I don't claim to be a genius like many of you on here but I do feel I know a bit or two about what I am watching. I feel our "starting" defense is player for player in the top 1/3 of league with atleast 4-5 pro bowl caliber players- Harris, Jenkins, Revis, Rhodes, in addition Pace can play, Ellis is having a good year and Ty Law as a #2 corner I would say falls in the top 10 of number 2 cover guys. Am I totally off on that? In a game like yesterday every time we go to our nickel and dime packages etc... we are bringing in bench guys and weakening our D- we are taking Jenkins off the field- he proves he can collapse the pocket- we negate all the good that Revis is doing and Law for that fact- "did we see them getting beat yesterday" and ask our linebackers to cover in space- not there strength. Why are we so afraid of the big play- help over the top etc..... In addition this D takes Rhodes out of his strength, want to know why he is not making plays- he is 40 yds down fielt giving over the top help, not near the play. Granted if preventing the over the top ball is the goal we are succeeding. Other the San Diego early and broken play last week and missed tackle this week when do teams go over top on us "never" Problem is we get killed underneath. If our "Starting" defense is our strongest- the one that takes the field to begin play #1 then why don't we play a defense that leaves these guys on the field the most, its puzzling. I like what the coaching staff has done- we left plays on field yesterday- in all other fazes instead of this. If we got to cutler early yesterday and hit him in that weather and we went up 10-0 early etc.... kiss that game good bye. we need to get aggressive on D- and if we get beat with Rhodes, Revis, Jenkins etc... on the field so be it.
We need to find our pass rush. If we could have put some heat on Cutler we would have won the game yesterday. It's getting frustrating each and every week to see no pass rush.
Reminds me of GB. If you can't get pressure with just your DL (which is hard to do consistently because there are more blockers then there are DL coming at you), you need to blitz. Not just in obvious situations, but randomly throughout a drive. If Cutler had been pressured, the game may have gone the other way. Are the Jets, and heck, my packers, just afraid of blitzing?
The only way we are going to find a pass rush in the current defense is if Sean Ellis and Kenyon Coleman turn into Reggie White and Bruce Smith. Very difficult to find a pass rush when you spend a majority of the game running a 3-0-8.
I think the OP makes a very good point. Our defensive scheme is basically always in prevent mode. Preventing over the top, preventing one-on-one, whatever. Ultimately, one cannot win when one is playing scared. Because of this it is a loser defense who most coaches can bitch-slap even though our personnel is better than average. Did Buddy Ryan give a shit trying to prevent a situation? Did Baltimore in the years of good defenses? They were proactive--not pussy-shit reactive and scared. I think our DC's personality comes out on this defense. He looks like a guy who got hit with a rolled up newspaper a few times and is now a cowering pussy--I truly feel sorry for him and hope he can get some help. But it sucks having him as DC.
the other point of the matter is if we rush more guys- it means players having to stay in to block- TE's, Running Backs, slot reciever etc.... Revis is a true shut down corner, let him be that. yes he is gonna get beat once in a while yes he will need help sometimes. I would much rather have Rhodes- blitzed and get the a hair late that results in a bomb td then to see him so far from the ball and so far away from plays. Not sure why our HC and DC don't see what is happening, I hope we see it change- I think we play some teams down the stetch before the playoffs that we can get more aggressive with and afford to get beat a couple times doing it and still WIN
We NEED Harris back so our good pass rushers can go back to doing just that instead of wasting themselves in coverage.
While I think a huge part of the problem is a thin secondary, the fact that the OLB's are so big means they aren't the best fit for dropping into coverage. That's probably why opponents' TE's and RB's out of hte backfield can be such a problem...
