Addressing the 'D'

[Catfish]

Far too often last year, our defensive effort fell far short of what was necessary, or even respectable. Most of these situations occurred just when we needed some way to throttle down an opposiing offense, (third and long), and (final minutes of games or halves).

It seems to me that we played some terrible schemes at these times. We almost always played our corners 10-15 yards off the line of scrimmage on third and ten, (or longer), and almost always gave the offense a first down, (when THEY needed it).

I don't know if our schemes were such because of lack of talent, (or speed), or merely because of poor choice. I do know that we appear to have gotten stronger during the off season by way of free agency AND the draft on defense. The speed on defense has also improved greatly.

I would hope to see this area addressed and hopefully reversed this year. We should have the personnel to play the corners up aggressively at the LOS in these situations, which should in turn allow us to free up people easier to rush from different positions at different times, so as to keep the offense guessing. By challenging every attempt, we should be able to disrupt the sequense often enough to create the stops that we failed to make last year.

I would hope that we no longer choose to merely give away 10-12 yard completions in these situations, allowing teams to march down the field on us at will.

 

[Buckybird]

Im sure we will see more press coverage and alot less 3 man rush, but if the pass rush isn't better we will still give up lots of yards and TD's thru the air. Your secondary is only as good as your pass rush and vice versa. We ill be better defensively, but how much is the million $$$ question. Our pass rush is still average at best

 

[Skkorpion]

Catfish, until we get to see what our new defensive coordinator actually does with schemes and the various talents of our players available to him, I will assume nothing.

One way or another, we must give up fewer points.

 

[PoolBoy]

we need to be what Clancy once said we would be ON ALL 3 DOWNS.

"A high-flying, fast-attacking, aggressive defense"

 

[Duckjake]

I don't see the changes that will improve the defense unless McFadden proves to be a much better CB than Hood especially at tackling. Where are we going to get a pass rush?

We lost a starting DE,CB,and OLB. We have little depth at ILB. Our two top remaining OLBs are in their 30s as is the #1 backup. Our replacement for Smith has shown excellent athletic skills but will be in his first year as a full time starter. We should be ok with McFadden but still haven't found anyone other than rookies for the OLB position vacated by Calvin Pace.

On the other hand Rolle has a year of experience now at Free Safety, Gabe Watson has had time to recover from his injury, Okeafor should be more effective on the other side of the D, and Clancy is no longer DC.

But looking at the sum total I believe that we've, hopefully, made a real strong move to improve our woeful running game but don't really see that on the defense.

Question: Dockett had 4 sacks in 16 regular season games but had 3 in the Super Bowl. Did the Cards discover a scheme to free up Darnell or was it just a good matchup with the Steelers oline or something else? It sure would be great if they have something to help get Dockett to the QB more effectively.

 

[JeffGollin]

Do we have dominating athletes (big, strong, fast, agile - depending on the position)?

Are the guys field-smart? Or are they outsmarted more than they should be.

Do they play well as a team?

Physical Dominance. Field Smarts. Teamwork. Two of the three can be coached. The first one, we have to make do with what we were dealt.

I don't think we lost any ground physically (and may actually have slightly better physical talent than we did on defense a year ago). The overriding question figures to be: Under Billy Davis (who took over from Pendy), under slightly modified schemes and defensive philosophy - Will we play better as a team? And, under watchful eye of Cardinal defensive coaches, will our linemen, linebackers and DB's learn to play smarter football.

Preliminary indications are upbeat, but I think we'll have to wait and see over the summer.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

Far too often last year, our defensive effort fell far short of what was necessary, or even respectable. Most of these situations occurred just when we needed some way to throttle down an opposiing offense, (third and long), and (final minutes of games or halves).

It seems to me that we played some terrible schemes at these times. We almost always played our corners 10-15 yards off the line of scrimmage on third and ten, (or longer), and almost always gave the offense a first down, (when THEY needed it).

Poster just love to say this; but, if you check the tape you'll see that we played our corners 7 yards off - one yard in or out - in soft coverage. The scheme common to every NFL team in prevent.

I don't know if our schemes were such because of lack of talent, (or speed), or merely because of poor choice. I do know that we appear to have gotten stronger during the off season by way of free agency AND the draft on defense. The speed on defense has also improved greatly.

I would hope to see this area addressed and hopefully reversed this year. We should have the personnel to play the corners up aggressively at the LOS in these situations, which should in turn allow us to free up people easier to rush from different positions at different times, so as to keep the offense guessing. By challenging every attempt, we should be able to disrupt the sequense often enough to create the stops that we failed to make last year.

I would hope that we no longer choose to merely give away 10-12 yard completions in these situations, allowing teams to march down the field on us at will.

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