The Defense Only Thread

So yeah rush defense is a problem, but im not gonna diminish the team for being top 5 defense forcing turnovers. That's a great skills to have and needs to be mentioned.

I agree, if we can keep that up we should be around 8 or 9 wins again..

You can tell they are coached to rip at the ball as much as humanly possible. That's a good thing. Bad side is that they don't appear to be coached on wrapping up, like at all.

The big personnel need at the moment is definitely DL. If I can get my hands on an athletic middle linebacker in the draft, I'll take it.

You do your 'needs' shopping in free agency, and you take BPA in the draft. We should spend on DL, for sure, no questions asked. The MLBs, if we're at our 2nd or 3rd rounder and one is BPA, then I'm all for it.

You can tell they are coached to rip at the ball as much as humanly possible. That's a good thing. Bad side is that they don't appear to be coached on wrapping up, like at all.

The big personnel need at the moment is definitely DL. If I can get my hands on an athletic middle linebacker in the draft, I'll take it.

You do your 'needs' shopping in free agency, and you take BPA in the draft. We should spend on DL, for sure, no questions asked. The MLBs, if we're at our 2nd or 3rd rounder and one is BPA, then I'm all for it.

If you look at Seattle and how they were built "up the middle"...SS Chancellor, MLB Bobby Wagner and DTs who are run pluggers first. They took that DT Reed from Alabama who was regarded as the strongest DT versus the run in the draft as an example to philosophy. Bobby Wagner is just an athletic, volume tackler...Chancellor is big hitter, big tackler.

I called for it in the offseason...we need that up the middle presence to stop the run.

Alabama or Ohio state could probably get rushing yards on our defense. Watching the Browns just gash our defense is painful to watch. It's going to be like this all year long. The draft alone will not fix this. SM is going to have to dip into free agency come March.

Alabama or Ohio state could probably get rushing yards on our defense. Watching the Browns just gash our defense is painful to watch. It's going to be like this all year long. The draft alone will not fix this. SM is going to have to dip into free agency come March.
Luckily Baltimore doesn't run it as much but I'm sure they will Sunday

Any ideas or adjustments on stopping the run?

Outside of Baker, we are doing horrible against the run with our front seven. Compton and Foster have been just ok vs the run, but the play in front of them really affects their ability. So Im not gonna put it on them.

Bruton and the SS position in general is usually a spot which helps clean up running backs when they may get to the second level. Usually because they play off they are not impeded by the blocking scheme, they can get to a spot to A)make the tackle or B) make the runner turn back inside to pursuit. Bruton has been extremely ineffective in doing either. Maybe Barry is saying to sit back...I don't know. But Strong Safety play is not doing us any favors in run support.

We really need someone else along the line to step up versus the run...Bruton or someone else at Strong Safety needs to provide better support at the second level and we need to tackle better.

Thoughts, ideas? Baltimore is gonna run the rock, we need to play better

Start with better tackling...

I said I was concerned with missed tackles last week... this week was even worse.

Mason Foster and Norman seemed to be the only ones able to tackle consistently...

I would like to see the yards we allowed after contact, that has to be awful...

Concerning the rushing defense:

“Well, we have to definitely look at ways to stop the run and find out where the holes are, I think,” Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said. (No shit, Sherlock!) “A lot of it has to do with Cleveland, man. [Joel] Bitonio and Joe Thomas had a good running game. [Isaiah] Crowell and Duke Johnson [Jr.] had a good scheme over there, so you’ve got to give credit to them, but then we have to figure out where we’re coming up short. Is it missing tackles at the second level (Yes!), is it getting off blocks (Yes!), is it getting pushed back too much on the double teams (Yes!)? We have to figure it out and figure out the answer and try to come up with some solutions.”

Our run defense is simply atrocious. It's very doubtful that we can improve it very much with our current personnel and a DC who couldn't find his own ass using both hands.

If you look at Seattle and how they were built "up the middle"...SS Chancellor, MLB Bobby Wagner and DTs who are run pluggers first. They took that DT Reed from Alabama who was regarded as the strongest DT versus the run in the draft as an example to philosophy. Bobby Wagner is just an athletic, volume tackler...Chancellor is big hitter, big tackler.

I called for it in the offseason...we need that up the middle presence to stop the run.

This is an excellent point. It's more than the DL. Compton is a heady player and is fine for now but Super Bowl caliber defenses so often have a Bobby Wagner or a Luke Kuechly. And a Chancellor.

It's our Wagner or Kuechly that we're missing. With the exception of the Steelers game, I feel like our DTs aren't getting pushed back as often as we think. It seems like it's the second level that's failing.

It's our Wagner or Kuechly that we're missing. With the exception of the Steelers game, I feel like our DTs aren't getting pushed back as often as we think. It seems like it's the second level that's failing.

Our DE/DT outside of Baker are constantly getting turned and moved out the way with relative ease...making matter worse P. Smith and Kerrigan are not doing much on the outside to set edge. They are so focused on getting to the QB...which is fine, but when you inside guys cant stop the run and your DE are just going for the QB...its kinda setting us up to get run over