Blocking & tackling after Turnovers

[MTK]

Baltimore had a better offense during their SB run than we have right now, it's not even close. They could run the ball and Dilfer made enough plays to keep defenses honest, we can't say the same of Brunell right now. Plus they had one of the all-time great defenses, our D is very good but not close to being an all-time great.

[irish]

Matty, I'm not sure how you could say Balt had a better O than the skins do now when that season the Balt O went something like 6 games without scoring a TD. The skins O may not score much but they do score.

I agree hough that Balt did get the running game going enough to eat clock and Dilfer played well enough to not lose games but that did not happen until sometime in Nov.

[SUNRA]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

It would be nice to have the D score, but to expect them to carry the entire team game in and game out is a little unrealistic. The offense needs to start producing, simple as that.

Your'e missing the point. Greg Blache mentioned the defense doesn't have the mindset to block after a turnover because they are so few and in between from the past seasons. The defense is so happy to have the ball that they don't think about returning it for a TD is an insightful observation for a Coach. It's wonderful that we're stopping the run but a defense that produces points is not too much to ask when there are defenses that are scoring against us. That should be the motivating force since none of those defenses are in the top five. Of course, the offense should score more points. Week six has come and gone and I'm certain that the offense we watched in agony will not surface in week eight. Gibbs has devoted the entire bye week time to pass protection and deep pass plays.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by irish

Matty, I'm not sure how you could say Balt had a better O than the skins do now when that season the Balt O went something like 6 games without scoring a TD. The skins O may not score much but they do score.

I agree hough that Balt did get the running game going enough to eat clock and Dilfer played well enough to not lose games but that did not happen until sometime in Nov.

So are we comparing our offense right now vs. Baltimore's through those first 6 games?? In that case it's pretty even.

If we're comparing our offense now vs. theirs at the end of their season I definitely think they had the better offense. We can't move the ball through the air at all right now.

[memphisskin]

That Baltimore offense was horrific, didn't they go like 8 weeks without an offensive touchdown? But I agree with Matty, I'd still take those guys.

Passing game - They could at least hit on a few long balls whereas anything over five yards downfield seems to be an adventure for us right now

Running game - I wanted to say even but that team had Jamal Lewis running for 1300 yds and Priest Holmes ran for another 500.

Turnovers - Say what you want about Dilfer but he knew his role and played it to perfection. He only started 8 games but his numbers were similar to Brunell, sans the fumbles and picks for scores.

The missing ingredient in this is special teams. Baltimore had Jermaine Lewis who was a threat to return punts and kickoffs back for scores. So far Johnny Morton hasn't demonstrated that ability us, so far at least. If we had better special teams, we at least put ourselves in a better position to win some of these games. If we can at least not lose the special teams battle every week then our defense is playing well enough to win a lot of games for us.

Clearly we now have a defense that is playing superbly. Gibbs is helping them out by running the ball to limit their time on the field. Now if Gibbs can just get the passing game together then we'll be alright.

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by SUNRA

I suggested on another post that our defense should work on turning turnovers into touchdowns. Joe Crisp suggested that I was asking too much since the defense is playing well. Greg Blache talks about that and other points to improve upon and I would like to here Joe's opinion about what Greg Blache said. Maybe it makes sense coming from an experienced coach rather than an enlightened fan.

I took exception to your suggestion that the defense needed to score more points because you were trying to defend Mark Brunell's ineptitude by asking why the defense wasn't scoring points. I thought that suggestion was a little absurd, considering that the defense's primary purpose is to stop the opposing offense from scoring points-- and this defense is among the best in the league at achieving that goal.

Points scored by the defense are something that shouldn't be counted upon-- they certainly help, and it certainly makes sense to explore the possibility of improving upon that aspect of the game, but you can't reasonably expect to lean upon the defense to score touchdowns week in and week out to win games. That's the offense's primary purpose, and this offense isn't getting the job done.

And by the way, this "enlightened fan" has sought out Greg Blache for enlightenment about defensive tactics, has spoken with him about his defensive philosophy, and has a deep respect and admiration for the man. I completely agree with his opinion that the defense can improve in the area of capitalizing on turnovers. But that doesn't mean we should direct our blame to the defense for losses which were clearly the result of ineptitude on the part of the offense and special teams.

Defenses like the Ravens of 2000 are extraordinarily rare, and the fact that it would take a defensive effort of that magnitude to overcome the deficiencies of this offense is absolutely appalling. Forgive me if I'm too busy dissecting the offense to point fingers at the defense.

[That Guy]

Originally Posted by memphisskin

Running game - I wanted to say even but that team had Jamal Lewis running for 1300 yds and Priest Holmes ran for another 500.

The missing ingredient in this is special teams. Baltimore had Jermaine Lewis who was a threat to return punts and kickoffs back for scores. So far Johnny Morton hasn't demonstrated that ability us, so far at least. If we had better special teams, we at least put ourselves in a better position to win some of these games. If we can at least not lose the special teams battle every week then our defense is playing well enough to win a lot of games for us.

Well, portis is on track for 1600 + 300 through the air and betts could easily get 300-400 still, so i'd be willing to say the running games are fairly equal...

btw, johnny plays in KC, we got chad... and he did return a 50 and 30 yarder in one game, both got called back... overall the blocking just hasn't been there in any way... last game he tried to run them back anyways and got 3, 1, and -2 yards or something, i wouldn't pin the blame on him (thrash and betts also had no blocking and crap returns when he was out), but our STs just aint happening right now.

[That Guy]

hey joecrisp, maybe what we really need is to bench portis and fire brunell so we can start our true super stars.... that's right, cliff russel and timmy hasslebeck. With them, all roads will be paved with gold and super bowl victories will be assured .

[MTK]

We lost our superstar Cliff Russell, he's lighting up scoreboards now in Cincy

[That Guy]

damn, scratch that then.