Love him or hate him....he's spot on. Steve Smith

[DaveThePanther2008]

I know we have to address the offensive line but putting a defense that contain some of these high powered offenses should be a priority.

I think we'll address the O-line in free agency and maybe one or two defensive players.  

If we get Watson and can have a stellar defense we can go back to our rightful spot at the top of the division. 

Steve Smith, IMO, hits it right on the head about our dream scenario. 

https://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-total-access-dream-trades-signings-for-nfc-south

Edited February 26, 2021 by DaveThePanther2008

[Waldo]

QB, Oline and then CB. Anything else is dumb. We saw this with Cam. Get a better oline.

[Pup McBarky]

Steve said nothing about Oline, which surprises me. But yeah, he's right about the other stuff. He's basically preaching the Fox/Rivera message of, "Defense wins championships." Hard to argue against that given the latest results.

[DaveThePanther2008]

1 hour ago, Waldo said:

QB, Oline and then CB. Anything else is dumb. We saw this with Cam. Get a better oline.

It will be interesting to see what Fitterer does in the Free Agent Market.

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, Waldo said:

QB, Oline and then CB. Anything else is dumb. We saw this with Cam. Get a better oline.

Nah. We have more needs than that. There really isn't a position on the team we don't have some need.

[Khyber53]

He's right once he moves past the Watson fantasy. 

And I harped on this a lot last season: if we could have made some of our opponents punt even once in a number of our games, we would have had a winning season, potentially even the play offs. Our defense just could not get the opponents off the field.

If you can't get your opponent off the field on third down, then you are done for. We were unable to do it on an epic scale. There were games where are best defensive option was to literally let the other team march down the field and hope to hold them to a field goal.

And yet, we still were within one score of winning most of our losses. I mean, do the math. 

We had the personnel to do it. Our defense shut out the Lions, which isn't saying much, but was also able to give Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs fits. We played aggressive defense in those games, but spent the rest of them playing like a bunch of old ladies. 

We need o-line, but Steve Smith is right, we need someone incredible manning that MLB position, calling the plays, reading the offense and holding us to an aggressive defensive attitude. Drafting this year should pay particular attention to the guys who get the green sticker on their helmets. 

[kungfoodude]

2 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

He's right once he moves past the Watson fantasy. 

And I harped on this a lot last season: if we could have made some of our opponents punt even once in a number of our games, we would have had a winning season, potentially even the play offs. Our defense just could not get the opponents off the field.

If you can't get your opponent off the field on third down, then you are done for. We were unable to do it on an epic scale. There were games where are best defensive option was to literally let the other team march down the field and hope to hold them to a field goal.

And yet, we still were within one score of winning most of our losses. I mean, do the math. 

We had the personnel to do it. Our defense shut out the Lions, which isn't saying much, but was also able to give Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs fits. We played aggressive defense in those games, but spent the rest of them playing like a bunch of old ladies. 

We need o-line, but Steve Smith is right, we need someone incredible manning that MLB position, calling the plays, reading the offense and holding us to an aggressive defensive attitude. Drafting this year should pay particular attention to the guys who get the green sticker on their helmets. 

Remember it was a tale of two halves, as well. The first half of the season the offense was seemingly playing well but our defense couldn't stop anyone. Then in the second half of the season our defense improved while our offense kept shitting the bed in crunch time(and we all know who was largely responsible for that).

The defense absolutely has to be improved but I will say I think the D is a lot further along in development than the offense is, at the moment. 

[Waldo]

11 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Nah. We have more needs than that. There really isn't a position on the team we don't have some need.

Those are thr biggest needs. There are a lot of places we could improve but those 3 are key.

[Harbingers]

7 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Remember it was a tale of two halves, as well. The first half of the season the offense was seemingly playing well but our defense couldn't stop anyone. Then in the second half of the season our defense improved while our offense kept shitting the bed in crunch time(and we all know who was largely responsible for that).

The defense absolutely has to be improved but I will say I think the D is a lot further along in development than the offense is, at the moment. 

The defense did not improve. Ya they played a good game vs. the horrible Lions and WFT. But otherwise they struggled to even force a punt.

As a unit perhaps they will do better this season but I remain firm they do not have the proper coaching to improve to elite NFL status.

[saX man]

8 minutes ago, Harbingers said:

The defense did not improve. Ya they played a good game vs. the horrible Lions and WFT. But otherwise they struggled to even force a punt.

As a unit perhaps they will do better this season but I remain firm they do not have the proper coaching to improve to elite NFL status.

They really need a 3 down guy at KK's spot and a good linebacker.

This is one of the first times in our team's history where we are witnessing what happens with bad linebacker play.  You don't force 3 and outs and you're not setting the offense up for easy points.  Smitty is right in the video (he's his rambling self) but a DT+LB combined with a QB is the shot in the arm we need.  The remainder of our resources go to the OL and finding another CB.

[Raleigh PF]

Every time there's a Super Bowl, some definitive statement is made. While there is some truth to the statements, it's not as cut-and-dried as "must have an overpowering defense" or " must have a great offense".

Tampa Bay won this year's SB (not without controversy). They were a well-rounded team and had a great game plan for a less-than-healthy KC team. So, now everyone's on the "must have an overpowering defense" bandwagon.

But wait, didn't KC win the SB the year before? No one would mistake KCs defense for Tampa Bay's, so...what happened there?

The key to winning a Super Bowl is to have a balanced team. If not, then you need something exceptional to make up for the lack of balance (like a Mahomes). And remember, the Super Bowl is just ONE game. If KC had been healthy, what would that game have been like?

I love Smitty, but exactly how many Super Bowls have either Fox or Rivera won?

[Harbingers]

1 minute ago, Raleigh PF said:

Every time there's a Super Bowl, some definitive statement is made. While there is some truth to the statements, it's not as cut-and-dried as "must have an overpowering defense" or " must have a great offense".

Tampa Bay won this year's SB (not without controversy). They were a well-rounded team and had a great game plan for a less-than-healthy KC team. So, now everyone's on the "must have an overpowering defense" bandwagon.

But wait, didn't KC win the SB the year before? No one would mistake KCs defense for Tampa Bay's, so...what happened there?

The key to winning a Super Bowl is to have a balanced team. If not, then you need something exceptional to make up for the lack of balance (like a Mahomes). And remember, the Super Bowl is just ONE game. If KC had been healthy, what would that game have been like?

I love Smitty, but exactly how many Super Bowls have either Fox or Rivera won?

And the entire contingent of refs in your pocket. Don't forget about that. Thats a pretty big deal too.

[DaveThePanther2008]

18 minutes ago, Harbingers said:

The defense did not improve. Ya they played a good game vs. the horrible Lions and WFT. But otherwise they struggled to even force a punt.

As a unit perhaps they will do better this season but I remain firm they do not have the proper coaching to improve to elite NFL status.

The Green Bay game we forced them to punt 4 times in a row.  Something no other team did against the Packers all season.  

The defense was by far better the second half than the first. 

Offensively, teams locked down the short game and forced TB to throw deep which he couldn't do.

[kungfoodude]

34 minutes ago, Waldo said:

Those are thr biggest needs. There are a lot of places we could improve but those 3 are key.

I mean, we don't have a single NFL LB on the roster other than Shaq. When Samuel moves on, we will no longer have a starting caliber slot WR. We need another starting DT, we need a TE, we could use an upgrade from Burris at S, we need DE depth, we need just about every position on the field in terms of backups. 

I am not sure there is a single position group that we are solid into the two deep. We played well last year compared to our talent level but make no mistake, this is still one of the least talented rosters in the NFL. We have to move in the right direction this offseason in terms of fixing that.