In Scot we trust?

I have never see Smith show the ability to take over a play let alone a game. Lol.
Just because they are playing does not mean they are contributing. Fuller looked absolutely lost.
Listen any of the guys you mentioned can certainly turn it around or become, at the very least, solid roll players.
None of them get me too excited now though. Cravens, but he has to stay healthy.
We will see. Hope they all turn into solid contributors.

Minnesota, he had 2 sacks and a pick. Against Chicago he had 2 sacks(one of which was taken away thanks to a penalty on Foster), was the guy who pressured Barkley on two of those ints, and also blocked a field goal. Week 16 against the Eagles last year he had 3 sacks

I know you know a lot about this game, could you explain how complicated it would be to fix this "both safeties need to play both positions" issue?

With what I know, I don't see anything too hard to overcome with a whole offseason to work on it... But maybe I am missing something.

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Rewind back to November 2007 and convince Sean Taylor not to stay in his Miami home that night? I know that's not your question but man do I miss his ability to play single-high and still cover sideline to sideline in the deep middle. You didn't even need a second safety, he became an eighth box player.

Sigh. What could have been. Still makes me emotional.

So if I have Cravens as one of my safeties I think it affects me on a game-by-game basis as I develop my gameplans. For example, if I'm facing the Eagles with their dreadful WRs this year, I think I don't bother flexing the responsibilities of the safeties. I'd tell Cravens, you look at the formation, and you line up on the strong side of the formation. If a guy goes in motion and switches the strong side of the formation to the other side of the field, then you motion with him to the other hash mark.

I tell my free safety, whoever it is, to do the opposite. On the snap, he retreats to single high while Cravens takes up a zone coverage responsibility around the seam at the 10-12 yard mark. If it's a run then he's positioned to come up and hit, if it's a pass then he's not asked to run too deep.

Since their WRs aren't that threatening, you put the onus on the corners to win, and you let the single high free safety just be responsible for saving the day and keeping the guy out of the end zone.

Right now, Barry seems to love having everyone be responsible for a side of the field. I hate it, because offenses put players in motion to move them into position for mismatches. I'd instead teach the secondary how to move as the formation shifts. Cravens goes to the strong side, Norman follows the best WR, the FS goes opposite Cravens. These players aren't dumb, it should be entirely possible to teach them this.

Now, against a team with very good WRs like the Giants with Beckham and Shepherd, I'm feeling pretty vulnerable with Cravens back there no matter what I do. So I'm probably blitzing the hell out of the Giants and hoping for the best, including sending Cravens on occasion. If my FS was Sean Taylor, I'd feel pretty good about it.

Sigh.

I have never see Smith show the ability to take over a play let alone a game. Lol.
Just because they are playing does not mean they are contributing. Fuller looked absolutely lost.
Listen any of the guys you mentioned can certainly turn it around or become, at the very least, solid roll players.
None of them get me too excited now though. Cravens, but he has to stay healthy.
We will see. Hope they all turn into solid contributors.
Again Psmith is good against bad lines, when he plays a solid Tackle he gets owned. He had maybe 3 games where he made a few plays that's it. Murphy was better than him this year

PS can you tell I think a rangey FS is a very high priority in the offseason?

PS can you tell I think a rangey FS is a very high priority in the offseason?
Haha yes and I completely agree with you on that!

Thanks a lot for your post!

The way I see it, switching back to a traditionnal safety scheme has some upsides and downsides, but there's nothing that complicated in the transition itself. Amirite?

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I like how two years ago when Scot came on board everyone was glad we were going to build through the draft. Now people want to sign all the big name free agents again. Scot hit a home run with Norman, but I hope he doesn't make signing big dollar free agent contracts the norm



He's finding us some good players each year in the draft, give them time to develop. Preston Smith has shown an ability to take over games, next year could be a breakout year for him. Cravens looks to be a beast if he can stay healthy. All the experts including Cooley love Kendall Fuller. And other young guys are contributing like Dunbar, Spaight, Ioaniddis, Lanier, Everett. Let's have patience and stay the course


Most fans have no patience at all, they want results yesterday and unless a player is an all pro as a rookie get him outta here.

PS can you tell I think a rangey FS is a very high priority in the offseason?

I hope that's the case, we haven't had a decent safety since S.T. passed. Him and Laron were made for each other, they complimented each other perfectly.

You are talking about a rookie coming back from microfracture surgery and a second year player that hit a sophomore slump. If both show no progress next year, then make a change.



Like I said, any of them can make a turn around. Rite now though none of them are really part of the reason I am excited about the future.

Minnesota, he had 2 sacks and a pick. Against Chicago he had 2 sacks(one of which was taken away thanks to a penalty on Foster), was the guy who pressured Barkley on two of those ints, and also blocked a field goal. Week 16 against the Eagles last year he had 3 sacks



I was obviously being a bit sarcastic about my single game comment but I don't think a whole lot of people are pinning their future hopes of this defense to Smith. I never said get rid of him. Not yet anyway. He had some terribly invisible games this year though.

PS can you tell I think a rangey FS is a very high priority in the offseason?



Only thing I value more is a big time ILB. Mason has shown enough to warrant a starting role but I would love a stud to pair up with him. I just think that is the epicenter of any good defense. FS is an extremely close second. Than grab a slab of beef like a Snacks Harrison somewhere to obliterate the run.