3rd and long efficiency

[strato]

2 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

I think the improvement came with Jackson's contribution. He had a really good season and it made the whole group look better. Horn was relatively quiet all season. 

Jackson sure did have a nice year. What a deal we made bringing that guy in. 
Their communication seems to have taken a little while to gel. when you have new guys, that is probably a price you pay until it isn’t. 
Doesn’t seem like we had as many out and out coverage snafus this year as in 2024. Maybe I have forgotten some from earlier in the year… 

[Jon Snow]

1 minute ago, strato said:

Jackson sure did have a nice year. What a deal we made bringing that guy in. 
Their communication seems to have taken a little while to gel. when you have new guys, that is probably a price you pay until it isn’t. 
Doesn’t seem like we had as many out and out coverage snafus this year as in 2024. Maybe I have forgotten some from earlier in the year… 

How can you forget Nick Scott's blown coverages and missed tackles? He negated any positive that Jackson may have contributed. 

[strato]

27 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

How can you forget Nick Scott's blown coverages and missed tackles? He negated any positive that Jackson may have contributed. 

 I guess my memory is worse than I thought.
Besides being old with a declining short term memory, I have been focusing on offense when I hunt down the videos and review. Seeing that as the critical unit right now. I am a bigger fan of defense, but haven’t really been in critique mode for them in the Bryce era. 
And the missed tackles, I wasn’t referring to them. Just blown coverages, which I thought happened more in the early part of the year. With a poo memory maybe I missed that. 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by strato

[CRA]

39 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

I think the improvement came with Jackson's contribution. He had a really good season and it made the whole group look better. Horn was relatively quiet all season. 

I think the basically entire improvement as a team was largely just the difference Brown and Jackson made.  O pretty much was about the same.  D made a huge jump off the work of 2 players. 

[electro's horse]

1 hour ago, CRA said:

I think the basically entire improvement as a team was largely just the difference Brown and Jackson made.  O pretty much was about the same.  D made a huge jump off the work of 2 players. 

I think you’re right.

Those two are probably worth three wins. 

[strato]

2 hours ago, CRA said:

I think the basically entire improvement as a team was largely just the difference Brown and Jackson made.  O pretty much was about the same.  D made a huge jump off the work of 2 players. 

It damned sure fell off a ton without DB last year.  

[TD alt]

What did I say the other day?

On 1/13/2026 at 12:34 PM, TD alt said:

I get your point, I just don't agree with it on its face. This wasn't the 2024 season. The defense was not on the field an inordinate amount of time. The fact is, is that though we drafted two pass rushers, we actually regressed a little bit in regards to total sacks and dropped significantly in pass rush win rate. We were 24th in 2025 (down from 10th in '24). We were ranked 28th in sacks in 2025 and 27th in '24. I bet you Jeff Ulbrich would've gotten more out of our guys in the pass rushing department, as I would bet that many DCs would have. Our pass rushing efficiency, or lack thereof, didn't really have anything to do with the offense in my mind--not in 2025. 

And let's not even talk about third-down efficiency. It was just as bad if not a little worse.

But, this offseason, I would take away even more excuses by investing even more in the defense. If we can't get a pass rush going, then it's squarely an Evero issue. He has one of the best DTs in the league, as well as a pretty good pair of CBs, and one above average safety. Assuming that we upgrade safety and get a legit MLB, we should see a substantial improvement. 

 

I suspect that our lack of third down success on both sides of the ball has something to do with the inability to adapt and exercise efficiency in the art of situational play calling. And, yes, on the defensive side of the ball it speaks to a lack of pass rushing as well, so there are several layers to this, and it all comes back to Evero.
 

     
 
 

Edited 1 hour ago by TD alt