Defense has an achilles heel...

[CPF4LIFE]

Reality is our speed rushers have been the key this year. Addison and delaire. Forcing the qbs to step up in the pocket towards kk short basically forcing them to move around a lot sooner than they want. Since Addison has been hurt and delaire back in street clothes we have lost that. I didn't want delaire inactive when cj came back. I thought he gave us a added dynamic.

[Jackofalltrades]

1 hour ago, pantherclaw said:

You blame Rivera for the players not playing as hard too?

From a leadership perspective, yes, it's starts at the top.

[emhoward]

We've never had a dominant defense this year, we've just had one dominant quality, creating turnovers. We lead the league by far. If we don't get turnovers in the playoffs then I will be concerned because that's what we've been depending on. Also we aren't holding teams to field goals lately, both Eli and Brees scored TD's in the redzone. Bend but don't break only works if you dont, y'know, break.

Earlier in the year we debated about which defense was better, 2003 or this year...well, I'm leaning 2003. 

BTW in case anyone thinks I'm too down on our D, I'm not. We're good, even great, I just thought that we had the chance to be elite, as in the best in the league.

[ncsfinest21]

I think if CJ doesnt perform well against the Falcons who he loves to play he may be gone next year. Ealy has been improving and with Delaire seeming to be a work in progress and needs 1 good TC away from being a solid DE. But for this year KK Short has been the Defensive line. Star has been too. Alot of his goes unnoticed but due to him getting the push he gets I think KK has about 4 to 5 sacks. We need a youth movement on this defensive line and Jared and Charles are good but their best days are gone. Saying that I dont see the falcons doing nothing this week. Whenever we play poorly defensive wise, next game we redeem ourselves. I can see 27-10 Panthers.

[CarolinaSamurai]

I've said it before they need to take CJ and Allen out of the same lineups. It's wearing them down. They also play too much of the game. If they separated them I think both of the new lines would do much better.

[Snake]

CJ is clearly the weakest link in the rotation and getting snaps that should go to other guys. 

[TheWiz]

The strength of our defense this year has been our ability to create turnovers. We lead the league in the difference between give-aways and take-aways. 

When it comes to sacks on the QB, we're ranked 23 with Cincinatti. 

It is true that we're not getting to the QB that we want... but we've also never led the league in scoring. We've also never been 14-0. The pass rush has been spotty and I hope its something we address in the off season. But the defense seems to step up when they need to. 

If not... then as long as we get the ball last, I'm pretty confident in Cam.

[CatMan72]

We need Tillman to stay healthy and Finnegan to find his groove at nickel.

[pstall]

I simply think if the d can get 1 or 2 3 and outs and the off at least one 4-6  min drive we keep rolling to the whole thing.

Getting up is fine but once a team scores a td in the 4th ,  that next drive needs to be at least 2 mins. We can not have a min or less possessions after that unless it's a score. 

[Cuttinedge]

1 hour ago, CarolinaSamurai said:

I've said it before they need to take CJ and Allen out of the same lineups. It's wearing them down. They also play too much of the game. If they separated them I think both of the new lines would do much better.

Apparently CJ ain't playing too much he complained about sitting out the 4th quarter in a blowout 2 weeks ago. 

I don't understand it. We get a big lead where you know the other team has to pass and we still can't generate a pass rush. 

I think and hope our defense ain't showing their entire hand. I think we are showing a  somewhat generic defense at times  hopefully RR unleashes the hounds come playoff time 

I'd rather CJ give 110% for half the game than the 50% for the whole game. Looks out of shape and going thru the motions. 

[Clicheking]

Semi-random question but those anyone else notice CJ rarely gets in his stance anymore. To me that limits his effectiveness because his game is built on power and he would achieve that in a three point stance....just a observation

[The Lobo]

The fumble on our own 20 and the blocked fg they recovered on our 40 didn't help the d either. I also don't think Allen should start. Ealy and cj should rotate Delaire Mario and Allen in depending on the situation. Ealy will be a stud for us soon

[Davidson Deac II]

On 12/22/2015 at 6:09 PM, TheWiz said:

The strength of our defense this year has been our ability to create turnovers. We lead the league in the difference between give-aways and take-aways. 

When it comes to sacks on the QB, we're ranked 23 with Cincinatti. 

 

You mean 3rd, not 23rd right?

[Davidson Deac II]

8 hours ago, King said:

Exactly.  This team is essentially the 2009 Saints: an insanely productive offense with a high takeaway count (called an "opportunistic defense" in NFL circles).

It's a winning formula, but it has to be consistent.  If we start turning the ball over ourselves or failing to create those opportunities against guys like Russell Wilson, Carson Palmer, and Tom Brady, we will lose.

Don't know if I agree.  Our defense does more than just force turnovers. If you dig in a little bit, you will see that we have some interesting numbers on our side in addition to the turnovers.  For example, we allow the lowest yards per completion in the NFL.  Teams are completing a lot of short passes against us, not so many long ones.  That could be one reason for the lower than we would like sack numbers from our dline.  Harder to sack a qb when they are throwing it 6 yards. 

 

Generally speaking, if you turn the ball over more than the other team does, you lose regardless of how well the defense plays.  There are exceptions to this of course, such as when we beat Seattle in Seattle despite a couple of interceptions. But by and large, your statement about turnovers is a basic tenet of playing winning football, no more or less applicable to us than any other winning team.  Fortunately, we don't fumble a lot, at least when Stewart is in and Cam has been very good this year at not throwing interceptions.  He does have some, but about half have been miscues by the receivers.  Btw, Arizona does fumble a lot.