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Advocating for the Defense

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Litos

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I know they are not very reliable but that group definitely improved through the season, look at what they did against the top 3 teams they faced down the stretch:
- Chargers: 33 points of which 14 were given by the refs
- cheats: 10 freaking points
- saints: 31 points of which 14 were given by the refs too.

That's 15,33 points per game. TJ watt is a star in the making, heyward is the anchor of the D, haden is an island (when the refs don't screw him); Hilton, tuitt are solid contributors; Edmunds looks like is improving game by game.

There is hope for next season, we need two good FAs (CB and OLB ?) and a couple of high picks for ILB and Safety competition for Davis.
 
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Litos said:
I know they are not very reliable but that group definitely improved through the season, look at what they did against the top 3 teams they faced down the stretch:
- Chargers: 33 points of which 14 were given by the refs
- cheats: 10 freaking points
- saints: 31 points of which 14 were given by the refs too.

That's 15,33 points per game. TJ watt is a star in the making, heyward is the anchor of the D, haden is an island (when the refs don't screw him); Hilton, tuitt are solid contributors; Edmunds looks like is improving game by game.

There is hope for next season, we need two good FAs (CB and OLB ?) and a couple of high picks for ILB and Safety competition for Davis.
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And Hargrave and Hilton had decent seasons too.

But the scheme is still flawed (WR on ILBer) and the coaches are clueless when to use zone compared to man and when to bring blitzes and when to use pressure and when not to use 2 DLs.

It is not that the players didn't improve somewhat, it is that the coaches still are trotting out formations that simply don't work.


I have zero confidence that D can stop a team when they need to, and that should signal a change is needed.
 
There's signs of hope there but they have GOT to get more consistent and they have got to get a playmaker in the secondary.
 
Good core players as you guys mentioned but must add quality F/A’s and draft picks for ILB, OLB, CB and wouldn’t mind seeing a tall speedy receiver for Ben. And if we must keep Tomlin please change the defensive scheme. Stop this covering the other teams best receiver with an ILB and stop this rushing 2 DL crap.


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We can all agree that the biggest problem is scheme and still don't know if it's Tomlin or Butler, either way if Butler is limited to be a pawn then get rid of him and bring a real presence , and fire Tomlin too.

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In tuitt and ironhead2 we have the best de’s in league Hargrave is very quick strong make a great two gap tackle... you got a hundred million dollar qb, best wr in football, a shitload of great up and coming guys like juju, McDonald, Connor, watt, Dupree, best oline coach in football man pull the fuking trigger and trade bell some draft picks whatever it takes to get up there and draft Ed Oliver dt huston and go a 4 man line. And get ready to go to the fuking Super Fuking bowl over and over!!!! I guarantee we will win so much we will get sick of winning! You all will be posting on this board “ aw man I’m sick of winning we are sooo good we have nothing to complain about! Stop winning!” Because we are there! This bullshit of playing all this “finesse” bend don’t break, ***** ball is killin* us. Time to line the *** up and hit those sobs in the mouth WPA style! Steel curtain 2.0 baby!!!!! Gooooosteeeelerrssss!!!!!
 
stuntmanmike said:
In tuitt and ironhead2 we have the best de’s in league Hargrave is very quick strong make a great two gap tackle... you got a hundred million dollar qb, best wr in football, a shitload of great up and coming guys like juju, McDonald, Connor, watt, Dupree, best oline coach in football man pull the fuking trigger and trade bell some draft picks whatever it takes to get up there and draft Ed Oliver dt huston and go a 4 man line. And get ready to go to the fuking Super Fuking bowl over and over!!!! I guarantee we will win so much we will get sick of winning! You all will be posting on this board “ aw man I’m sick of winning we are sooo good we have nothing to complain about! Stop winning!” Because we are there! This bullshit of playing all this “finesse” bend don’t break, ***** ball is killin* us. Time to line the *** up and hit those sobs in the mouth WPA style! Steel curtain 2.0 baby!!!!! Gooooosteeeelerrssss!!!!!
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Hahaha you think Tampa 2 Tomlin is going to do away with his 2 Dlinemen scheme? Hell we run this **** on short yardage and goal line situations.

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stuntmanmike said:
In tuitt and ironhead2 we have the best de’s in league Hargrave is very quick strong make a great two gap tackle... you got a hundred million dollar qb, best wr in football, a shitload of great up and coming guys like juju, McDonald, Connor, watt, Dupree, best oline coach in football man pull the fuking trigger and trade bell some draft picks whatever it takes to get up there and draft Ed Oliver dt huston and go a 4 man line. And get ready to go to the fuking Super Fuking bowl over and over!!!! I guarantee we will win so much we will get sick of winning! You all will be posting on this board “ aw man I’m sick of winning we are sooo good we have nothing to complain about! Stop winning!” Because we are there! This bullshit of playing all this “finesse” bend don’t break, ***** ball is killin* us. Time to line the *** up and hit those sobs in the mouth WPA style! Steel curtain 2.0 baby!!!!! Gooooosteeeelerrssss!!!!!
Click to expand...

Let’s not get carried away calling Dupree an up and comer. He may have had a better year, but he is still well below where he should be.
 
Dupree an up and comer. He should be a done and goner. As much as anything he signifies what is wrong with this team. I will continue to use Seattle as the example. On that team your draft pedigree (if you will) is irrelevant. The best guy plays. And if it's a young guy with more athletic upside they will live with some mistakes on the learning curve. Dupree is playing the premier position on the defense ROLB. He has 39 tackles and 6 sacks. He had the gift pick for a TD. He is a massive disappointment in the vain of Jarvis Jones. But they wont think of looking at an Ola or a Matthew Thomas. Why because they cant teach and help prepare a young guy. Which is why they cannot finish out these games on defense. Think of the number of games won with a huge sack or strip sack by guys like Harrison, Porter, Lloyd, Greene. Not horrible simply isn't good enough at that position.
 
Need to get rid of Butler and change our scheme. I won't hold my breath waiting though.
 
stillwright said:
Need to get rid of Butler and change our scheme. I won't hold my breath waiting though.
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Nothing will change as long as Tomlin is in charge no matter who the DC is. Tomlin is a defensive genius in his own mind.
 
stillwright said:
Need to get rid of Butler and change our scheme. I won't hold my breath waiting though.
Click to expand...



YOU forgot the part about keeping Cool Shades Hands Off.................................."D"





Salute the nation
 
Litos said:
I- saints: 31 points of which 14 were given by the refs too.
Click to expand...

You mean 7 points.

The defense shows signs here and there, but they still need playmakers. You need to force turnovers in the NFL today and that is something this team was not good at this year. They have zero playmakers in the secondary and only one at linebacker. That just isn't enough. Add on top of it a scheme that continues to put a slow ILB on a team's No. 1 receiver and you have issues. Way too much miscommunication as well. We saw it constantly at the start of the year and we began to see it once again at the end of the year. Simply put, they have not cashed in on their first-round draft picks on the defensive side with only Heyward, ShazWatt paying off. Dupree is adequate and Jones and Burns are busts.
 
This isn't Butler's scheme. It's Tomlin's scheme... That's why nobody else in the NFL runs it... it sucks balls. The formations with the personnel make no sense. This defense has issues but Tomlin puts them in horrible positions. How can Williams, a 6'1 235 ILB cover a quick WR? It isn't his fault he can't cover him...hell Heyward can't cover him either, I wonder why? The scheme is flawed and some of the players like Dupree can't get to that next level.

The thing is that replacing Butler gains nothing. It's not his defense anyway. Unless the brass tells Tomlin to keep his hands off of it changing DCs doesn't help. The problem is that Tomlin suck at game time decisions. So why keep him? He has nothing to do with the offense, you strip the defense from him and he sucks at his only other responsibility on game day. You might as well get a new HC.
 
We need a few more pieces, and I hope leadership/ownership will force some adjustments on defense. The offense is fine. FORCE addition of a clock/challenge staff member in the booth. Our season boiled down to a couple of bad games by Ben (Cleveland in the rain, final Denver play), a couple of defensive meltdowns including a hot KC offense (they did that to everyone to start the year), and Bens injury in Oakland. The game Sunday absent some ref calls was great showing for us. Sure there were mishaps along the way this year by coaches and refs, but really there was some bad luck in there too. This team is not far off. I’m choosing to take a positive spin, for my own happiness and sanity.
 
Vader said:
This isn't Butler's scheme. It's Tomlin's scheme... That's why nobody else in the NFL runs it... it sucks balls. The formations with the personnel make no sense. This defense has issues but Tomlin puts them in horrible positions. How can Williams, a 6'1 235 ILB cover a quick WR? It isn't his fault he can't cover him...hell Heyward can't cover him either, I wonder why? The scheme is flawed and some of the players like Dupree can't get to that next level.

The thing is that replacing Butler gains nothing. It's not his defense anyway. Unless the brass tells Tomlin to keep his hands off of it changing DCs doesn't help. The problem is that Tomlin suck at game time decisions. So why keep him? He has nothing to do with the offense, you strip the defense from him and he sucks at his only other responsibility on game day. You might as well get a new HC.
Click to expand...

Well we both know Tomlin won't get canned. I agree though. As long as Tomlin keeps his fingers in the defense it will continue to be what it is.
 
"What we have here ,..... Is a failure to communicate"








Salute the nation
 
They should be blitzing Watt more and not dropping him in coverage. He impacted a lot of plays when he went after the QB. When he's dropping back we are giving the QB time to pick us apart.
 
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