It starts up front, as good as Charles Johnson is he seems to struggle versus the run and get's sucked up a lot on run plays. Fua and Terrell are below average DT's with McClain pulling away from Fua as the season goes on. I personally would like to see more of Applewhite at end, slide Hardy inside next to him and have Terrell and Johnson on the other side. I saw this a few times versus New Orleans and was very optimistic about it. (for this washed season it's worth a shot) Fields is a block with 0 push or athletic ability and I hate the signing.
Our linebackers plain and simple blow. I played 6 years of football (nothing to brag about) but seriously playing line backer you have to take your first step forward and not peak in the back field, stand your ground and take good angles...I'm seriously wondering how bad these guys are? Or how bad this d line is to not allow the right reads these line backers need to even contain the run. We Miss Beason but even he couldn't fix this mess. It's abysmal when I see an out side run, the DE gets turned inside, and there's a collection of linebackers being walled off for a 30 yard gain. Maybe Anderson's great play was only a product of Fox (yup I said it) and Beason being on the field. We all can hate on Fox, but the guy knows a thing or two about defense...I thought Rivera did, but I'm not seeing it. I didn't for see us shutting everyone down this season, but I wanted to see some form of physicality and push that just is not there.
Last is our secondary...The physicality of a secondary can set a tone I look at safety's as the new age linebackers. Frankly they are not good. Godfrey and Martin are DECENT at best! I understand Rome wasn't built in a day, but they also didn't start to build it, then knock it down and then restart again. (Chris Harris being let go) The secondary defines this defense...Undersized, out matched, poorly coached, and lost.
Ron Rivera is seeming to make rookie mistakes as well...Very much resembling Rod Mareneli in Detroit a few years back. Rod brought in a few pieces of EX Tampa Bay trash and refused to fill these voids for off seasons to come (Naanee, and Applewhite)...Ron get's a pass this season, but if next season these voids look the same it's going to raise an eyebrow. It can go two ways, either they look at this mess and think things will fix them selves on their own, OR they add more personnel this off season and look at this season as a season to make our depth (current starters) for next season more reliable. Frankly our linebackers wouldn't make a lot of teams 53 man rosters. (Jason, Thomas, Lawrence, and Kion)
People can say we need more time to build this defense...We used 3 draft picks on this defense...We over payed 2 line backers that didn't deserve it (Should have been let to walk away) and over payed Johnson I understand we had to do it to keep him, but we still over payed.
Edited by Peppermint9030, 17 October 2011 - 12:41 AM.
