Our Defence wont be top half this year - convince me otherwise

[London Loves Luke]

Outside of 2016 - the year of Cam and Luke's injuries, our defense has been top 10 since 2012.

Up until last year this was a result of being able to get pressure with 4 up front, stopping the run, having an average secondary in a tight "bend but don't break" zone scheme and using elite linebacker play to clean up the middle of the field. 

But, I reckon there's one reason as important as all of these that may change this year and have a pretty fundamental impact on our defense. 

Time of possession. 

Since 2013 our time of possession rankings have been 4th, 2nd, 1st, 7th, 2nd. In that time our defensive rankings: 3rd, 6th, 4th, 21st, 9th. The correlation in this case could prove causality. 

You could say that TOP could be linked to our defensive strength and getting opponents off the field quicker. I don't think this has really been the case apart from 2015 where we had a massive turnover differential. 

Of all Shula's faults, I've always argued his biggest impact was on our defense. Its still a stupid thing to consider from your OC, but by slowing the game down and stubbornly leaning on your run game, we managed to keep our defense fresh when it mattered, and kept opposing QBs off the field. 

With a new OC, new DC, re-worked secondary and less depth at DE/LB I have serious doubts about our defense being in the top half of the league this year. Let's hope our offense picks up the slack. 

[Manther]

Shula gave us a great defense... really?

[Panthers8969]

Can’t convince someone that doesn’t want to be convinced 

[imminent rogaine]

Those three and outs and failure to convert scoring opportunities really took the pressure off of the defense.

[ForJimmy]

Luke and Short with an old Peppers alone can make us in the top half.

[bythenbrs]

Are you claiming that this season will be topless?

[t96]

Top half of the league is a given. Top 5 is a question, though certainly possible.

[The Huddler]

Yeah im gunna come in here and convince you why we will be top 5

 

 

nvm im lazy. We just are

[Adb6368]

Tell me... what group would you rather have:

1) Bradberry, Worley, Munnerlyn, Seymour, Gunter

2) Bradberry, Jackson, Cockrell, Seymour, Elder

Assuming we pick up a starting caliber safety by the beginning of the year, I think we will be alright.

[jimfear]

The addition of Poe along with the subtraction of Wilks’ blitz happy scheme will benefit the defense greatly IMHO

[Saca312]

16 minutes ago, jimfear said:

The addition of Poe along with the subtraction of Wilks’ blitz happy scheme will benefit the defense greatly IMHO

this.

[London Loves Luke]

17 minutes ago, Adb6368 said:

Tell me... what group would you rather have:

1) Bradberry, Worley, Munnerlyn, Seymour, Gunter

2) Bradberry, Jackson, Cockrell, Seymour, Elder

Assuming we pick up a starting caliber safety by the beginning of the year, I think we will be alright.

I don’t think either of these are filling OCs with fear...

[LinvilleGorge]

Surely Bradberry won’t repeat last years awfulness and at worst Searcy is a decent upgrade over the Coleman of last year. Jackson has to be better than the scrubs we were forced to play last year. Hopefully a redshirted Hall is ready to contribute and Butler stays healthy finally. Poe should be an upgrade over Star as a pass rusher. Wilks was pretty bad as a DC. Once teams got him dialed they lit us up. I can’t see Washington doing worse.

[Joe the Show]

2016 was the year we were forced to start 2 rookies at CB.  Combine that with a wicked SB hangover and you can see why the defense suffered.  I expect this group, even with a serious question mark at safety, can be top 15.

of course injuries could quickly change expectations, but that is true of any team.