The entire team has 19 sacks, 69 passes defensed, allowing 192 yds/g and 13 INTs. Sacks go like this: Ayers 5, Hankins 3.5, Kiwanuka 2.5, McBride 1, McClain .5, Moore 3 and JPP 3.5. That is 1.5 from LB's and 0 from Safeties! Dallas (11), San Diego (6), Seattle (7), Atlanta (12), Cincinnati (11)and Oakland (5) are the only teams with fewer sacks! The only teams with more INTs are SF (16), Cleveland (15), Az (15) and GB (15). The only teams with more passes defensed are GB (74), Cleveland (83), Houston (70), SF (80) and Cincinnatti (77). Seattle, Houston, Cleveland, Carolina, Az, Detroit, GB and Miami are allowing more yds thru the air.
It seems as though our secondary is better than 1 might assume! The obvious culprit seems to be defensive schemes that rely on a bend but don't break philosophy and a lack of different blitz and containment schemes.
Pass the buck all you want, if a coach can't get his players to do exactly what he tells, teaches and trains them to do, that IS on that coach! Coughlin is feeling the heat, throwing the players under the bus is not
something that will lead to positive results.JMHO.
Buddy Ryan ;)
Agree Eli must be at the point of total frustration with his inexperiencen WRs. Can you blame him the way the media craps on him.
As much as I like Fewell, I think he's basically as good as he's going to be. It was hard for Tom to dump Hufnagle, Lewis, Sheridan, Gilbride etc., but they eventually all went away.
The problem now, I think is - Even though he's still very good, he might not have it in him to dump another staff member over-board, anymore.
The team hasn't quit on him, but if they don't show marked improvement (especially on defense) and they go down in flames, I think Tom will hang up the spurs.
Fewell is just not a top tier DC. He's a solid coach but the next innovative thought that pops into his head will be his first. If he was the Eagles DC does anyone here think he would have come up w that blitz scheme they used on the Giants to such devastating effect.
The other thing that makes me wonder is how a DC like Marinelli can take a shit show like Dallas and at least make them competative for the most part.
Coughlin isn't going to throw a long time assistant under the bus and he shouldn't but if they don't shit can Fewell it would be a tragedy.
Spags should be brought back. Worked w TC and the players loved him. He's the Ravens secondary coach. How many top tier DCs will come to work for TC when he's a year or two on the way out?
Did you see how much pressure the Eagle d-line got with rushkng 4 last night? Scheme was an afterthought. They beat the guy in front of them. Won their individual match-ups. And when they used pressures, guys like Hendricks, Jenkins &Graham got home because they are good players. Bad players do not suddenly become good blitzers. It does not work that way. Saga of Giants D 14: bad players do not become good blitzers.
Cox was a savage yesterday
Here's an interesting article Teaching Proper Blitz Techique). I'll quote from it:
The main teaching point we try to focus on when teaching proper blitzing technique is to get our players to not break stride while blitzing. Too many times you see players throttle down when blitzing to decipher what’s happening with the play. A slower moving target is much easier to block. Sprinting at an aiming point through potential contact makes a blitzer much more disruptive. Teaching sprinting aggressively at an aiming point takes lots of practice and drill work.
Do we have great players at these spots? No, we don't, but even average players ought to "get there" on occasion, or at least have more pressure that what we're showing. And I watch our guys blitz too...why aren't they showing better techniques?
I've got to wonder if the coaching staff is spending enough time with players on technique. We don't see JPP's technique improving, for example, and we know this guy has above average talent. Don't even get me started with tackling, we haven't been good at that for ages (and don't tell me there's not enough time to teach it in camp...the SeaHawks and Ravens seem to teach it, and quickly too).
So, either the players aren't following through on what they were taught, or they aren't properly taught. Either way, that's on the coaches. A coach HAS to be able to get the best out of his players, no matter how good an X and O guy he is.
Someone with great speed like Williams should be able to train, train some more and become an effective missile heading straight to the QB.
If I'm right, that's 100% on the coaches.
I guess the Ravens don't teach blitzing either because McClain sucks too.
Did you see how much pressure the Eagle d-line got with rushkng 4 last night? Scheme was an afterthought. They beat the guy in front of them. Won their individual match-ups. And when they used pressures, guys like Hendricks, Jenkins &Graham got home because they are good players. Bad players do not suddenly become good blitzers. It does not work that way. Saga of Giants D 14: bad players do not become good blitzers.
In any case, blitzing drills aren't done in a vacuum. You need to coordinate what the LB's, Linemen and DB's do all at the same time. For example, Gilbride used to do a few screen play drills, you didn't see many in camp. And we were never very good at it.
I can't say for McClain and blitzing at Baltimore, but I know that defense does practice tackling. He certainly seemed to be better at that with the Ravens. Can you explain why all of a sudden he's not as good here, without talking about the coaches?
Coaches help to refine technique, and make you more efficient. If you believe in what the coaches teach, and have the desire put the work in to get better, then you can maximise your talent level.
Talent will only take you so far. Wanting to get better..and having the resources (including great coaching) puts you at a different level.
It's never an either/or situation. It's always a combination of the two.
It's never an either/or situation. It's always a combination of the two.
Bingo