As I've contemplated the Denver game, the thing that is really irksome is that we really needed the defense to come through and they failed miserably. Not every time is the offense going to click. But the defense has to be consistent and sometimes, has to step up and win a game when the offense and ST don't play particularly well. To win a championship a defense must be able to do this--and our defense appears incapable of such a display. Therefore, we must rely on the offense to put up 30-40 points a game and you can't do that unless you pass 70%+. If you want to have a balanced offense, you need a defense that can step up when its not going well.
Defense wins championships. Thats why I see a nice run in January that will garner respect for the next year. Unless they pull a 06 Colts and fix the defense the minute the playoffs start.
was the defense not going to win the Tennesee game, did we not beat buffalo w defense? did we hold NE to field goals w defense in the 1st half teams have games like the other day it happens
My only worry is how our D performs against 3 wide sets. Did Denver exploit a weakness, or did our D just have a bad day? Personally, I vote the latter. I'm not going to mnake any excuses, I just think they played a bad game, and nothing more.
The teams that scare me come playoff time are the Colts, Pats, and Broncos because they have dynamic passing offenses. I wouldn't be very confident having to play either of those teams in the playoffs. Besides for those two, I think we matchup well against the other top teams (Steelers, Titans, Ravens, etc.).
Your examples do not counter the original argument because the offense played well in those games. I am referring to a game whereby the offense plays poorly yet the defense wins the game anyway. Can we win a game when the offense has 25 minutes of possession and puts up 17 points?
Trent Dilfer said it the best - when you don't rush more than 3 and make trigger happy passers uncomfortable, they will beat you every time. We may be thin at DB, but if the front 7 tees off on the QB, it'll shake his rhythm and he'll make mistakes. The Pass Rush is good, its just never used. When it has been used, they get the sacks, thats why they are 5th in the league in sacks.... its just more fuel for my Fire Bob Sutton Fire.
we have been good cuz we can run the ball and stop the run. on sunday we only did one of these. so we lost..
Im with ya! In years past we have had a couple of wins that the defense rescued chad. Maybe we will come due in the playoffs or in the next 4 .
We also need the O to be more productive. The D has kept us in many games and won us many games, the only game the O really won for us was the NE game. Our O isn't nearly as good as the #s indicate as we have scored alot on D and STs and some garbage time points are included in the scoring average. Our O hasn't been able to come back so if they don't score first or if our D doesn't hold the opponent early we tend to lose. That's not a good sign.
I pretty much agree, however, I thought the O did well in Tennessee with a good solid ball control offense. They also lit up Arizona given the awesome field position they kept getting handed. I keep coming back to that Arizona game and wondering why we can't play like that first half some more. It is a shame for Arizona that they can't build around that QB and get him a better O line that could shut down a pass rush like the Denver one can. I agree with this as well. There are a few B'more fans around here that are singing the praises of Flacco. I think we would make him look like the second coming of Unitas to B'more.
^^Here's the numbers: 8 wins: O=271 pts (33.88) D=151 pts (18.88). This means that when we win, we score an average of about 34 points. 4 losses: O=69 pts (17.25) D=117 pts (29.25) When we lose, we average 17 points on offense. The least amount of points that we have scored and still won a game is 26! We have scored 29 points and still lost a game! In other words, unless we score at least 26 points, we can not win! At least thus far. This is the point.
We also lost allowing 13 pts in regulation. Again, the #s LOOK nice for the O but our D has been better than the O this year. The D has held opponents under 20 pts 7 times and we are just 5-2 in those games. you also are crediting the D w/ points given up by the O. Our D gave up 27 on Sunday, 17 to KC, 10 to Buffalo, 7 to Cincy. Also remember our D and STs have scored many times. D/STs points: 35 pts Offense has allowed 35 pts That's a 70 pt swing in favor of our D.
^You make valid points. But in the end, its still true, that we have not won a game where we have put less than 26 points on the board. Perhaps this is a less meaningful statistic for the reasons you state--but it seems meaningful to me.
I have to agree with you on this one. I was saying it during the whole game on Sunday - "We really need the D to step up and save us with some big plays!". We may not have the best D in the league, but I really think it's the coaching at fault here. We came up against a good passing O, the defense was called very cautiously and we got burned badly. I suppose that they are afraid of selling out on blitzes against a passing team like Denver because they don't want to give up the big play, but look what happens when they call it conservative - we give up the short/medium passing plays all day and get crushed. When will the CS get through their heads that you have to take some risks to reap some rewards. C'mon Sutton - grow some balls. Conservative Defense = no hope in the playoffs.
When your offense isn't going your D is suppose to win it for you sometimes, especially "Great ones". Obvisouly we didnt do that and dont know if we can, with the way we play against the pass. (ofcourse besides from Revis)
Isn't funny how when Cutler was flushed out of the pocket and was bothered he threw a pick in the end zone??? This shit ain't rocket science.
He also threw that perfect strike on the run w/ 3 jet defenders around the Den WR when Gholston was chasing him.
true, but what bothers me on that play is how Scheffler sits in the middle of 3 or 4 defenders. It can be argued that the rush did its job, and the secondary messed up. It can also be that Cutler is one hell of a QB and he will make the play. It can also be that Gholston needs to get there and push him on the ground. Those are my arguments, but none are that concrete, so I throw all of them at you hoping to get one to stick
We have been getting killed by the TEs and Backs out of the backfield all year. That is our major weakness and for some reason we can't figure out a way to improve.