play these next few games will determine what kind of team we will be this year. Hopefully the problems get solved and we can still have an effective defense this season.

[Justinchuck189]

Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33

Thanks and agree. Was doing a little browsing around and found this. This should probably wind up in Haslett's inbox. More insight into why we're having the problems we are on D.

Guide to N.F.L. Defenses, Part 4: The 3-4 Front - NYTimes.com

P.S. Great sig, Phillips has been a good DC he'd be welcome in my book.

If you go to "Guide to N.F.L. Defenses, Part 1", it explains the different d-linemen techniques and might give us insight into why Haynesworth didn't want to play in the 3-4. In the article, Warren Sapp said the year he switched from a 4-3 tackle to a 3-4 end was the hardest year in his life.

://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/guide-to-n-f-l-defenses-part-1/

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by Justinchuck189

If you go to "Guide to N.F.L. Defenses, Part 1", it explains the different d-linemen techniques and might give us insight into why Haynesworth didn't want to play in the 3-4. In the article, Warren Sapp said the year he switched from a 4-3 tackle to a 3-4 end was the hardest year in his life.

://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/guide-to-n-f-l-defenses-part-1/

Absolutely, Haynesworth is a one gap, downhill player. He can't play 2-gap. As SCP and I touched on, a Phillips style 3-4 would be more appropriate with our personnel, especially AH. That would help with our front 3 problems.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

The one thing I'll say about Carter is that we shouldn't ignore the good plays he's making in the pass rush and at the line of scrimmage simply because he makes a lot of read-related mistakes regarding cutback/reverse and because he sucks in space. Carter pretty much had the same weaknesses last year when he had 11 sacks and a career year, and teams (Eagles, specifically) schemed against those weaknesses then. He's still a valuable part of our pressure schemes this year.

Coverage isn't so much Carter's issue as much as when you really stretch the offensive edge to his side (via stretch run or bootleg) and he gets strung out to the sideline, he's really, really a useless player in space. On the contrary, you put Lorenzo Alexander in space and he lights people up.

I think Carter of the weakness of the linebacking corps, if only because McIntosh has really taken to the system. But I don't think Carter is an overall liability, I think he's just an easy target for offenses to scheme against if we play passive read-and-react style. When we go on the attack, he's an asset.

Agree. Keep him in the 2-4-5 and 1-5-5, but he shouldn't be in on the 3-4 base.

[SirClintonPortis]

If you go to "Guide to N.F.L. Defenses, Part 1", it explains the different d-linemen techniques and might give us insight into why Haynesworth didn't want to play in the 3-4. In the article, Warren Sapp said the year he switched from a 4-3 tackle to a 3-4 end was the hardest year in his life.

://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/guide-to-n-f-l-defenses-part-1/

Yep, when David-freaking-no-pocket-presence-easily-rattled-shitty-qb-Carr says "we aren't afraid of you" to one of the greatest D-linemen ever and is RIGHT about what he's saying, I don't see how the **** Shanahan gets away with such a blatant misuse of AH's talent. And Sapp wasn't playing NT, he was playing a 3-4 DE.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33

Absolutely, Haynesworth is a one gap, downhill player. He can't play 2-gap. As SCP and I touched on, a Phillips style 3-4 would be more appropriate with our personnel, especially AH. That would help with our front 3 problems.

I would say he doesn't want to play 2 gap.

The guy is clearly talented enough to do pretty much anything he's asked to do.

[SirClintonPortis]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

I would say he doesn't want to play 2 gap.

The guy is clearly talented enough to do pretty much anything he's asked to do.

Even so, it doesn't play to his instincts. He's one of those instinctive players who can't do it when out of his zone. He's not the only one on our defense who has this limitation.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

I would say he doesn't want to play 2 gap.

The guy is clearly talented enough to do pretty much anything he's asked to do.

True, but it is a major change in technique.