Is the defense really performing that well?

[ForJimmy]

3 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Short answer:  Yes, they are.

Long answer:

 

Points surrendered per drive should be the best indicator. That put us at 12th which seems about right. They aren’t a dominate top 5 but leaning towards better than average. We spent an entire draft, plus the following 1st, plus Reddick, Gilmore, Bouye, Jones etc so it should be decent… we just completely ignored the offense and it shows. 

[Mr. Scot]

3 minutes ago, Evil Hurney said:

2020: Opponents converted 49.25% of 3rd down attempts (2nd worst)

2021: Opponents converting 37.86% of 3rd down attempts (10th best)

I'm never a fan of stats like that because if teams are converting on 2nd down (or even 1st or 4th) it skews things.

[MHS831]

20th in NFL vs. the Run.  Go back and take a gander at the QBs we have faced--and we have good CBs and S is not a glaring weakness--we really did not face too many stud QBs

[PandaMan]

15 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Short answer:  Yes, they are.

Long answer:

 

Hmm, that’s really interesting.  I knew we put them in bad positions but I didn’t know it was that bad.  The fact that we still are the best in yardage is the most surprising thing.  Despite that, the defense can hold for awhile but it feels they always give up a big play when we most need them not to. 3rd and 16?  No problem.  Thankfully it’s better than it was last year in that regard, but even with the resources we’ve dumped into it, they just don’t have that clutch factor yet

 

edit- the field position is definitely from our putrid offense and ST.  Why is Chase Blackburn still here?  The only bright spot is having a PR who doesn’t fumble 

Edited January 8, 2022 by PandaMan

[Snake]

It's just an illusion. This team is terrible on both sides of the ball. What's worse is Rhule is set on making the offense a heavy run first team with a defense that's light in the pants. With that direction we are just going to be equally terrible next year. 

[theinstrumental]

It's a pretty good unit. Also our entire defensive secondary has been gashed by injuries lately--all defenses look worse when they lose top-ten draft picks (Jaycee Horn) and the defensive backfield is made up entirely of dudes who started this year on the deep bench or on other teams. 

[Jackie Lee]

I know it's not completely relevant but we sure did go from a top 10 fantasy D to ranking around 25 since the bye week

[bigdog10]

Defense would be better with a capable offense but it isn’t some juggernaut. 

[demcj]

the defense is not that good.

you would think they would take over and win games with everything that's been invested in it, but it's a bend but don't break defense that rarely forces turnovers and completely whiffs on turnovers that are handed to them.

[ColumbusCounty]

The way we play on the first drive is what I expect the majority of the game. 

Same goes for the offense. 

The first 3 games really threw us off schedule. As soon as I heard "playoffs" coming from our FO I knew it was a red flag. It literally gave me taking out ads in the paper talking Superbowl before the season started vibes again. 

It hurts to say but yea we are a little soft on both sides. Watch the games. We never dictate to the opposing team. We get trashed upfront. We're not disciplined. Our players cant handle criticism. We cant adjust. Left side runs all season. And when we do get to tackle...wrong angles, whiffs or we get thrown to the side. We have grit on our team, just not enough. From my POV about 40% of our players shy away or are scared of contact. Imo. The power run game will always be our achilles heel. But that's to be expected when you only try to get faster. 

That said on defense: Shaq, Robinson(limited action), Bouye, Chinn (who needs to go back to lb), Reddick, Luvu and Horn(limited) all play pretty hard. Burns has effort but loses contain too much. Lol it can be coached up but I have zero faith in our coaches. 

I'd assume if you looked at the last 6 weeks our defense is nowhere near #2 in yards or points allowed. 

Keep in mind our team is extremely young by league standards. 

[Carolina Cajun]

No, its an illusion and anyone who watched our Dallas or Washington games know that.  When we play a team that plays bully ball (AKA, line up and use Road Graders to punch our front 7 in the mouth) we get obliterated.  We have an inabilty to stop the run, meaning that EVEN WHEN we run an offense that isnt an insult to middle school JV, all the other team has to do is punch us in the mouth and own the Time of Possession by running the ball.

[Jackie Lee]

1 hour ago, demcj said:

the defense is not that good.

you would think they would take over and win games with everything that's been invested in it, but it's a bend but don't break defense that rarely forces turnovers and completely whiffs on turnovers that are handed to them.

Yup 9 interceptions on the year, 2 of those from Gilmore who required zero coaching for his. That puts us in the bottom 5. Between that and Dallas showing everyone you can straight up run all over us we got exposed pretty early on. 

[ColumbusCounty]

10 minutes ago, ColumbusCounty said:

I'd assume if you looked at the last 6 weeks our defense is nowhere near #2 in yards or points allowed. 

Correction: We're still good in yards per game, mainly due to our passing defense. Run Defense were 19th. Rushing Td's we're in a 7 way tie for 12th. Points allowed by D (7th)..go back our last 3 and that changes to 18. 

[hepcat]

The rush defense is terrible